When Mr. Darcy next came to call, Lizzy found herself excited to see him. He had allowed her to experience a completely different side of himself, and she was deeply curious to see more. When he was shown to her uncle's study instead of the parlor, however, her curiosity was run over by suspicion. Suspicion turned to anger when she was summoned to her uncle's study fifteen minutes later.
"Lizzy, is there something you would like to tell me of your walk two mornings ago?" Mr. Gardiner asked calmly, seated behind his desk with his fingers interlocked over his chest.
Elizabeth felt her eyes widen and she slowly turned to glare at Mr. Darcy, who seemed completely unrepentant. "I happened to catch sight of an acquaintance from Hogsmeade," she offered tightly.
"Did you intend to alert me to the fact that this 'acquaintance' happens to be a rather untrustworthy character with reason to be angry with you?" Mr. Gardiner said mildly.
"If I truly thought there was reason for concern – "
"Elizabeth, you are trying my patience," Mr. Gardiner said with a hint of a growl.
"I am not doing so intentionally, sir," Elizabeth answered. She was determined to be civil with her beloved uncle, as she always was. He was only concerned for her wellbeing and that of his family, and he had every right to be so. Her frustration was with Mr. Darcy. "I did not believe sighting Mr. Wickham was cause for alarm. As you are now aware," she said with a pointed look at Mr. Darcy, "I have bested him once before and have every confidence I could do so again."
"Were you able to use your wand, Lizzy, you are entirely correct," Mr. Gardiner conceded. "However, you are, for nearly a year yet, unable to do so off Hogwarts grounds."
"Extenuating circumstances, such as self-defense, would excuse the use of underage magic," Elizabeth said reasonably.
"In a just world, you would, again, be entirely correct," said Mr. Gardiner.
"Wickham, most unfortunately, has connections to the Office of Underage Magic," Mr. Darcy interjected.
Elizabeth was busy trying to set Mr. Darcy ablaze with her eyes, and so she missed the warning look her uncle gave the man to be quiet before speaking again.
"Did you listen to nothing your aunt said to you the other night, Lizzy?" Mr. Gardiner asked quietly. "Ours is not a just society."
Elizabeth blushed from a combination of things and lowered her gaze. "What is it you want from me, Uncle?"
"Your safety," Mr. Gardiner instantly replied. "Most unfortunately for you, my dear Lizzy, that means observing some Muggle customs for the duration of your stay here."
Elizabeth grimaced, confident she already knew what was coming.
"Before this incident, your aunt and I would have been content with you walking out with any member of our household. Now, however, I must place the stipulation that whoever you go out with is able to freely employ magic. That means myself, your aunt, or the butler," said Mr. Gardiner.
"None of you are ever available!" Elizabeth burst, sounding every bit the petulant teenager. Teenager though she was, she typically behaved and spoke above her years. Such a display showed the extent of her displeasure. "I shall go mad, locked up in the house! Why should I be punished for some other imbecile's predatory nature?"
"Lizzy, you are not being punished." Mr. Gardiner's lip twitched upward slightly. "If I were to punish you, I would send you back to Longbourn."
"Perish the thought!" Elizabeth impulsively replied. After her uncle cracked a smile, she laughed. Annoyed she may be, and justifiably so, but she knew her uncle only to be doing what he truly thought was best. "Very well," she sighed. "I will stay on the property unless you, my aunt, or Mitchell are able to walk out with me."
"I could offer my services."
Elizabeth turned slowly on one foot. "Have you not yet done enough, sir?" she asked archly.
"When I inherited Pemberley, I went through the necessary steps to be allowed free reign with my wand, though I was underage and had also not completed my sixth year of schooling," Mr. Darcy said, apparently not noticing the trouble he was in. "Should your relatives be unavailable, I could walk with you."
"Then let us make our first excursion now," said Elizabeth decidedly. Without a look back, she quit the study.
Darcy looked confusedly toward Mr. Gardiner.
"May God be with you, Mr. Darcy," said Mr. Gardiner amusedly.
Pursing his lips in agitation, Darcy hurried after Elizabeth. She was already nearly out the front door by the time he had grabbed his hat and walking stick.
"Miss Bennet!" he called as she tried to outstrip him. He could easily catch up to her, but he did not much fancy the idea of running through the streets of London.
Elizabeth rounded on him with a look of fury on her face. "How dare you!" she snarled.
"How dare I?" Mr. Darcy repeated, his guard quickly rising as well as his temper.
