Chapter Twenty Seven #3
“And if she can bear them, you shall be a breath of fresh air to her! But I will not ask anything of you. I only wish for you to have a chance to come to know her. I have been determined to earn her good esteem, and she has lately given me some little hope.”
“William, you surprise me! I have been with our aunt too long to sit idly by. I may not be as deranged as the rest of the Fitzwilliams, but….” Georgiana laughed and brought her hand to her mouth, as if she had said too much.
Darcy smiled indulgently at her. “I daresay you are right. Miss Elizabeth comes from an eccentric and chaotic family, and there was a time when I thought ill of them, but I must admit that our own family would be quite ridiculous if we were not so rich.”
“And charming,” Georgiana added. “Perhaps I am not yet well-versed in all the strange rules of society, but I think there is something very likeable about people who are utterly themselves.”
“Miss Elizabeth is certainly that.”
“You must tell me a great deal more, brother – and then I must know what has happened with Lady Rebecca and Mr. Bingley!”
Darcy made an exaggerated grimace. “I should expect our aunt will put paid to Miss Brinkley’s fantastical notions of what a connection to the Fitzwilliams might do for her.”
Georgiana chortled. “But she will have her father to console her. I cannot believe our aunt said such a thing. Ah, but I suppose I can.”
“I should not encourage you to disparage her, much as she seems to bring it on herself. I am sure she was only ever an impediment to Rebecca and Bingley realizing their affection was more than common friendship. She may try to impede your coming to know Miss Elizabeth – Miss Bingley, that is.”
“Our aunt would never allow it – nor Rebecca and Richard,” Georgiana said with unusual confidence. “Oh, for Heaven’s sake, my aunt has kept her occupied long enough! Might we go join them?”
Darcy led his sister toward the fountain, giving a civil nod to all the ladies.
Elizabeth instantly made space for Georgiana to sit beside her.
“I have been telling your aunt some very shocking things, Miss Darcy, but now I am resolved to make a good impression. I wonder if Mr. Darcy will allow it. I once meant to pass myself off very credibly in Kent, but one night while dining at Rosings, your brother informed the colonel that I have a penchant for professing opinions that are not my own. But I know he cannot mean to frighten me now.”
“Because your courage always rises, at every attempt to intimidate you?” Darcy smiled wryly at Elizabeth, who appeared to be in fine form, delighting his aunt. She nodded approvingly at this.
“Yes, but also because you would do sir at your own peril, sir. Your aunt is already my staunchest supporter.”
“A sentence she thought never to pronounce, since meeting Lady Catherine,” Rebecca drawled.
“Miss Elizabeth has been amusing us with her impression of the old dragon and her newest minion,” the countess said. “Show him your impression of the simpleton’s proposal to you, for I wish to know if is very like him. You have met the fellow, Darcy?”
He gaped at Elizabeth. The first proposal she had refused – surely that foul toad had not dared aspire to a creature in every way his superior. “Collins?”
Elizabeth squared her shoulders in a pose of condescension, affecting the same servile pomposity her cousin seemed to think pleasing to his betters.
She mimicked his voice and gestures as if she had done so many times before.
“Despite your manifold attractions, it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made to you. I must conclude that you are not serious in rejecting me, but wish to increase my love by suspense, in the usual practice of elegant females.”
The countess guffawed indecorously. “I must really go to Rosings and see this man for myself! Is it a faithful impression, Darcy?”
“I wish to pay a compliment, but I fear Miss Elizabeth is too intelligent to do true justice to the man’s insurmountable want of awareness.”
Georgiana furrowed her brow. “Perhaps it is a blessing he made such a bad job of it, Miss Elizabeth, else you should be Lady Catherine’s nearest neighbor.”
Elizabeth affected a look of great sobriety. “And yet I hope that when I wed, she shall pay me a visit and manage all the shelves in my closet, as she has done for my cousin Collins and his new wife.”
Lady Matlock cried out in glee. “You mean to say that he has tempted some poor woman to accept him?”
“Better still, he has found a very clever one, who encourages him to be out in his garden or away calling on Lady Catherine very often, while keeping a very snug house for herself. But I daresay it is a testament for happy second chances.” Elizabeth looked up at Darcy and her countenance softened.
“I have a philosophy of looking upon the past only as it gives me pleasure, and therefore nothing can ever vex me for long.”
Darcy gazed back at her with unmasked adoration.
His first proposal may have been staggeringly regrettable, but it was clearly not the worst she had received, and though she had every chance of humbling him before all his relations with her mockery, Elizabeth had instead given him another taste of blissful hope.