Chapter 22 #3
Caroline looked at him, and for once found no easy answer. “Very well,” she said at last, with measured restraint. “If you insist upon this… visit, I shall not oppose you.”
Bingley inclined his head. “Thank you.” But the tone in which he spoke made it clear that gratitude had very little to do with it.
***
The Bennet family had not long been assembled when the carriage was heard.
Mrs. Bennet rose at once. “Good heavens! They are come already. Jane, my dear… Lizzy-where is Lizzy? Lydia, do not run so fast. You will overset something.”
But Lydia was already at the window.
“They are here! And there is another lady – oh! she must be Miss Darcy!”
Elizabeth, who had remained more composed than the rest, felt her colour rise in spite of herself.
Darcy had come.
The party was received with every attention Mrs. Bennet could command.
Mr. Bingley entered first, his manner open and animated as ever; Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst followed, their civility unimpaired, though not without effort. Last came Mr. Darcy – and with him, a young lady whose quiet elegance and evident delicacy of manner at once distinguished her.
“Miss Darcy,” said Mrs. Bennet, with particular emphasis, “we are quite honoured.”
Georgiana curtsied, with a gentleness that might have passed unnoticed had it not been so sincere.
Darcy’s eyes had already sought Elizabeth. For a moment, they said nothing, but the understanding between them required very little expression.
After the first civilities, Georgiana advanced, guided – though not directed – by her brother. “Miss Elizabeth,” she said, with a softness that did not preclude earnestness, “I am very glad to make your acquaintance.”
Elizabeth smiled. “The pleasure is entirely mine.”
There was a slight hesitation, then Georgiana turned to a servant who had followed her.
“My brother desired me to bring this,” she said, and a basket was placed upon the table. “It is from Pemberley.”
Mrs. Bennet’s attention was instantly engaged. “A basket! From Pemberley! My dear Miss Darcy, you are most obliging…”
The contents were soon revealed: preserved fruits, fine cheeses, and other delicacies of a kind not commonly found at Longbourn, arranged with a care that suggested more than mere form.
There were jars of apricot and other preserves, neatly sealed and labelled; several small rounds of fine cheese; a parcel of cured ham; and, to Mr. Bennet’s particular delight, a bottle of dark glass set carefully to one side.
“For Mr. Bennet,” said Miss Darcy, with a gentle inclination of the head. “From Pemberley.”
“My dear Miss Darcy! You are excessively kind,” Mrs. Bennet exclaimed. “Mr. Bennet is vastly obliged, are you not? A bottle from your own cellars! Nothing could be more elegant.”
Mr. Bennet nodded in satisfaction.
Lydia, meanwhile, had no such restraint. “And this-what is this?” she cried, leaning forward without ceremony. “It smells delicious.”
“Lydia,” Elizabeth said, though not without a smile.
Kitty hovered near, equally interested, while Mary examined the labels with quiet approval.
Elizabeth glanced at Darcy.
He did not speak at once, but there was the faintest suggestion of a smile in his expression. “They are produced on the estate,” he said at last, with composed ease. “We make use of what the land affords us.”
Miss Darcy coloured slightly. “The preserves are from the gardens,” she added, softly. “I sometimes assist in their preparation.”
“You do more than assist,” Darcy said, without looking at her. “My sister takes a particular interest in such matters.”
Elizabeth’s eyes returned to him. “And the rest?” she asked.
“Our tenants supply the cheeses and the ham,” he replied. “We endeavour to encourage their industry – and to see that it is properly rewarded. They are very good.”
Mrs. Bennet, who had been turning the bottle with great satisfaction, looked up. “A most excellent arrangement,” she declared. “Nothing speaks so well of a gentleman as the management of his estate.”
Darcy inclined his head slightly, as though the praise were of little consequence.
Elizabeth, however, was still considering him. There was no display in what he said – no effort to impress – yet the quiet assurance with which he spoke of it, of land, of people, of responsibility, carried a weight she had not expected.
“You take a great deal of care,” she said.
“I take responsibility,” he returned.
