Chapter 33 #2
This was not likely to bring Elizabeth back into her mother's good graces, as it would fall to Elizabeth to inform Lady Bennet that she would not authorize massive expenditures on new clothes.
Charles Bingley was wealthy and could afford to provide for all his bride's future needs, and Jane, at least, agreed with Elizabeth that she could easily enter matrimony with only a few new gowns and hats and bonnets.
It was not greed or parsimony that motivated Elizabeth's thrift.
Having taken the full measure of their father's cousin and heir, she thought him inclined to resentment and pettiness, and she suspected that he would not wait for Sir Thomas to be cold in his grave before throwing the bereaved widow and her daughters from their erstwhile home.
Though Elizabeth had started saving up some years past, and doubtless Bingley would not leave his in-laws destitute, it seemed now more urgent than ever to lay funds aside for the support of the Bennet ladies and eventual dowries for the younger sisters.
For now, however, a more joyous prospect lightened the horizon of the future, and the two sisters looked forward to their upcoming shopping trip.
They were so intent on their lists that they did not hear the footsteps in the corridor outside until the door was opening to admit the Keatons' starched butler, with three visitors following close behind him.
“Miss Darcy, Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Bingley,” the butler intoned.
Elizabeth rose to her feet with a mixture of pleasure and surprise. She had, of course, been expecting her sister’s betrothed to visit, but the Darcys?
“Charles,” Jane cried out, hurrying forward, her face wreathed with smiles. “Good morning!”
“Good morning, Jane,” he replied, and with such passion in his eyes that Elizabeth thought that if the couple were alone, they would probably steal a few kisses.
“Miss Darcy, Mr. Darcy, please do sit down,” Jane suggested. “The countess had to consult with her housekeeper about a matter of importance, but I daresay she will be here soon.”
Elizabeth cast an expert glance at the fire and decided it was crackling along sufficiently, and then she gestured to a settee near her. “Please do sit down, Miss Darcy.”
The younger woman, her cheeks pink with either the cold or shyness, took her seat, and Mr. Darcy lowered himself next to her, while Bingley and Jane took the opportunity to take a small couch in the far corner of the room.
It was probably chilly over there, but it allowed the love-struck couple to converse in private.
“It was kind of you to visit, Miss Darcy, Mr. Darcy,” she said. “I hope you are well?”
“We are very well,” Darcy said with a surprisingly genial expression on his face. “I do not think I told you how much we enjoyed seeing the comet through the telescope. Thank you for making it possible for us to see such a wonder.”
Elizabeth smiled and said, “I am very glad you had the opportunity. It is marvelous, is it not?”
“It made me feel small,” Miss Darcy remarked with surprising fervor. “Not in a negative way. More like I felt as if my own problems were actually tiny compared to the vastness of the heavens.”
“I have thought the same things,” Elizabeth replied immediately. “There are times when my struggles weigh me down, but space and the hands of the One who made it, are so big…”
Darcy’s handsome face grew solemn, and he quoted:
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.
Elizabeth turned an approving look on the gentleman. “From the eighth Psalm.”
“Yes,” Darcy replied just as the door opened to reveal the Earl and Countess of Keaton.
Everyone rose, and Jane made the introductions between the earl and countess and Miss Darcy, and the entire group proceeded to the drawing room where there was more seating.
Once again, the Darcys sat down near Elizabeth, but with the earl and countess also present, the conversation rapidly diverged by sex except for Jane and Bingley, who stood in a corner of the room well away from the fire, their love keeping them warm.
Elizabeth found herself thoroughly enjoying the discussion.
Miss Darcy, while shy, was courteous and intelligent, and she and Clara spent a happy fifteen minutes discussing music, as both ladies were exceptionally gifted players on the pianoforte.
Elizabeth was not a great player herself, but she enjoyed watching the delight on the younger lady’s face as they discussed a difficult concerto of Mozart.
She felt a sudden rush of pleasure at being surrounded by kind, intelligent friends in a peaceful home.
She glanced toward the earl and Darcy, and she was surprised to discover the latter staring at her.
She smiled at him, and he, after a moment of surprise, smiled back, before turning to continue his discussion with the earl on the topic of sheep.