Chapter 16
Mr Darcy’s eyes seemed always to follow her; it was most disconcerting.
She could not imagine why he should always be looking at her.
She supposed that there was something about her appearance that struck him as particularly wrong, so much so that he could not look away.
Her father had also seemed to notice Mr Darcy’s attention being drawn to her.
She had seen him looking at Mr Darcy with a frown.
She would admit, but only to herself, that the thought had crossed her mind that he might admire her, but the looks he gave her held nothing of love in them.
His face normally wore a frown or a look more of distaste than admiration.
He did, however, speak to her more than to any member of her family, save for her father.
He spoke to Jane but a little, and their mother not at all.
He did sometimes speak with Mary, and when he did, Elizabeth saw an unexpected look of kindness about his eyes.
His speaking with Elizabeth also made her father frown, but in this case, Elizabeth could perceive the reason.
Every time they discussed any topic, they were completely unable to agree.
Elizabeth did not know why, for even if she started the conversation in complete accord with Mr Darcy, it never ended that way.
His haughty manner of expressing himself always got her back up and made her wish to prove him wrong.
“You are entirely incorrect,” she informed him. “Shakespeare portrayed women as capable of both intelligence and infamy, as it is demonstrated by Portia in The Merchant of Venice and Lady Macbeth.”
“I did not say that Shakespeare did not show women as intelligent or lacking in the complexity of character, which Lady Macbeth shows by her duplicity. I merely said that some of his female characters are na?ve and uneducated in the ways of the world, which you must admit the protection of female delicacy makes necessary.”
“Which characters do you mean to demonstrate as having such traits?” Elizabeth asked.
“Ophelia,” he suggested.
“An isolated character,” Elizabeth replied.
“Desdemona,” he added. Elizabeth merely replied to his second example with a hmm.
“You must be kinder to Mr Darcy, Lizzy,” Jane beseeched, when they retired on the evening of the fifth night.
“If this damnable weather would ever improve, I need not ever speak to that gentleman again,” Elizabeth replied, giving her sister a response which she knew was unsatisfactory.
“It is he who is trapped away from his home comforts,” Jane replied. “Can you not see how discomforted he is, and the degradation he has had to endure?” Jane asked.
“Degradation? He has a warm bed and a full belly,” Elizabeth responded, and then continued in a more conciliatory tone. “I cannot like the way he looks down his patrician nose at us all. You know he believes it beneath him to have to avail of our hospitality.”
“But bear in mind, Lizzy, Mama has gone out of her way to make Mr Bingley feel welcome. Yet she makes it very clear that it is an intolerable inconvenience to have Mr Darcy here. Do not suppose he is unaware of his lack of welcome from that quarter.”
“But Papa has more than made up for it,” Elizabeth argued.
And it was true; their father had spent an inordinate amount of time with Mr Darcy.
Yes, Mr Bingley had accompanied them to walk, the admittedly waterlogged, fields of Longbourn, but Mr Darcy and her father had sojourned to Mr Bennet’s study for hours each day. ”
Jane had to own that this was true.
Elizabeth had been curious as to what was engaging the two men together, so much so that she had enquired of her father.
He had replied that they were chiefly discussing issues of land management.
Yet when Elizabeth had popped her head into the study to ask if he wished for her to call for a midday meal for him, she had found them discussing Plato and Aristotle.
Her father was smiling, and it was clear that he had been enjoying a rousing discussion on the philosophers, and that Mr Darcy was obviously knowledgeable on the subject.
Elizabeth was the only other member of her family who held an interest in philosophy, so it made sense that he was enjoying the conversation.
Her father had tried to engage Mary on the topic, but she had little interest.