Chapter 7

The morning came with surprising haste; not two minutes, Edward was sure, after he had lain down, he was awakened by the sun in his eyes. He could not move at first. In fact, he was sure he could continue sleeping until the end of times came. He felt faintly sick. The odd pasty taste in his mouth made him wonder what had happened the night before, and then recollections of Jane's condition, of Darcy's advice and especially of Darcy's brandy rushed through him. In only a moment he was on his feet and cleaning himself up.

His first action was to try to take a peek into his sister's room, but a maid caught him before he could enter and ushered him outside. Miss Bennet was not to be disturbed, the maid informed him, as she was finally sleeping after a very long and restless night. Guilt then gnawed at him something fierce. I should have stayed with her instead of going off to drink myself to sleep, he berated himself bitterly.

He could only leave word to Jane saying he would come by later and go downstairs; he found the rest of the party in the breakfast room.

Darcy was serious, although that was hardly new or surprising. Bingley was visibly nervous and kept sending the servants up to inquire after Jane's health and comfort. Mrs Hurst and her husband, although they inquired—it would have been hardly been polite not to—appeared uninterested in the answer. Surprisingly they were the saving graces of the morning, both providing subject after subject of alternate conversation if only to keep themselves amused.

Miss Bingley proved the most curious subject. She kept her eyes lowered and flushed slightly every time their eyes met, but still she treated him with barely concealed contempt. The second she had finished eating, she excused herself—heading somewhere, Edward guessed, far away from him; he was surprised to note that no one but him remarked on the breach of propriety by their polished hostess.

As predicted, the apothecary had to be called as soon as Jane was able to receive him. After Mr. Jones arrived and went up to see her, the rest of the party had only to wait a little while when word was sent that he required Edward's presence. Bingley followed him unthinkingly. The apothecary, waiting for Edward outside Jane's room, was unconcerned and advised only rest—Jane was not to be moved under any circumstances—and some draughts he could dispense himself.

Bingley immediately offered an invitation for both siblings to stay until Jane would be well enough to return home safely; a week, or four days at the very least.

Edward saw no other solution and accepted the latter option—although it was a day more than what the apothecary advised—as graciously as he could. A note was sent to Longbourn immediately to request that a servant be sent with their clothes, and to provide a more detailed explanation for Mr. Bennet.

For Edward the day passed strangely; he was at the same time in a daze and excruciatingly sluggish. The lack of his usual obligations made him realize how much they drove his life. His father had indeed passed control of the estate in all but name to him, but the transition had been so smooth that he had hardly noticed the change. Only now, when he could not attend to them, did he feel the weight of his duties.

The life of a gentleman of leisure was not as easy as he had thought as a child; and not so difficult either, he chided himself, it is hardly as if you were forced to toil from sun-up to sundown. Nevertheless, an estate produced a frightful quantity of paperwork, even one as small as Longbourn. I shall not envy Darcy his Pemberley, thought Edward sardonically, it must need four times the attention! No wealth can repay that much desk duty.

Finally, in the afternoon, bored beyond endurance and sure that his sister would be awake and disposed to see him if he could only avoid the upstairs maid, Edward went looking for Jane. A surprise awaited him when he opened the door. Although he could not be certain of his success, he did at least take the trouble of hiding his astonishment.

"Miss Bingley, Jane, how are you passing this fine day? I trust you are both well?"

"Mr. Bennet!" said Miss Bingley blushing profusely. She was apparently unable to utter another word.

"Indeed, I am. Should I have introduced myself just now, do you think? It does appear that I tend to come upon you in surprising circumstances," answered Edward with a grin. His intended barb was double edged, and came quite unexpectedly to his lips.

"Edward! Stop teasing Miss Bingley. If you are indeed asking what you should have done, I can answer perfectly; you should have knocked. You startled me so."

A smile softened her words, then, and she added, "And I am improved, as you can see, if I can still berate my younger brother so well."

"No, indeed, I can only conclude now that you are dangerously ill; you are so sweet, dear sister, you normally never berate me at all. I did, however, have excellent reasons for not knocking, I thought you might be sleeping and did not want to wake you."

