Page 27 of Requirements for Love (Love in London with Mr Darcy #3)
“I have no children, but from what I remember, all little boys are more interested in making a mess than being presentable. Climbing a tree or splashing in a stream was far more important than worrying about a tear or a stain.”
“True. My sisters never shared my appreciation for fishing and frogs.”
“You are not much like Mrs Bennet,” Darcy said carefully. He did not want to hint that he found anything wanting in her behaviour.
A smile twitched at the corner of Mr Gardiner’s mouth.
“In more ways than that. Nature and education have made me different from both of my sisters,” he said.
“However, an unhappy marriage and five daughters to settle has also made Mrs Bennet more nervous than she might have been. I show her as much patience as I can.”
Darcy felt ashamed of his former feelings and only managed a polite nod.
They watched the ladies and listened to their chatter for a few moments before Mr Gardiner said, “In Lizzy’s letters to Jane and my wife, she mentioned meeting some of your friends to help pass her time. Gentlemen friends,” he added.
Darcy grew alarmed. Had the enterprise to amuse his sister into thinking she was a matchmaker offended Mr Gardiner? “I assure you, there was nothing untoward about it, and there was certainly no intention beyond filling Miss Elizabeth’s hours. And she was never alone with any of them.”
Mr Gardiner held up a hand and smiled. “I am not calling your character into question. Any friend you admit to your home is worthy of meeting my niece. However, one man, Captain Peck, returned to see her. Miss Darcy even mentioned him at dinner. How well do you know him?”
“He is a captain in the Foot Guards, and will inherit?—”
“As you said,” he interrupted with a kind smile, “you do not have children—or nieces—so you misunderstand me. His fortune and his family can all be learnt, but I want to know about his character. How well do you know him?”
His admiration for Mr Gardiner grew. Darcy wondered how much care Mr Bennet had for any man who courted one of his daughters. He seemed like he would not be bothered. And Mrs Bennet only cared that her daughters married, not about that man’s nature.
“As you likely know,” Darcy said slowly, “there is a kind of short-lived friendship that takes place among young men from a connexion in their pleasures only.”
Mr Gardiner nodded. “But new associations, change of fortune, or change of place may soon break that connexion.”
“If we did not see one another for months at a time during the season or if he was not in the army with my cousin, I think our friendship would sink.”
“Is that a reflection on Captain Peck, or on the nature of your more informal friendship?”
Darcy watched Elizabeth as she spoke with her family.
She was beautiful, lively, accomplished, and it was only natural for any man to fall a little in love with her when she smiled at him.
There was nothing wrong with Peck as a captain, as a friend, as a gentleman, and nothing would be wrong with him as a husband.
He just preferred to marry Elizabeth himself.
“Mr Darcy?”
“Just on the nature of our friendship,” he answered, tearing his eyes from Elizabeth, “which is founded on mutual friends and shared interests. He is liked wherever he goes. He can press the hand of a countess at St James’s and talk a quarter of an hour with a costermonger in St Giles.
” But he still did not think he was right for a woman like Elizabeth.
“Peck is a sporting man who likes nothing better than handling the ribbons and turning the corner of the street with his barouche and four faster than anyone else. He has few responsibilities, and his army career is temporary, and sometimes I find him more careless than I think he should be.” He managed a smile.
“But his concerns do not equal mine, so perhaps that is unfair of me.”
Mr Gardiner gave him a discerning look. “Should I discourage the acquaintance?”
Darcy wished he could lie. Down to his marrow, he had never wanted so badly to lie in all his life.
“Captain Peck is a decent man, and a woman could do worse.” That was true, even if he was all wrong for Elizabeth.
“Is their marriage what you intend?” Mr Gardiner asked with a half-smile. “Even men sometimes want to match their friends.”
“I cannot intend anything which must be so completely beyond my power to command.”
Mr Gardiner nodded approvingly. “Quite right. They must sort it out between themselves, and Lizzy is wise enough not to lose her heart just because a man smiles at her.”
They both turned as the ladies shifted and broke apart. His sister went to her music, and Mrs Gardiner joined them. “I think the girls are going to entertain us, although Lizzy says no one will want to hear her once Miss Darcy begins.”
“My sister has genius and taste, but Miss Elizabeth’s playing is easy and unaffected. I am sure she is always listened to with pleasure.”
“Would you help Lizzy to the instrument?” Mrs Gardiner asked. “Your sister would like her to play first, but Lizzy is insisting that we ought not to trouble you.”
He immediately agreed and went over to her. Elizabeth looked embarrassed as he picked her up and carried her the short way to the instrument.
“I would have used the lovely walking stick you lent me, but I left it in my room since I was still sore from overtaxing myself,” she rambled as he set her down.
“It has such a pretty handle—I can imagine a necklace painted in the same pretty style, thank you for loaning it. It just would have taken longer to ask someone to get it than to just impose on your kindness.”
“Helping a friend is never an imposition,” he said, hoping to show her he bore her no ill will, that he still loved her. “As a friend, indeed, you may command me.”
“A friend?” repeated Elizabeth with a look he could not understand. “That word—” She took a breath. “Thank you.”
He hesitated by her side, eager for her to say more, but then Georgiana arrived with all her music, and he went through the motions of joining the others in a card game.
Elizabeth did not say enough to show him there was no need to despair. He had hoped that his gestures would help lead the way for her to invite him to say more himself of his feelings. Her indifference crushed every hope.