Chapter Fourteen
Richard could feel Darcy’s anger radiating from the other side of the carriage like a banked fire.
Seated between them, Georgiana seemed not to notice.
She used the afternoon light to study the new sheet music Miss Mary had pressed on her as they were departing Longbourn.
Richard had not joined his cousins on their first call there but gathered some sort of rivalry had sprung up between Georgiana and the middle Bennet sister.
Richard approved, as the competition appeared to spur Georgiana into forgetting her misery. At least for the moment.
Across from them, Miss Bingley prattled on about how shabby Mrs. Bennet’s furniture was, and how out of date were the gowns the Bennet women wore.
Beside her, Bingley, who’d spent the entire call whispering with Miss Bennet, seemed content to gaze across the carriage, starry-eyed.
As Darcy trained his glower out the window, Richard could only assume the inattention of their companions made him the recipient of Miss Bingley’s words.
As if in confirmation of that, Miss Bingley met his gaze and asked, “Do you not agree, Mr. Darcy?”
“I imagine it is the best for which we can hope in such a provincial backwater as this,” Richard stated, using words that had become all but a catch phrase since he put in his appearance at that local assembly upon his arrival.
He slanted a look at Darcy. Were his cousin a less civilized man, Richard thought he might actually growl.
Encouraged, Miss Bingley moved on to discussing the quality of Longbourn’s carpets. She possessed impressively keen skills of observation. She would make a wonderful spy.
The drive back to Netherfield Park seemed over long, and when they arrived, Richard disembarked with as much alacrity as manners allowed. He turned, ready to bound up the steps before—
“A word, Mr. Darcy,” Darcy ground out. “If you will.”
Richard winced. “Certainly, Colonel Fitzwilliam.”
“In my chambers, if you do not mind.” Not waiting for a reply, Darcy marched past him up the front steps.
Inside, Darcy quickly removed and handed over his outerwear, before stamping up the staircase. Richard trudged after. They proceeded to the sitting room off Darcy’s bedchamber, where Richard’s cousin opened the door with more force than necessary. He gestured Richard in.
With a beleaguered sigh, Richard complied, protesting, “Before you go off all righteous and indignant, I was simply—”
“I see no reason why you must depict me as such a tremendous boor,” Darcy interrupted as he closed the door.
“I have surmised that your behavior at that assembly you attended was calculated to cause talk in London, but how insulting the Bennets in their own home will help draw ne'er-do-wells here, I cannot fathom. You are denigrating the Darcy name simply for your own amusement.”
Not troubling to sit, Richard rounded on his cousin.
“For your information, Mrs. Bennet has relations in London, in trade, and if they gossip anything like she and her sister, Mrs. Phillips, do, they will have word of Mr. Darcy’s presence here spread about the lesser echelons of the city in under a day. ”
Darcy blinked at him, then scowled. “Yes, Miss Bingley said something about their relations in trade.”
“Then honor me with the assumption that I know at least somewhat what I am about.” Richard kept his voice and face stern.
He would never admit to Darcy that, yes, he was enjoying playing his cousin at his most supercilious.
All the more entertaining with Darcy there to watch. Maybe he would even learn something.
“Know what you are about?” Darcy paced away across the room. “Did you truly need to say to Mrs. Bennet that, ‘in a country neighborhood, you move in a very confined and unvarying society?’ She was visibly insulted.”
“Oh, come now,” Richard scoffed. “Tell me you were not thinking that very thing?”
Darcy scowled at him.
Richard struggled not to grin. He jabbed a finger at his cousin. “I am playing you, and doing a fine job of it. If you do not like what you see, I am not entirely certain that is my fault.”
“I would never behave in so rude a manner.”
If Darcy were any more rigid, he wouldn’t be able to put his trousers on, Richard reflected. “I have seen you behave thusly around those you deem your inferiors. You cannot tell me you see the Bennets as your equals?”
Darcy’s gaze skittered away. Much of the anger drained from him in the form of a sigh. “You are correct. I cannot tell you that. Still, there is no reason not to behave with civility.”
“No? You do not wish them to be repeatedly reminded that Mr. Darcy is above them?” Maybe his cousin was, indeed, learning something.
“They are helping Georgiana,” Darcy said quietly. “I have not seen her so animated in over a year.” He raised stricken eyes to Richard. “I have not known how to help her. You cannot imagine how miserable she has been.”
