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They chuckled for a few moments before Mr. Gardiner commented, “Well, I should go check if Madeleine and the children have settled in.” Levering himself out of the comfortable old armchair, he paused a moment before speaking in a more serious tone.

“Thomas, give Darcy a chance; speak with him. I do not think you could find a man better suited for Elizabeth in all of England, and you understand me well enough to know that I am not referring to his wealth or consequence.”

Seeing that Elizabeth’s father had become grim again, Gardiner grinned. “And if you are worried about him being too forward in his courtship, perhaps you should take advantage of the fact that he himself is the very protective guardian of a sixteen year old sister!”

Mr. Bennet blinked and then a pleased and, to be honest, mischievous smile spread across his face. “Thank you, Gardiner.”

Elizabeth’s uncle left Longbourn’s study laughing.

Dinner that evening was interesting, not so much for the food or conversation, but for the undercurrents among its participants.

Mr. Bennet could not help but appreciate it when Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner seated themselves on either side of Fanny.

With the ease of long practice, they kept Longbourn’s mistress chatting on appropriate subjects and minimized her interference with the rest of the table’s conversation.

In the middle of the table, his younger daughters seemed pleased to speak quietly with Miss Darcy. Well, Mary and Catherine were talking, gradually drawing the shy girl out with questions about her studies in music and art and experiences at school and in London.

Lydia was sulking; she had tried to dominate the other girls’ attention but had been admonished sharply by Kitty to stop interrupting Miss Darcy.

The youngest Bennet daughter was now scowling at her plate, mashing her food together with her fork and sticking her lower lip out.

She only became more peeved as no one noticed.

Thomas sighed. Something would have to be done with Lydia, but at the moment, he had no idea what. His attention was drawn back to the present by a deep voice at his right elbow.

“Mr. Bennet; Mr. Gardiner mentioned that he had sent you a volume of Lord Byron’s latest verse. What did you think of it?”

Bennet was about to make some quip and return to his observation of the table when he noticed Elizabeth’s expression. She was seated at Mr. Darcy’s other elbow and clearly pleased to see him attempting to know her father better. Thomas sighed to himself and rapidly revised his words.

“I’ve not finished it but I liked what I read well enough. I know the man is somewhat hedonistic in his personal life but that does not diminish his obvious talent as a wordsmith.”

Darcy nodded, taking a sip of wine. “I agree. We are none of us without fault. Lord Byron’s talent is irrefutable and, although I cannot approve of his lifestyle, I dislike the idea that his work could be entirely dismissed because of it.”

“The baby thrown out with the bathwater, so to speak?” Mr. Bennet chuckled.

“Papa,” Elizabeth inserted; “Mr. Darcy and his sister have been reading Mrs. Wollstonecraft’s essays.”

Thomas’ eyebrows rose, impressed in spite of himself.

“Ah, that takes courage these days. Another example of Society getting on its high horse. Have you read any of those reviews condemning her? Clearly not a one ever bothered to actually read any of her tracts— they just added to the rumor mongering and now the ton has decided to condemn her and her ideas because she did not manage her personal life according to their strictures.” He smiled at Elizabeth.

“I wonder how many live in glass houses?”

Before Elizabeth could respond, however, her elder sister spoke up. Jane disliked controversy and was concerned that the conversation was becoming too improper for the dinner table. “Papa, did you not once say that our Aunt Jane went to hear Mrs. Wollstonecraft speak in London?”

Mr. Bennet turned his attention to his eldest. Jane had been fidgety all afternoon and barely spoke when Mr. Bingley finally arrived with the Netherfield party.

Elizabeth had stayed at her side, holding her hand reassuringly while the young gentleman had greeted his hostess.

Once the Gardiners had successfully distracted Mrs. Bennet, however, he had moved directly to Jane’s side and they had spoken quietly until the butler announced dinner.

Jane had blushingly accepted Mr. Bingley’s arm and he had escorted her to sit immediately to his left.