"Yes, how dare you! You took it completely upon yourself to make arrangements for me with my uncle without consulting me! I am not some frail slip of a thing that will swoon with the smallest provocation! I am fully capable of reason and making my own decisions, and I do not at all appreciate being treated otherwise," Elizabeth said hotly.
Mr. Darcy forced himself to take several deep breaths before responding in anger. He had made that mistake with Elizabeth once and was not eager to have the experience repeated. "Such was not at all my intention, Miss Bennet, I assure you," he said.
"Then what, pray tell, was your intention?" Elizabeth asked.
"Merely to see what your uncle intended to do about the matter," Mr. Darcy answered.
"And you thought that to be a conversation I ought to have been excluded from?" Elizabeth said with a raised brow. "Am I not capable of providing thoughts on the matter?"
Mr. Darcy looked toward the sky, utterly frustrated with the situation and himself. He sighed before speaking again. "I suppose I am not used to consulting that which I wish to protect."
Thinking back to all she had been told yesterday, Elizabeth immediately softened. "Again, I failed to consider your point of view in the matter," she said. "I am still not pleased at your presumption, though I suppose I can understand it."
"I did not mean to offend you in the slightest," said Mr. Darcy. "I simply do not want to see you come to harm, Miss Bennet."
Elizabeth sighed the last of her frustration out. "Well, we have both made mistakes again. Let us learn from them and move on."
"With pleasure," said Mr. Darcy genuinely. He offered his arm, which was accepted, and began to lead Elizabeth down the road.
"Why were you out so early the other day, Mr. Darcy?" Elizabeth asked after a few moments of quiet. "I cannot imagine you live terribly close to here. And you were in such strange clothes," she added, looking pointedly at his high-quality jacket.
"All was done in an effort to allow my sister to enjoy being outdoors without either of us being recognized for who we are," said Mr. Darcy. "Obviously, my plan was not a good one."
Elizabeth permitted herself a quick laugh. "Perhaps it might have been, if not for me."
"I do not blame you in the slightest."
Silence settled again. Elizabeth let it pass for several minutes, partially due to wanting time to order her thoughts, and partially due to a desire to make Mr. Darcy step out of his comfort zone and find a topic of conversation. "Have you any updates on Wickham?" she asked. Patience had never been one of her strongest virtues.
Mr. Darcy's deep frown was quite enough of an answer.
"What is being attempted?" Elizabeth asked.
"May we, perhaps, speak of something else?" Mr. Darcy asked irritably. He kicked a pebble with unwarranted aggression.
"No," said Elizabeth simply.
"You can be absolutely maddening," Mr. Darcy muttered. "Are you aware?"
"Yes," Elizabeth answered pertly. "This situation is, however, entirely of your own making, as you volunteered to escort me."
Mr. Darcy sighed heavily before lowly summing up for Elizabeth what was being doing to locate Wickham.
"What of friends he might have made at Hogwarts?" Elizabeth asked. "You say Fitzwilliam is tracking his friends from Beauxbatons to see if they might have a clue, but he spent some time at Hogwarts."
"His stay at Hogwarts was only a few months," said Mr. Darcy.
"I had only known them two months before I felt certain I would be friends with Jo and Phoebe until the day I die," said Elizabeth in response. "And they were still a year behind me at the time. For some, it is easy to make friends."
"Yes, Wickham does have that ability," Mr. Darcy growled. "Whether or not he can keep them is an entirely different matter."
"Well, while he has lost the friendship of yourself and, I am sure, various other respectable persons, I would suppose he managed to maintain the good opinion of some others cut from the same cloth as himself," Elizabeth ventured. She had become distracted by a rather large dog across the street, and so did not notice Darcy perk up when she called him respectable.
"You are correct," said Darcy after allowing himself a silent moment to rejoice. "I will look into the matter. Now can we speak of something else?"
"I have canvassed the subjects I am interested in for the day, Mr. Darcy," said Elizabeth archly. "If you wish to converse, you shall have to find the topics of conversation."
"Very well," said Darcy. If she wished to play games, he could certainly do so. "What was it that your aunt discussed with you the other night that made you blush so?"
Elizabeth blushed violently, answered evasively, and directed the conversation thereafter.
"Oh, Lizzy, how good it is to see you!"
"We have only been apart a few days, Jane," Lizzy laughed as she hugged her sister.
"And that is too long for my tastes," said Jane.
Lizzy smiled as her sister began to regale her with all that had happened since coming to stay with Bingley and the Hursts. She listened patiently and calmly, but was by no means unaware of Mary lurking in the background.
