The Perfect Suit

Chapter Forty-Five

B y no means had it been a deliberate thing that they should have so quickly lost sight of Jane and Mr. Bingley, but Lizzy found that she could not regret the greater privacy it lent. Mr. Darcy was a proper walking companion, as she had discovered in Kent; besides which, she trusted him and felt no alarm to wander about familiar countryside side by side with him .

“It is my turn, now, Mr. Darcy, to direct our steps. You had that privilege at Rosings, you will recall, and I am very much on my mettle to prove myself as discerning a guide as you were then.”

It was a fortunate thing, she thought, that Mama was so preoccupied with Mary or she might not have been so happily inclined to permit two of her daughters to walk out with young men.

“Lead on, Miss Elizabeth. It is a fine day, and notwithstanding your mother desiring your safe return for dinner this evening, I believe there are no engagements to keep.” Mr. Darcy might not always be the easiest character to read, but she thought it plain enough that he was content to walk a distance in her company.

“Besides Mr. Bingley’s to Jane, I suppose?” The upturning of his lips in response to her wit pleased Elizabeth, and she distracted herself from smiling too broadly in response by pointing off into the distance. “With such a goodly length of time we might make it so far as Beverley village, but perhaps we ought not to try.”

He regarded her, and answered in his usual serious manner, “If you wish to walk so far as a village we might certainly do so. Is there anything of significance there?”

Lizzy shook her head and met his eye. “It is only that it is a pretty place — there is not a shop to be seen but there is an old bridge across the river, the banks of which are a haven for birds. When I was still in leading strings Papa took me up on his horse with him once or twice on a visit to the place. Beverley village was home to an old groom of ours and Papa liked to ask his opinion on a new horse even after his eyesight failed him. He died a few years ago, of course.”

Mr. Darcy nodded. “Now you may go on your own horse.”

“Had I the inclination to, I might, but I think you know me a little better than that, sir. It is a charming walk if one follows the river past Pritchard's orchard but naturally I have not done that without Papa.”

“Naturally. ”

“You are laughing at me, I think. Very well, I admit that I have made the attempt alone before but my conscience always smarted and I turned back. We shall confine ourselves to my usual haunts and thus be sooner back at Longbourn to bear Mary company.” Lizzy gestured toward a gate set back in the hedgerow, and the pair made their way through it. Their path led them into a wide meadow and, stooping to pluck a bright poppy, she continued on her theme. “Do you know the viscount and his mother well, sir? They are a curious mixture of being all that is amenable and yet plainly determined, to my eyes, but I would like to know your opinion.”

“Langley went to Oxford, so I am not well acquainted with him. Lady Langley is my aunt Catherine's sister-in-law, of course, so I have met her a little more often. Lady Catherine has mentioned to me that Langley has behaved somewhat wildly since his father’s death and that his mother has indulged him. I do not believe my aunt is on good terms with her late husband's sister.”

“Curious then, that Lord Langley should be so set upon drawing out my sister, who is not inclined to indulgence of any sort. It seems that with every frown Mary sends his way he desires more and more to earn a smile.”

“His Lordship has not been quiet in his admiration of her. This morning at breakfast he attempted a third retelling, for his hostess's benefit, of Miss Mary rising from the wreckage of your father's carriage in regal, lovely fury. Even my friend Bingley seemed at a loss as to how to divert the conversation.”

Lizzy laughed, imagining Caroline Bingley's displeasure at hearing Mary so praised. “It was kind of Mr. Bingley to extend the invitation to so many at once. I do hope that Miss Bingley did not object to being summoned.”

Mr. Darcy's smile was wry. “Miss Bingley arrived very swiftly. The suggestion that Mrs. Bennet might act as his hostess should she be unable might have clinched the matter.”

“Did Mr. Bingley write that? How splendid — I should not have thought it of him. I must tell Jane, though perhaps she will not admire him for it as much as I do.”

There was a brief hesitation, and the gentleman, offering his hand to assist her over a stile, answered self-consciously. “He applied to me for advice when he wrote, Miss Elizabeth, and I suggested adding the possibility. Your mother,” he said, “is very accommodating, after all, and I did not think she would object to assisting her future son-in-law if it came to it.”

