When they arrived at Meryton, they found that Bingley had already been made comfortable in the guest room with Jane and Mary, a younger sister, in attendance. When they went to look in at him, Jane met them with a finger to her lips. "He sleeps," she whispered. "Dr. Simons gave him a draught of laudanum to make certain he had a long period of quiet to aid his recovery. Mary and I have been reading Psalms to soothe his spirit as he sleeps," she added.
Darcy merely glanced at the bed, saw Bingley indeed was sleeping peacefully, and resolved to leave him in obviously caring hands while he returned to Netherfield. He would return in the morrow, perhaps with the sisters and his brother in law. Downstairs again, he met Mr. Bennet and was immediately impressed by his deportment and the quality of his speech. Mrs. Bennet on the other hand, was cut from a different cloth altogether. She was still fanning herself, crying for her vapors, and wailing that assassins were surely coming to murder them all in their sleep: a sleep which she was certain, she would never be able to achieve again. After listening to her rant for a few moments, he looked at Miss Bennet who merely gave a shrug of her shoulders and a wave of her hand.
She walked with him outside, after obtaining permission from her father to allow one of the footmen to travel with the carriage to Netherfield and return the next morning. As she stood by the carriage, she admonished him once more. "I cannot erase from my mind the hatred I saw in the eyes of that militiaman… Wickham. Be on guard every moment for he will not cease his machinations until he is stopped. His first plan did not succeed but he is even now devising a new one."
"I am distressed that I have drawn you and your family into the sphere of his schemes," Darcy said, softly. "I have unwittingly exposed you all to the dangers he is planning. I think it was prudent of you not to wish to be mentioned to the Captain as being part of the situation. " Elizabeth smiled with that twinkle in her eye he had already come to look for when she spoke. "That, Mr. Darcy, was not my desire; only that none should know I am part of the situation. If they do not suspect me as an active player in the game, I have a much greater chance of impacting the outcome when no one is looking in my direction. I hope to be the move on the chessboard no one is looking for and thus no one can prepare for. That is how we win at chess, Sir!" And now her grin was wide and the twinkle was radiant! And Darcy knew he was in love for the first time in his life!
Spoken by anyone else, such words would have sounded as pure braggadocio. But coming from this unique, one of a kind woman… 'Wickham will rue the day he raises a hand against her friends and family!' was his thought.