Soon, Edward determined that she was, indeed, as well as could be expected, and that Miss Bingley's reading had kept her well entertained, and that they, in sum, were on the way of a rapidly forming friendship. He could not be more surprised, but even to his jaundiced eye, Miss Bingley appeared sincere. So he took his leave vowing to return later, once Miss Bingley decided to rest.

He wandered aimlessly through the house and proved Darcy's opinion of the library thoroughly correct before going outside for a walk. In the garden, he found Darcy himself, and was grateful to accept the offer of a horse and a race.

Dinner was a quiet affair, with half the people at the table thinking of other things and Miss Bingley eating upstairs with Jane. They all went to bed early.

The next day went better. Edward was calmer after spending a couple of hours at his sister's bedside and seeing her much improved.

He had come upon her before breakfast and asked for a tray to be brought up for him, and this time no Miss Bingley had usurped his place.

His impressions of the other inhabitants of the house had Jane laughing in no time—especially his account of his own worried pacing and wretched billiard's skills. Best of all was his attempt to manage the stairs with four, or were there five?—a gentleman had to have some dignity, after all—full glasses of brandy in his belly. Of course, he abstained from telling of his second encounter in the top of the stairs.

"I am sure Darcy did not expect me to be so bad at holding my liquor," he said, "but I had not quite realized the effect it was having on me until those first steps up."

After leaving his place to Miss Bingley, who still seemed very dedicated to her nurse role, or at least happy to have something to do, he went downstairs. There, he wrote a note to his father, to whom he communicated both his sister's improvement and their consequent impeding return in the appointed two days time.

It was a grey, overcast day, so when Darcy found him in the drawing room and offered him a billiards lesson, he did not hesitate to accept. Bingley was, Darcy explained, occupying himself with matters of the estate.

"A propos of this…" Edward asked, after they strung, "How do you manage it, being away from Pemberley so much?"

"You break, and I take the marked one." Darcy said whilst chalking his cue, and he then continued when Edward struck the ball, "I am not, usually, but I have a good, trustworthy steward who sends me all matters needing my attention by post."

At Edward's unconcealed surprise at his nonchalance—he even stopped playing to see if Darcy was teasing him—Darcy asked, "How do you know how much attention an estate requires?"

Edward knew he ought to be offended by his dismissal, but he actually was not, and decided to avoid the discussion of how much exactly he knew, it being rather more complicated than what he cared to have at the moment.

"I am hardly blind; I see my father. And I only thought you a more conscious manager, that is all; losing hazards; your turn."

Darcy appeared somewhat offended, saying, "Yes, well, I do not exactly like to be away so often, but I gave Bingley my word that I would aid his search for an appropriate estate. I promised myself to see him settled before I go…" He stopped, surprised, and finished with a lame, "And I do not need to explain myself to you."

Edward could not help laughing.

"A little too late for that, I think, my friend," he said.

"Yes, I said I need not, not that I have not."

Darcy said that last with a smile, and then took his shot flawlessly.

Edward, remembering Bingley's remarks in the Assembly, waited until he was about to take the next one to say, "A wife and a few children would ensure your continuous presence on Pemberley, I am sure." And when Darcy missed, he added gleefully, "Losing hazards, again. My turn."

Darcy shot him a dark look while he prepared, "I see you have been paying attention," and when he missed, "but not too much."

"Yes, well, I am learning from the best, am I not?"

"You are not learning from the best. You are attempting to distract the best, and that is another matter entirely."

"Yes, well, besides being an attempt to distract you, my observation was sincere. Why don't you marry? You are the perfect age for it, and you say your sister needs a suitable companion; who better for that than your wife?"

"That is no business of yours," said Darcy without raising his head from the table, where he was on a break of seven points already, with unrelenting perfectionism.

"Very well, it was my mistake; I am unerringly too curious, as my father would say. You are avoiding my very innocent and simple question, though."

Darcy faltered one second and then returned his attention to the exact placement of his cue.

"You may pose any question you like; I may choose not to answer them."

"Of course, you may not answer, but why? It is not a difficult question at all." Edward did not stop to ask himself why he was pursuing the matter. It was simple curiosity, he was sure as he spoke, awakened by Darcy's evasiveness.

Darcy then made his fifteenth hazard and asked for Edward's cue ball to be placed on the brown spot. He made the cannon before answering.

"Why do you not answer your own question first, then?"

