Miss Bingley did not disappoint him as she soon cast the book aside. "How pleasant it is to spend an evening in this way!" she said in a voice that rang out in falsified cheer. "I declare after all, there is no enjoyment like reading. How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library."
To her declaration, none made the tiniest reply to which she yawned and turned her gaze to her brother and Miss Jane. She was quick to interrupt their conversation upon hearing her brother mention of a ball at Netherfield.
"By the bye, Charles, are you really serious in meditating a dance at Netherfield? I would advise you, before you determine on it, to consult the wishes of the present party. I am much mistaken if there are not some among us to whom a ball would be rather a punishment than a pleasure."
Every one of them assembled in the room knew that by 'some among us', she meant Darcy and eyes turned to him. Darcy ignored them all, not lifting his gaze from his book.
Bingley chuckled and replied, "If you mean Darcy, he may go to bed, if he chooses, before it begins- but as for the ball, it is quite a settled thing; and as soon as Nicholls has made white soup enough, I shall send round my cards."
"I should like balls infinitely better if they were carried on in a different manner; but there is something insufferably tedious in the usual process of such a meeting. It would surely be much more rational if conversation, instead of dancing, were made the order of the day."
The above was from none other than Miss Bingley who released a long suffering sigh, even though thoughts of what to wear at the ball were already filling her head.
"Much more rational, my dear Caroline, I dare say, but it would not be near so much like a ball," replied her brother who promptly returned to Jane, thus ending that subject.
Caroline, conceiving of no other pastime, began to take a calculated walk around the room to impress Mr. Darcy with her fine figure. In her frustration that he did not glance in her direction as much as she wanted, she invited Elizabeth to join her. "Miss Eliza Bennet, let me persuade you to follow my example, and take a turn about the room. I assure you it is very refreshing after sitting so long in one attitude."
The invitation caught Elizabeth most unaware but she consented.
Only then did Fitzwilliam look up for he could no longer resist the temptation to fix his eyes upon Elizabeth Bennet. Caroline Bingley was tall and carried herself proudly in a rod-straight affected manner around the room whilst Elizabeth simply walked around the room with apparently no other aim in mind than exercise. He found that he preferred her walk to Miss Bingley's very much indeed.
Aye, he could watch Miss Elizabeth Bennet walk around the room for the whole night and never for a moment, grow weary.
"I see how you look at us, Mr. Darcy," Miss Bingley observed. "Perhaps you would like to take a turn yourself?"
"I see no reason to- I can imagine that there could be but two motives for you ladies to walk up and down the room together in this fashion and joining you would interfere in any of this motives- whichever it may be."
Miss Caroline asked Miss Elizabeth what she imagined he meant by his cryptic remark and the latter advised her not to dwell upon it for she knew Mr. Darcy to be satirical in his approach. Miss Bingley of course could not let such comment pass by without gaining intelligence about it, especially since it was from Mr. Darcy, so she asked him about it and he explained thus:
"You either choose this method of passing the evening because you are in each other's confidence, and have secret affairs to discuss, or because you are conscious that your figures appear to the greatest advantage in walking; if the first, I would be completely in your way, and if the second, I can admire you much better as I sit by the fire."
Miss Elizabeth was none much too surprised by the blatant reply but Miss Bingley gasped.
"Oh! Shocking! I never heard anything so abominable. How shall we punish him for such a speech?" she asked of Elizabeth, seemingly forgetting her dislike of herself.
"Nothing so easy," her companion replied. "If you have but the inclination, we can all plague and punish one another. Tease him- laugh at him. Intimate as you are, you must know how it is to be done."
Caroline sighed heavily, casting an annoyed look at Darcy.
"But upon my honour, I do not. I do assure you that my intimacy has not yet taught me that. Tease calmness of manner and presence of mind! No, no- feel he may defy us there. And as to laughter, we will not expose ourselves, if you please, by attempting to laugh without a subject. Mr. Darcy may hug himself."
Elizabeth replied, "Mr. Darcy is not to be laughed at! That is an uncommon advantage, and uncommon I hope it will continue, for it would be a great loss to me to have many such acquaintances. I dearly love a laugh."
There, Mr. Darcy himself replied with a straight face, "Miss Bingley has given me more credit than can be. The wisest and the best of men- nay, the wisest and best of their actions- may be rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a joke."
"Certainly, there are such people," agreed Elizabeth good-naturedly, "but I hope I am not one of them. I hope I never ridicule what is wise and good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can. But these, I suppose, are precisely what you are without."
The conversation as started out had been relinquished to the commandeering of Elizabeth and Darcy.
"Perhaps that is not possible for anyone. But it has been the study of my life to avoid those weaknesses which often expose a strong understanding to ridicule," Darcy replied, pinning Elizabeth with a look.
She however refused to bow in his line of reasoning.
"Such as vanity and pride," said she.
And Darcy replied: "Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed," he allowed ruefully. "But pride- where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation."
He expected Elizabeth to reply. Nay, he anticipated it but he only saw her look down into her work and he imagined he saw a little smile upon her lips.