“Indeed not,” said Elizabeth. “There are few things Mama enjoys more than receiving a crowd of guests and I truly do appreciate that you have noted her gift for hospitality.” A thought occurred to her and she said, “But would not Mrs. Hurst have been applied to, Mr. Darcy, should Miss Bingley have been unable to oblige?”

“Hurst has taken his wife to the country,” he said delicately. “It seems that she will not be out in society until next year.”

Quickly understanding what he meant, Lizzy answered, “I am sure Mr. Bingley will like to be an uncle. ”

He nodded. “And Miss Bennet will like to be an aunt, I am equally certain.”

“Oh yes! Jane delights in children — there is no one so patient with them, you know. When we stayed with the Gardiners, our young cousins were never far from her, at least at first.”

“Miss Bennet says similarly of you.”

“Does she? You must not allow yourself to be misled by her sisterly affection. I am not so saintly as she, fond as I am of them all.”

“You find nothing admirable in carrying a babe to the Thames in order to see it frozen?”

“Not a thing,” she replied promptly. “For one, I wished to see it myself, and for another, I do not believe Ned was so impressed as he ought to have been. ”

Mr. Darcy carefully repressed a bramble that sprang from the hedgerow into their path and, once Elizabeth had gone past its range, released it. “The rivers often freeze in Derbyshire in the winter.”

“There, you will be as used to the sight as anyone then — despise me if you dare, Mr. Darcy, for being so eager to view it.”

“I dare not, Miss Elizabeth; I should sooner despise myself. ”

His gallantry was acknowledged with a bright smile and they wandered on. Elizabeth supposed that Mr. Bingley and Jane might catch up with them at some point, and if they did not, she was well content to wander as they did.

Her thoughts returned to Viscount Langley and Mary's bewilderment at his adoration. “It is a strange thing for me to discover that I know any of my sisters so little. Had you asked me last year I should have confidently told you that I understood them perfectly.”

“You are speaking of Miss Mary or Miss Lydia, I suppose,” said Darcy.

“Discerning of you,” she remarked. “I can hardly say if Mary is pleased or displeased by Lady Langley's blatant matchmaking between her and the viscount. Mary declares that she is not a silly ninnyhammer and that thanks to Jane's escapades in London — you must imagine how disapprovingly she says this — she may send any young man to the rightabout as she chooses. I did fear that Mama might go into hysterics when she said that.” Elizabeth held up her hands in defeat. “I had no notion Mary was so confident. Papa says he was astonished by her strength of character when they travelled north.”

Mr. Darcy listened without offering comment and it emboldened her to continue on. “Regarding Lydia, she has astounded me as much as Mary. I thought her so silly, Mr. Darcy, and it pains me to admit as much to you that I should think so meanly of my own sister. Yet she has such courage, not least in her getting so far alone and unprotected — but also,” she spoke as she pondered, “in so much that she is brave enough to change herself where she sees fault.”

“An admirable trait.”

“Yes.” Lizzy laughed suddenly. “She has developed a mania for geography and this morning begged Mary to quiz her extensively on all the major towns one might pass through between Norfolk and Devon. Yet better by far is her request to Papa that she find the ordinary people who helped her on her adventure and thank them. She calls it an adventure, Mr. Darcy — I could think of a better word but I am determined to mind my tongue.”

“It is good that she is not affected for the worse.”

“It is; of course it is. Particularly given how you said Miss Darcy was so troubled after her dealings with him .”

He nodded gravely. “I wrote to her of Wickham's fate. I have not yet received a reply but I hope she may find some comfort in the justice he received at the hands of his regiment.”

Lizzy tossed away the poppy. “Lydia has taken a rather savage delight in it all, much to Kitty's shock. She even declares Mrs. Forster to be a widgeon for sobbing so over such a knave as he. It seems that the fast friendship between the two of them may not recover. With my younger sisters going to Bath and the regiment leaving Meryton, life will be unusually quiet after Jane's wedding. It is well that I have acquaintances in London that I may write to.”

Mr. Darcy took a moment to look about him. They had skirted the meadow and were now approaching a sheep field. To the left of them a little distance hence, a hazel-wood partially shielded what might have been a fine view of Oakham Mount.

