Chapter Twenty Five #2
“She has not said anything directly, but I have sometimes sensed that she likes me, that she wishes things had been different. Why? What has she told you?”
Rebecca gave him an arch look, as if he could not expect her to betray her friend’s confidence. “My sage counsel to you, Darcy, into demonstrate to her that you are not ashamed of her family….”
“Which I am presently attempting to do.”
“And to show her that your own is far from perfect. She has met Lady Catherine, and I have been on my worst behavior.” She cast her eyes pointedly to Richard, who affected indifference to whatever hints Darcy did not wish to understand.
“Let her meet Georgiana. Your sister will adore Lizzy, and her style of innocent enthusiasm is quite catching. Besides, Lizzy has only heard Caroline’s false praise of her, and may imagine her as a similar creature.
Let her see your sister in her all ingenue timidity, her desperation for feminine society.
I know you made an impression in your kindness to the Gardiners, but you must do more of the same. ”
Bingley chuckled and came to Rebecca’s aid. “Miss Darcy will be spinning visions of your future life at Pemberley for her, and she could not but find it charming.”
Richard cleared his throat. “You know, Darcy….”
“Not you, too!”
“No, listen. I believe I hold a modicum of sway with Lady Blanche. I shall speak to her and her mother, find out what they have planned for the remainder of our visit. Perhaps the most raucous schemes are past us. They might at least give us some warning of which plans are not suitable for her, and we can arrange for a more wholesome alternative – Rebecca could occupy her.”
“Or Mamma! You cannot doubt she would be a ferocious protector. And if you and Richard speak to this Colonel Forster….”
“Or call in his debts, Darcy. I do wonder if it might be good for Georgiana to face a little of her fears; it may diminish her remorse if she is to lessen his power over her.”
Perhaps some part of him wished to be swayed, for Darcy could think of no further protestations. “Let me finish this letter to Mr. Bennet before Wentworth sets off for Hertfordshire, and I will consider it.”
Darcy returned to his task, fairly certain he had already given in.
***
After breakfast, Anne asked Elizabeth and Jane to join her on a small shopping trip.
“I wish to buy you and Jane a little present, Lizzy, with the seventeen pounds I won in our game of phantoms. It was a great boon at the time, but since I have inherited so much from my great aunt, I believe a little act of generosity is in order. Jane’s gift shall be one of congratulations, and yours one of thanks.
I might also purchase a hat or pair of gloves for Miss Dashwood, now that she is past the worst of her ordeal. ”
Marianne Dashwood had kept to her bed for the past three days.
By the second day, she was feverish and ill enough to warrant a visit from the physician, and the next day he returned and advised them that only when her fever broke could he be optimistic of her safety.
Anne had gone to her often. And at Elizabeth’s gentle suggestion, Captain Benwick spent many hours reading to her while Mrs. Jennings fretted and lamented.
Her fever had broken this morning and she was more coherent, Anne cheerfully reported.
“And she wished me and Colonel Brandon well; she is a dear sweet creature, and I know she feels the shame of her obsession with that awful man. But after your kindness to me in bringing the colonel and I together, I wish to do something for you, and for your sister, to show her I wish her and Fre- Captain Wentworth the very best.”
“You are an angel, Anne. But of course I accept! I have rather worn out my dancing slippers already, and I daresay I shall be wanting a new pair before our time here is over.” Elizabeth embraced her friend warmly, then went to fetch Jane.
Mrs. Croft offered to chaperone the three young ladies, and she teased the Bennet sisters that she meant to encourage Anne Elliot to purchase herself a few gifts in Brighton, too.
Anne was not in possession of her great sum just yet, but she and Elizabeth made free with their winnings from the game of phantoms as well as the pocket money they had brought to Richmond Cove.
Jane was permitted to pay for nothing, for she was to be celebrated for her betrothal.
Each of the three young ladies acquired new dancing slippers, wide brim bonnets for strolling the seaside, and charming painted fans that each depicted a different coastal scene.
For Miss Dashwood, Anne decided she ought to have some new dancing slippers as well – a promise of merry times to come.
