Chapter 3 #3
Mr Darcy stopped walking and turned to face her.“Forgive me; I know this is very odd for me to speak of such…. But why does Miss Mary insist on styling herself as unattractive when she is, like all the Bennet daughters, pretty?”
Two thoughts jabbed at Elizabeth so sharply that she just stood there, silent and blinking, for a handful of seconds. The first thought was that Mr Darcy had certainly managed to bring up a category of inappropriateness that she could never have conceived. Second—did he like Mary?
She reminded herself for the hundredth time that he had been somewhat interested in and very polite to the entire family, and—more importantly—he was wealthy enough that he was very unlikely to court any of the Bennets, no matter his feelings.
All those thoughts rushed through her, and she knew that several seconds felt like a substantial pause, given her usual quick responses, so she hastened to speak: “Mama constantly tells the rest of us that Jane and Lydia are the beautiful ones who will save us all by marrying well. She implies that the rest of us have no beauty at all, and that we must cultivate accomplishments.”
Mr Darcy’s face was set in a neutral expression, and he did not quite frown, but Elizabeth noticed a strain in his eyebrows and mouth that seemed to indicate that he wished to. His intense gaze looked to be almost angry. She assumed, if he was angry, it was not at her, but at her mother’s attitude.
She hurried to explain further. “You must admit, Jane and Lydia have such nice face shapes and such symmetrical features. I am all pointy, and Mary is very square-shaped, and Kitty’s chin is…
a bit lacking. And I suppose we three have different strategies of how to cope with being the not-pretty sisters.
Kitty just tries to disappear. Mary does exactly what our mother demands in that she works very hard to become accomplished, but she also shows by her tight buns and dull-coloured dresses that she will not even try to compete for outer beauty.
As for me—I suppose that I try to make others laugh, and to laugh myself. ”
She had dropped her eyes from Mr Darcy’s penetrating look, but now she raised them to see how he had taken her explanations. He looked even more strained, with a jaw that was rigidly fixed, and his eyes were just as fiery. She had to lower her eyes again.
“Miss Elizabeth, I hope you know that, not only are you openly acknowledged by all as being very pretty, you can certainly also be described as beautiful. I grant you that your elder and youngest sisters are beautiful, but I would point out that you have a very unique sort of beauty that would make you more interesting to most people. Please do not take your mother’s words as truth. ”
Elizabeth was stunned by his statements. She could hardly give them credence, but Mr Darcy seemed to believe them.
He finally looked away and said, “As for Miss Kitty and Miss Mary, they are pretty as well. I must admit that I have heard two people say something about Miss Mary being ‘the plain one,’ but I am convinced that this is because she wears her hair in a severe style and wears less flattering gowns. I wondered if her mode of dress is a way of guarding her feelings. If she does not attempt to win compliments for her person, she can hardly regret not receiving them.”
Elizabeth said, “Believe me, I have spoken to Mary about more flattering colours and hairstyles. What I get back from her is quotes from the Bible about vanity and pride.”
“As little as I know her,” Mr Darcy said, “she has impressed me that she knows quite a few Bible verses.”
They smiled at one another. Mr Darcy offered his arm again, and the two returned to Longbourn.
Lady Lucas and her two daughters had, as expected, arrived at some point during their walk.
Jane and Mr Bingley had returned before Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, so the two entered a parlour seemingly stuffed with people.
But Darcy smoothly greeted the Lucas ladies and then, with Mr Bingley, made their excuses to leave.
Charlotte had been sitting with the mothers, but as soon as the men departed, she got up and led Jane and Elizabeth to the farthest side of the room. “The gentlemen called on you today?” she asked with a knowing smile.
Jane blushed prettily and said, “Yes, it was so kind of them to do so.”
Elizabeth said, “I am not the least bit surprised. I could clearly see that Mr Bingley was smitten the first moment he saw Jane.”
She was surprised to see her sister wince.
Jane said, “I do not believe that Mr Bingley only cares about outer appearances.
“Oh, Jane,” Elizabeth said, “I am sorry to have made it sound as if I thought that. I honestly think that he was interested to know you better upon his first sighting of your outer beauty. But I know that your inner beauty is far more important to me, to Mr Bingley, really, to everyone. And I think you show your kindness and your concern for others every minute of every day. Mr Bingley had a great deal of opportunity to notice that last night. It did not surprise me a bit to see him come so soon after meeting you.”
“But Lizzy,” Jane said, “I could say the same about Mr Darcy and you. Last night he asked you to dance and he looked at you a good deal when you were not together, and today he asked you to walk with him. I said something to Mr Bingley about being surprised, with your enormous age gap, that he was interested in calling on you, and he said I would be even more surprised if I realised that, as far as he knew, Mr Darcy has never called on any lady before.”
Charlotte looked from Jane to Elizabeth. “What is the enormous age gap, if I may ask?”