"Oh, that is easy. I am too young and I have yet to come into my inheritance." He made a second's pause then and something made him add, wanting to see the other man's reaction, "In any case, I am not remotely as handsome as you are."

Edward smiled gleefully as Darcy missed and levelled an undecipherable look at him, "Your turn."

"Yours to answer, though," said Edward with good humour while he pocketed one, two winning hazards.

"I have… yet to find a woman worthy of the Darcy name."

"Worthy? Not one handsome, agreeable duchess has crossed your path?"

Darcy suppressed a smirk, "No."

"A shame, really; I am sure all the uglier, disagreeable ones are suffering in well-mannered silence for your indifference."

He was standing with his cue stick propped on the floor so excessively diverted that Darcy relented and smiled.

"Do take your shot some time in the next century; otherwise my time of wife hunting will be curtailed by my old age." And while Edward was taking it, he added, "I would consider Miss Bingley if I were you, Bennet. She was asking so insistently for your whereabouts this morning that I think a very fine line has been crossed."

Edward missed. Privately he thought that he would have missed even without the distraction, bothersome as it was, as he was trying for a very complicated cannon. He had already thought that lady's dislike of him too exaggerated for comfort; but he did not falter and smiled somewhat unpleasantly.

"Why? Are you perhaps jealous? Too much of her attention deviated from you while she did the asking?"

"You know perfectly well it did not. She asked me after all."

Darcy seemed determined not to miss any more shots.

"So, you are waiting for the right lady. We will make a romantic out of you yet, Darcy."

The other appeared only amused at this and asked, raising his head from his cue, "What do you know about romance, Bennet?"

Edward, with the echo of the earliest dismissive question still resonating within, and although almost painfully aware of the truth of this one, said with a straight face, "I know enough. More than you, if we are to believe your way of looking for a wife; we could not make a good novel's hero out of you if we tried. Worthy of the Darcy name my hat!"

"You have not got a hat right now." And then, at his expectant face, he added seriously, "You know nothing of the responsibilities of my position."

Darcy sounded a little impatient, and Edward wished for a second not to have raised the matter at all, or at the very least, to retract his last phrase. But it was not to be, and he plunged on valiantly.

"I had thought you inherited without any special clauses."

Darcy stood back and looked at him steadily. "I did, at that, but I have my honour to consider as well; I have to respect my family's wishes."

There was nothing Edward could say to that; if nothing else, he understood how one's position in life defined what one could and could not do.

Quickly, Darcy then proceeded to win the game, and of unspoken accord they talked of things unrelated to marriage for the rest of the day.

Jane was well enough to come down for dinner that night. The affair was agreeable enough, Miss Bingley's unpleasantness completely masked by solicitous concern for her guest. Even Edward, who was looking for proof of her duplicitous nature, found it easy to be deceived by it. She did not seek to avoid his presence anymore, although she was, nonetheless, unfailingly cold—within the limits of politeness—to him. After each exchange, he felt Darcy's eyes on him and once, when he couldn't restraint himself and tried to meet his eyes, he encountered a smirk that was quickly hidden behind a glass. The situation was as uncomfortable as it was ridiculous.

After dinner, Edward approached Bingley, and after thanking him for his hospitality, stated that they would take their leave on the morrow, as Jane was now quite well and a three mile journey in carriage would surely not hamper her improvement. Bingley was horrified.

"After all Miss Bennet went through, after the danger?! To risk her health so, when you could perfectly stay, say, one more day, to make sure of her recovery…"

After the usual demurrals and 'thank you's and 'not at all's, Edward had to acquiesce, if only to avoid another such pleasant discussion with his host. Bingley was extraordinarily stubborn for so easy a fellow. One more day they would stay, and Edward was to send a note to Longbourn requesting the carriage in advance; he did so immediately, if only as a way to avoid further delay in their departure.

The whole party expressed their delight in such arrangements, although Miss Bingley's response did sound somewhat strained.

Darcy's was subdued, "Time for another billiards lesson, then," he said to Edward.

And Edward was suddenly glad, because that was proof, finally, that their conversation had not upset him, nor had it marred their recent friendship.

The next day was agreeable enough. Jane's continuing presence in the room managed to keep Miss Bingley in good behaviour, even to the extreme of curbing her tongue when talking to Edward.

