Chapter Thirty-Five
The next day, Elizabeth awoke clear-headed and ready to laugh at the antics of her nemesis, for it seemed to her that Miss Bingley had accomplished very little beyond delaying the inevitable.
Elizabeth was determined to make the most of the lake party, which would provide her with ample opportunity to grow better acquainted with Georgiana and the colonel, and to introduce them to the rest of her merry friends.
When Jane arrived at Milton Hall with their mother and grandmother, Elizabeth and her sister aroused the same reaction in Mr. Darcy’s relations as they had done a few weeks prior with all their neighbors, though on this occasion Jane appeared to more fully enjoy herself, for she was no longer troubled over that worthless young rake who thankfully knew better than to attend the day’s festivities.
Georgiana was in awe of the twin sisters.
When she discovered that they had only recently been united, she was eager to have her share in lamenting the loneliness of growing up without a sister, and heavy with her hints that Elizabeth should soon be gaining another.
The weather was exceedingly obliging as their party gathered by the lake in the early afternoon, and both Georgiana and Colonel Fitzwilliam were so eager to please and be pleased, in their disparate ways, that they blended effortlessly into the close-knit collection of neighbors.
The greatest joy in this, for Elizabeth, was in seeing how much it meant to Mr. Darcy.
He had shown them a taste of his newly found mirth in allowing them to be surprised by Elizabeth’s identical twin, but they were no less amazed to find him so easy amongst a large party of friends.
For his part, Mr. Darcy seemed to derive the greatest satisfaction in watching his sister enjoy herself.
Elizabeth was nearly overcome by her affection for the man as she watched him make merry with Georgiana and their cousin, shedding every trace of the mournful defeat that had hung over him like a storm cloud whenever he had spoken of them.
Now he radiated sheer joy, and Elizabeth’s heart was full of that happiness which she knew she would soon share with him.
While Mr. Darcy was occupied with his relations, Elizabeth’s faithful friends sought her out to discuss the schemes that always diverted them so well, but she could not summon the same delight in them.
“Time is running out, Lizzy, but I know you must have some grand finale planned for the great harpy,” Emma said with a laugh.
“Oh, dear – do you? I confess I have been so distracted this week by Mr. Knightley’s daily visits to the cottage,” Jane said. Elizabeth could see that her sister was attempting a look of contrition, but it was utterly unconvincing, for she had never looked so happy.
“I think all three of you have been distracted ,” Charlotte teased them.
“But of course, your happy courtships have displeased Miss Bingley as much as our little pranks and slights. While you have all been swept up in your stolen glances and general swooning, I have observed her ill-concealed envy at what true love really looks like.”
Emma turned pink and her eyes widened. “True love! My dear Charlotte, I have only just lately decided that I can tolerate Mr. Bingley. I am far from swooning, unlike our friends here.”
Elizabeth grinned at Emma, unabashed by their observations about her own attachment.
“Oh, come now, have you never considered what I asked you at our last painting session? I am sure I saw you several times, at Box Hill and at Donwell, giving Mr. Bingley such looks – you must have at least wondered what it would be like to kiss him.”
Jane sputtered with laughter, but shocked them all when she matched Elizabeth’s boldness; she waggled her brows and said, “Trust me, you really ought to try it.”
When the friends had had their fill of scandalous insinuations, Charlotte urged them back to their great scheme, and Elizabeth was obliged to disappoint her friends.
“I have had it from Miss Bingley herself that she will not be deterred by our pranks, for she would endure far worse for the sake of all she stands to gain by marrying my father. Of course, it did so happen that I encouraged her to spout her venom quite candidly yesterday… while we happened to be standing beneath the open window of the library, where my father just so happened to be hiding away.”
Elizabeth repeated the most appalling of Miss Bingley’s comments in a tone of great mockery to shock and amuse her companions, and then recounted Miss Bingley’s desperate attempt to repay their mischief by drugging everybody’s dessert the previous evening.
Jane, Emma, and Charlotte were ready to agree with Elizabeth that it must now be left to Mr. Bennet have done with the whole farcical affair, and they shared a hope that Mr. Bingley might also be finally moved to check his sister’s behavior.
