Chapter 7
Elizabeth and Jane were the last ones to come down to break their fast, but before they entered the breakfast room they heard Miss Bingley saying stridently, “They cannot stay here! We have to find a way to send them home. What if the bridge takes a month to be repaired?” She sounded quite panicked.
“What are you so afraid of, Miss Bingley?” Lady Anne asked, “Those young ladies are the epitome of breeding and charm. I do not understand why you are so opposed to them.”
There was a little pause as if Miss Bingley was considering her answer, “I am not opposed to them,” followed by another little pause, “and I am most certainly not afraid of them.” She sounded as if her vanity was wounded.
“We will fix the bridge,” Mr Darcy’s voice was firm, “we will get every available man to help. It is of the utmost importance that it gets rebuilt as soon as it may be.”
Jane looked at Elizabeth in horror, “the bridge is down?” Her face twisted as if she was about to cry.
“We can walk home, Jane, through the fields; a broken bridge shall not stop us from getting out of a place where we are not wanted.”
Jane looked outside through a high window, “it is still raining very hard out there, Lizzy. I am afraid we are stuck here for at least another few hours.”
Mr Bingley went on to say that no matter how strong the rain continued, nor how long it took to attempt repairs on the bridge, as far as he was concerned the ladies from Longbourn could stay in his house for as long as they wanted. They would receive no opposition from him.
Elizabeth and Jane decided this was a good time to enter. They took a deep breath and opened the door.
All the gentlemen stood. Lady Anne and Georgiana smiled and Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst took a bite of their food to occupy themselves, rather than give the young ladies too much notice.
Mr Bingley walked towards them and grabbing one hand each said with a welcoming smile, “Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, what a pleasure to see you under my roof this morning. I hope you slept well.” He then led them to the table and signalled to the footman to bring fresh coffee and tea.
“We were just saying,” he said a little timorously, “that unfortunately the bridge is down with the storm. I am afraid you are stuck with us for the foreseeable future.” He smiled and focused on Jane to see her reaction.
“We will find our way home, Mr Bingley. We hate to importune your household.” Jane said and her voice cracked.
Lady Anne immediately realised that, most likely, they had heard their conversation before entering the breakfast parlour.
She looked angrily at Miss Bingley but especially at her son, for sounding desperate to get them out from under their roof.
She cared not that Miss Bingley was the hostess.
If the woman had no manners to speak of, that was her problem; but she, Lady Anne of Pemberley and Darcy House, could not stay silent and let those lovely young ladies believe that everybody in the house hated them.
“Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, I will take you home myself in my personal carriage when the rain stops and the bridge can be rebuilt; but I will protest your running out of here as if the devil is after you. Certainly there is no hurry and Mr Bingley will support me in this, since it is his house.” She stressed the word ‘his’ as a warning to Miss Bingley and her own son.
Miss Bingley turned morosely to her breakfast while Darcy took his cup in hand to the window and looked away from the table and its occupants.
He was irritated that his own mother seemed enamoured with the Bennet sisters, constantly pushing them to spend time with herself and his sister.
He feared they might be a bad influence on Georgiana, his darling sister who was an open and affectionate child.
She already looked at Miss Elizabeth as if she was some kind of heroine.
The fact that they had relatives deep in trade all over London seemed to have altogether escaped his mother’s notice. The Bennet's connections were a disgrace as it prevented them from making suitable marriages - they should not even be allowed in his presence.
He gasped as these thoughts came to the forefront of his mind. It sounded as if his snobbish Aunt, Lady Catherine, had invaded his brain and was screaming from inside trying to get out.
He forced himself to turn and look at the young ladies.
The two Bennet sisters were under attack from Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst, who were asking blunt questions about their relatives both in town and in Meryton, but the two young visitors did not retaliate. Instead they answered the questions with composure.
Darcy noticed that Miss Jane Bennet became ever quieter, simply looking down to her hands folded on her lap while Miss Elizabeth seemed to acquire a quiet strength as the questions became more intrusive.
He could not help but admire her fortitude.
While his mother was on the brink of losing her temper, Miss Elizabeth became more and more confident as she squared her shoulders and straightened her spine.