Mary, of course, knew all that had happened with Lizzy in the past weeks, and kept giving her elder sister looks indicative of an approaching conversation that would be quite lengthy. Lizzy intended to avoid that conversation as long as possible. She began to feel as though she was dealing with a demiguise, for she had to keep her actions unpredictable and think as little as possible if she were to best Mary. Mary smiled against her will and rolled her eyes.
I am not ready to tell Jane, Lizzy repeated over and over again.
"Excuses do not work on me, Lizzy," Mary said lowly as she passed her sister at some point.
After a mere half hour, Lizzy was finding herself rather exhausted. She had willingly agreed to come to Bingley's for dinner, eager to see her sisters. Now, however, each sister was presenting her own trial. Calliope might have done the same, if she had not been thoroughly engrossed by the fur rug in Bingley's parlor.
"You're quite sure this was here when you bought the house?" Calliope asked, prodding the edge of the rug.
"Positive," Bingley confirmed. "Why do you ask?"
Calliope went on to explain she thought the fur might have come from a recently extinct animal, and began to wonder aloud if the fur upon which she sat might have been from the last one that ever lived. Bingley seemed very displeased with the idea.
"Well, that is enough on my part," Jane sighed after a long while. "Tell me of your past days, Lizzy!"
Confronted with the very subject she wished to avoid, Lizzy answered vaguely. "Every day in London is an adventure, Jane. Why should my days be interesting in comparison to yours, engaged one? Have you and Charles set a date yet?"
Concern flickered across Jane's face. She glanced around the room, noted the number of persons in it, then gave Lizzy a look that quite clearly said they would have further discussion on the subject at another time. "We have not yet," Jane admitted. "I would so like to be married from Longbourn. Charles and I have discussed it. We will wait for a time to see if Mama can be brought around. Either way, we will not marry until after the school year is done, so there is no rush."
"Oh, but surely there is!" Lizzy dramatically exclaimed. "For Papa could die at any moment, and then what is to become of us all?"
"Lizzy," Jane said in warning.
Lizzy laughed Jane's caution away. "Have you had no word from home?"
"Actually," Jane said, rising from her seat and making her way to a footman. She made a quiet request and returned. "Charlotte sent a letter here, for you. Well, Sir Lucas sent it to Bingley to maintain propriety. But Charlotte knew that if she sent something to Bingley's address, the letter would get to me, and I would get it to you. It's all a rather convoluted mess, but I suppose it worked."
Jane and Lizzy made several more comments on the absurdity of Muggle customs before the footman returned with the letter Jane had asked him to retrieve.
"Go on and read it here, Lizzy," Jane said. "We are practically among family, and all of us here have been so very curious as to its contents."
Lizzy raised an eyebrow at Jane. "Have you, now? And what shall you give me in return for my satisfying your curiosity?"
"Miss Elizabeth, if you do not read that letter now, I shall pry it from your hands and do it myself, and no one can be upset with me in my condition," Mrs. Hurst said forcefully from across the room.
Lizzy smiled at the woman. She had only been around Mrs. Hurst a few minutes, but could already see the effect being separated from her sister had. Mrs. Hurst was still perhaps a little aloof, but not nearly so obnoxious as when Caroline had been about.
"Very well, Mrs. Hurst," Lizzy ceded. "I should hate to add stress to a woman working on growing another human being."
"A wise decision," Mrs. Hurst muttered good naturedly.
While Lizzy opened Charlotte's letter, Jane went to sit beside her future sister-in-law and engaged in pleasant conversation.
"Charlotte is suspicious about our sudden departure," Lizzy announced after reading the first chunk of her letter. "It is the main reason she sent her letter here. She says she would not be surprised to find out we left as the result of 'a difference of opinion' in regards to dealings with Mr. Collins."
"Charlotte is ever so clever," said Jane.
"Miss Lucas is an exceptionally observant woman," Mrs. Hurst agreed. "I think she may have begun to suspect my condition very shortly after I did."
A decidedly unladylike sound burst from Lizzy as she continued to read her letter.
"What is it, Lizzy?" Jane asked concernedly, hurrying to her sister's side.
"Clever and observant Charlotte may be," said Lizzy with disgust, "but that has not prevented her from allying herself to one of the stupidest men in all of England!"
"What?" Jane asked with wide eyes.
"Collins proposed to Charlotte!" Lizzy exclaimed, brandishing the letter. "She accepted! They are to marry two weeks from today. She writes that she hopes I might be able to attend and to invite me to stay with her at Hunsford for Easter!"
