A/N: Thank you for reading and all your encouragements and comments. I really appreciate them. Colleen S., I hope you would consider leaving a review on Kindle Such lovely compliments as yours should be seen by as many as possible!. Just as you read the posted chapters here even when you have the whole story on Kindle, I post the story here and at AHA because I love the opportunity to interact with you readers.
tanseynz - love your assessment of Lady Catherine. As you said, she exceeded expectations on nastiness. Could you (all of you readers) guess why I did not just kill her off outright?
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"Darcy! Wasn't Miss Bennet magnificent? Put a scarlet coat on her, and she could face off Bonaparte himself better than any of us! If I had not seen you two finally speaking to each other, I would seriously consider pursuing her in the three days I have left here in England," quipped the Colonel after he returned from wherever he had disappeared to earlier to give Darcy and Elizabeth an opportunity to talk. The two men sat down for a glass of after-dinner port.
Mr. Darcy could not suppress an almost-smile and said hesitantly, but with a light-heartedness he had not felt seemingly for months, "It is indeed a pleasure to have Miss Bennet's assurance that she believes the contents of the letter."
"I must return to the barracks to get ready for deployment. Treat this as a gift from God as I am serious about pursuing her. One such as she does not come around more than once or twice in a lifetime."
"Richard, I cannot force myself on her. Go rid us of Bonaparte. If I have not yet found success by the time you come back, it is perhaps not meant to be."
"No more defeatist talk! I shall admit this once, you have a handsome mug – more handsome than mine even. On top of that, you are as rich as a sultan and yet still as honorable as the day is long. Use these advantages to woo her as a woman who deserves to be wooed. Do I have your word?"
Darcy smiled weakly at his cousin, shook his hand, and grabbed him by the shoulder, then said, "God bless you, Richard. Come back in one piece." And then he walked out of the room to take his leave of the Earl and Countess before going back to his house for his appointment with Bingley.
Darcy House, Park Lane
When Mr. Bingley came into his study later in the evening, Mr. Darcy had had some time to consider what his cousin had said. He was convinced that if he could succeed in bringing Bingley and Miss Bennet back together, Elizabeth might change her mind about never marrying him, as her interactions with him earlier in the evening indicated that she was not angry at him anymore. Richard was right: he had loved her and no one else in his almost twenty-eight years of life. He could not just give her up because of one rejection, no matter how hurtfully harsh it was, and how humiliated he felt.
He rose from behind his desk to greet his friend, whom he had not seen for several months.
"Bingley, it has been a long time. I apologize for canceling dinner at the last minute. I had to take care of some family business for my uncle. He is leaving for the north tomorrow."
He poured a glass of port and handed it to Bingley while motioning for him to sit in the chair before the fire.
"Darcy, no need to apologize. I ended up accepting a dinner invitation at the Grantleys. I just came from there in fact. Mr. Grantley's niece, Miss Amelia Johnson, was the most beautiful lady I have ever laid eyes on, but I am glad that I am leaving town tomorrow for I do not want to get myself entangled with her too deeply, like I did with Miss Bennet. It must have been fate that you cancelled dinner with me, and I met this fair angel!" Bingley joked jovially.
Mr. Darcy was alarmed. Bingley had seemed too heartbroken when they were last in company together for him to move on to some other angel already.
"Bingley, the main reason for me to meet with you before your trip is to tell you that I deceived you on two occasions: one was shamefully intentional while the other was because of my own inept judgement," Darcy paused to see Bingley's reaction, which was curiously blank.
He continued, "I have known about Miss Bennet being in town since January and her visit to your sisters at your townhouse, but I purposely withheld that information. Worse still, I very recently learned from a reliable source that Miss Bennet's feelings toward you were far from indifferent. In fact, she may still be deeply attached."
"Oh, I am thoroughly sorry about the latter, although I must say that Miss Bennet was an exceptionally beautiful angel, and she left me with a particularly fond memory. Your concealing her being in town was nothing for me to forgive as I never asked you specifically for it, and I certainly do not expect you to tell me everything in your life, nor would you expect me to reciprocate. I imagine it was my sister who asked you not to tell me, was it not?" Mr. Darcy nodded.
Mr. Bingley continued. "I found out that Miss Bennet visited my house when she came to return my sisters' visit and left a card, which I saw when I came home before my sisters that afternoon. By then, I had just met another lady with almost Miss Bennet's exact looks but was more voluptuous and found her company quite pleasing. Darcy, you know me. I fall in love with beautiful ladies with golden hair and blue eyes almost indiscriminately. I think Miss Bennet might have affected me more deeply because I was in the country for many weeks, and there was not much competition from other ladies, your Miss Elizabeth excluded – do not assume that I did not see your partiality toward her."