The distinction was not lost on her.
After all the commotion, Mrs. Bennet reappeared, attended by a servant bearing a carefully arranged dish.
“My dear Miss Darcy, you must allow me to offer you something – quite a small attention, but prepared expressly…”
It was a rich almond and cherry cake, delicately flavoured with orange flower water and decorated with fine icing – something above the ordinary fare of Longbourn, and clearly the result of particular instruction.
Georgiana accepted it with gratitude. Everybody was served.
“It is excellent,” she said softly.
Mrs. Bennet was delighted.
The conversation soon divided. Mr. Bingley found himself beside Jane; whatever hesitation had attended his return seemed to dissolve almost immediately in her presence.
Miss Bingley approached Jane not long after, with a civility so exact as to admit of no objection. “My dear Miss Bennet,” she said, “I fear I may have been… misunderstood in a letter I wrote during my brother’s absence. I should be most sorry if anything in it gave you pain.”
Jane, who had never been disposed to suspect ill, received the explanation with the gentlest composure. “I am very glad to hear it,” she said.
Caroline smiled, but it was not a smile of ease.
For a short interval, the company was otherwise engaged; Mrs. Bennet had secured Miss Darcy’s attention, Lydia and Kitty were absorbed at the table, and Mr. Bingley spoke in low tones with Jane.
Elizabeth found herself a little apart, and Mr. Darcy soon joined her. “You wished me to meet your sister,” she said, without preamble.
“I did.”
There was a brief pause.
“I hoped,” he continued, though not without some effort, “that it might give you a better opinion of me.”
Elizabeth looked at him – surprised, though not displeased.
“A better opinion?”
“Yes.” He met her gaze, though not without a degree of seriousness. “You have not always thought well of me.”
“That is true.”
“And I thought…” He stopped, then resumed more steadily. “…that if you saw how much I value her, and how she is with me, you might judge me less harshly.”
Elizabeth was silent for a moment. “You wished to recommend yourself,” she said.
“I wished to be understood.”
The simplicity of it held her attention.
“I think it necessary,” he said, “that you should not be mistaken in me.”
Elizabeth’s expression softened slightly. “I do not know that I am,” she said.
“No?” There was something in his tone – not doubt, but hope.
She hesitated, then added, with a faint smile, “Though I will allow that your methods are… more persuasive than they once were.”
Darcy’s expression changed – very slightly. “I am glad of that.”
Elizabeth looked toward Georgiana, who was now listening with evident attention to Lydia’s animated explanation of something of no consequence.
“She is very amiable,” she said.
“She is very much like my mother,” he replied quietly.
Elizabeth glanced back at him.
“And you thought that might recommend you to me?”
“Yes.”
“It does,” she said.
Darcy allowed himself the faintest hint of a smile. “She has a way of engaging regard.”
Elizabeth laughed softly.
Meanwhile, the younger Miss Bennets had attached themselves to Georgiana.
“You must come upstairs,” Lydia declared. “You cannot imagine how dull it is here unless you see it properly.”
Kitty seconded the invitation; even Mary looked on with interest.
Georgiana hesitated only a moment before consenting.
Elizabeth watched her go – and, not without surprise, saw that she went willingly.
When at last the time for departure approached, Lydia spoke at once, “You cannot go yet! You must stay longer. We have hardly begun.”
Kitty nodded eagerly. “Indeed, you must come again – or stay now.”
Georgiana glanced at her brother.
Darcy, though composed, did not immediately speak.
“I should be very happy,” she said at last, “to remain longer – if it is permitted.”
Mrs. Bennet was in raptures.
Elizabeth looked from Georgiana to Darcy. “You are very welcome to stay, and your brother may take you home tomorrow when he calls.”
She met Darcy’s eyes again.
He inclined his head. “If it gives my sister pleasure, I have no objection.”
The younger girls cried with delight. Lydia seized Georgiana’s hand at once; Kitty followed, no less eager, and after a brief, affectionate leave-taking with her brother, she was carried off with them upstairs.