Page 23

Despite having had a late evening, Mrs. Bennet had instructed Hill to wake her early, and now she was in her favourite chair, watching the lane for the many callers she was anticipating.

On the morning after an assembly, friends like the Lucases and the Longs usually came to discuss the previous evening’s entertainment.

She was not expecting to see any of them until later, but the officers were often early visitors, and on this morning they would undoubtedly be eager to recollect the pleasures of the previous evening.

However, the first visitor of the day was not an officer.

“Mr. Bingley is coming to call,” she happily announced. “And his friend is with him! Mr. Darcy pays us a great compliment by calling so promptly. Now you will see what a superior gentleman he is, Mr. Bennet. Do smile, Mary. And perhaps you should quickly fetch some of your extracts to show him.”

“They won’t interest him.”

“Of course they will. I’m certain that is exactly the sort of thing he likes.”

“Then he has probably already seen more than enough.” Mary remained stubbornly seated.

But it turned out that the gentlemen were not intending to sit down anyway. They had come to enquire if Jane and Lizzy wished to go for a walk.

“Miss Elizabeth has told me that I must see all the local sights,” Mr. Darcy explained.

“Indeed, you must,” Mrs. Bennet agreed. “And Mary will go with you. She likes a good walk.”

“No, I don’t,” Mary contrarily said. “Besides, I have plans to practice a requiem this morning.”

She turned her head away, making the use of gestures and pointed expressions pointless.

Mrs. Bennet had to settle for telling Mr. Darcy, “Mary is quite devoted to her music. And she is the same with her studies. When you return from your walk, she will show you her latest extracts, which I am sure you will find very interesting.”

Mr. Darcy mumbled something which Mrs. Bennet could not catch, but from his brevity and lack of clarity she deduced that he was so much impressed by Mary’s level of accomplishment as to be lost for words.

But in another moment, he said with both clarity and enthusiasm, “I see that you share my favourite pastime.” He was holding up a pair of opera glasses and gesturing toward the ones on the table beside her.

Rather surprised, she replied, “Yes, I do find that observing the lane is an excellent way to pass the time.”

“Especially in spring,” Mr. Darcy said. “I particularly like to observe the antics of mating pairs.”

Mrs. Bennet gasped.

“Did you see anything interesting this morning?” he asked.

She let out a strangled noise.

He stepped forward, but she waved him away. “It is nothing. Just a little cough.”

But it wasn’t nothing. One of the eligible gentlemen she had been so excited about was shockingly depraved. And he wanted to go walking with her daughters. This could not be allowed. Mr. Bennet must be summoned. This was a situation for a father to deal with.

“I saw a siskin on the way here,” Mr. Darcy said.

“A siskin?” she bravely queried.

“I never even knew what one was before I met Darcy,” Mr. Bingley said. “But now he has me noticing birds as well.”

“Oh. Yes. Birds,” Mrs. Bennet said with a sigh of relief. “Lovely creatures.”

“They provide hours of entertainment.” Mr. Darcy waggled his opera glasses. “I am keen to see which varieties frequent this neighbourhood.”

He continued talking about birds while Jane and Elizabeth went to ready themselves. Mrs. Bennet made a valiant effort at pretending to understand.

After the walking party left, having decided upon a short excursion for the morning after a ball, she hurried to the library.

“Mr. Bennet, we require your assistance. Have you any books on birds? Mary needs to become an expert on that subject in the time it takes to walk to Fuller’s Meadow and back.”

***

“You did not mention your passion for observing birds the other evening, but now I comprehend your enthusiasm to explore the neighbourhood,” Elizabeth said to Mr. Darcy as they set out. “I hope we can find many interesting ones for your entertainment.”

“So do I, but it was the prospect of excellent company which made me eager for walking. I enjoyed our conversations at the assembly.”

“Even the part where I issued commands?”

She had a lovely smile, and this lively manner of hers was adorable. Feeling quite lively himself, Mr. Darcy said, “I must admit that you have made me realize one of my aunts is not the most tyrannical person in England as I used to think.”

She laughed in the delightful way which he had found so appealing the other evening.

“But seriously,” he said, “you did me a great service, for which I am grateful. If not for you, I would have acted in haste, and Mr. Wickham would have enjoyed counting my departure as a personal triumph. And afterwards denouncing me to all and sundry. But instead I think he may hold his tongue out of a fear that I will speak a few truths and be believed, which has not always been the case. Mr. Wickham has a remarkable ability for persuading people to believe his lies. My own father was one of them, and he was usually an excellent judge of character. My attempt to convince him otherwise created awkwardness between us, so I gave up the effort entirely. Even my imperious aunt was charmed by Wickham’s flattery.

Few people see through him the way that you did, which is why I was happy to hear of your astuteness. ”

“You must not give me too much credit. My impression of him was very likely influenced by my being in a particularly ill mood. On a different day I might have thought him charming too.”