After a while of this, unnerved, Edward took advantage of the sudden sun that peeked timidly between the clouds to escape parlour chit-chat for a walk in the gardens. He was pleased when Darcy joined him, though not so much that he brought Miss Bingley on his arm.

Walking outside was surprisingly pleasant. Miss Bingley took obvious pains to hide her uneasiness, going so far as to appear to be friendly toward and even interested in Edward.

"You have been here three days and have yet to play for me," she said first thing, drawing Mr. Darcy's surprised gaze with her friendliness.

"I have not promised to do so," said Edward without missing a second, "and having as we do, such accomplished ladies in our midst, I would feel quite out of place."

"I am sure you are being too modest. Your sister has praised you so," she replied, the effect of her calm phrase ruined somewhat by her blush.

Edward could not find any sarcasm in her tone, so he tried to moderate his.

"Oh, my! You must have already heard me say that a sister's praise is very hollow, especially from a sister as excellent as Jane. I am afraid Jane will find her brother without fault no matter the subject."

"Then I must repeat what my brother said then, you will not paint her a liar in my eyes."

"Well, then, if I must. We will both play and you will be able to measure my worth for yourself."

Miss Bingley acquiesced with lowered eyes, but her suddenly found inquisitiveness could not be held back for long.

"Is Miss Bennet your only sister, Mr. Bennet?"

"No, she is not. I have one other."

"One other!" said Darcy, "is she married? You never speak of her…" His words trailed off, too late realizing the indelicacy of asking such a question. Edward, trying to put him at ease, answered with perfect humour.

"With my sister, I am afraid that the saying 'out of sight, out of mind' proves all too true. She is not married, but living since a very young age with some relatives in Scotland. She is my age to a day and my own excellent mother died with our birth. It was a lucky coincidence that my father could not care for both of us and that my aunt and uncle wanted children. From time to time I go visit her, but not enough, I am afraid."

Both his interlocutors were silent for a moment, at a loss for words, until Miss Bingley suddenly said, intending without a doubt to lighten the air,

"And what is she like?"

"Elizabeth is exactly like me in every respect, to both our chagrin; although I am sure she carries it better than me by far."

"Exactly like you!"

"Identical. Once when I was… about five I think, Jane in a fit of fancy put me in an old dress of hers and my father thought my sister had come alone all the way down from Scotland." Edward could not really remember his father's expression—he only had a vague idea of how discomfited he had been—but could imagine it well enough.

"A dress!" It seemed that there was no end to Miss Bingley's astonishment; she was indeed quite shocked.

"Do you not think, Miss Bingley, that I would make a creditable lady? You wound me!" Edward said with his humour more than intact, closing his eyes and raising his head for her perusal.

Miss Bingley's subsequent sputter drew a smile on his lips, and he opened his eyes, to enjoy the sight of her confusion.

Darcy spoke at that moment, directing himself to Miss Bingley with a serious tone, "Do not trouble yourself trying to answer, Miss Bingley, Mr. Bennet is only teasing you, I am sure." Then, looking at Edward again, and visibly stifling a smile, he said more thoughtfully, "Though I do believe many a woman would envy his lashes."

Edward attempted to laugh it off, but found himself unequal to the task. He smiled weakly, looked away, and started walking again. Had Darcy tried to fluster him? If he had, he had quite succeeded, but Edward was loath to give any show of it. The others went along with him, but now the silence was unsettling.

Finally Miss Bingley exerted herself, and began to comment charmingly on the lay of Netherfield gardens, and how Pemberley ones were so much greater.

Edward found himself answering very little, and though he was unequal to meeting them again, Darcy's disturbingly penetrating eyes preyed on him, and he could not be at ease.

Edward did not speak again with Miss Bingley until after dinner, when they both played a little for the party. Talk consisted of nothing but inconsequential things with Darcy, although they did play a spot of billiards in the afternoon.

He went to sleep with both Darcy's pensive gaze and Miss Bingley's ease at praising his playing preying on his mind. Everything conspired to enhance his relief at getting away from Netherfield on the morrow.

And indeed, as was previously arranged, the very next day after breakfast, the carriage came and returned them to Longbourn.

a/n: Thanks go, like always, to my previously mentioned betas. Also to those of you that commented: it makes me happy that this story interests you enough to read along and review. :D