Page 17 of Knowing Mr. Darcy
“I shall be back momentarily,” he said.
When he put the book in her hands, she lit up, and he felt a singular sort of pride, for having pleased her. There was something about this woman, like the charged air of a gathered storm.
He cleared his throat. “About Charles.”
She looked up at him, curious.
“Mr. Bingley, I mean,” he said. “You know he holds you in high regard.”
“Yes,” she said.
“And you? You hold him in high regard as well?”
“He is a flattering man to be near,” she said, turning her attention back to the book. “I am not used to such attention, but I cannot say that I do not enjoy it. Yes, I hold him in high regard.”
Right, then.
Stop feeling lightning strikes around Elizabeth Bennet,he scolded himself.
“WHATEVER I DOis in a hurry,” Bingley was saying. “If I decided to quit Netherfield, I should do it in moments. At present, however, I have no such interest. I feel certain I shall be here a hundred years.”
It was morning, and Mr. Darcy was waiting for some sign that Mr. Bingley knew that he’d given Elizabeth that book last night. How was he to explain that?
I just thought to look in on her, the woman you have told me you are hoping to marry, right before bed, all alone, and there was nothing untoward about it.
What had he been thinking?
Why was he such an idiot? Elizabeth had said he was intelligent last night, but the truth was that he was not even remotely intelligent. He was a dull sod who could not do anything right.
“Staying for a hundred years isn’t doing anything in a hurry,” Jane was saying.
“No, no,” said Bingley. “It’s not. If I am to stay put, I shall stay put, but if I get an urge to leave, I shall do it in a hurry.”
“Oh,” said Jane, furrowing her brow, looking a bit confused.
“You comprehend me?” said Mr. Bingley.
“Very well, sir,” said Mrs. Bennet.
For Mrs. Bennet was there. She’d come to look in on Elizabeth, and she’d brought all of her other daughters, who seemed to have been brought for the reason of oohing and ahhing over Netherfield and also to agree with their mother whenever she pointed out that the doctor said that Elizabeth must not be moved.
For his part, Bingley agreed, too. “Perish the thought ofmoving her!” he said, hand to his cravat.
Now, Bingley spoke to Mrs. Bennet. “Oh, marvelous, madam. I must say, it is a good thing to be understood.”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Bennet. “Indeed it is. And to be in a hurry is to be efficient.”
“True,” said Jane, “but it also means one doesn’t take time to think things through.”
“It’s a fault,” said Bingley, smirking.
“Lizzy is exactly that way,” said Mrs. Bennet. “The two of you are pair, I think. She never thinks anything through, either. She simply makes up her mind and acts.”
“Well, I think we suit each other exceedingly well, then,”said Mr. Bingley, smiling.
“I agree,” said Mrs. Bennet. “Lizzy is not the prettiest of my girls, of course. That honor must go to my Jane here. Why, when Jane was but fifteen, there was some man who wrote a whole passel of sonnets about her beauty, saying he’d never seen such a pretty girl.”
Jane blushed. “Oh, but Mama, that man, he was dreadful—”
