Page 21 of Eavesdroppers Never Hear
Mrs Bennet tried to ask him about the Bingleys, but he gently and firmly denied all knowledge. He simply said the Bingleys had urgent business in town, and since he was but a guest, it wasnot his place to comment, even if he knew anything, which he did not.
Mrs Bennet continued for some time, attacking the problem from several angles, but was frustrated by the gentleman’s complete inability or unwillingness to be more explicit. The exchange consumed an exhausting ten minutes, but when finished, Darcy thought he saw a glimmer of appreciation from the eldest Bennet sisters. He could guess that Miss Bennet was grinding her teeth during the exchange, but she had refrained from comment entirely.
Once the subject of the Bingleys was exhausted, the rest of the meal proceeded apace. Darcy spoke about the war and other such things to Mr Bennet, with occasional comments from Miss Elizabeth; commented generally to the rest of the daughters; gave Mrs Bennet short answers to every question, regardless of how indecorous; and mostly ignored the two youngest. Since they had no interest in anyone lacking a red coat, it worked out for the best.
At the end of the meal, Darcy found he had enjoyed himself.
~~~~~
The family returned to the parlour, where the sisters made the gentleman feel welcome.
The first hour gave yet another reason to reconsider how much his pride was worth. In the first half-hour, Miss Mary beat him in a hard-fought game of backgammon. He thought he might be able to blame it on distraction, or lack of sleep, or the presence of Miss Elizabeth—but Occam’s razor suggested a simpler explanation: Miss Mary was simply better.
With that knock on his pride, they played the best two out of three over the next hour, and he did much better—he managed to win one of the three.
They took a rest to allow Miss Mary and Miss Elizabeth to perform a few songs on the pianoforte, which gave him more food for thought. Miss Elizabeth clearly had a better feel for the music, and her playing gave him much pleasure. Regardless of what pleasure he felt though, it seemed likely she would need a bit more practise and instruction if she wanted to perform credibly in London. She slurred over the hard parts and made up for it with showmanship, but she would not pull that off in the capitol. Miss Mary was better at mechanically reproducing the music but lacked a decent singing voice and any hint of ease in her musicality. He rather thought she needed a master, or more likely some time with Georgiana. All in all, he was happy with what he was seeing and hearing.
After the music, he spent a pleasant hour playing chess with Mr Bennet, who seemed a worthy competitor. They appeared well matched, but neither were really giving it their all, since they were both, in their own ways, paying considerable attention to the rest of the family.
He was most surprised to find that Mrs Bennet was happy to leave him in peace and wondered if anyone said anything to grant the reprieve. The two youngest spent the first two hours remaking two rather ugly bonnets (in Darcy’s opinion) into two even uglier bonnets (in Miss Elizabeth’s), but they did so with less snorting and giggling than he expected.
Mrs Bennet spent the first hour gossiping with the youngest as they worked.
During the second hour, the two eldest Miss Bennets, along with Miss Catherine fell victim to their mother’s rapacity for whist, and several lively hands were hard fought.
~~~~~
The windows of the parlour were due west, so as the sun sank the parlour got warmer. Just before four o’clock, the sun wasnearly setting and Darcy accepted an offer of afternoon tea, after which he would return to Netherfield. With a half-hour of good daylight left, Miss Elizabeth suggested a walk in the garden.
Darcy agreed readily, but Mrs Bennet did not appear to feel as if she had defeated her opponents sufficiently in whist. Miss Catherine, in desperation begged Miss Lydia to join her team. Miss Bennet partnered with her mother, which left Miss Elizabeth and Miss Mary to walk with Darcy.
The three took up coats, gloves and the like and stepped out into the surprisingly balmy (for November) afternoon. The group had not gone far when Miss Mary, much to Darcy’s delight, pulled a book from her cloak. Darcy thought that if he had to pick one non-mercenary woman out of everybody of his acquaintance, Miss Mary would be the most likely candidate. It was obvious she was not matchmaking, but more likely exhausted from an overabundance of company (a feeling he could understand).
She sat down on a wooden bench, opened the book, and without looking up said cheekily, “Stay more or less in sight if you please.”
“Of course,” Miss Elizabeth said, then she took Darcy’s proffered arm and led him around the nearly dead garden. There was nothing whatsoever to see, but she did an excellent job of painting a picture of what it would look like in spring. Miss Bennet was the mastermind of the grand design, while Miss Mary and Miss Elizabeth were mere worker bees. The two youngest were as worthless as Darcy would have assumed, but Miss Elizabeth said nothing of the sort.
They wandered the paths for a half-hour, speaking of everything under the sun and Elizabeth had never been half so well entertained in that garden.
12.Perambulation
A surprisingly innocuous question sent the conversation well off the beaten path.
“Do you raise Derbyshire Gritstones at Pemberley? I mentioned them to Mr Schotte on a whim, but I am curious,” Elizabeth asked.
“Curious about sheep or Pemberley?” he replied with a sly grin.
She laughed and shook her finger in mock exasperation. “The latter, I suppose, since I find sheep an exceedingly dull subject. It was the only thing I could think of in the few seconds we had before I introduced you, and I had no idea if you could muddle along without a readymade topic.”
Darcy looked thoughtful. “Out of curiosity, why did you introduce me? You obviously went out of your way to rehabilitate my reputation. I am more than grateful—but why take on the disagreeable task?”
“You heard Mary instruct me with your own ears.”
“You will not put me off so easily,” he said with an answering chuckle and a smile.
The gentleman seemed to be advancing at a good clip from her brown books to neutrality, and perhaps eventually into her good graces. He was certainly easy to talk to once he abandoned his abominable pride (or whatever it was that made him so taciturn), and his easy amiability when surrounded by the mountain of silliness that constituted the Bennet parlour was no mean feat.
“Miss Mary did not tell you anything. The only thing I saw was her glaring.”