“Bingley and I encountered Mr. Sutton in a posting house, before we reached Grantham.”

“Mr. Sutton?” Elizabeth drew her brows together, searching her memory, “Oh, yes, of course — I trust he was well? Why do you mention him, Mr. Darcy?”

“He appeared well enough, and given his general air of perspicacity I had thought perhaps you might have something to do with his being there. But you will forgive me for that — it is evident by your expression that I have been mistaken. It is more likely that it is just his way.”

Puzzled, Lizzy toyed with the ribbon of her bonnet. She had chosen a particularly fetching straw that morning, in the hopes that he might admire her in it. “I am afraid I do not follow your train of thought. Mr. Sutton is not a close acquaintance of mine, although I will say I liked the man on account of his obligingly having lost so badly to Jane when he was sure he would not. What could I have to do with his being near Grantham?”

He shook his head. “It is better not to divulge my foolish notions. I would prefer you to think well of me.”

“I can assure you that I do. Come, your frown troubles me — I have been friendly, have I not, and confided to you that I harboured unjust thoughts of my sisters? I would have you do likewise and then we may be quite at ease with one another. There is nothing so good for a friendship, I believe, as knowing one another to be flawed.”

His answer was brief. “You hardly need hear of my unfounded jealousy, Miss Elizabeth, to be convinced that I am a man with manifold faults.”

She was silent for a moment, grappling as she was with the sudden lurch of her heart. Lizzy reached forth a hand and laid it on his arm briefly. He immediately ceased in his step. “You might be appalled, Mr. Darcy, by how much I like to hear of your unfounded jealousy, but I will not press you further. If I may smooth out the crease between your brows now, however, I will. I have no knowledge of Mr. Sutton's movements about the country. He may travel from county to county as he pleases — what need would I have of Mr. Sutton to find a lost beloved sister when…when Mr. Darcy so kindly and capably stands our rescuer? No gentleman could be so obliging as you. ”

His brow cleared. Elizabeth's hand was reached for and lightly kissed. “You did not always find me so obliging. ”

Smiling, Lizzy demurred. “I did. I did find you obliging. It is only that I wilfully misinterpreted every instance in which you were gallant on account of prejudice. I cannot help but wonder why you tolerate me, so odd as I am. Mama thinks it is a very good thing we have an independence now, as otherwise she would despair of ever finding a gentleman willing to endure my company.”

It was a bold opening, undoubtedly, and Lizzy blushed to be so forward but her heart would not permit her to be silent.

Mr. Darcy, to her relief, did not appear to be disgusted. Quietly he spoke again. “I suppose that in a novel, now is the time a penniless gentleman might dramatically protest that a young lady must throw all her money to the four winds so that he could better convince her and the world of his sincere partiality.”

“That sounds like something Kitty might read. Have you confiscated such a book from Miss Darcy, I wonder? I should not like to do that, for myself. It would certainly bring censure upon me and might even cause a gentleman to doubt my sincere partiality if he were rich and I poor.” His eyes, intent upon hers, warmed, and the expression in them made her brave. “Perhaps you ought to throw away the difference in our income, sir — I will need Jane to tell me how much that is — and then we may stand on more equal ground.”

“Do you think any alliance is entirely equal, Miss Elizabeth?”

She considered this. “Perhaps not, but I think the best marriages must be based on equal affection, at the very least.”

He shook his head. “I am doomed to disappointment then, I fear.”

Alarmed, she enquired, “How so, Mr. Darcy?”

“I have loved you since the autumn.”

This statement was uttered almost dispassionately, as though it was simple truth, but Elizabeth found no fault with him for that. Joy suffused throughout her being and woke her spirits to liveliness. “And you conclude from this that your feelings, having an earlier beginning, are therefore the more fervent? We will argue by and by.” She reached for his hand and pressed it, drawing closer to him and angling her face up to his. “I shall show you that you are wrong, sir.”

Elizabeth's intent was clear, and although his temptation was evident, yet Mr. Darcy hesitated. With such a frank invitation having been issued, Lizzy wondered why it was he did not kiss her. Perhaps it was she who was doomed to disappointment; perhaps he was too proper a gentleman to come near her unless she first bore his name .