Elizabeth did not know how old Mr Darcy was, and she was entirely agog at what Jane had said, anyways, so she did not attempt to answer. But she did listen carefully for Jane’s answer, hoping that he was not too terribly old.
“I thought he was older than he is,” Jane admitted.
“When we met him five years ago, he had already inherited, so I assumed he might be in his early thirties at that point, which would make him at least five and thirty now.
But it turns out that he inherited at a very young age, and he is only seven and twenty now.
“That means he is my age, and only seven years older than Elizabeth. That is not an enormous gap.”
Jane smiled, murmured an apology and said, “As I said, for years I thought he was much older than us. But Mr Bingley has now clarified things, and I misspoke.”
Elizabeth had introduced Charlotte to Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley at the assembly, and each man had asked Charlotte for a dance. She asked her friend, “Tell me, Charlotte, what do you think of our new neighbour and his guest?”
She laughed. “Given that they may soon be connected with the two of you, I could not be honest if I had thought ill of the gentlemen. Happily, I found them both very handsome and very courteous. Mr Bingley seems to be more openly friendly, and Mr Darcy seems to be more broadly knowledgeable, but they are both sufficiently cordial and well informed that there is little need to compare.”
Elizabeth privately thought that there was every need to compare.
At the assembly, she had very much enjoyed hearing Mr Darcy’s opinions on literature; however, when she had danced with Mr Bingley, Elizabeth had broached topics of poetry, music, and classical sculptures in the British Museum, and Mr Bingley had no opinions on any aspect of the arts.
He had laughed affably and said things like, “I am quite a dunderpate about that, Miss Elizabeth.”
She had firmly decided that she would rather not marry at all than to marry a dunderpate.
Then she had asked herself why-oh-why she was thinking about marriage at all?
Could it be because, earlier that day, Mr Darcy had said she was beautiful? Because Jane seemed to think he might be romantically interested in her? Because Mr Bingley had claimed that his friend had never called on any woman before?
Elizabeth shook her head. It would be wise to rein in any expectations.
When the Lucases had left, and before dinner was served, Elizabeth asked Mary if they might talk privately.
Mary lifted her eyebrows at Elizabeth’s unusual request, but she nodded and led Elizabeth into the practice room. Sitting together on the settee and keeping their voices down, Elizabeth was confident that they would not be overheard.
“Mr Darcy has offered to teach us riding. I know you already ride some, but his tips might help you ride more confidently. I, obviously, need far more instruction than you. He will bring at least one horse tomorrow, earlier than the usual calling hours, and he was hoping you will join us.”
Mary blushed a little, smiled, and eagerly said, “That would be splendid. I should love to have another accomplishment.”
“By the way, while we were walking, Mr Darcy and I had a very odd conversation. He noticed from what I said that Mama is constantly saying that Jane and Lydia are the most beautiful of us Bennets, and he felt a bit insulted on our behalf. He told me very firmly that all of us are pretty, and he asked with a great deal of circumspection—” the latter being a polite lie, as the man should likely never have brought up the topic at all— “if there was some reason you were hiding your loveliness. He did not seem to think there would be any spiritual detriment if you wore green instead of brown or if you wore curls around your face.”
Elizabeth found it awkward to fudge the actual words Mr Darcy used, but she was attempting to redeem a conversation that was indecorous and potentially embarrassing.
Mary’s question displayed her intelligence: “Why would he even think about such a thing? I cannot imagine why he would think about, let alone speak to you about, my hair and gowns!”
“I think he has a really elevated sense of justice. And he has a much younger sister, about Lydia’s age, and he is her guardian because his parents passed quite some time ago. I imagine that he thinks much more than most men about how expectations and treatment of ladies can be unfair.”
Mary looked thoughtful. She nodded and said, “I do not have a riding habit of my own. I believe we will both have to borrow one—you from Lydia and me from Jane. So I will not be wearing brown or grey. I will do my hair however you like tomorrow, and perhaps it will please him that we took his advice to heart.”
She suddenly looked puzzled, and she asked, “Do you think that he means to court you, Lizzy? Is that why he is paying so much attention to our family?”
Elizabeth wished she could handle the question with complete calm, but she felt a blush heat her cheeks.
“I believe that Mr Darcy is so very high above us in consequence, he would not consider courting any of us. But I do not know what he is thinking, and I honestly cannot imagine his motivation in giving us riding lessons.”
“He probably just likes improvement projects,” Mary said with a laugh.
“Oh, dear, that does not sound so well for us, does it? We may well be the objects of pity, given our lack of opportunity to ride.”
But Elizabeth did not feel as if Mr Darcy looked down upon her, except of course in the literal, physical sense. There was something about his unwavering gaze that seemed…soulful rather than critical or pitying.
Or so she dearly hoped.