CHAPTER FOUR #2
"I was not aware Derbyshire possessed so formidable a reputation."
"You created it in Meryton."
He absorbed the reference without retreating. "I behaved badly that evening."
Elizabeth nearly missed the next step.
"That is almost an apology."
"It was intended as one."
"Then it lacks only the useful portion."
They separated. When they came together again, Darcy said, "I am sorry I spoke of you with discourtesy. My ill humor was mine and did not justify making you its object."
The words were formal, but nothing in his face was easy.
Elizabeth's anger, carefully polished through repetition, lost its clean edge.
"Thank you. I accept."
His shoulders changed by a fraction. "Your father advised honesty without collateral damage."
"Papa heard?"
"He observed."
Elizabeth wished both to laugh and to speak sharply to her father. "He has become inconveniently attentive."
"You do not regret it."
It was not a question.
"Never."
They moved through the figure. Darcy danced with precision but not stiffness.
His hand at hers was steady. When another couple crowded Elizabeth's path, his palm hovered near her waist without touching, ready to protect and restrained from presumption.
She felt the absent contact more acutely than a real one.
At supper Caroline attempted a different attack.
"Charles has preserved the house almost exactly as the Bennets left it," she told Mrs Lucas. "One feels they might return at any moment and ask for the keys."
Mrs Phillips bristled. Lady Bennet drew breath.
Jane spoke first.
"Mr Bingley has been an excellent steward of everything entrusted to him. We are grateful Longbourn is full of music and guests again."
Bingley looked at her with such feeling that Elizabeth turned away out of kindness.
Caroline smiled tightly. "Steward is an unusual word for a tenant."
Sir Thomas joined them. "Every owner is a tenant with a longer lease, Miss Bingley. The land remains after us all."
"How philosophical."
"How agricultural."
Darcy's cough concealed a laugh.
Later, Bingley found Caroline in the small morning room. Darcy entered before either noticed him.
"You will cease making the Bennets' ownership a subject of ridicule," Bingley said. "You insult them in their former home while enjoying their furniture."
"I am trying to protect you."
"From what? Jane Bennet's beauty? Sir Thomas's fairness? A family welcomed at Court more warmly than we are?"
Caroline's face hardened. "From imagining that because they are kind, they do not see what you are. Their estate is ancient. Their royal favor is secure. You are the son of a tradesman leasing their entailed house."
Bingley went still.
Darcy stepped into the room. "If that is your fear, Miss Bingley, you have expressed it by behaving as though their consequence were false. It is not."
She turned toward him. "You take their side?"
"I take the side of civility."
"And Miss Eliza's fine eyes have nothing to do with it?"
Bingley's anger gave way to astonishment. Darcy's did not.
"You will not speak of her so."
Caroline stared at him, understanding too much.
Darcy left before Bingley could question him.
In the ballroom, Mr Collins danced with Charlotte and counted every movement aloud.
Mary played one set at Bingley's request. Her hands trembled when she began.
Georgiana was not there to hear her, but Darcy stood near the instrument with quiet attention.
When Mary finished, he thanked her without extravagant praise and asked the name of the piece.
Mary answered with growing ease.
Elizabeth watched him. He glanced toward her and found himself observed. Neither looked away at once.
Wickham had not attended. He claimed business in town, though Elizabeth suspected Darcy's presence explained his absence. The evening was more comfortable without the tension between them.
It was not without consequence.
Near midnight, Bingley and Jane stood in the shadow of the conservatory doors. He said something Elizabeth could not hear. Jane's face softened, then became serious. She answered. Bingley bowed his head as though receiving a precious instruction.
"What do you suppose they discuss?" Charlotte asked.
"If Jane tells me, I shall know."
"You have learned restraint."
"No. Papa has made eavesdropping more difficult."
Charlotte shifted her weight and pressed one gloved hand briefly to her ankle.
Mr Collins, approaching to claim the final dance, noticed before she disguised the movement.
He fetched a chair and a glass of negus, then offered to surrender the set without mentioning Lady Catherine's opinion of perseverance.
Charlotte accepted the drink, rested through one figure, and chose to dance the next.
Elizabeth saw surprise soften into gratitude on her friend's face.
Darcy came to Elizabeth instead.
"You have not danced the last with anyone."
"Have you inspected my card?"
"Bingley asked on my behalf."
"Cowardice through friendship."
"Efficiency."
She placed her hand in his.
During the final figure, they spoke less than before. Silence had changed between them. It was no longer dismissal. It held awareness: his fingers closing around hers, the sweep of her skirt near his shoe, the instant before they separated and the pull when the dance returned them to one another.
At the end, Darcy bowed over her hand.
"Thank you."
Elizabeth could think of no teasing answer. "Good night, Mr Darcy."
In the carriage home, Jane confessed that Bingley had asked whether she could be happy living permanently at Longbourn.
Lady Bennet made a sound so sharp the horses seemed to quicken.
"He did not propose," Jane said quickly. "I told him happiness depends more upon the people within a house than its name."
"And what did he say?" Elizabeth asked.
Jane looked down at her gloved hands. "He said he hoped to become one of those people."
Sir Thomas turned toward the dark window. Elizabeth saw his reflection smile.