Chapter Ten #2
Miss Steele appeared delighted to be left alone with Jane.
With a sly smirk, she said, “I believe Mrs. Ferrars thinks very well of you. It is a relief that if she would think of a young lady of fortune for Edward, she has at least selected someone who knows that he has already given his word elsewhere. What a friend you are! I am sure you do not mind allowing her to labor under such a misapprehension, until Edward can bring her thinking around to support our union. He seems to be in favor with her at present, as you are, and therefore I am sure that I soon shall be as well.”
“Miss Steele, if you are asking me to feign any willingness to receive Mr. Ferrars’s addresses, I think it must be an ill thing – surely it will not be helpful.”
“But of course it shall! I hear you have utterly captivated the viscount, and he will be even more keen if he must give chase – if it appears that he has a rival – a fine thing for you! And if you speak well of me to Mrs. Ferrars and Miss Dashwood, as Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst surely shall, I am sure they will soon be far beyond accepting of me. They could hardly expect you to think of Edward when you might have a title.”
Jane was spared having to disabuse Miss Steele of such notions, for Mrs. Palmer wished to pay other calls in the neighborhood. When she and Miss Steele were gone, Mr. Ferrars again sought Jane out.
“I must apologize, Miss Bennet, if Miss Steele’s candor caused you any discomfort. Surely you are aware… your cousins must have told you a great deal of how close we became when I visited Norland.”
“Yes, they did.”
“I came to Meryton to see Elinor – Mrs. Dashwood wrote to me of their travel plans. But Elinor and Marianne did not come to London, after all.”
Jane only shook her head, and Mr. Ferrars slumped in his seat a little, looking terribly pained.
“I met Miss Steele four years ago; we were both very young. I fancied myself in love, when it was only at Norland that I truly began to understand what affection might exist between two hearts so similar in disposition. My honor was already engaged, but my inclination had long ceased to be what it was four years ago.”
“Elinor believes you to be a man of honor; she respects you for it,” Jane said carefully. Elinor had said so little of the man; it had been Marianne and Aunt Margaret who spoke of the attachment that had formed at Norland.
“I told her that my honor had reached its limit,” he said softly. “Elinor would not hear me out – she will not wait for me to find some way to free myself of my impossible obligation. I hardly know if it matters…. My mother will only accept a very grand match for me.”
“Perhaps you and Miss Steele may adopt a greater sense of discretion in speaking of the matter, if it cannot be resolved to your satisfaction,” Jane said, wishing to speak no further of it.
“Forgive me; I only wished you to know that I would have made every amends to your cousin, if she had wished it.”
Jane was surprised that Elinor had rebuffed the man who had disappointed her hopes, and yet she was glad of it, for she no more wished her cousin to pine in vain than she had wished such a fate for herself.
“It seems that the only person who can give you any satisfaction on that score is your mother; perhaps you ought to speak to her about it. She is keenly interested in speculating about your future.”
At this, Jane moved away. She joined the viscount, who was regaling Mrs. Gardiner and Mrs. Jennings with tales of his young daughters’ antics.
He turned the subject to the diversions of London, and was charming and attentive to Jane; he would hear of all her tastes and preferences, and his sister and cousin soon joined him in lauding all the amusements they might partake of together.
“I must be seen at the theatre and the opera, promenading in the park, and dancing at balls, of course,” he told her with a smile. “I have always preferred a quiet life in the country with my girls, but my step-mother insists that I show my face in London – for a few months, at least.”
After the uncomfortable conversations that she had already had that morning, Jane was happy to hear anything and everything the viscount wished to say.
His compliments and attentions were marked, and she received his flirtation with equanimity, though his manners were not as lively and witty as those of her Mr. W.
But he was a good man, and not a blackguard who had injured her cousin, like the other two gentlemen of her recent acquaintance had proved to be.
He had pleasant relations, affable manners, and had not once asked about her fortune or family.
Though he was not as handsome as the gentlemen who had disappointed her, Jane was ready to conclude that his behavior rendered him quite attractive.