“Even if you had, I am certain that you would have eventually perceived the truth. But since so many people don’t, I stopped bothering with any attempt at enlightening them a long time ago.

Even when he taught his friends to think the worst of me, I let it go.

They weren’t people whose good opinion I valued anyway.

It was sufficient for me that my character was respected among my own group of friends.

I generally don’t concern myself with the opinion of people who aren’t significant to me.

Hence my initial indifference to the impressions I might be making upon strangers yesterday, but I am glad you talked me into reconsidering that position. ”

“I am happy to have been of use, but will it be very difficult for you to be in the same neighbourhood as Mr. Wickham?”

“It will be uncomfortable,” he acknowledged.

“We have a history of disagreements, and there was a recent, very unpleasant incident.” He said this without any intention of revealing the details, but suddenly they were pouring out.

It felt so natural to confide in Elizabeth, and he had complete confidence in her discretion.

“Good heavens!” she cried after learning of the attempted elopement. “This is shocking indeed. I can understand you wanting to be far away from such a despicable man. If you would much rather leave, I will not encourage you to stay.”

“I appreciate your concern, but I am set upon remaining here and not allowing Mr. Wickham to spoil my plans. Fortunately there is one thing which should lessen my discomfort. You may have noticed at the assembly that he was making a great effort to avoid me.”

“Yes, I did. If you went one way, he went the other, but in such a natural manner that I don’t think anyone else noticed.”

“He has always been good at dissembling. But this evidence indicates that he has no more desire for my company than I have for his, which means that we should be able to conveniently ignore each other.” And Mr. Darcy intended to make every effort to do just that, for he was growing more and more attached to Hertfordshire by the minute.

“I will gladly lend my assistance if needed,” Elizabeth said.

He thanked her for that, and then they moved on to more agreeable subjects, varying from music and books to politics and the war on the continent.

Although Elizabeth openly admitted to not having read as much as she should, he thought there was nothing wanting in her understanding nor her ability to express an opinion.

She was not like those ladies who shied away from sensible conversation out of the mistaken notion that it would make them appear unattractive. Having suffered a great deal of that silliness, Mr. Darcy was delighted by her willingness to say exactly what she thought.

And having also encountered plenty of ladies who made claims to intellect, but overestimated their powers, he liked that she made no pretence about things which she didn’t know.

With her, it was about discussion and debate rather than display.

In this they had only each other’s opinions to ascertain since Jane and Mr. Bingley had outpaced them from the start and could now only be seen in the distance.

The two couples met up again at a crest from which they observed the views. Mr. Darcy found them magnificent, not in any way diminished by the season. Indeed, the sun was very bright for October.

Spotting some birds, Mr. Darcy realized that he had forgotten all about observing them on the outward walk.

He had been too absorbed in the company of his charming new friend, who made him laugh one minute and think deeply the next.

But now he pulled the opera glasses out of his pocket to enjoy that pleasure, which he shared with his companions by passing the glasses back and forth.

This activity kept them together on the way back, which gave Mr. Darcy further opportunity to acquaint himself with Jane, of whom he continued to think very well.

Back at Longbourn, he and Mr. Bingley stepped inside to bid the rest of the family a good day.

They came upon a quiet scene. The younger girls were whispering together, Mary was reading a book, and Mrs. Bennet was dozing.

The gentlemen decided against disturbing her and were about to tiptoe away when Mrs. Bennet’s eyes opened and she cried, “Mr. Darcy! Mary has been studying the birds in the garden. You must join her at the window and help her to identify them.”

However, the helpful young lady said, “You needn’t bother. I don’t care what variety they are. Birds are boring.”

Although Mr. Darcy very much disagreed with this statement, he appreciated her determination to squash her mother’s efforts.

And her delightful indifference to the eligibility which was the bane of his existence.

Although some people might call her rude, he would be quite happy to call her a friend if not for the consequences of making such a risky overture.

“I see what you mean about Mrs. Bennet being more interested in getting her daughters married than I had realized,” Mr. Bingley said after they had left.

“Extracts! And identifying birds. Thank goodness Miss Mary refuses to cooperate. But I suppose it was na?ve of me to think that Mrs. Bennet was different from the other mothers.”

“I don’t think you need to chide yourself on that account.

You did mention that she was never pushy, which I believe.

And I myself found her far less forceful than so many other mothers yesterday.

Although Mrs. Bennet is not quite the indifferent mother that you described, it seems to me that she is nothing worse than a mildly marriage-minded and rather feather-brained lady.

With a dangerous fan, but otherwise harmless. ”

And how glad Mr. Darcy was to be able to make this pronouncement, for he was looking forward to paying many calls at Longbourn.

His eagerness to see Elizabeth again was startling considering the brevity of their acquaintance.

Or maybe it wasn’t. His old ideas about taking time to properly know a person before forming an opinion of them no longer seemed relevant.

Somehow he just knew that someone special had come into his life.