Chapter Four #3
Richard bristled at her for a moment, then resumed his mischievous banter. “I suppose a young lady may have the luxury of choice, and yet she may also find herself at the mercy of a most determined mother. She ought to take care to bestow her affections on the right sort of fellow.”
He winked at her, and Elizabeth could be in no doubt that he was not entirely referring to Jane. “Perhaps it must depend upon how confident a young lady may be in her ability to sway the good opinion of her affectionate mother.”
Richard chuckled as he spun her. “We might be allies, cousin. Speak well of me to your sister, and I shall put in a good word about Darcy to Lady Catherine.”
“I shall consider it. I might just as easily sing his praises to her myself and achieve the same result, without giving my sister any counsel that is, at present, rather unfounded.”
“Have I not convinced you by all my actions this last week that I admire your sister, and am wholly convinced of the myriad merits of that alliance which the family has long desired?”
“If only we had seen more of you in recent years, perhaps then I should have some steady basis on which to judge your recent behavior. I cannot know if you are behaving any differently than usual. Perhaps your ailing friend Mr. Bunbury can inform me of your customary demeanor, since you have been at his bedside every time the Fitzwilliams have been invited to Rosings in recent years.”
“Pray, do not bring poor Bunbury into this! He suffers a vast deal, and so shall I if you do not take mercy on me, Lizzy.”
Elizabeth regarded him in serious sincerity. “I truly wish to know why, sir. Was the notion of a match with your aunt’s ward so abhorrent to you, before you beheld her beauty?”
Richard made a droll face at her. “She was fifteen when last I saw her, Lizzy – I knew then that she would someday be a great beauty.”
“Then what was the reason for your hesitation?”
“Lady Catherine, of course!”
Elizabeth gave him a hard look as a bitter laugh bubbled out of her.
“Do you mean that your obstinate, headstrong determination to be forever at odds with my mother – for no discernible reason other than sheer rebellion – has deprived you of such happiness as you might have already had together? You are not as sensible and mature as I had expected to find you, cousin.”
“You mistake me, Lizzy! I shall admit that I do rather enjoy an occasional sparring match with my aunt, and I am certainly not of a disposition to oblige her without question, but I did not mean to suggest that is the reason for my avoiding your sister. No, what I meant was that I rather feared your sister would be too like your mother for my taste. Anne was, and when last I saw you all, Jane’s manners were so yielding that I presumed she would be shaped by my aunt, especially in the years following poor Anne’s death. ”
“Oh.” Elizabeth furrowed her brow as she considered this.
She and Jane had adored Anne de Bourgh, loved her as a sister, and mourned her still.
However, Richard was not entirely wrong.
Though Anne’s health had been poor for many years, in spirit she was very like her mother, ferocious and strong-willed, though generous and affectionate with those she loved best. “I suppose you have no wish to marry a woman too like your sister, either.”
“Which, happily for my poor, suffering friend, has eliminated you as a potential match, charming though you may be – but your sister is a breath of fresh air in a house full of women that drive me to distraction.”
Elizabeth glanced over at the suffering friend her cousin referred to – suffering of Richard’s infliction, for Mr. Darcy looked ready to kick her present partner out of a window and join the dance in his place. She offered him a warm smile in reassurance that he was still her favorite.
Richard’s countenance turned serious. “There is also the matter of my brother, Robert.”
Elizabeth was silent; she knew not what reply to make to this.
“Did she love him?”
“She was fond of him, but she likes everybody, and generally behaves with equal kindness to everyone she meets. In truth, I cannot say she really knew him well, for she only saw him twice a year, and he was an irregular correspondent.”
Richard nodded, a wistful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Robert and I were very different, as different as two brothers could be – more different, even, than you and Jane. It is not that she has a previous attachment that gives me pause, but that if she were suited to Robert, she is not likely to suit me.”
“I used to tease her that she and Robert would be very dull together, each forever yielding to the other and obliging our relations until it drove them to madness,” Elizabeth replied, hoping he would understand her.
“But you must be the judge for yourself, now that you have actually met Jane. If you prefer a lady with a disposition most unlike your own, you are fortunate that Jane is favored by Mamma’s lofty aspirations, and not me. ”
“Yes, that has been my opinion this last week,” he agreed.