Jane did not bother finding a polite excuse as she took Lizzy by the arm and led her from the room.
"Foolish, foolish woman!" Lizzy snarled once the door to the library had closed after herself and Jane. "After all she suspects, she still accepted that toad?"
"Lizzy, think rationally," Jane coached.
"I am thinking rationally!" Lizzy countered.
"You are not," Jane insisted.
Jane's firm tone snapped Lizzy from her spiraling out of control. She began regulating her breath as Jane continued.
"Mr. Collins is not a good match for you or me, but he is for Charlotte," Jane said. She took the letter from Lizzy and set it aside. "Much as we may wish differently, Charlotte is a Muggle. Her only option is to marry and, with her age and position in society, must take whatever respectable offer might be made to her. You know her well enough, Lizzy. She is fully aware of what she is doing."
Lizzy huffed and crossed her arms. "This is all so unfair."
"I agree with you entirely," said Jane, "but it is done. Charlotte cannot back out of the agreement now. She will be Mrs. Collins. She'll have her own home, Lizzy, and not have to continue to feel a burden to her parents. Charlotte is, I am sure, knowledgeable of Mr. Collins's simple nature, but that may be part of the appeal for her. He will be easy for her to manage."
The thought of Charlotte stuck in such an unequal marriage for the rest of her life left a bad taste in Lizzy's mouth. "Charlotte will 'manage' him with little difficulty," she said after several moments of working her jaw in irritation. "I so wish she had been born a witch!"
"If only wishing made it so," Jane sighed. "How do you mean to reply?" she asked, grabbing the letter from where she had set it earlier.
Lizzy looked at the missive with unconcealed disgust before taking it back into her possession, using only two fingers and holding it away from her person. "As much as I would like to support Charlotte in whatever way possible and object to the wedding during the ceremony," she said smartly, "I cannot imagine how I would explain my presence in Hertfordshire while failing to stay at Longbourn."
Jane pursed her lips in thought. "Perhaps we ought to write home," she suggested. "Do you think we might be able to come to some sort of agreement with Mama, for the sake of being able to attend Charlotte's wedding?"
Lizzy looked at her sister unamusedly. "The fact that we would be returning expressly for Charlotte's wedding to Mr. Collins will make Mama absolutely unmovable. It is, after all, Mr. Collins's marriageability that is the cause of this whole debacle."
"Since the initial shock of your refusal of Mr. Collins has passed," Jane ventured, "it might be easier to make Mama see reason. We know she cannot understand that we, as her daughters, can provide for her. But I am engaged to Charles now. Were we truly Muggles, he would be able to provide adequately for us all."
"Yes, but you were already engaged to him when Mr. Collins proposed to me," Lizzy argued.
"Only for eighteen hours," Jane countered. "Time changes things. Come, Lizzy. Let us at least try making peace."
"For Charlotte's sake," Lizzy grudgingly agreed.
"Mr. Darcy to see you, Miss," announced a maid.
Elizabeth barely refrained from groaning. She most definitely did not want to see Mr. Darcy at the moment. "Show him in," she said resignedly. Whatever her desires, she did not feel she could politely refuse him entrance without a good reason.
While she waited for the maid to fetch Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth looked over the letter she had begun drafting to her mother. It was a poor attempt, at best. After thinking about what she might write while she slept, she had worked on it for the better part of an hour and had less than half a page to show for it. She just could not manage to write the words she thought would appease her mother while still maintaining her own self-respect.
"Miss Bennet."
Elizabeth rose from her chair and greeted Mr. Darcy. "What brings you to Cheapside today, Mr. Darcy?" she asked after inviting him to sit.
"I wondered if you had the opportunity to walk today, or if responsibilities had kept your possible companions from you," Mr. Darcy answered.
Elizabeth looked at the clock on the wall. She had not realized how much of the day had gone by. "I have not walked today," she said. "I have been attempting a letter to my mother."
Mr. Darcy's face darkened briefly, but he then schooled it to a familiar expression of haughty indifference. "Do your parents continue to refuse you entry to Longbourn?"
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at the man sitting across her. "Why do you do that?"
"Do what?" he asked.
Elizabeth gestured to his face. "Is showing emotion such a horrible thing to do?"
Mr. Darcy thought for several moments before answering. "Do you really wish to know the reason behind my current expression?"
"Yes!"