Mr. Bingley looked over at his friend with a satirical eye before continuing, "I have come to conclude that I am too young to think about getting married and settling down – I am not yet four-and-twenty. In fact, I am not certain about buying an estate anymore. I often wondered why my father left it to me to bring up our status from trade. Now I suspect that he did not want to give up the thrills of finding exciting investment opportunities. My trip north is for exactly this purpose: to see for myself whether I should invest in promising ventures or in an estate."
"That is a lot of change in attitude in just three months. What has brought on this introspection?" asked Darcy, perplexed.
"It was probably when you told me that Miss Bennet did not care for me…." Darcy wanted to interrupt but Bingley raised his hand to motion that he wanted to continue, "That was a great blow to my vanity, of course, that a country gentlewoman did not care for me even when I tried so hard to be amiable. After a week or two of feeling sorry for myself, I made the decision that I should do what I truly want instead of trying to fulfil my father's wishes or my sister's, which you know well enough are for me to help her ensnare you for herself."
Mr. Darcy was shocked to hear this and looked at Bingley with apprehension.
"Do not be alarmed. I have never succumbed to Caroline's prodding. In fact, I try to make sure that she does not cross any indecorous lines with her ambition. My going away for a few months will ensure that she will not have too many opportunities to carry out her machinations. If I do decide to re-engage in trade, I hope that you will not shun me as I believe many in my acquaintance might."
"Bingley, you know I do not put much stock in people's positions or connections," Darcy paused and thought to himself, "Except when proposing marriage…"
He continued thoughtfully, "The world is changing. I believe that before long, if I want to preserve Pemberley long past the current war, I will most likely have to diversify and invest more in trade myself."
"Darcy, you are liberal, and I thank you for your friendship through the years. What do you say, if Miss Bennet's heart was touched by my leading her on, which was unintentionally done, as a gentleman, should I go and declare myself to her? But it will have to be a long engagement, possibly longer than a year."
Mr. Darcy was, on the one hand, glad to hear that Bingley had absolved him of any wrongdoing and wanted to save Miss Bennet from heartache; on the other hand, he was conflicted by Bingley's making the offer for Miss Bennet out of obligation instead of true affection. To make matters worse, he knew that Bingley would follow his most trusted friend's advice regardless of his own inclinations.
Darcy paced in front of the fireplace for a few moments and said, "Bingley, I feel ill equipped to offer any advice on your love life. The last time I did that, I was proven completely wrong. You must decide for yourself what you consider conducive to Miss Bennet's future happiness… and your own."
"Darcy, when you were away, I seemed to be able to make decisions for myself. However, when you are near, I feel that the ability has left me. Miss Bennet is everything lovely, but in my current state, I am not at all sure that I will be able to restrain– to put it indelicately – my roving eye from wandering to other comely ladies once we are married. What have I done!"
Darcy's pacing became more rapid after hearing this. He himself was genuinely convinced that Miss Bennet's affection was not attached to his friend and could not blame Bingley for seemingly having abandoned Miss Bennet. It was obvious that Bingley had some more growing up to do. After all, he was still at an age when complete maturity in young men was not the norm, especially when he was still undecided on a vocation.
At length, Darcy felt that since he inadvertently started the present conundrum, he had an obligation to offer a solution. He said carefully, "I feel absurd to offer any sort of advice on affairs of the heart, but you are at an impasse that I unknowingly put you in. Bingley, if you are not certain of your constancy, then it is best that you do not engage Miss Bennet's heart further. I do applaud you for your frankness to own up to this deficiency, for a deficiency it is to have endangered a lady's affection; and hope that you will rein in your ardent flirtation when you are not entirely ready to offer for the lady, especially in the country where such marked attention could be too easily mistaken to be in earnest."
"Darcy, that is exactly my thought. It may not be evident, but I have decided to prove my maturity as a man before I marry. But how should I remedy my mistake with Miss Bennet? I do not want her to suffer for my stupidity."
"The family business I mentioned before involved my cousin Miss Anne de Bourgh and Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I saw Miss Elizabeth in Kent while she visited her friend Mrs. Collins, the former Miss Charlotte Lucas. Mr. Collins's patroness is my aunt Lady Catherine. To make a long story short, I shall have occasion to see Miss Elizabeth in the future. It was she who conveyed to me that her elder sister's affection was indeed engaged even though Miss Bennet did not show it. I shall let her know that you are not yet ready for marriage even though you are willing to offer for Miss Bennet if it is her wish. I do strongly believe that without the deepest love on both sides, neither of the Bennet sisters will wish to marry."
"Darcy, I owe you another debt of gratitude. We shall see whether by exerting myself for the next year, I could become a man worthy of an angel such as Miss Bennet."
Mr. Darcy did not answer. He was wondering how he should break this news to Miss Elizabeth, and whether she would ever forgive him for ruining, perhaps forever, the happiness of her beloved sister.