Page 24

Pure luck allowed Elizabeth to meet Mr Darcy the moment he dismounted on Wednesday morning.

Of course, luck comes in many forms, and in that situation, it simply meant she was lucky to have enough sense to realise he would appear like clockwork right at the start of calling hours, where she awaited him.

“Good morning, Mr Darcy,” she said as soon as he dismounted.

“Good morning, Elizabeth… I mean…” he said, looking down in embarrassment.

“We are courting. You are welcome to use my given name,” she said with a slightly embarrassed smile.

He smiled back. “My given name is Fitzwilliam, but my sister calls me William. You may choose either.”

Elizabeth laughed lightly. “ William , I believe—except when I wish to use the old mother’s trick of stuffing as many names as possible in as strident of a tone as I can manage to indicate displeasure.”

Darcy scowled, raised a threatening finger, and scolded, “ Fitzwilliam George Alexander Darcy … you are in trouble, mister… big trouble.”

Elizabeth laughed gaily, happy to have the nervousness of the meeting over. She admitted she was anxious about how the two of them would react after a day apart, but the meeting was off to a promising start.

Darcy took her hands and planted a chaste kiss on her knuckle, since they were visible from the parlour and probably observed.

“I am happy to be here. Georgiana is travelling this morning. If you have no objections, I will bring her in the afternoon.”

“Of course, and you should stay to dine. Your cousin as well.”

“How about Bingley?” he asked, then regretted it.

Elizabeth thought about it for a moment. “I am the wrong person to ask. That is up to Jane, but if you were to ask my advice, I would suggest tomorrow as more proper.”

“Understood…” he said looking relieved, “…and I will strive to always ask your advice.”

She looked at the ground shyly. He had released her hands for the sake of propriety, and she was surprised to feel herself missing the contact—which felt odd and slightly unnerving.

She finally looked up. “How was the fox hunt?”

“It went well enough. It is not my favourite pastime, but I did not offend anybody new, so I count it a success.”

Elizabeth laughed again. “Perhaps you take pity on the poor fox, having lived his experience?”

“Perhaps,” he said with a chuckle.

She took a deep breath. “On the subject of foxes and hunts… I fear the cat is out of the bag regarding our courtship. You see I—”

“ Mr Darcy! Mr Darcy! What a pleasure it is to meet you,” she heard from the most annoying voice in the house (by a narrow margin).

She grumbled at the awkwardness of her cousin’s entrance while simultaneously amazed the lumbering lunkhead managed to sneak up on her.

Mr Collins started one of his typical fawning long-winded speeches about his good fortune, his relationship with Rosings, his parsonage, his connexion to…

“ Mr Collins! ” she snapped angrily.

She looked on in satisfaction when he stopped speaking so abruptly he nearly bit his tongue off. Much as she hated the necessity of scolding her cousin in front of her beau, she thought Charlotte might thank her for it.

Mr Collins started to speak, but she just held up her hand and glared at him until he desisted.

With a nod, she turned back to Darcy. “May I have the pleasure of introducing you to Mr Collins? Mr Collins, this is Mr Darcy, a visitor at Netherfield.”

Both men bowed awkwardly, thus showing they at least had a rudimentary knowledge of deportment. Mr Collins seemed belatedly aware he should not have been talking without an introduction.

She faced Darcy. “Mr Collins is my distant cousin, and the vicar of Hunsford under the patronage of your aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. He is heir presumptive to Longbourn.”

She faced Collins. “Mr Darcy is the master of a substantial estate in Derbyshire, and as you know, the nephew of your Lady Catherine. As I mentioned earlier, he is courting me.”

Darcy gasped and looked at her in amazement, Mr Collins entirely forgotten.

Elizabeth sighed. “That was awkward. As I was saying before Mr Collins interrupted…” she said while punctuating her words with a glare at her cousin, “…the cat is out of the bag. My family knows you are courting me, and keeping it from general knowledge for a day took considerable effort.”

Darcy laughed. “How did your secret get out if I might ask? I thought you wished it to be quiet for a week.”

She sighed, looked at Collins, and decided he had not had enough of her pique yet.

“Mr Collins made me lose my temper. He asserted very stridently that you were pledged to your cousin, Miss de Bourgh. I assured him it was impossible, and things got out of hand when he was unwilling to take me at my word.”

Darcy raised an eyebrow but then gave Collins a stare that made the man quiver (even though in Elizabeth’s opinion it hardly qualified as a glare).

“Before you start in on the poor man, I believe Mary gave him adequate instruction on the subject of keeping unfounded gossip to himself.”

“Good for her,” Darcy said, then glared at Collins. “Is she correct? Have you been sufficiently chastised?”

Collins gulped nervously and nodded.

“Then I shall consider the matter closed, and need not bring it up with my aunt,” Darcy said with a bit of vindictive glee.