***
Darcy was sure that he and his relations lingered too long in their call at Berkeley Street, but he was not the least bit sorry for it.
In fact, he was so pleasantly surprised by his own contentment that he was nearly suspicious of how well everything seemed to be going.
Georgiana was delighted with Elizabeth and her sister, and had been keen to make a new friend in Miss Hatchard, who, like Georgiana, was not entirely out in society.
The two girls were both acclimating to socializing incrementally, and such a friend would be just the thing for Georgiana, whom Darcy expected must be excluded from some events – especially those that included Bingley’s sisters, for they set Georgiana’s teeth on edge.
At events she was permitted to attend, the Bennet sisters were ideal friends for her to meet with – Elizabeth, in particular, had a disposition ideally suited to putting Georgiana at ease in company,
The viscount was also in fine spirits, and Darcy firmly believed that Phillip’s years of mourning had earned him all the cheer of having his addresses received by a kind and genteel lady such as Jane Bennet.
Knowing that she had wisely guarded her heart against Bingley, Darcy was prepared to wish her well with a suitor who would do more to deserve her than his feckless friend.
Bingley would do better to apply himself to the business of Netherfield and the maturity of his own capricious character.
But the greater share of Darcy’s happiness was that he found himself on far better terms with Elizabeth.
He had borne her rancor at the ball, and with the greatest forbearance he had addressed her concerns and been duly rewarded by reaching a happy accord with Miss Bennet.
His insult at the Meryton assembly was forgiven, if not forgotten; Elizabeth was so witty and bright that she might tease him forever about it, and Darcy would happily assure her in perpetuity that he was fully aware of all her charms.
The hesitation he had felt in Meryton about forming any serious designs upon her began to dissipate, as if he were emerging from a cloud of self-deprivation.
He had been mortified by his initial attraction to her, on the many occasions when he had silently admired her fine eyes and pleasing form the previous autumn.
He had berated himself for the objectionable connection, and endeavored by every means at his disposal to conceal his sentiments, which had perversely grown at every meeting between them.
Darcy knew not what had altered between them, beyond his overdue apology for his thoughtless disparagement.
Perhaps he was no longer fettered by any fear that his friend would disappoint her sister, or perhaps it was his own failure to distance himself from her, as if fate had other plans, which he must accept.
It was not a pleasant thought, but perhaps seeing her outside the environs of her chaotic family enhanced her charms, for in London he could easily imagine Elizabeth blending seamlessly into his own family.
Georgiana adored her already, and Phillip’s interest in Miss Bennet was a promising circumstance for their future felicity.
Darcy did not return with Phillip and Georgiana to Matlock House after their call on the Bennet sisters.
Instead he accompanied his friend Edward Ferrars, whose mother and siblings had other calls to make in Mayfair.
Edward offered Darcy a chance to look over the volumes of his late fathers’ collection before Mrs. Hatchard’s son returned to London and gave him a valuation of the collection.
Darcy shared his own father’s fondness for rare titles and first editions, though he was sorry that his friend should be obliged to sell them.
He shook his head sadly as he surveyed the volumes that had been heaped on every surface in one of Mrs. Ferrars’s parlors, and formed a dozen towering stacks as tall as a man at the back of the room.
“Do you truly intend to part with the entire collection? There must be nearly a thousand titles.”
Edward’s countenance shaded with worry. “I understand Fanny’s husband is in some financial straits, and she wishes to have her fair share of the sale.
Robert will surely prefer the funds he can get for them, as his spending habits have never been prudent.
As for myself, prudence must prevail – I may require the funds myself, if I fall out of my mother’s favor. ”
Edward poured them each a brandy and gave a heavy sigh, looking very much as if he wished to confide, and Darcy obliged his friend. “Have you quarreled with her?”
“No, but neither have I satisfied her demands. She would have me pursue a lady of fortune, though with my inheritance it is not entirely necessary, but she desires the connections of a society match. She has told me that she will cut me off if I do not marry wisely.”