Chapter Six
She did not have any particular feelings towards Mr Darcy. She felt a small measure of esteem for his gentlemanly-like manner and the care he showed to his retiring and nervous sister and his ebullient friend. But it was the thin, glancing esteem of short acquaintance and nothing more.
She did not think of his shoulders. Of the depth of his eyes when they met hers, or of the errant curl that seemed to inevitably escape his otherwise perfect coiffure.
And if a glancing thought did veer in that direction it was only the natural consequence of being stuck in close quarters with him on a damp Wednesday.
And with so little thought for him, it was terribly frustrating that they should have come to blows in such a way to make her blush fiercely and wish for the ground to open up and swallow her whole.
It had begun well enough. Better than well, if she was being honest, which she was finding increasingly inconvenient.
They had been thrown together by the social mechanics of a wet morning, a cancelled walk, and Mrs Makepeace's firm opinion that everyone would be more comfortable in the front parlour with a fresh pot of tea than standing about stupidly looking at the rain.
Bingley had installed himself beside Jane with a contented air.
Georgiana had settled near Mrs Bennet, who had asked her something quiet about the embroidery on her dress and was listening to the answer most attentively.
Which left Elizabeth and Darcy at the window, both ostensibly watching the rain, which had obscured the smallest sliver of sea and was not interesting enough to sustain their attention for long.
"You walked out this morning," he said. "I cannot think it was a prudent choice. The storm had been anticipated for hours." He had seen her from an upper path, apparently. She had seen him too and had said nothing about it. She bristled but only slightly.
"The rain held off until the Cobb," she said. "Although then to its discredit it did not hold off at all and I was dampened in both spirit and body."
"Was it worth it?"
"Almost certainly not. Though I always feel lighter after such exercise. I cannot abide being stuck indoors"
The corner of his mouth moved.
They talked after that for some minutes.
He was drier and funnier than she had expected.
She was more forthcoming than she had intended.
He asked about her walking and she said it was a deficiency of character she had long since stopped attempting to correct.
He said Bingley had been attempting to cure him of early rising for the better part of fifteen years.
She said some deficiencies were clearly constitutional.
He agreed, with a gravity that was not entirely serious, and she was as content as she could be while remaining trapped in a small parlour with an over-abundance of lace and porcelain figurines.
Across the room, Bingley was explaining something to Jane with earnest concentration. Jane was listening with her whole face, her lips tilted upwards in a most becoming air.
"She is very kind to him," Darcy said quietly, watching.
"Particularly, as I fear he is talking on agricultural drainage, his latest great obsession.
He means to lease an estate in the near-future and the minutiae of land-management is a topic of great interest to him at the moment.
He perhaps does not realise that everyone else does not share his… passion."
"My sister is kind to everyone. And with Mr Bingley I think she might also mean it particularly. He is an amiable soul suited to the lightness of Jane’s temperament."
He looked at her and she turned her head again to the view, prickles of discomfort moving over her skin.
"You express your opinions very freely for such a short acquaintance on both sides."
"I am a great studier of character, sir," she said in a voice that was firmer than she felt. "And I at least have the benefits of being intimately acquainted with my sister."
To her surprise, he offered no rebuttal, just a slow nod.
Near the fireplace, Georgiana was describing something to Mrs Bennet with more animation than Elizabeth had yet seen from her, her hands moving as she spoke.
Mrs Bennet was nodding, asking small questions, and talking more freely than she had in months.
Although her volume had failed to return to her naturally exuberant level.
"Your mother has a gift for conversing with my sister," Darcy said quietly.
"She is most interested in people. I did not give her enough credit for it, for a long time. She was quite altered recently and I think she sees something of her own difficulties in your sister"
They maintained a contented silence for some minutes.
???
It was Georgiana who came to join them at the window, drawn perhaps by some gravitational pull toward her brother, and Elizabeth turned to include her with a ready smile.
"I hope you are finding Lyme agreeable, Miss Darcy.
It is beautiful, if rather quiet. My youngest sister Lydia would declare it most direly in need of a more eligible gentleman.
" She laughed gently. "She has her head in a novel, always hoping for some charming young man in the mood for a great romance.
Although more than likely her silly schemes would end in heartbreak.
" As my father says, next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then.
" She shook her head fondly. "Lydia more than most, I think. "
It was nothing and she said it without guile or any real thought at all. But she watched with horror as the younger girl’s face crumpled and Mr Darcy turned very white. Then Miss Darcy turned and fled from the room, her sobs audible as she ran from the company.
The room fell silent and Elizabeth felt heat rise up her neck.
"I wonder," Mr Darcy said in a clipped tone, "that you find such impropriety so diverting, Miss Elizabeth."
He spat out her name and Elizabeth flinched before standing a little straighter.
"I was making a joke about Lydia, who is not yet 16 and incorrigible, which is my prerogative as an older sister and I assure you has nothing to do with—"
"Perhaps," he said, "you might consider that not everyone shares your amusement in poor behaviour."
Elizabeth kept her voice pleasant. It required some effort. "I consider that you have implied I said something offensive, Mr Darcy, when I said nothing offensive, which I find rather rude."