"Your examination of Mr. Darcy is over, I presume? And pray what is the result?" Miss Bingley said glad for an avenue to contribute at last.
Elizabeth looked up to answer her, bending her head to a side as if listening to a voice only she could hear.
"I am perfectly convinced by it that Mr. Darcy has no defect. He owns it himself without disguise," came the pronouncement.
"No,” Darcy disagreed, "I have made no such pretension. I have faults enough, but they are not, I hope, of understanding. My temper I dare not vouch for. It is, I believe, too little yielding- certainly too little for the convenience of the world. I cannot forget the follies and vices of other so soon as I ought, nor their offenses against myself. My feelings are not puffed about with every attempt to move them. My temper would perhaps be called resentful. My good opinion once lost, is lost forever."
His rendition of what he deigned were his follies brought an ironical laughter to Elizabeth's lips. "That is a failing indeed!" said she. "Implacable resentment is a shade in a character. But you have chosen your fault well. I really cannot laugh at it. You are safe from me."
This she accompanied with another little laugh that elicited a frown from her subject.
"There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil- a natural defect, which, not even the best education can overcome."
"And your defect is to hate everybody," remarked Elizabeth unmoved by his double edged retaliation.
"And yours is willfully to misunderstand them," he retorted with a smile for a found their arguments to be quite charming and soothing.
"Do let us have a little music," Miss Bingley thought to say and turned to her sister. "Louisa, you will not mind my waking Mr. Hurst?"
Her sister too was weary of playing with her bangles all day while she listened alternatively to Bingley and Miss Bennet or Darcy and Elizabeth.
&nbs
p; "He sleeps like the dead so, no objection do I have to any music that would liven up the atmosphere," said she.
Miss Bingley hurried to the pianoforte.
Elizabeth resumed her knitting, Bingley sat in companionable silence beside Jane who tapped her feet to the music, Darcy went back to his book, a dark frown set upon his face. He had enjoyed their repartee a little too much for comfort and only now did he recall his resolve not to address Miss Elizabeth in any conversation as a means of curbing his fascination with her. It was so unlike him in character to act against his own resolution that he was immediately angry with this failing of his.
He decided once more to follow the course of his resolution more firmly from then on, lest he found himself entrenched in the lion's den with no means of escape.
The next day, Elizabeth proposed to her sister that they leave Netherfield. In her opinion, they had imposed on the generosity of Mr. Bingley long enough. Word was sent to Longbourn that the carriage be sent to Netherfield to convey them home but their mother, wanting of them to continue their stay, refused them this request.
"You and I both know the reason mother has denied us the use of the carriage, Jane," she thus told her sister, "however, I think it highly unjust to continue to take advantage of Mr. Bingley's kindness when your recovery is so evident."
She made no mention of the ill feeling she had towards the Bingley women and the warmth she was beginning to feel towards Mr. Darcy. The latter excuse in particular was a feeling that had crept upon her most unaware and she wanted to be off before something came out of it, heavens forbid such occurrence. The day before, she had discovered that despite the exchange of words back and forth, she had rather enjoyed the scene too well. There could be no liking one such as Mr. Darcy, she told herself and since Jane was healing speedily, the decision to return home was promptly made.
"You say the truth and I earnestly agree," replied Jane. "But we cannot make our way home on foot or on horse for that matter; I am afraid that I shall not make it this time around."
"Oh! Do not be tease me so, Jane," cried Elizabeth, "I would not dare to mention walking to our hosts; I vividly remember the looks I received upon doing so to come here. And by the by, recovered as you are, you are in no shape to walk or ride a horse. I think we will have to impose once more on Mr. Bingley's generosity and request for his carriage."
Jane thought it an excellent idea and made the request. Mr. Bingley would hear nothing of their removal on that day and made an appeal that they wait till the next day; the sisters agreed.
At noon, Jane was inclined towards a walk; Elizabeth couldn't fault her- if she were fixed in bed for four days like her sister, she would want to run in the wind when she healed. The Bingley sisters were gone to Meryton; they had failed to employ the services of their brother and Mr. Darcy to accompany them to the milliner's in Meryton for new hats, and left in a fit of annoyance with Mr. Hurst. To Jane's inclination, Mr. Bingley volunteered himself to take her for a turn in the garden and when Elizabeth ensured that she was well wrapped against any wind, she deemed them ready to go. She was left in the house with Mr. Darcy.
Telling herself that he probably was lazing the day away in his bed- even though she had noticed his dislike for indolence- she thus decided to ignore the intelligence of his presence in the house and repaired to the library for a book. It was most unfortunate that he was in the library too, reading a book. At first, she thought of leaving the room to him but decided that he would think her so subdued. She entered, murmuring a greeting to him and took a book to read at a corner as far away from him as she could manage.
They did not exchange further words and so they remained until Bingley returned with Jane and took to reading out loud to her.
At night again, she found herself alone with him for a short while- a period shorter than that of the noon. The meeting was nothing but chance but from it, she gained the highest intelligence of all.