Richard softened his tone as well. “No, I cannot, and perhaps I have made Mr. Darcy behave badly enough for a time. I will attempt to be a less egregious version of you.”
“Thank you.”
Richard studied his cousin, taking in lines of strain that had not been there a year ago.
Georgiana was not the only one made miserable by her mistake.
“I admit to some surprise at you permitting Georgiana to socialize with the Bennets in the first place. I cannot imagine that Miss Bingley did not speak against the idea.”
With a half-grimace, half-grin, Darcy nodded. “She took little time in informing me of their lack of suitability.”
“Yet, you still called there, with Georgiana.”
“Miss Elizabeth had suggested that socializing with those who do not know of her sorrow might be a balm for Georgiana.”
“Miss Elizabeth?” It wasn’t like Darcy to discuss such matters with a young miss, let alone take the advice of one. Richard narrowed his eyes. “You mean, the shorter sister with the brown hair?”
“The petite sister with the dark locks, yes.”
“I see.”
“What do you see?” Darcy asked sharply.
“Nothing at all.”
“Then why say, ‘I see?’”
Not above tormenting his cousin, Richard shrugged. “I am certain you will see, eventually.”
Darcy glared at him.
Richard smiled back. “Shall we go down for tea? Miss Bingley will wish to continue her tirade against the Bennets, especially in view of what neither of us sees.”
“You are being deliberately aggravating,” Darcy snapped.
Richard adopted a wounded expression. “Me?”
“Yes. You.” Darcy gestured to the door. “And, yes, let us by all means go down for tea. At least Miss Bingley will be speaking plainly, not in riddles.”
That brought back Richard’s grin.
Darcy followed his cousin from the room, a well-appointed space, as was all of Netherfield Park.
If Bingley had consulted him as he ought, Darcy would have recommended letting the place.
Of course, he now understood why Bingley had forgone seeking any such advice. He cast a scowl askance at Richard.
Beside him, Richard drew his shoulders back. He puffed his chest out and adopted a stiffness to his bearing that made every movement a touch awkward. He then raised his chin, hardening his mouth and jaw into a frown.
Watching Richard become him, Darcy’s scowl deepened. “I do not look like that,” he muttered.
Richard glanced his way, the motion stiff, and managed to look down his nose at Darcy even though he stood half a head shorter. “I do not believe lesser beings have the right to criticize a Darcy of Pemberley.”
“I do not speak that way, either.”
“Miss Bingley has oft commended my portrayal.”
Darcy snorted. “She would praise the very way you draw breath if doing so brought her closer to being the relation of an earl.”
“True enough,” Richard agreed lightly. “But you cannot expect a lady not to give such matters consideration.”
Darcy cast his cousin a quick look, taking in the contemplation in his eyes. “You cannot be sympathetic to her ambitions?”
“She has been a staunch and capable ally in my ruse.” Richard shrugged. “More than that, she did not shirk from the danger of those two men in Meryton. I am not accustomed to thinking of young society misses as brave.”
Darcy frowned, then schooled the expression, aware the use of it featured heavily in Richard’s mimicry. Still, he’d heard the tale from Bingley. “Did not Miss Elizabeth actively seek help while Miss Bingley simply stood there screaming?”
“From what I heard, the two hastily formed that plan. For Miss Bingley to call for help while Miss Elizabeth sought some.” Richard glanced at him as they started down the staircase. “And you saw her immediately after the incident. She gave no evidence of being rattled.”
“True.” Darcy decided not to admit that he’d hardly noted Miss Bingley at all, his attention immediately captured by Elizabeth.
Miss Elizabeth, rather.
They went down to tea and, as predicted, Miss Bingley’s retelling of the afternoon as she passed along all that had taken place at Longbourn to her sister and Mr. Hurst. Each time Miss Bingley gave delighted emphasis to one of Richard’s insults, given in Darcy’s name, Darcy flinched.
Richard, he noted, expressed only amusement.
Or was there more in the way he watched Miss Bingley? Richard’s entertainment at her antics certainly seemed unfeigned.
For her part, Georgiana sat with them for very little time before excusing herself to the small pianoforte in the corner of the room.
Quietly and slowly at first, but with increasing confidence, she worked through the sheet music Miss Mary had loaned her.
When discordant repetition and Georgiana’s increasingly hunched shoulders indicated she struggled with one section, Miss Bingley joined her on the bench to offer assistance.
Darcy could not help but note the contemplative look that earned from Richard.