“I mean no offense, of course, cousin Lizzy. You are a darling! Still quite as wicked as you were at thirteen, but you have grown in beauty and good sense. And I may flatter myself that there is some merit in my notion of different dispositions making for good matches.”
Her cousin waggled his brows at her, and she laughed. “You cannot mean me – or a certain gentleman whom I find perfectly amiable.”
“Oh, Darcy is lively enough in a small party, I shall grant you. But you have not yet seen the poor devil at a ball or the theatre, or any great crush. He looks quite overcome, whereas I shall venture a guess that you will be positively fearless when unleashed upon a large gathering. He does try to make merry, but generally seems to know not how, especially where ladies are concerned. You have brought on quite a change in him.”
Elizabeth grinned. “Well! Do flatter me more, sir.” Richard happily obliged until the end of the dance, and when the set broke up he delivered her directly to his friend.
She had a happy quarter hour of cheerful banter with Mr. Darcy before Lady Catherine determined that it was the hour for their departure, and then she faced another conversation at home.
Perhaps it was because of Richard’s affable flattery, but Elizabeth wished to dispense at once with her promise to speak well of him to her sister.
She found a perfectly willing ally in Rose, who flounced into Rebecca’s room to distract her with jests at the expense of the gentlemen they had met that evening.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth shared some wine with her sister in the small parlor that connected Rebecca and Rose’s rooms.
Elizabeth sank back into the sofa with a contented sigh.
“It has been a week since we have spoken privately, Jane! What a welcome respite, after so much activity.” For a time the sisters merely shared their impressions of London, saying what they could not divulge in the presence of their cousins, for the Bennet sisters shared such intimacy and discretion between them that their private conversations felt like an entirely different language than the sort of lighthearted banter they exchanged with their relations.
After so much wine that evening, Jane soon grew rhapsodic, and she mentioned Richard before Elizabeth even dared ask.
“He is not entirely as I remember him, from when we were children. Of course, he was only just grown up, himself, then. I think time has improved him. He is handsomer than I recall, too – or perhaps it is only that his manners have grown pleasanter since last we met. We have had a great many losses in our family, and we are both grown the wiser for it, I suppose. He is still a bit wicked, but he is no longer prone to direct his impudence at me – at least, if he does, it is in a way I rather enjoy.”
“And do you prefer him over every other gentleman you have met? Mamma wishes that you should, and you are far likelier to oblige her than I expect I shall be,” Elizabeth teased her.
“It has only been a week, Lizzy! I have only just overcome my astonishment at finding Richard to be agreeable at all! I sometimes think I might prefer Mr. Bingley, if I had met him first, but I suspect he fears he will offend his friend if he is too attentive to me.”
“And he certainly would! Richard is far too well pleased with you, I think. But I agree with your assessment of him; he is decidedly more agreeable than he was seven years ago, when we were all rather young and wild. Well, you were not – but you had not yet grown into the paragon of perfection that you are now. He is entirely in awe of your developments.” Elizabeth waggled her eyebrows suggestively at her sister.
“Not as pleased as Mr. Darcy is with you, Lizzy! He talked to you for half the night and stared at you for the rest of it.”
“Surely Richard did the same with you,” Elizabeth replied. But she had satisfied her duty to her cousin, and had drunk enough wine that she was perfectly content to be teased in turn for her own budding romance.
To Elizabeth’s surprise, Jane urged her to caution.
Perhaps it was not so very shocking that Jane did not wish her to make any hasty decisions about the man she admired, but generally Jane had always been convinced of the genius of all her schemes and odd notions.
Elizabeth could not be dissuaded, however, for though she did not doubt Jane’s belief that there may be a great many charming gentlemen in London, she had already met one called Darcy, and she was determined that he would prove the best of them.
The next evening, Elizabeth and her relations attended the opera.
They were too large a party to all sit in the Fitzwilliam box, but Mr. Darcy had one of his own, and the separation of their party into the two opera boxes afforded Elizabeth a chance to enjoy Mr. Darcy’s company free from the watchful gaze of her mother.