Chapter Twenty Two #2
She could only nod her head.
“Well, he shall return for supper this evening, after our little outing. You must simply talk to him, Miss Elizabeth. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. I daresay he will thank you for it.”
Elizabeth was not so sure, but she did her best to be thankful for the captain’s counsel. She was pleased at least that he had given Jane only cause for comfort; Elizabeth would be happy when the time came to call him brother, even if he had once loved her friend Anne.
The whole party went on an excursion that afternoon to explore some local ruins. Lady Rebecca was a little livelier, but possessed a sort of frenetic energy that Elizabeth could not at all account for.
Lady Rebecca declared that she was only anxious to learn what her cousin and Mr. Bingley had accomplished in London; she was evidently quite fascinated by Miss Bingley’s misadventure.
“Who do you think she will choose? I believe she will not be able to resist the chance at a title, and if I were her I would not forgive Willoughby for planning an assignation with Miss Elliot! Sir Walter clearly wishes to thrash the man who would have meddled with his daughter. But Miss Elliot now had twenty thousand pounds, and I daresay she is more attractive to Willoughby now than she ever was. See how he tires of Miss Bingley’s gloating! ”
Miss Bingley was again the only person who seemed to take much pleasure in the day’s activities, and she was in fine form at supper.
She and Sir Walter had spent an hour in conference with Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy upon their return, and it was clear the lady was not entirely pleased with them.
Even so, she took delight in announcing her betrothal to Sir Walter Elliot, and even more evident pleasure in casting barbs at her brother and his friend.
Elizabeth was seated between Rebecca and Colonel Fitzwilliam at the dinner table, but they were near enough to Miss Bingley to be forced into relative silence as she regaled that part of the table with tales of her brother’s various follies – as if this could distract from her own.
Rebecca seethed at Elizabethan’s side, while the colonel attempted to mitigate Miss Bingley’s vitriol with his usual jests and japes.
Eventually, Caroline arrived at her brother’s recent time in Hertfordshire. “How ghastly it was! The neighborhood was quite a backwater of rustic nobodies.”
“No little difference to what you might expect at Kellynch, I am sure,” Lady Rebecca quipped, gripping the table until her knuckles turned white.
“I hope I shall not find the society as bad as all that!”
“I should say not, my dear,” Sir Walter agreed.
Miss Bingley simpered at him, fanning herself with her hand. “It was truly horrid! So many young ladies throwing themselves at the officers encamped nearby, encouraged by their insipid matchmaking mammas! Why, there was one such woman who was so determined to put her unremarkable chits forward….”
“Miss Bingley,” Mr. Darcy interjected. He was seated on Miss Bingley’s other side, and his eyes flickered over Elizabeth for a brief moment before he addressed the harpy.
“Perhaps on the auspicious event of your engagement, you may prefer to discuss happier matters. Sir Walter surely has a great deal to say of Kellynch’s superiority. ”
“And I am sure you shall agree, for I have every expectation of you and dear Georgiana visiting us there; Sir Walter assures me the society is entirely genteel and respectable. No vulgar ladies and vapid neighbors exposing themselves! Why, I recall what you said of one of the more objectionable creatures we met with – she, a beauty? I should as soon call her mother a wit!”
Miss Bingley trilled with malicious laughter, and Mr. Darcy turned puce. Colonel Fitzwilliam looked warily at Elizabeth, who clenched her fork a little too tightly. “I should think little of what she disparages,” the colonel murmured. “I have seen what pleases her!”
Miss Bingley turned to him. “Pray, what was that, Colonel?”
Lady Sophia was seated at the head of the table, but she was not too distant to reprimand Miss Bingley. “I believe we have some kin that reside near the estate your brother rented. They have painted a very different picture of Meryton, but then, they have friends there.”
Still Miss Bingley was not chastened. “It will be a relief when you finally wed, Charles. I should be much relieved when you are no longer the object of prey to fortune hunters, for even when you visit my husband and me, we must surely be on our guard.”
Mr. Bingley finally snapped. “That is enough Caroline. I should think your own matrimonial schemes have given you enough to think on; I will not hear another word from you about mine.”
Beside Elizabeth, Lady Rebecca was obliged to cover a burst of laughter with a prolonged cough.
Richard reached behind Elizabeth to clap his sister on the shoulder, and she managed to recover her composure.
A trace of amusement tugged Elizabeth’s lips into a smile, but she could not distract herself from the surety that Mr. Darcy had spoken those words about her mother.
She could not look at him for the rest of the meal, though she often felt his eyes land upon her. It was a hopeless case indeed.