Collins gulped again, and Darcy asked Elizabeth, “Out of curiosity, why were you convinced he was in error?”

“Because you are not an idiot!”

Both men startled at the stark language and stared at her.

“Care to elaborate?” Darcy asked curiously.

“I can give you three reasons. The first is consanguinity. You are an animal breeder, so you must know the dangers of marrying a first cousin, who is far too close,” she said, then turned red in embarrassment, but decided she was not to be intimidated.

If Mr Darcy was looking for timidity, he was on the wrong scent.

“You are correct. I have tried to teach my aunt that, but…”

“…but she is like my mother?”

“Exactly,” he said with a laugh.

She glanced to Collins and saw that he was listening with interest, which was an improvement over talking or staring in his disconcerting way. Perhaps he was not beyond the reach of amendment?

“The second is obvious if you think about dynasties. The rich and powerful remain as such by thinking of their legacies. Owning two large estates is fine for your generation, but it practically demands at least two sons if you want to improve the family’s standing.

On average, half of children are male, so two sons most likely require at least three live births, and more likely four, to say nothing of a spare.

That seems a lot to ask of a lady too sickly to learn rudimentary accomplishments. ”

Collins gulped at the harshness of the critique but had enough sense to keep his mouth shut.

Darcy whispered, “You worked out quite a bit in such a short time.”

“I am clever, but not that clever. That all came much later. In the heat of the moment, all I knew is that you would not and could not do such a thing. Even in the extremely unlikely case where you were dishonourable enough to court two women at the same time, you are not a good enough liar to pull it off.”

Darcy laughed uproariously, while Collins weakly joined in a moment later.

Collins finally realised he was in a place he did not belong, and quietly excused himself, much to the couple’s relief.

~~~~~

As Collins left, Elizabeth felt the strangest sensation.

The farther the interloper got from her, the safer she felt.

Of course, there was not the slightest danger from Mr Collins in the first place, but there was a feeling of safety with Mr Darcy that was hard to explain.

She idly wondered if that was the nascent beginning of feelings for the man.

Thus far, she had steadfastly avoided putting a name to what she was experiencing—but she was perfectly willing to name what it was not!

It was not indifference, that was for certain.

She remembered going to sleep feeling like speaking with militia men, (who were obviously up for a bit of flirting), as disloyal.

That indicated some kind of connexion. She thought about telling Darcy about it but decided to wait until the feelings clarified slightly.

It would be unfair to him to claim feelings that were neither fully developed nor understood.

They walked toward the house where her mother and sisters were ready to pounce on the poor beleaguered gentleman, but she was in no hurry.

As they approached, she gave him a brief synopsis of her previous evening, and brief descriptions of the officers.

She could barely remember any of the men’s names or stories, and suspected her beau would not care anyway, so she simply gave her impressions of what the conversations were like (dull) and how she spent the later parts of the evening (better).

Darcy described the fox hunt as a fox hunt exactly like the one before and the one before that and—”

She had to punch him lightly in the arm with a giggle to get him to stop.

“I take it you do not like fox hunts?”

“I can take them or leave them. The foxes are vermin which need to be exterminated, but I mostly leave it to my groundsmen.”

“I have never been to one, so I have no opinion.”

Darcy nodded, and they spoke for a couple more minutes on the previous day’s events.

Neither one was quite willing to admit they had missed the other, but both were beginning to feel the connexion forming.

~~~~~

Darcy survived the meeting with Elizabeth’s family, and took their overt enthusiasm with good grace, much to Elizabeth’s pleasure.

She was beginning to think that once she met Lady Catherine, she would no longer need to feel embarrassed by her mother and sisters.

That thought gave her a soft smile, which in turn gave Darcy one to match, even though he had no idea what she found so amusing.

He was to be back at Netherfield for the arrival of the other guests from town, so he could only call for an hour.

He spent most of the hour fending off questions from Mrs Bennet, trying to speak intelligently to Mary and Jane, trying to speak less intelligently with Lydia and Kitty, and generally making himself known to the family.

Elizabeth was happy with how the whole thing went off.

Nobody embarrassed her unduly, nor did her beau seem to have any trouble navigating the shark infested waters of the Longbourn parlour.

Her father and Mr Darcy spent a good quarter hour talking about the books in Pemberley, and Mr Bennet gave her a significant look suggesting she might get to the point sooner, rather than later.

She suspected the man would have trouble deciding which was better: having one daughter well settled or acquiring access to such a fine library.

Darcy left in good order after giving Elizabeth a slightly less chaste kiss on both knuckles. He turned around and tipped his hat at his traditional spot before kicking his horse into a gallop.

Elizabeth watched until he went out of sight, then with a sigh, returned for luncheon and interrogation.