Knowing what Jane was about, Mr. Bennet smiled gently and allowed her to shift the topic. “She did indeed.” He went on to summarize some of his sister’s comments on the authoress and then conversation shifted to a scientific lecture that Lizzy had attended with the Gardiners while in London.

Elizabeth’s father couldn’t help but be impressed by Mr. Darcy.

The younger man’s contributions to the discussion were well-reasoned and insightful; though he had not attended the particular lecture in question, he had read several of the scientist’s papers and was obviously comfortable discussing the issues.

While Mr. Darcy debated some point of logic with Elizabeth, Mr. Bennet sipped his wine and observed the two young couples.

To his left, Jane and Bingley sat smiling and, although they made some small, pleasant comments, they did not contribute anything substantive to the discussion.

In direct contrast was the couple to his right; Elizabeth and Darcy were energetically debating some of the professor’s finer points and referencing other works.

They clearly derived pleasure from their disagreement.

At one point the gentleman even laughingly accused the lady of espousing an opinion which couldn’t possibly be her own.

There was a hint of flirtation but on the whole, Mr. Bennet could not fault them.

Obviously the young man from Derbyshire had discovered Elizabeth’s fine mind and was reveling in it; something that her father could certainly appreciate.

Elizabeth herself was glowing with happiness and Mr. Bennet saw that her heart had been touched, even if she did not yet realize it.

He sighed and Elizabeth turned to catch a flicker of sadness in his eye. “Papa?” she asked softly, breaking off her conversation with Mr. Darcy.

Luckily, Mr. Bennet was saved from making up an excuse when Mrs. Bennet announced that it was time for the ladies to withdraw. Thomas smiled weakly and waved a hand at his favorite daughter. “Nothing to worry about, Lizzy; run along.”

He pushed out his chair and stood. “Well, gentlemen; if you will accompany me to my study, I shall see if I have any libations that might tempt you.”

Mr. Gardiner laughingly protested that Longbourn’s master couldn’t possibly have finished all of the port that he had been given by his brother-in-law at Christmas. Chuckling, the two old friends led the way.

After pouring the port and passing out the glasses, Elizabeth’s father stood quietly, listening to Bingley chatter on to Mr. Gardiner about various business matters.

He gathered that the younger man had discovered his brother-in-law’s excellent business sense and was implementing some advice he had been given when they met in London.

Mr. Bennet’s attention wandered and he noted that his other guest was examining the bookshelves. He moved in that direction with a determined air. “Do you see anything that you like?” Thomas took a certain amount of perverse satisfaction when the younger man started.

Mr. Darcy turned serious eyes on Elizabeth’s father and reminded himself to be as open and amiable as he was capable. “You have an excellent collection, sir.”

Mr. Bennet nodded agreeably at the compliment.

Rather than fall into silence, Darcy exerted himself to continue the conversation. “You have the complete series of Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae … I’ve not seen all the editions together outside of a university library.”

Mr. Bennet couldn’t help but be pleased.

“I found them at a bookshop in Oxford when I was a student; apparently a professor had passed away and his widow needed the money.” He smiled and pulled the first volume off the shelf and showed it to the younger man.

“Many only read his tenth edition because, of course, that’s where he introduced the binary naming system which has become all the rage. ”

Thomas was even more pleased when Mr. Darcy indicated his understanding of the reference and added, “I must admit that these theories on the classification of living organisms are not as interesting to me as studying how the man’s mind worked.

By publishing thirteen editions, Mr. Linnaeus has provided me with windows on the progression of his thinking across several decades. ”

Mr. Darcy was clearly intrigued. “I never considered it in such a way. I remember first learning of his binomial system; I appreciated its logic— the grouping of morphologically similar organisms together as ‘species’ and then the grouping of similar species as a ‘genus,’ and so forth.”

Bennet nodded. “Yes, his final system is elegant in its simplicity, yet I believe that every student should read all of his revisions from first to last. It gives you an excellent sense of how even the most brilliant mind did not produce such a complex theory fully formed. Take the whales for example; in earlier editions, Linnaeus considered them to be fish, yet subsequent studies of their anatomy prompted him to remove them to the mammals in his tenth edition.”