"Darcy, your knocker is off and the servants are running around like headless chickens! What did you do to them?"
"Fitzwilliam, I am not in the mood for your -"
"- antics. You are never in the mood, Darcy, I know, but you do look worse than your usual."
"You are here because?"
"Is it Georgiana?"
"No! She is well, why would you even think so?"
"Is it Wickham? You once thought of him as a friend."
"No, it's not Wickham," Darcy replied, suddenly tired as if he hadn't slept in days "although I cannot condone what happened to him," he continued and his cousin snorted.
"We deport children, Darcy, for lesser offenses. I say he deserves everything they meted out to him and more. Who knows, maybe he will surprise us all and will become an upstanding subject of his majesty, a courageous soldier, an example of selfless duty minded officer… Ah, no, it will never happen. I know it, you know it, every servant girl who ever encountered Wickham knows it, and a fair number of women curse his name every day, I am sure."
"Yes, yes, I know all this."
"But you don't care. You never really did care until he set his sights on Georgiana."
"Am I really that bad? I did what I could for them!"
"No, no, I would not say that. You are not bad, but you did wait for him to strike before doing something. You like to have your own way, just as we all do, except you have the means to do just that more than most others. So I reckon maybe you should have done more."
"Bingley cut me at the club today," Darcy replied. His treatment of Wickham has been and will always be a sore point as far as his cousin was concerned. A change of subject was in order.
"He did what? Cut you?!"
"He did indeed. I have tried to shield him from another heartache and he took exception at my reasoning and my methods."
"Hm, this is not Bingley's style, as far as I know the man, which, admittedly, is not too well."
"He met a young woman when he leased Netherfield."
"Let's see: she was very beautiful and he was in lust with her at first sight!"
"Fitzwilliam!"
"Well, was he? And stop being such a prude, you are my cousin!"
"He thought himself in love, he wanted to propose to her."
"Oh ho, this is good."
"It is not," Darcy said in a clipped tone. "The young woman was not too bad, although such a bland person I rarely met, I do not think I heard her express any opinion on anything, ever. I do not think she cared much for him, she never really pursued him."
"Who cares? You said she was beautiful."
"She was. She was also poor and her relatives were all in trade."
"So she was a small town merchant's daughter. What of it? Bingley is a wealthy merchant's son. He could do better, he could do worse. Why should you care?"
"Her father is a gentleman of some means, however, the estate is entailed from the female line and will pass onto some distant cousin. The girls, there are five sisters -"
"Five?!"
"Five. They have little to no dowry."
"She is a gentleman's daughter. And Bingley is not."
"She did not care for him, Fitzwilliam. Her mother was pushing her hard, she was boasting of having a daughter well married!"
"Ah."
"She, or her mother, schemed to follow him to London, apparently, and now she's got her claws into him."
"Hm"
"He upbraided me for keeping the knowledge from him."
"Surely you did no such thing!"
"I - I knew she was in London, but of course I did not run to tell him such news."
"That was all?"
"What else can there be?"
"I do not know, Darcy, but I do not understand much of your reasoning."
"Bingley is a fool. He questioned our friendship and accused me of underhanded methods."
"Then he is a fool. Although how can you be sure she was scheming if she never pursued Bingley?"
"What do you mean?"
"You said so just now, that she never pursued him. A woman should be free to accept a man who pursues her, should she not? He pursued her, I believe it's enough, no other scheme is needed," the Colonel said and wiggled his eyebrows.
"Do be serious."
"My mother assures me that would be all it takes for some grand heiress to fall madly in love with me and, as you know, the Countess is never wrong."
-`o´-
Only a few days had passed now since Mrs. Croft arrived and, while Elizabeth understood that change cannot happen in the blink of an eye, in her heart she was still disappointed with the new companion.
Oh, she had devised a schedule and insisted that they all keep to it and improve themselves, but Elizabeth felt more was needed.
Soon she was to travel to Hunsford and Charlotte and this too was making her apprehensive. Should she postpone or even cancel the visit? Would it be better if she stayed to work her way through what Mrs. Croft deemed as necessary accomplishments? How would it look for her to leave so soon after welcoming the teacher she and Jane had so often petitioned for?
She was in the garden with Kitty when Mrs. Croft approached them and asked if they would mind having a companion. They did not. Even without Lydia's presence to influence the discourse, Kitty and Elizabeth had very little to say to each other.
Mrs. Croft had learned, from some of the comments Mrs. Bennet had made, that the disgraced lieutenant Wickham was somewhat attached to Miss Elizabeth, although her mother did not think the young lady's heart was likely to have been touched.