And since Elizabeth was confident that there was every promise of romance between the lady and the faithful captain who was even now nursing her back to health, she spent a guinea of a very elegant, illustrated edition of Gulliver’s Travels with the idea that the budding couple might read it together.
Mrs. Croft proved a marvel of discernment in matters of shopping for every manner of accessory and accoutrement.
She paired colors and textures with astonishing ingenuity, scrutinized fabrics with a sharp eye, and bargained like the very devil.
After she had made a dozen purchases for herself and a few for Jane, she treated them all to ices before they returned to the manor.
After Elizabeth showed off her new purchase to Lady Rebecca, her friend drew her aside for a more serious conversation. “Well, Lizzy, I have been thinking about our bargain.”
“Our bargain?” Elizabeth furrowed her brows. There had been mention of a bargain amongst the fortune teller’s mysterious communications, but Elizabeth knew not what her friend made of it. Then again, she could guess.
“When I said you should speak with Darcy – and I have had it from Captain Wentworth while you were shopping that he told you the same – but when we were squabbling, as dear old friends do, I told you that I would speak to Charles if you spoke to Darcy. Did we not have an accord? A bargain, of sorts. I know you have not spoken to my cousin yet, and I have done my part.”
“Charles, is it?” Deflecting the question, Elizabeth gave her friend an arch look. “I am in no doubt of a favorable outcome between you.”
“He will not ravish me properly until we are married, which is vexing, but we have agreed to begin with a courtship.”
Elizabeth laughed at her friend’s sauciness. “Well then, I am very happy for you. I ought to have known, when the fortune teller said that he had it all figured out.”
“But poor Darcy does not!”
“I told him about Lydia and the regiment – is that not what you demanded of me?”
“You care what he thinks of you, of your family! You will not admit why, but I know that you are in love with him, Lizzy.”
Elizabeth raised her hands to her head, wanting to rip her hair out.
“Rebecca, I refused his proposal but a month ago, in the severest of terms. I made a fool of myself, brandishing my misconceptions, but he spoke very harshly to me. We have been in company for a fortnight. In so short a space of time, no less than six people, and more than half of them near-strangers, have told me that I ought to be swooning at his feet because he has shocked and amazed me by acting like a normal person.”
Lady Rebecca blinked. “Well, when you put it like that….”
“What other way is there to say what is true? I have done my best to be civil to him – more than civil, I should say! I have enjoyed the last fortnight immensely, but I cannot think it enough time.”
“Loads of people come to these parties every year, and are happily matched in the space of a month.”
Elizabeth let out a heated snarl. “With people they thought they despised?”
Lady Rebecca pressed her lips together, bringing a hand to her temple – she was no doubt recalibrating her next attack.
“It is true, when one counts the days. But they have been no ordinary days! Think of this, Lizzy. We have been here fifteen days – fourteen, since Darcy spent one day in London – and we have been all together for… let us say twelve hours out of each day. That is – let me think – more than one hundred and fifty hours. Under normal circumstances, like your time in Hertfordshire, you might see him for an hour or two on a short visit, perhaps three or four hours at a party. So, following my sound logic, it is as if you have visited with him fifty or sixty times!”
“Ugh! But it is still only two weeks,” Elizabeth protested.
Lady Rebecca threw up her hands. “Well, what, then? In another fortnight you will leave here and… what, never see him again?”
Elizabeth could not conceal the shock of dismay she felt at this notion, and Lady Rebecca raised her brows in triumph.
“Oh, for Heaven’s sake. I have changed my opinion of him considerably in a fortnight – can you not allow me another two weeks to sort it all out?”
Lady Rebecca seemed to have the sense that she had pushed Elizabeth as far as she could.
“I speak as a friend, truly, Lizzy. Not only should I greatly enjoy calling you cousin, but I think you and Darcy would be well matched. I comprehended instantly how well your dispositions complement one another – imagine my surprise at taking so many years to realize the same to be true for myself!”
Elizabeth vastly preferred to jest with her dear friend than belabor the topic that caused her so much anguish. But she felt it keenly in her gut that she did have to face the next fortnight, and before it ended, decide what to do about her feelings, for nobody would let her escape them.