Unexpectedly, Mr. Darcy smiled and raised a warm hand to the cheek that had tilted up toward his gaze. “The turn of your countenance and your changing expressions are ever delightful — the more so because it is a pleasure for me to read them and interpret what they may mean.”

Elizabeth, sighing softly into his palm, protested that he could not possibly know what she was thinking .

He leant closer and his breath whispered against the lobe of her ear. “I did not kiss you, loveliest Elizabeth, because there is, across this very field, a boy carrying firewood. He is helpfully sporting a red kerchief about his neck, and had I not seen him, he would even now be scurrying back to Meryton to relate the shocking scene he had witnessed. Your father would be demanding an account of me even as we walked through the gates.”

Elizabeth glanced across the field and confirmed with a blush that Mr. Darcy's eyesight was particularly good. “Oh,” she swallowed, “perhaps you do know what I was thinking. We ought to walk through the woods — they are more sheltered from prying eyes, Fitzwilliam. I beg your pardon,” she said, echoing his words from a previous conversation, “I mean ‘Mr. Darcy.’”

His reply was firm. “You mean 'Fitzwilliam.' ”

Lizzy's smile was luminous as they at last continued their walk. “So I do. ”

With one accord they moved toward the woods. Elizabeth took the arm offered to her, happy to be close to him and, now a little more comfortable, began to talk.

“I stayed up late speaking to Jane last night and it was that conversation which banished any lingering doubts I had regarding my suitability to be your wife — assuming, of course, that you ever meant to ask me. ”

Not dignifying the unasked question with an answer, so obvious was the response, Mr. Darcy replied that he was indebted to Miss Bennet and begged to know the substance of their conversation.

“Well,” she answered airily, “I was merely swaying back and forth in my own mind — wondering if loving you desperately was enough to justify wedding you.”

“Certainly it is enough.”

“Be reasonable, Fitzwilliam. There are many unsuitable matches made on account of love — I would not like it if you regretted me in a few years’ time. Jane understood completely, of course — she is the dearest creature — and said it had been easy for her. She knew when Mr. Sutton posed a threat to Mr. Bingley that night and there was no question in her mind — that she would gladly spend the rest of her days standing between him and harm if she could. Is that not romantic?”

“Very romantic,” he concurred, eyeing the trees ahead of them. “Go on, Elizabeth. ”

Pleased to relate her moment of epiphany to him, she did so. “I said, ‘That is very well but that you are not the sort of man that often needs protecting, I do not think.’ I am unlikely to have the opportunity to receive clarity in such a way as Jane. My sister then offered to cut a pack of cards and attribute a suit to you. Thus any decision was to be taken from me and it would be far more straightforward.”

“And which suit,” Mr. Darcy asked politely, his pace increasing, “did you decide became me best? Not a club, I trust.”

“No, no — diamonds. Pliny — I forget which one — said that a diamond is the most precious thing in all the world. It is the perfect suit to describe you.”

“And, I gather,” here Mr. Darcy took her hand to urge her along the path a little more quickly, “that Miss Bennet, with her remarkable abilities, ensured that a diamond was revealed — not that it would have made any difference to me in my suit but I find myself curious. I prefer it when Miss Bennet takes risks with many thousands of pounds, I believe.”

“I am glad of that, Fitzwilliam — do you think we might slow down a little, my lo… — it is very hard to tell you these important things when you are so set upon us reaching the wood.” She raised her eyes to the cloudless blue sky. “It is not going to rain, after all. ”

Mr. Darcy slowed and she drew a deep breath, eager to tell him the whole. “I went to fetch the pack from downstairs, and as I went I realised that I had no desire to see anything other than a diamond. I stood at the top of the stairs for a full minute when I had reached my conclusion, and thus there was no need for the exercise to begin with. Jane is very wise. When I returned to her she informed me that she would have been surprised to see me with the cards in my hand. ”

“I see.” A few moments later and the edge of the wood was reached. His object now achieved, Fitzwilliam stood still, regarding her.

Lizzy stepped a little closer and once again raised herself up on her toes. “Are you going to make me ask, sir, or may I rely on your superior abilities in reading my expressions to dispense with that necessity.”

The obliging Mr. Darcy bent his head .