She had already refused her very eligible cousin Mr. Collins and it was doubtful Mrs. Bennet would ever forgive her for the offense. In her mother's mind it was only fitting that a man Miss Elizabeth seemed to like was proved to be a scoundrel. Her second daughter deserved all that and more.
Mrs. Bennet had also mentioned Mr. Bingley's friend, a certain Mr. Darcy, who, on first meeting Miss Elizabeth, declared her not handsome. And then the same gentleman danced with her at the Netherfield ball, which confused Mrs. Bennet to no end as he did not ask Miss Jane as well. Since it seemed to upset Miss Elizabeth the matron explained it all away as some kind of a joke Mr. Darcy played on her.
Mrs. Croft kept the subjects light while they stretched their legs, asking general questions about the neighbourhood and slightly more pointed ones about the militia.
"It was shocking, to be sure, to hear Mr. Wickham was a thief! He was such a favourite of Lizzy's!"
"Was he really, Miss Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth silently cursed her sister's loose tongue. She did not want to be reminded of how silly she had been in showing such a decided preference to a man who proved himself to be a very bad sort.
"Mr. Wickham was blessed with such happy manners that it was natural I enjoyed his company," was all she would say.
"Do you often welcome newcomers into the neighbourhood? Meryton is not on the road North, so I don't suppose there are too many new people who would establish themselves here for any length of time."
"You are right, Mrs. Croft, it's rare that we see such an abundance of new acquaintances."
"With all the officers we never lack for partners at dances!" Miss Catherine added with enthusiasm.
"I thought I understood from your mother there was another family established at Netherfield as well."
"Yes, the Bingleys. They have been here only a few weeks and then gone back to town."
"And what did you make of them, Miss Catherine? Was Mr. Bingley a good dancer too?"
"Very good! He did not dance with me, but we all admired him."
"Perhaps he danced with you, Miss Elizabeth?"
"But once," she replied. "There are too many ladies and too few gentlemen and I must not hold it against him, for he always danced every dance."
"Which any man should, if he can," Mrs. Croft replied with a smile and a wink.
"Oh, yes, he was not like Mr. Darcy at all!" Miss Catherine introduced the name, which fitted Mrs. Croft's schemes very nice indeed.
"Mr. Darcy was a guest of Mr. Bingley, I believe, was he not?"
"Yes, he was Mr. Bingley's friend," Miss Catherine faithfully replied.
"And he did not like to dance?"
"He did not," Miss Elizabeth said, her tone clipped.
"Did you dance with him, Miss Catherine?"
"No, not I! I did not even talk to him, not even once. He quite frightened me."
"He did? Why so? Was he unkind?"
"Well no, but he did not speak much. He was always so serious. He spoke with Lizzy sometimes and of course with his friend Mr. Bingley, but not with many others."
"Well then I would say your sister is blessed with such manners as to make it easy for her to converse with strangers and make friends everywhere she goes."
Miss Catherine agreed warmly with this description of her sister, while Miss Elizabeth disclaimed any special talent.
"Did Mr. Darcy dance with you, Miss Elizabeth? Or did he just not dance at all?"
"He did, once."
"Indeed! Well then, I was right, Miss Elizabeth," Mrs. Croft pressed her point.
"I do not know why he asked me," Miss Elizabeth mused. "You see, we are not friends."
"Come, Miss Elizabeth, why would a man ask any woman to dance?"
Her charge did not reply and only looked confused. Even the voluble Miss Catherine looked confused.
"Now that I think of it," Miss Catherine said with a frown, "you are the only one Mr. Darcy danced with, Lizzy."
"Nonsense, Kitty!"
"Don't be silly, Lizzy, I am telling you he danced with no other but you."
"He danced with Mr. Bingley's sisters."
"He had to," Miss Catherine waved her sister's protestations aside. "Miss Bingley was his hostess, it means nothing that he danced with her."
"It means nothing that he danced with me either, I am quite sure of it. In any case, we argued all the time and did not part as friends."
"Why is that, Miss Elizabeth?"
"He did not find me handsome enough for his tastes, for one."
"How shocking," Mrs. Croft said and laughed, "for you must be one of the prettiest young ladies I have had the pleasure to meet, just as all of your sisters are."
"He was very rude."
"Rude? How so?"
"He did not take pleasure in our society, you see. He never talked to anybody if he could help it, he felt himself quite above us. Although I suppose I must now absolve him of all the unkind acts Mr. Wickham accused him of."