"Very well," Mr. Darcy acceded. Almost instantaneously, his face was overcome by intense anger: his jaw clenched, his skin reddened, his eyes darkened, his lips thinned, his eyebrows drew together. "I use that expression to hide the severity of my feelings because I am aware that displaying such can work very much to my detriment."
Elizabeth recognized what she saw on Mr. Darcy's face now. She had seen aspects of it during various classes and seen it at its full extent whenever Wickham was concerned. "And what has you in such a state?"
Mr. Darcy ground his teeth as he considered his response. "I am not sure it would be wise for me to answer that just now."
"You cannot possibly say anything worse to me than you have already," Elizabeth attempted teasing.
Mr. Darcy's anger was quickly replaced by a panicked concern. "I thought we had agreed – "
"Calm yourself, Mr. Darcy," Elizabeth said lightly. "I was only trying to put you a little more at ease with expressing yourself."
The dark cloud returned to Mr. Darcy's face in full force. "As you are so determined to know the cause of my ire, I suppose I shall tell you," said he. "It is your parents."
Elizabeth could not help but feel anger rise in her chest. Mr. Darcy had already thrown her bloodline in her face once before, and she did not like the idea of it happening again.
"I cannot think well of people that would turn their own child out of the house because said child refused to agree to a life of absolute misery merely to appease their own desires to keep an entailed estate in their possession," Mr. Darcy finally confessed. "It is abhorrent to me that you are treated in such a fashion."
Elizabeth could not fully explain why, but she felt the need to justify her parents. "Well, in truth, it was only Mama that said I should not come back unless I had changed my mind. She acted in anger. She cannot help it. She doesn't know another way to secure her own future than by marrying her daughters off. And Papa understood when I said I would not marry Mr. Collins."
Mr. Darcy's face, if possible, became even more severe.
"What?" Elizabeth asked irritably.
"I think it would be better for me to not say," Mr. Darcy replied.
Completely abandoning Muggle propriety, Elizabeth folded her arms over her chest, leaned back in her seat, and crossed one leg over the other. "I will not be moved, Mr. Darcy. If you will not answer me, then take your leave. Our paths will cross at Hogwarts."
"Is this to be the state of things?" Darcy asked with a pronounced frown. "Will you present me with such an ultimatum every time I refuse you?"
Elizabeth only quirked an eyebrow.
Mr. Darcy heaved a great sigh. "I don't care if your mother premeditated barring you from the house or if she acted on the impulse of the moment. Given her own fears of a disgraced and penniless existence, I can find absolutely no justification for her condemning her daughter to such a fate, for we both know that would be your position, if you were a Muggle. That she has made no effort as of yet to even attempt to reconcile with or find you only compounds her cruelty. I know I am in no position to say as much, but I can never forgive Mrs. Bennet for her mistreatment of you."
Elizabeth felt her jaw slacken to the point it must be hanging open, but she made no effort to pull it up. She had never heard such a condemnation of her mother. Mrs. Bennet was easily excitable, silly, predictable, and ridiculous, but Elizabeth had never before heard her be described as cruel.
"As for your father," Mr. Darcy continued, "I cannot think well of a man that would allow his daughters, the youngest being only ten, to simply ride off without knowing where they were going, and all because he cannot be bothered to take his wife in hand. I rather pity his tenants. If he is so callous toward his daughters, I cannot imagine what life for those under his care, but of no relation, must be like."
Elizabeth now opened and closed her jaw several times without making a sound.
Mr. Darcy's anger began to mingle with concern. "Have I spoken too plainly? Truly, I took no pleasure in telling you such things, and would take them all back into my mind if I could."
Once, Elizabeth might have raged and yelled at Mr. Darcy without a second thought. After all that had recently occurred, however, she took a moment to collect her thoughts before making any sort of reply.
"I did not realize you felt so strongly on the subject, Mr. Darcy," she said finally.
"I cannot help but feel strongly on the subject," Darcy answered, his eyes holding Elizabeth's captive.
Elizabeth suddenly found herself feeling very confined, and quickly rose from her chair. As she waited for Darcy to get to his feet, she decided she would like to ignore everything that had just happened for the time being. "As I told you earlier, Mr. Darcy, I have not had the opportunity to exercise today," she said. "I shall again take you up on your offer to be at my disposal."
Darcy looked down at Elizabeth with evident worry for a few moments, then sighed and said he would be pleased to grant her request. He had rather hoped Elizabeth would wish to walk in silence for a while. He wanted to devote some time to carefully calculating how he might save Elizabeth the bother of interacting with her parents ever again. Considering the fragile state of their understandings of each other, he knew that the situation would have to be handled with extreme caution. Elizabeth, however, seemed determined that not a moment of quiet would occur between them.
