Upon arriving at Netherfield Park, Bingley and his party made a quick decision not to hang about in the drawing room all evening, or even formally dine. Simple food was brought out and handed around. And then, with yawns all about, Jane and Bingley retreated to sleep.
The little remaining light provided no difficulty for that, Darcy imagined, as he’d gotten enough of Bingley’s conversation to know that he and Mrs. Bingley had very much been fully participating in the wild roundabout of the London season.
As Darcy stood, with his own intent to yawn his way to sleep, Hartley called, “Fancy a game of billiards?”
Darcy did not .
Hartley’s manner suggested that he particularly wished to speak with him, so Darcy indulged his friend and joined him around the felt table.
The lamp was lit by a servant, a plate of bread, cheeses and cut sausage was placed on the side table next to a decanter of port. Balls were set up for snooker.
Hartley poured them both an ample glass and sipping it they exchanged shots. Darcy began to enjoy the game, and he had nearly forgotten to be curious about what Hartley wished to speak on.
The younger gentleman exclaimed suddenly, with a flashing grin, “And what, Mr. Darcy, are your intentions towards my innocent little sister?”
The shot that Darcy had lined up was quite fumbled.
Hartley kept grinning. “Pity Bingley retreated so fast. He’d have liked your expression now.”
“This is what you wish to speak about?”
“Oh, what else could you have imagined would have me keep us up so late?”
Rubbing his sleepy face, Darcy returned the cue stick to the tall vase set up to hold them. “I forfeit the game.”
“Oh, no, no. Lizzy will not like to hear that.”
“I mean of snooker. I do not think this is the time for billiards .”
“Ahaha! That is the spirit! Call horse, call carriage, and canter straight across to Longbourn to bash down her door and throw yourself at my sister’s feet?”
“Obviously not directly,” Darcy replied. “I must find a quartet in town to play the music under her window. And when she has opened her window to hear more clearly, I shall climb the hanging vines and trellises up to her. A rose, of course, held in my mouth as gift.”
Hartley laughed. “That would be a sight. But my question is serious.”
“And you do not think my reply is?”
After refilling both their glasses, Hartley pushed Darcy’s into his hand and said, “My friend, I am quite serious that it is past time for me to question you about your intentions.”
“Am I so obvious?”
“You? It is Lizzy who is very obvious.”
Darcy sipped at his rum. He felt quite dour.
“Out with it, man. What sort of philosophical conundrum have you made out of the simple matter of asking a pretty girl to marry you?”
That brought a grunt of amusement. Darcy sighed. “I am not worthy of her.”
“Of course you must say that . No man who is in love ever says that he is. So, I’ve been informed by poets, clowns, and other persons of poor judgement.”
“That’s not—I did not ask her before I knew. Jove, you cannot imagine how it has tormented me—the instant I realized that she must be Rochester’s daughter, your sister. I was filled with a sort of horror, because I knew that I should have asked her to marry me before this revelation, and I had not.”
“Hmmm.” Hartley drank the rest of his glass. “Hmmmm.”
Darcy waited half a minute. At last, he asked, “Have you nothing to say to that?”
“It seems an impossible situation.” Hartley shrugged his shoulders. “You’ve convinced me. You are too unworthy for her. You should remain celibate. For the sake of your future Lady Love. Unworthiness, thy name is Fitzwilliam Darcy.”
Unfortunately, Hartley was not at all intimidated by Darcy’s returning glare.
He calmly sipped the rum and said, “Oh yes, forgot, always sour when anyone agrees with you.”
“Lord, I should have known you would make a joke of this.” Darcy paused. “She would also make a joke of it, I think.”
“I’ve said it before, but I do believe I shall like Lizzy. Pity Pemberley and Ironwood Hall are so distant.”
“I do not know if—” Darcy sighed. “It touches on some key point of my integrity. I did not ask her to marry me when her circumstances were such as to make it an extraordinarily bad match. I ought to then allow her to marry a man who would choose to marry her for himself. I no longer deserve such a reward.”
“What has your desserts to do with anything.” Hartley grinned at him, with a tipsy air. “ You operate under a misapprehension. This conversation is not for your sake. I do not know Lizzy nearly so well as you, but I can see that she is a girl very much in love, and who barely makes an effort to hide it.”
That made Darcy flush. He suspected it. But he did not know. He still did not know. But he liked very much the idea that Elizabeth loved him.
“Any case, if that is your chief impediment,” Lord Hartley grandly waved his arms about, “Nothing simpler to solve: You put your case to Lizzy. You are eloquent. No doubt, despite the services that you have rendered to her, you can convince her of your unworthiness. She is a lady; they are the experts upon such points. And you as well. I would never permit myself to judge in her place in such a case as this. She’d probably shoot me if I was so presumptuous.”