"Miss Catherine said he talked to you a lot."
"I suppose he did, on occasion."
"On occasion?"
"We did not talk, we argued. Even Mr. Bingley was somewhat put out by our discourse."
"So I am asking you again, Miss Elizabeth: what would induce a man of consequence, who talks with nobody and is not interested in the Meryton society, to single you out as a worthy partner for debates and, furthermore, why would he dance with you and only you, ignoring all your neighbours and your sisters, even the very beautiful Miss Jane and Miss Catherine."
"Oh, Lizzy, he must have really liked you," Miss Catherine sighed. "Just you wait until mama hears of it!"
"Mr. Darcy is gone from the neighbourhood, Miss Catherine, and I caution you not to spread gossip that could be harmful," Mrs. Croft was swift to make her expectations known to her charge. From the corner of her eye she could see Miss Elizabeth palling at her sister's words.
"It is not gossip when it's true, is it?" Miss Catherine was decidedly unhappy to have such a piece of news in her possession and not be allowed to impart it to her acquaintances.
"Is it true though? Did you perhaps speak with Mr. Darcy regarding your sister?"
"No, but you said that -"
"Miss Catherine, that will not do. You have to be circumspect when discussing other people's private concerns." Miss Catherine frowned, but then nodded her agreement, so she continued:
"My purpose is to have Miss Elizabeth and you examine your interactions with people you did not know well and to see if, in the light of all that happened lately, your conclusions match your first impressions. It is obvious to me there must be more to Mr. Bingley, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Denny, and Mr. Wickham than what your suppositions so far yielded."
"Oh."
"You seem disappointed, Miss Catherine."
"A little, I suppose; I do not believe I ever thought about Mr. Darcy at all, but it would have been nice to know he was secretly admiring Lizzy. Only think, Lizzy! Just like in a novel," she sighed dreamily.
"Mr. Darcy was a much more important gentleman than Mr. Bingley, according to your mother; infinitely more so than Mr. Wickham or even your cousin, Mr. Collins. None of you really thought about him as a possible partner, yet he is exactly the kind of gentleman you need: one well able to take care of you all. If," Mrs. Croft raised a hand to forestall any protestations from Miss Elizabeth, "if and only if he also proved to be honorable and principled." Miss Catherine nodded again and Mrs. Croft prayed for patience.
Miss Catherine was still young and unaccustomed to questioning people or their motives. She could well understand why her dear friend Madeline Gardiner thought it imperative that Miss Lydia and Miss Catherine should be separated, in addition to Miss Lydia being better off outside the sphere of influence of Mrs. Bennet.
"I do not know if he admired you, Miss Elizabeth, but I do know that he was probably curious about you. The next time either of you meet such a man, I should hope you will at least be able to understand what happens. I can school you, Miss Catherine, in all the subjects you wish to learn about and I can help refine your playing and singing, Miss Elizabeth. What I cannot do is seize the opportunities for you. This is what I want you to understand."
-`o´-
Well then, Elizabeth mused later while penning a letter for Jane, I was right that more than French and piano was needed. Although now that her wish was granted she was not sure she liked the result. Had she been so very silly as to let herself consider a person's character based solely on words spoken before they even met properly?
By all accounts the answer was that yes, she had been acting very silly indeed.
-`o´-
Author note:
Thank you all for the reviews, they are wonderful!
Guest who said "You two are so well matched" is the very best insult to Darcy:
It is, isn't it? That's why we should do what we know it's right :)
Guest who said Love Bingley's insult:
Mr. Bingley is all grown up! What a marvelous feeling :)
Guest who said No puppy in this Bingley!:
Nothing like a little betrayal to make you see clearly.
Guest who said Go Bingley!:
He's going, going, gone! He'll get the girl, never worry :)
Guest who said It would be nice if Jane met someone else because Bingley is weak:
Just in case this is a deal breaker, Jane will not meet someone else. She and Bingley will have to muddle through. I have my reasons for it and I cannot say more because it would spoil the story.
Guest Colleen S:
Thank you for always being so kind and encouraging with everybody who posts in this fandom :)
Guest who said Bravo Bingley:
Bingley is on a roll, isn't he?
Guest who said love Mr. Bingley here :) :
He's finding his voice, though there's still some way to go.
Guest who said loving it:
I'm very glad and relieved the chapter was well received. I was kind of apprehensive.
Guest who said thanks! :
It was my pleasure :)
Guest Saralee:
Darcy was an ass, wasn't he, to presume to know what Jane thought just by looking at her for a couple of hours. Somebody ought to tell him!