Page 57 of Knowing Mr. Darcy
Richard demurred, saying he was obviously right, and that it was beneath him to have suggested it. But he had no other notions for how else it should be accomplished. He said he was not nearly as creative as he had been before the war. “Maybe I’ve become dulled by the sounds of cannon fire.”
Anyway, at some point, he’d pointed out Elizabeth to Richard and explained the entire situation and Richard hadgaped at her, gaped, and said, “Well, then, that’s a girl to go to war over.”
“Everything is war to you, isn’t it?” said Darcy.
Richard had grimaced.
Darcy had repented of having said it.
“She’s not pretty,” said Richard. “When you first look at her, that’s what you think. But then, you realize you have been staring at her for quite some time, that—in fact—you do not wish to stop staring at her.”
“Exactly,” said Darcy. “And you should speak to her. Speaking to her is even more like that. She’s self-possessed and funny and full of a sparkling sort of wit. Nothing bothers her. She is unruffled and cheery. She’s everything you could ever want in a woman and…”
“Oh,” said his cousin. “I didn’t realize you were in love with her.”
“I am not,” he said firmly.
Richard only laughed.
Anyway, they had not come to Rosings preciselybecauseof Elizabeth.
Richard hadn’t even made any teasing comments about Darcy and Elizabeth, either, which Darcy would have expected him to do. He would have expected Richard to mock him for chasing this girl across the country, this girl who was beneath him.
The fact that Richard didn’t, well, that indicated to Darcy that there might be trouble.
He’d lost Bingley over this girl.
Was he going to lose his cousin as well?
Sometimes, Mr. Darcy was convinced that he hated Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
Why was she so very, very mesmerizing?
After the disaster of speaking to her upon arrival, he was ready to never see her ever again out of sheer embarrassment.
But Richard had other ideas.
He came to Darcy’s room and poked his head inside. “You have been introduced to them? To the parson, too,yes?”
“Well, he spoke to me without an introduction on our first meeting,” said Darcy. “But, yes, it’s all very proper. You want to call on them, do you not?”
“Yes,” said Richard with a grin.
Mr. Darcy did not have any desire to call upon them, not after everything. He also wasn’t pleased that Richard was pushing this course of action, for it only meant that he’d been right about it all. Richard wanted her, too.
It was going to be Bingley all over again.
Bingley was smiling and loquacious. Richard was too. But more than that, Richard was charming and self-deprecating and capable of making all manner of jokes. He was witty. Elizabeth would like that.
Of course, Bingley had been more handsome than Richard. Upon first seeing Richard, one tended to dismiss his looks, but he was so charming that no one cared upon knowing him.
She is never going to choose me,he thought.Why have I come here?
On the other hand, Richard couldn’t marry her. He wanted to marry money, and Elizabeth had none. Darcy found himself smiling. “Yes,” he said, “yes, let us go and call on them now.”
So, this was how they found themselves in the sitting room at the parsonage. The room was rather crowded, for everyone was there—Mr. Collins, Sir William Lucas, Miss Maria Lucas, both the Misses Bennets, and himself and Richard. There was barely enough room for everyone to sit down.
Richard started up some conversation or other. Richard could make anything exciting, even a conversation about the weather, and Darcy personally despised him for this.