Everyone had earlier retired to their beds and Elizabeth was in the process of doing so herself after spending some time attending to Jane but Jane expressed that she had forgotten her wrapper in the library in the afternoon and so, Elizabeth offered to go to the library to retrieve it for her. Wrapper in one hand and a torch in another, she was withdrawing from the room when she bumped into a figure who was apparently on his way down the hall outside the library.
"What is this?" Darcy cried in vexation at the surprise as he held her steady with a hand on her wrist lest she fell.
He was wearing a hat which swept low across his face and riding clothes- both of which suggested his intent to go out at that ungodly hour. The torch was between them in a manner that only added to the mystery that the hat lent to his face and one disturbing memory which had always danced on the borders of her mind came to the forefront. She was thrown back to two months ago to Fitzwilliam Tavern in Meryton.
"You!" she gasped in disbelief. "It was you."
She saw his jaw tighten and despite the darkness, she saw a hardness enter his eyes. He said naught to her but released hold of her wrist, steadied the torch in her hand and walked down the hall and out of her sight. Her shock rendered no help to her legs to go after him or to her mouth to say another word to him.
Elizabeth remained in the same position for a long time, staring at the spot where she had encountered Mr. Darcy. She had no doubt of it that he was the man who had almost ruined her plot at the tavern. Then, the man had mentioned that he was a stranger in the country and she had thought no more of it.
How silly of me!
She had been living in such close quarters with the same man for nigh four days and she hadn't recognized him! She had no doubt also that he recognized her right at the assembly where they had officially been introduced. It was no wonder that he held her in such low opinion; in fact, it was no wonder that he spoke to her at all. A man of his ilk did not descend so low as to speak to ladies they found in a tavern. More so, she figured that he hadn't told a soul about their meeting, despite how much it must gall him to be found in her presence. For this alone, her respect for his integrity increased several ranks higher. However, with the respect came an annoyance so profound. It was apparent that finding her in the room had dented her forever in his eyes. It must be the reason he was mostly disparaging of her character; he had found her lacking and so condemned her.
He was none so high in her opinions either, but wasn't it wise to gain accurate intelligence before deciding upon the character of a person? Despite that, she had the most discouraging encounter with him upon their first acquaintance- why, he had abused her to her hearing, but she still deigned to talk to him civilly afterwards. And he wasn't so faultless either, she thought in a fit of self defence; hadn't he also been at the tavern? If he was so high and mighty like he purported to carry himself about, what was his business in a room above the stairs in Fitzwilliam Tavern where it was well known what happened in those rooms. Perhaps, even now, he was heading to the tavern for some illicit pleasure.
Thinking this and sufficiently riled up in her own defence, Elizabeth marched to Jane's room to find her sister asleep. Her ire reduced a notch as she tenderly covered her sister with the wrapper and left the room.
Mr. Darcy could rot in hell with his biased judgement of her for all she cared; they were leaving the house on the morrow.
Chapter Twelve
Back in Longbourn, Elizabeth saw that things were rather the same as they had left them. Her father was still his usual laconic self; her mother expressed her inflexibility by showing her irk for their return despite her protests; Mary was into one study or the other that Elizabeth did not deign to look into; Kitty and Catherine were still in raptures over the men in scarlet coats. It was still home and Elizabeth delighted in her return immensely. Her annoyance and all thoughts about a man named Fitzwilliam Darcy was all but forgotten in the subsequent events that happened at Longbourn for in all sense of the word, Elizabeth was one who could never hold on to a grudge for a long amount of time.
The next morning, their father in his manner of announcing matters which he ought to have announced but delayed for the purpose of shocking his family, especially his wife, announced that they were expecting a visitor. The mention of the expected visitor did not please his wife nor very much his daughters- it was none other than his cousin; the man to whom their estate was entailed and who shall therefore make his girls destitute should he fall and die anytime of the day. Reading out his letter, differences in opinions rent the air about his personality. The man was unanimously decided to be an oddity of sorts- he made mention of his occupation as an ordained man with the greatest humility; the attention paid to him by Lady Catherine De Bourgh; his wish to extend an olive branch in settlement of the differences between his late father who had quarrelled with Mr. Bennet his entire life; and his desire to make amends to Mr. Bennet's daughters.
Though none of them could possibly see how he could propose to make any amends, they all thought it would serve them well to have him wait upon them in order to see for themselves who the man was. And so, they awaited his arrival.
Mr. Collins was a man of twenty and five years. His figure was found to be agreeable enough- tall, straight but heavy- if one overlooked the pompous manner with which he carried himself. In the space if a few moments that he made his way into the Bennet's home, he admired the girls all of their beauty, highly flattering in his praises to border of excessiveness. Of course, this pleased Mrs. Bennet to no end and he rose in her goodwill. However, when he came upon the admiration of their house, china and arts, Elizabeth could perceive the offense on her mother's face and for the first time, she found that she agreed with her mother's thoughts- the man could only be sizing up his properties much as a horse breeder does a horse he meant to purchase.
When Mr. Darcy Met Lizzy Page 8