"How fares your sister?" Elizabeth asked.
"Georgiana refuses to be out of the sight of my aunt or uncle, presently," Darcy answered, eyes fixed ahead of him as he answered mechanically.
"Have you been to see her yet today?"
"No. I have stayed away. Her relapse is bad enough without my being there as a reminder."
"Have you considered the presence of her brother might make her feel safer?" Elizabeth asked. "She seemed quite comfortable with you the other morning, both before and after Wickham's appearance." She rather liked the image of Darcy protectively holding his sister.
"I am only acting in a way that I believe will help her recover most quickly," Darcy defended.
"I do not doubt it, Mr. Darcy," Elizabeth said patiently. "I will continue to encourage you to reconsider, however. When one is refused to be seen by a relative, that one is likely to begin to feel as though their relative is ashamed of them."
Darcy finally looked at the woman beside him, fully aware of her double meaning. "I could never be ashamed of Georgiana. Very well, I shall do as you have said and see her this evening."
"I think that very wise of you," Elizabeth said mildly.
"If your mother is ashamed of you, Miss Bennet, it only makes her all the more foolish," Darcy said, trying to keep the vitriol in his voice to a minimum.
Elizabeth decided to pretend as though he had not made his last comment. "I saw Mr. Bingley yesterday," she said cheerfully, instead. She looked up to Darcy's face, noted his lingering concern, and forced a smile to her face in attempts to convince him of her wellbeing.
"I won't press you on the matter, Miss Bennet, but please understand that I am not fooled by your false cheer," said Darcy. "If, or when, you are willing to speak more on the matter, I shall be perfectly happy to listen."
Elizabeth blushed, but again chose denial over further engagement. "Bingley seems to be host to rather a happy party. Jane has been getting to know Mrs. Hurst better. I did not think it would be possible, but they may even become good friends."
Darcy sighed internally, but finally entered into Elizabeth's chosen topic of conversation. "At Netherfield, I noticed Mrs. Hurst was much changed since the summer, and not just because of her condition. I rather think being separated from Caroline suits her very well."
"I would imagine separation from Caroline suits everyone well," Elizabeth said smartly.
Darcy coughed to cover a laugh. "I cannot truthfully deny it. Louisa only graduated Beauxbatons this past June. When Caroline left for Hogwarts, it was the first time the sisters have been separated in their mature lives. Without such a domineering personality about, I would imagine Louisa was able to behave more as she truly wished to, rather than having to consider her sister's every reaction."
"I think you must be correct," said Elizabeth. "Charlotte had mentioned she had had several pleasant interactions with Mrs. Hurst. I think she and Mr. Hurst were starting to become rather integrated with Meryton society. Will they return to Netherfield, do you think?"
"That will depend on Bingley, I would imagine," said Darcy. "In years past, I would state confidently that Bingley would return to Netherfield and smooth over any ill will remaining in the area from previous events," he said delicately. He glanced with concern to Elizabeth, but her equilibrium did not seem to be upset. "Since coming to Hogwarts, however, I find I am not able to predict what Bingley will do as well as I once was."
"How so?" Elizabeth asked. "Jane mentioned before that Charles has changed, but I must confess I haven't seen it. He still seems as amiable as ever."
"I recognize how this might sound," said Darcy somewhat uncomfortably, "but I cannot think of another way to say it: Bingley has finally developed a backbone. It used to be that, with a few carefully placed words from the correct person, Bingley's will could be directed any which way. Now he stands firmly on his own. It was he that sent Caroline away, you know."
"Yes, I remember once having a conversation over how eager Charles is to please his friends," said Elizabeth, her eyebrows drawn together. "Did you ever exercise such a power over him?"
"I made most serious efforts not to," Darcy answered quickly, before Elizabeth's anger could begin to manifest. "I did my utmost to advise him on various matters impartially. It was only when he was beginning to lean toward doing something unwise at the bidding of his sisters that I employed such tactics."
Elizabeth seemed satisfied with such an answer, and the pair's conversation ventured into much less dangerous waters for the duration of their walk.
When they arrived back at the Gardiner's, Mrs. Gardiner invited Darcy to stay for tea. He readily accepted the offer and was utterly delighted to meet Elizabeth's young cousins who, he noted with great interest, she doted on without spoiling. The more he learned of her, the more alluring she became.
Author's Note
Awww, look at those cuties beginning to figure each other out! It'd be a shame if something were to... come between them...
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