“I will speak to Mr. Bingley,” Emma said with all her usual confidence.
“Perhaps he may convince his sister to end the engagement, and spare Mr. Bennet’s conscience.
You are to dine with him and at the cottage tomorrow, are you not?
Miss Bingley will surely be fuming over it, and Charlotte, if you can persuade Mr. Darcy and the colonel to take trays in one of their rooms, and perhaps invite young Mrs. Darcy to do the same with you, Mr. Bingley will be alone with his sister – it shall be the perfect opportunity for him to speak sense to her. ”
“You have great faith in your betrothed,” Charlotte said, and she agreed at once to Emma’s plan.
Emma rolled her eyes with a playful smirk.
“And I suppose you will all think me run mad with ardor if I go and tell him what we have contrived. Well! I can enjoy flirting as much as any of you.” Emma stuck her tongue out at them and then gave them a parting wink before she flounced off in Mr. Bingley’s direction.
Mr. Knightley soon came to claim Jane’s company, and Elizabeth could not have parted with her sister to anybody less worthy. She bid them enjoy themselves – Mr. Knightley proposed flying a kite with Jane – and Elizabeth walked along the lake arm in arm with Charlotte.
“I enjoyed a very pleasant swim here yesterday morning.”
“Oh?”
“With Mr. Darcy.” Elizabeth relished giving her friend such a shock as she spoke in heated detail of the encounter, but she could see that her friend could not completely share her fancy.
“Oh, Charlotte, if only there was such a man for you.” She looked around for the colonel, but Charlotte only laughed and shook her head.
“You might present me with twenty such men, Lizzy, but I doubt I could feel what you do. It is not my way. You know I have never been a romantic; I might have taken Mr. Collins, merely for the security of a home of my own. But beyond a wish for more than the life of a spinster and burden to my parents, I have never desired the kind of grand love you have found. I am happy for you, but I would not have you pity me in turn.”
Nonetheless, Elizabeth did attempt to further the acquaintance of Charlotte and the colonel, but with dubious success.
They were cordial to one another, and seemed to each take delight in spending their afternoon preventing Miss Bingley from spoiling their party’s fun, but nothing more.
Elizabeth fretted over this, for she could not like that the summer would end so beautifully for everyone else, while Charlotte would return to the life she had described so dismally.
Her reverie was interrupted when Mr. Darcy joined her in strolling along the lakeside. “I believe I can guess the subject of your reverie,” he said with a sly smile.
“I should imagine not,” she said archly.
“Are you not recounting in exquisite detail our last visit to this charming little lake? I confess I have thought of little else since yesterday.”
Elizabeth blushed, for she had dwelt upon that happy memory many times over. “I am especially reminded of your promise to speak to my father.”
“I have done so, and also your mother, whose blessing is no less dear to me.” Mr. Darcy had led them along the shore, to a place where a small copse of tree shielded them from view of the others, and he beamed at her as he said, “Your mother spoke very fondly of you with me just now, and wished me every success in declaring myself.”
And then he dropped to one knee.
Elizabeth trembled with giddy anticipation as she smiled down at the man she had fallen wildly and passionately in love with… after first thinking him the last man in the world she could ever be prevailed upon to marry.
“Elizabeth Bennet, I believe I was struck by your incomparable beauty when first I saw you; certainly I was lost to it when first I kissed you. It was on that occasion that I first truly began to understand your generous, tender heart and your earnest and protective affection for those you hold dear. I have since then yearned to be amongst their number, and have been honored to share your secrets and schemes, which have endeared you to my esteem beyond what I can express. You have shown me your wit and irrepressible mirth at every turn, and it has been the finest pleasure of my life to learn a modicum of your effervescent good cheer. You have also shown me your wisdom and intuition, and I cannot bear to think of what misery might still afflict me if you had not bestowed upon me your counsel and compassion in the throes of my own troubles. Before coming to Surrey I had never imagined so thoroughly losing my heart in so short a space of time, but in a few short weeks you have altered my life so much for the better that I cannot bear to leave this wondrous place without making you my wife and securing the perpetual bliss no other woman on earth could bring me. Marry me, my dearest, loveliest Elizabeth, and I promise it shall be the great work of my life to deserve you.”