Chapter Twenty-Four #2
She blushed a deep red and her lips parted for a moment before they curled into a shy smile.
He was struck silent by her presence. They walked some further distance in silence.
Her hand was upon his arm, his gloved hand atop hers, and the light pressure of it burned through his coat.
Soon, very soon, he would plead with her once more to accept him, as soon as he believed she might listen favourably to his entreaties, as soon as he could withstand a second refusal.
“What will happen now?” Elizabeth asked at last. “When Colonel Fitzwilliam has presented his discoveries to his superiors, will he return?
This, too, was a matter which had not been discussed. “I am afraid I do not know. I imagine he will send word of his plans, but he does have a way of arriving and departing at a moment’s notice, worse even than Bingley.”
He ought not to have said that, for in a moment, Elizabeth’s face darkened.
Of course, she was lamenting with her sister for Bingley’s abrupt departure.
Had he known of the depths of Miss Bennet’s attachment, he would have worked harder on Bingley to convince his friend to remain, but Caroline had always had much more influence upon her brother than ever his friends had.
Perhaps a letter... But he would attend to that later, after this affair with the Frenchmen had been resolved.
This raised another question. “I do not even know if the people involved with this matter here, in Meryton, are aware of the progress we have made. I imagine there are more than just your father’s three friends involved.
Richard is most careful in divulging information, and I am not certain who here is aware of his involvement and who is not.
There are so very many secrets, so very many layers, that one grows distracted even beginning to work it out. ”
“I shall not tell Papa a word; I have not, as I promised your cousin. Now, sir, let us talk of more pleasant matters, and if you will walk me home, I will ask for the use of the carriage later to return you to Netherfield.”
At Longbourn, Darcy was invited to stay for tea, and then to accompany the sisters to Meryton in order to make some inquiries at the chandler about an order.
Miss Lydia seemed most eager for the outing, which in turn seemed to cause Elizabeth some distress.
“We must watch her carefully,” she murmured as the party walked its way down the lane to the road that led into the village.
“I have reason to believe she is conducting a... flirtation with Mr. Wickham, and Papa will not stop her. I confess I am uneasy.”
This was alarming, for Wickham was not to be trusted; indeed, Darcy had told Elizabeth only a part of the misadventures his former friend had become involved in. “You are certain it was Wickham?” he asked back, his voice equally low.
She nodded. “I heard her by the hedgerow and then saw Mr. Wickham emerge only a short time later. I understand that he has importuned very young ladies in the past,” Darcy nodded at her subtle reference to his own sister’s sad experience, “but cannot imagine what he hopes to gain from dallying with Lydia.” She blushed, and Darcy knew she realised what such a man as Wickham might have in mind.
Then she continued, “If he is discovered he will have to wed her, and he knows she has no fortune. Papa believes her safe from anything but rumour, but I am less easy...” her voice drifted into silence.
“Then we shall keep her close and under observation.”
To his relief, there was no sign of Mr. Wickham in the village.
A small contingent of officers from Colonel Forster’s regiment were gathered at the doorway to the village pub, none of whom Darcy had met.
One man looked familiar somehow, in a strange way as if in the wrong place, but he must only have seen the fellow around the village in mufti rather than in his regimentals.
As long as it was not Wickham, he might breathe easily.
There was another group, standing in conversation at the corner where the bakery’s aromas filled the air, each with a small pie in hand, some half eaten, others still intact.
These, he believed, were Hastings’ men, for their faces he knew from his visits to the regiment when calling upon his friend.
He had been introduced to some, and he sought their names, but they were engaged in some deep conversation—over the favourite pie filling, perhaps?
—and he was not required to test the strength of his memory.
It was interesting, he mused, that the two groups did not mingle very much, despite their common employment.
He would question Hastings about this the next time they met for an ale or a game of chess.
As Elizabeth disappeared into the chandlers to discuss her mother’s business, Darcy kept his eye on Miss Lydia.
She did not approach the officers at the pub, but stood in a particular way, as if posing for a portrait, or for one of the strange fashion plate drawings he had seen in his sister’s magazines.
Was she doing so for the benefit of one of the officers?
The man he thought he recognised turned and smiled at her.
Perhaps that was why he looked familiar; perhaps Darcy had seen the officer in the presence of some of the ladies.
But the officer did no more than give a quick wink before turning back to his fellows and then disappeared into the warmth of the public house.
It could not be anything of import, then.
Miss Lydia was a pretty girl and full of the bloom of youth, even if her beauty were more obvious and less refined than what Darcy’s own tastes enjoyed, and a soldier would be sore pressed not to react to her charms. If this was how Miss Lydia behaved with all the soldiers, it was no wonder that Elizabeth was concerned and equally no wonder that Wickham was paying the lass attentions.
Perhaps if he dropped a subtle word in Bennet’s ear, the gentleman would see the danger that loomed.
But at the moment there had been no harm done, and when Elizabeth emerged from the shop with a small bundle of candles to show to her mother, he could assure her that he had seen no sign of Wickham.
Upon the party’s return to Longbourn, and to nobody’s surprise, Mrs. Bennet invited Darcy to remain for dinner. “I thank you,” he replied, and requested the time they desired him to return, so he might dress suitably.
“No need, no need.” Bennet remarked with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Your morning clothes are finer than most evening garb in these parts. This is no grand society event. You needn’t return to Netherfield until after we have dined.”
“Then I thank you again. It is a quiet business being at Netherfield, and even the housekeeper only appears when she believes I require sustenance. I try to inconvenience her as little as possible, for it seems a pity to put her to such trouble for only one man.”
This, in turn, was met by a string of questions from Mrs. Bennet, who quickly ascertained that he was indeed residing all alone at Netherfield, and who equally quickly decided that it would never do for him to be so abandoned by everybody he knew.
“Not even a valet! And us with three perfectly serviceable bedchambers for visitors, now sitting empty. Why, Mr. Darcy, I dare say one will even do for such a great man as yourself.” Later that evening, as he prepared to depart, he heard the lady whisper to her husband, “And what a grand thing for our girls, for with proximity, he may fall in love with one of them, and then throw the others in the way of other rich men!” He did not know whether to laugh at the ironic absurdity of her comment, or fume at her mercenary thoughts.
‘Twas a relief that Elizabeth had not heard her mother’s words, and that Mrs. Bennet had no notion of his affection for her second daughter else, she might put him in a room near to Elizabeth’s in the hopes of forcing a compromising situation.
Nonetheless, the invitation was welcome, and it was arranged that the following day he should remove to Longbourn until such time as Richard or Bingley were to return to the neighbourhood, for as long as he wished to remain in Hertfordshire.
The notion of encountering Mrs. Bennet regularly throughout the day was not entirely to his liking, but Netherfield would be lonely indeed, and Bennet was excellent company.
And, of course, he would be in Elizabeth’s company as well, wherein he would be as charming and pleasing as he could manage, with the hopes of convincing her of the advantages of his offer.
If she sought him out during the days, he might hope of her eventual acceptance, and he resolved to make the most of this opportunity.
There was one further enticement to staying under the Bennets’ roof: he might still learn something of the Frenchmen who had brought the machine, which still—to his knowledge—rested in the room in the tower.
Could he manipulate the secret doorway from the library and explore the storage room alone?
Or could he convince Elizabeth to aid him?
Perhaps some more secrets would be revealed to him at last.