The Park
Darcy believed the meeting had passed as well as he could have hoped, and given the tone of the letter Miss Bingley sent, anything short of a dawn walk was better than he had any right to expect.
Miss Bennet still looked as inscrutable as ever, but a man who concealed himself from the world as habitually as he did could recognize the signs easily enough—or at least, he could if he exerted himself.
Miss Elizabeth even spoke to him, and the fact that she said something she obviously invented at that moment merely to escape his annoying presence was expected.
He bided his time until they separated into two groups, seemingly by chance, with Miss Bennet sitting on a bench reading a story to her enthralled audience, and Miss Elizabeth standing next to him. She looked uncomfortable, but it was probably his best chance to learn what he needed to know.
“Was it you?” he asked, then wanted to kick himself for being so awkward and abrupt.
She regarded him intently for a moment, then finally sighed in resignation. “It was. Do not dare blame Jane. She thinks I burned it.”
“Why would she think that?”
“Because I told her so. She would be horrified.”
He sighed in resignation and was forced to admit that his behaviour in Hertfordshire was unlikely to have left her with any better opinion.
“Why would I punish someone for doing me a service? There shall be no consequences for the Bennets.”
“Thank you,” she said in a tone indicating she was relieved, implying it was the most she had hoped for—the absolute minimum duty of a gentleman.
“If I may ask, why did you send it? Did you hope it would induce Bingley’s return?”
“Good heavens, no!” she snapped in some alarm, then fell silent abruptly and glanced at the children to see if anyone had noticed.
“Why then?” he asked, feeling compelled to have the answer.
“You give your word we will not suffer if I tell the truth?”
“On my honour.”
She stared at her sister, and finally said, “I have two reasons of varying levels of worthiness.”
“Pray continue.”
She chewed on her lip for some time, an action he found adorable, but thought it best to keep to himself.
When she spoke, he was happy he had not teased her, because she spoke with iron in her voice, all levity absent.
“The first is pure unrepentant vindictiveness. Your friend is no gentleman, and his sister is nothing but a pretentious fortune hunter. He broke my sister’s heart, and I will never forgive him.
No Bennet has the power to hurt them, but you do.
Since ‘your good opinion once lost, is lost forever’, the worst punishment I could devise was to make him lose your good opinion and thus visit your implacable resentment upon them. Have I succeeded?”
Darcy was not entirely surprised by her motivation, but somewhat astonished at the level of malevolence in her voice. Had she simply asserted she would kill the man if she could obtain a pistol, she would have used the same tone.
“I have cut the sister from my life, but not the brother.”
“Pity, but I suppose better than nothing,” she said in a tone indicating she considered the matter closed and herself disappointed.
Darcy had come hoping he might be able to undo some of the damage by reuniting Bingley with Miss Bennet, since he was still sighing about London like a mooncalf.
It now seemed likely he would not be able to accomplish that with Miss Elizabeth’s permission, but he had no idea how Miss Bennet would take her sister’s interference or any possibility of reacquaintance.
Since Mr Gardiner had told him Miss Elizabeth was traveling to visit the former Miss Lucas in the country soon, he decided to wait until she left and attempt to gently broach the subject with Mrs Gardiner.
Naturally, he would approach Mrs Gardiner instead of her husband because a conversation about a lady’s feelings with one man in it was already hamstrung, and with two it was impossible.
He finally said, “I deserve that, and accept your judgement. Whether I shall retain the acquaintance over time remains to be seen.”
She shrugged as if Mr Bingley’s disposition was a matter of supreme indifference to her, which he judged was probably correct.
He was not in the least disturbed by her vindictiveness.
It was natural and just, and he had been reproaching himself ever since receiving the letter for not applying enough vindictiveness to Wickham when he had the chance.
He had finally dealt with the bounder, but the best he could say of himself was better late than never.
“And the second reason,” he asked timidly.
She sighed in apparent discomfort, and he sensed from her tone that he might not like the answer.
“The second, more admirable reason, was pity—or perhaps solidarity might be a better word. Remember I had no way to gauge the veracity of Miss Bingley’s claims. They seemed nothing but nastiness, but even a liar speaks truth occasionally. Jane, of course, took her at her word.”
The idea that she might believe Miss Bingley’s poison had never occurred to him, and he was on tenterhooks to learn if Miss Elizabeth felt she was protecting his sister or sacrificing her.
She gazed at him hard enough to discompose him before finishing.
“Just in case she was correct, I decided to spike the Bingley cannon, out of pity.”
“Pity for whom?”
“I took pity on Miss Darcy because she is already unfortunate enough to have you for a brother, so she does not deserve to add the Bingleys to her misery. Nobody deserves that! Goodbye Mr Darcy!”
With that, she walked over to Miss Bennet, gathered the younger children with tickles, smiles and laughter, and walked away from him with an expression clearly indicating she hoped it would be for the last time.