Page 54 of Mr. Darcy and the Mysterious "Miss B"
“You asked him about his income, Mama.”
“I was merely making polite enquiry about his ability to provide for you.” Mrs Bennet waved a dismissive hand. “He appeared taken aback, I grant you, but it is too late to worry about such things now.”
“He may have been taken aback because this engagement is not real. It should not matter what his income is. All arrangements with Uncle Morton have been made already. He has paid our debt, whether he has one thousand a year or one hundred thousand does not concern us.”
“One hundred thousand!” she exclaimed. “I should like to meet such a man. Goodness.”
Elizabeth groaned. Their first meeting a week ago had been awkward enough, with Mrs Bennet barely containing her excitement about the engagement, even though it was fake. Her thinking was, once the union parted, gentleman would remember Elizabeth had the attention of one of England’s richest bachelors and would thus attract another with considerably less difficulty. Elizabeth hoped this was true, though she doubted it. In any case, her mother’s enthusiasm remained one of her chief troubles in this venture.
A part of her even wished she had told nobody but Jane. Alas, at this point, Jane, her mother, the Gardiners, and Uncle Morton all knew. James had been told she genuinely was engaged to Darcy, to keep up the appearance. She knew it was best that few people knew but there were some she wished she could tell, and some she wished had never found out.
“Mother, please. Let us not think of things that cannot be but on those that can.”
“I am. That is why I asked him about his income. A mother would ask such questions if the engagement was real.”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “He knows you are aware it is all fake. Anyhow. Speaking of fake. I do worry about Lydia. She knows nothing of the truth.”
“The fewer people who know the truth, the better.”
“But Lydia has taken it so badly, Mama. She thinks I am a fool for falling for Darcy when he has done Jane such wrong. Perhaps if I told her the truth…”
Mrs Bennet clicked her tongue. “Absolutely not. As much as I love my younger daughters, they are silly girls. Lydia especially cannot keep a secret to save her life. This would be all over town within the week.”
Elizabeth sighed, knowing her mother was right. “Still, it pains me to see her so distressed. She thinks I have abandoned all principle for wealth and position.”
“Lydia will come around in time. Young people are resilient.”
A commotion downstairs indicated the arrival of visitors. Mrs Bennet peered out the window and clapped her hands together.
“Mr Darcy’s carriage! And another gentleman with him. Oh! It is Mr Bingley, I believe.”
Elizabeth’s pulse quickened for reasons she chose not to examine.
“Of course it is. They are to talk a turn about the park with Aunt Gardiner,” she reminded her mother.
“Ah yes, you are right. I have grown quite scattered between your engagement and her renewed courtship. Is it not a blessing? Two of my daughters so well set? That Mr Bingley is a fine man. I always knew it. A true gentleman.”
Elizabeth decided to not remind her mother of the many words she had called Mr Bingley when he first abandoned Jane and accused her of attempting to set her cap in him to better her circumcentres. He had thoroughly made up for his behaviour of course. Jane had informed her that he grew rather tearful upon their reunion, begging her pardon for his many transgressions.
“Lizzy? Stop wool-gathering and come downstairs,” her mother called, ripping her from her reverie.
As they descended the stairs, Mrs Bennet leaned close to Elizabeth’s ear. “You know, my dear, I cannot help but think this arrangement of yours might become quite real. The way Mr Darcy looks at you…”
“Mama, please do not harbour such romantic notions.”
“If you say so, dear. Though I have never seen a business arrangement that involved such admiring glances.”
Elizabeth chose to ignore this observation, though she felt a flutter in her chest at her mother’s words. She too had noticed the way Darcy looked at her at times across the table as they spoke though she had chosen to ignore it.
“Pray, you never told me. How did Miss Bingley take the news that she is not the mysterious Miss B?” Mrs Bennet asked as they reached the bottom of the stairs. From the drawingroom, Uncle Gardiner’s voice came, offering drinks to the gentlemen.
“From what I heard, she pretended to be glad for our arrangement whilst being quite upset in reality. Mr Darcy says she has been rather cold to him since the announcement.”
“Well, that serves her quite right. She was behind the plot to separate our Jane from her brother after all.”
Elizabeth shook her head. It was so easy for her mother to reassign blame. Now that Mr Bingley had redeemed himself, and Mr Darcy had saved their family, she had to cast the blame upon someone else. And Caroline Bingley made a rather easy target.
As they made their way to the drawing room, Elizabeth wondered—had Miss Bingley regretted her decision to post such a report? Or had she even played a hand in it at all? It appeared most obvious but she could not be certain.