Miss Bingley towered over the diminutive woman, being almost as tall as himself, but he doubted that Miss Elizabeth even noticed it; she simply refused to look intimidated.
His heart was touched when he saw Miss Bennet reaching out to hold on to her sister. It seemed the younger sister served as anchor to the older who although taller, looked more fragile.
There was indeed something special about Miss Elizabeth, he had to admit; most women would cower under Miss Bingley’s blunt assaults; but not only did she hold her ground, she also proved to be a tower of strength for her sister.
***
Jane fared better than Elizabeth during the day as they waited in vain for a break in the clouds. Mr Bingley engaged Jane in attentive conversation, which she seemed to enjoy very much.
However, Elizabeth was restless.
As twilight approached it became obvious that the sisters would not be able to return home that day, but Elizabeth felt she had to get out of the house or go mad.
When she noticed that the rain had stopped for a while she took herself to the garden and decided that she would make the most of the recess while she could.
She had been walking in circles for a few minutes feeling dejected when she walked into a solid wall of black wool.
It seemed both Mr Darcy and Elizabeth had had the same idea and both looked surprised and confounded when they collided into each other.
“I beg your pardon,” they said in unison. Mr Darcy reached out and grabbed hold of Elizabeth’s elbow before she stumbled backwards.
“I am so sorry, Miss Elizabeth, I did not mean to mow you down.” He finally let go of her arm which he had been holding for a few moments longer than necessary.
Elizabeth had accidentally and very briefly, buried her face into his chest and his scent clung to her, a mixture of sandalwood, musk, shaving soap and even a hint of cinnamon. She could not help but notice how very manly and extremely pleasant his scent was.
She shook her head to bring her thoughts into good regulation, “Do not concern yourself, Mr Darcy; I was just as culpable as you since we were both distracted.”
“What distracts you so fully this evening, Miss Elizabeth?”
“My desire to return home as soon as possible,” Elizabeth blurted out.
“Is the company at Netherfield so distasteful, madam?”
“It seems it is our company that is distasteful sir, since it is you who want to recruit every able body to rebuild the bridge as soon as it may be.”
Mr Darcy gasped in repulsiveness, “is it your habit to listen at key holes, madam?”
Elizabeth took one step back and glared at him before she smiled sarcastically, “not habitually sir, no, only when I am expected in a room and its occupants make the most of my absence to disparage me and mine before I arrive.”
“I do not remember disparaging you or yours.”
“Not in so many words, but your desperation to fix the bridge is quite apparent to all and sundry.”
“My desperation to fix the bridge has everything to do with being myself trapped in this house and very little to do with you and yours, since I could not care less whether you stay or go.”
Elizabeth locked eyes with him and said quietly, “Is it just me, sir that triggers your most un-gentlemanlike behaviour or is this your customary state of being?”
Darcy felt as if he had been punched in the stomach but before he could retort, the rain returned swiftly and strong, and Elizabeth picked up her skirts and ran to the house without another word or acknowledgment of his presence.
***
Since there were three gentlemen and six ladies, every man should escort two ladies into dinner on his arm.
By rights, Bingley should escort his mother and Darcy should escort the mistress of the house.
But Darcy cared not for convention since he hovered near his mother and sister waiting for the dinner bell to avoid both Miss Bingley and Miss Elizabeth.
Not, he thought sadly, that Miss Elizabeth would purposely seek his company out, since he had been absolutely appalling towards her. He did not know why he went out of his way to be utterly despicable to her.
Never had a young lady, not even Miss Bingley, caused him to so completely lose his composure as Miss Elizabeth did. Often his mouth had already uttered an insult after a slight provocation, before he even realised that he wanted to respond to something she said.
Yes, she had exasperated him but his retaliation had been more than her words deserved.
At the assembly he had had a good excuse, since every year at the anniversary of his father’s passing he relived the pain all over again. But since then, he had no excuses. It seemed it was becoming a habit to fight with the young lady, but he had no idea why.
He also wanted to apologise, but he realised that his affronts had been accumulating of late so if he did not start to apologise soon, it would take him quite some time to name all of his offences.