Page 48 of Knowing Mr. Darcy
“I swear,” said Darcy.
Bingley dragged a hand over his face again.
ELIZABETH WELCOMED MISSBingley and Mrs. Hurst, who called upon her early the following day. Morning calls were actually usually conducted at the polite time of afternoon. At some point, perhaps morning calls had been made in the actual morning, Elizabeth did not know. But in town, everyone was up until all hours of the night and slept most of the morning. Afternoonwasmorning if you were at a ball until three in the morning the night before.
It was polite to come after one in the afternoon.
Miss Bingley arrived at half past noon, and there was nothing on hand in the house to serve her. She hardly cared at the lack of tea or biscuits nor paid any attention to Mrs. Gardiner’s apologies. She had barely acknowledged Mrs.Gardiner when she had been introduced. Instead, she paced in the drawing room, outlining a plan for the maximum suffering of Mr. Darcy, one that included Elizabeth marrying her brother and flaunting her love for Mr. Bingley in Mr. Darcy’s face.
“You don’t like Mr. Darcy, do you?” said Miss Bingley. “My brother says you do not.”
“I-I suppose I don’t know him very well,” said Elizabeth.
“No, no, no reason to be polite, Eliza,” said Caroline. “Please do tell us how you truly feel about him. I don’t like him either, as you well know.”
Mrs. Hurst was simply looking on during all this, saying nothing.
“Well, there is the business with his denying that living to Mr. Wickham,” said Elizabeth. “I don’t know what to make of that. He seems very proud. He is not exactly tactful. So, I suppose I have… objections to the man, but I don’t know that they entirely add up to dislike.”
“You wouldn’t marry him, though,” said Caroline.
“Well, that’s preposterous,” said Elizabeth. “He would never marry someone like me.”
“He wishes to marry you,” said Caroline.
At this, Mrs. Hurst spoke up in a tired voice. “I agree with Miss Bennet.”
“Oh, I already have heard what you think, Louisa,” said Caroline.
“You clearly have not,” said Mrs. Hurst. “You had a caller yesterday, a very fine gentleman who is obviously interested in you, and we are here so early because we must hurry back to meet him on the promenade. You might simply be happy with your good fortune. You might do nothing but concentrate on what good is befalling you. Instead, you must scheme to destroy a man who did nothing other than point out that it was very annoying that you would not stop interrupting his writing of a letter!”
Caroline drew back. “Louisa, how dare you?”
Mrs. Hurst groaned. “Oh, never mind. You never listen to me, anyway.”
Elizabeth blinked at the both of them. “You have a suitor, Caroline?”
Caroline beamed. “Yes, it’s ever so exciting.” She sat down, then, and left the topic of Mr. Darcy entirely. She spoke at length about Mr. Higgins, recounting every single thing he’d ever said to her, dwelling for some time on the way he formed letters when he’d written his name on her dance card, for he’d insisted on doing it himself, apparently. There seemed to be great significance in the way he formed the letter ‘G.’
When Caroline finally left, Elizabeth was reeling.
She’d had two days since the ball with no word from either Mr. Bingley or Mr. Darcy. She thought that men did not understand how long an hour seemed when a woman was in love and had no word from the man she was interested in.
Dash Mr. Bingley from a far height!
In that time, she’d gone over and over the entire experience and convinced herself that she’d imagined it.
Nothing had happened. The world had not stopped when she looked into Mr. Darcy’s eyes, and he had not felt it, too, and it had all been nothing, nothing at all. Mr. Darcy did not and could not have any regard for her. All of his behavior said otherwise.
To hear something different from Caroline Bingley was distressing.
Her aunt, who had stayed quite silent in the sitting room, only observing the Bingley sisters and Elizabeth, was nevertheless willing to find all of it amusing when they were alone again, after the sisters had departed.
Mrs. Gardiner laughed about it, long and loud. “But Mr. Darcy doesn’t fancy you.”
Elizabeth didn’t laugh.
Mrs. Gardiner stopped laughing. “Does he?”