"And I consider," he said, "that a little more discretion might have been advisable. Impertinence, Miss Elizabeth is not always a virtue"
"You are being ungentlemanly," she said, fighting to keep her voice level. "And I think you are aware of it… sir"
The silence was absolute.
Her mother was examining the carpet with tremendous focus. Bingley had an expression of utter incomprehension. Jane had folded her hands in her lap and was looking at a point just above everyone's head.
"I find," said Mrs Makepeace, with complete composure, "that almond biscuits improve most situations considerably.
Mr Makepeace, God rest him, held that there was no difficulty in the world that was not made at least somewhat more manageable by something good to eat and a moment's pause to eat it.
He was a very wise man in many respects, though not in all, but on this particular point I have never found cause to disagree with him. "
Then Bingley said, with magnificent irrelevance, "I had a marvellous almond cake once in Bath that was really tremendously good.
Do you know Bath, Miss Bennet? Darcy, you've been to Bath.
Lovely place. The architecture alone is worth the journey.
Though Ja—, Miss Bennet, I wonder whether you prefer the sea, actually, because there is something about the sea that Bath, for all its virtues—"
"I think I prefer the sea," Jane said, turning to him with warm attention. "Though I have never been to Bath."
"Then you must go," Bingley said, with complete conviction. "Darcy, she must go to Bath."
Darcy said nothing. He had already left the room.
???
Elizabeth sat down and opened a book but did not even pretend to read it.
She had done nothing wrong. She was entirely certain of this. She had made a joke about Lydia, which was hardly a dangerous subject, and Miss Darcy had reacted in a manner she could not begin to explain. Whatever had distressed the girl, it could not reasonably have been what Elizabeth had said.
He had turned it into something it was not and then called her impertinent when she objected, which was so far from acceptable that she could not quite believe it had happened in a comfortable parlour in the middle of the morning.
She was angry. She was completely justified in being angry.
She was also, and this was the irritating part, confused and regretful.
Because Georgiana's face had been devastatingly sad.
She had caused that, albeit unknowingly.
She had done a wrong to quiet but perfectly lovely young girl by letting her thoughts run out of her mouth unfettered. She must set it right somehow.
She could not work out what she had said that was so disagreeable and she felt hot and uncomfortable and entirely discomposed for the rest of the morning.
???
Darcy walked the upper path in dense drizzle and did not think about Elizabeth Bennet.
He did not think about the distracting flecks of amber in her rich chocolate-coloured eyes or how soft her skin looked.
He absolutely did not consider how he ached to bury his hands through her chestnut curls that never stayed entirely contained by their pins or wonder what she would smell like if he burrowed his face in the hollow of her neck
He did not think about how she could not possibly have had knowledge of Georgiana’s dealings with a man who had broken her heart and demolished her trust in the human race at large,
He could not get a word of sense from his sister when he attended her in her rooms and she at once seemed reduced to the guilt and misery of the days following his discovery of her attempted elopement in Ramsgate.
She had been deceived by a trusted family friend who only had eyes for her fortune.
It was not her fault. But he could not stop her from violently berating herself over her own failings.
He had thought that he had seen some improvement in her since their arrival in Lyme and the quiet lodging house he had chosen because it was likely to provide a sanctuary away from the sharp eyes of the ton.
He had handled it badly. He had known it as he was speaking and had done it anyway, because her words and Georgiana’s face had caused something in him to react faster than sense demanded.
A girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then.
Said fondly, about a silly younger sister, meaning nothing at all for Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
Yet for Georgiana the words had struck a wound that had scarcely begun to heal.
She had not known. He was certain of that now, standing in the drizzle.
She had been talking about her sister. She had no knowledge of Ramsgate, no knowledge of Wickham, no knowledge of what it actually looked like when a charming young man pursued a girl with ill intent and left her broken in the aftermath.
And he had looked at her as though she had done it deliberately. Treated her with such coldness and ill-humour that she likely thought he was the worst, most-arrogant beast in the world.
He owed her an apology. The prospect was considerably more alarming than it ought to be, which was information he was not going to examine too deeply.
???
Elizabeth told Jane that evening what had happened.
Jane listened quietly, holding Elizabeth’s hand.
"He called you impertinent, dearest" Jane said, when Elizabeth had finished.
"He did."
"In front of everyone." Jane set down her embroidery. "Lizzy, perhaps there is some context I am not aware of, because he does not seem to me like a man who would speak that way without cause."
"Though when Miss Darcy left as she did, looking… oh, so very unhappy." Jane picked her embroidery back up. "I did wonder whether something had happened to her that we don't know about. Not that it excuses him. But she seemed so very distressed for such a small thing."
"I know," Elizabeth said. "I don't know what I said that landed the way it did and I cannot fathom just what could have occurred, and that is frustrating, but it does not mean he was right."
"No," Jane said. "He was not right. And he owes you an apology. A proper one." A pause. "I think he is probably very aware of that."
"I feel badly for Georgiana," Elizabeth said, after a while. "Whatever sore spot I touched, I did not know it was there. I would not have said it if I had."
"Of course you would not," Jane said warmly.
"Anyone who has spent five minutes in your company would know that immediately.
You are sometimes sharp, Lizzy, and you do occasionally say things before you have quite decided to say them, but you are never unkind.
Not intentionally. And if Mr Darcy cannot see that then he has not been paying sufficient attention. "