Page 32 of The Countess and Her Sister
Rebecca’s skirt had hitched up about her knees, and she elegantly swept it over her crossed legs in a feigned expression of dignity.
“Jane, I have known Mr. Tilney all my life, and it has grown quite taxing to be perpetually inventing new excuses to deflect him. But I am a fount of experience in keeping charming men at bay, and I find your own reasoning excessively flimsy.”
“I have only said that I require more time,” Jane protested.
“That is not worth fretting over. Time will pass no quicker for your feeble protestations. You can admit that you like the man already, and still be resolved to grow better acquainted. You are experiencing a proper courtship, not inventing it.”
Elizabeth grinned, ever grateful for Rebecca’s support.
Her sister could eavesdrop as often as she chose, if they were to have such blunt wisdom afterward.
“Rebecca is right, Jane. I know that you have never had a proper courtship; Mrs. Bennet drove all your suitors away, and you only met Robert that fateful night. You make too much of needing time, when it is perfectly natural. Take heart – everybody you love and trust believes that it is entirely possible for things to progress as they ought to between you and Mr. Bingley.”
“And you just believe as much yourself, to be speaking out onto the balcony with him,” Rebecca said with a triumphant smile. “Do tell me my supposition is correct.”
Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief that Rebecca had apparently not heard all of their conversation. But if she wished to keep her own sauciness a secret, she felt obliged to do the same for Jane, and so she gave Rebecca a gentle shove with her shoulder.
“And was this before or after you waltzed with Henry Tilney? Poor Rebecca – could you think of no excuse then?”
“He was wearing a mask – I am sure I had so much wine that I forgot who he was! There was nothing in it at all, for you know how he vexes me with his unrelenting charm. At any rate, I blame Lady Thurston – the lighting in that ballroom was like a bordello! Had that infamous woman been born a Roman, as she was dressed last night, I am sure she would have hosted the sort of orgies one sees illustrated on pottery in the British Museum!”
Jane and Elizabeth fell against one another as they laughed at Rebecca’s impassioned claim. When Elizabeth could manage to speak, she said, “I wonder you can vex Jane about her reluctance to recognize romance for what it is, when you remain so obstinate yourself!”
Rebecca kicked at Elizabeth, nearly tumbling over herself.
“And you, Lizzy! You and Mr. Bingley plied Richard and I with wine, when we had meant to do the same to all of you! At least I did not make a total cake of myself; I am sure Richard did not stay at Darcy’s last night, and when he finally crawls home, I shall have the truth out of him! ”
Elizabeth could heartily endorse what would deflect from her own misbehavior at the ball, and she was content to jest with her sisters as they overcame their malaise.
She would think of what had transpired with Mr. Darcy when she could reflect in solitude and convince herself she had not been an absolute fool.
***
“I have been an absolute fool,” Richard groaned as he shambled into the dining room at Darcy House. “But you must tell my mother and sisters that I stayed with you last night.”
Darcy looked askance at his cousin, who helped himself to a healing plate at the sideboard before sitting across from Darcy. Richard called out to the butler. “You, there! Daniels – Davies….”
“Whitman, sir.”
“Whitman, good fellow, of course! Please bring me a finger of brandy, two raw eggs, and black pepper or any manner of spices. My life hangs in the balance.” Richard returned to the buffet and brought the entire basket of muffins back to the table.
“Shall I summon a physician, Richard?”
“He would only conclude it is my brain which requires further examination.”
“The undertaker, then,” Darcy chuckled. He had managed to take a cup of tea twice amidst the glasses of wine and punch at the ball, and had consumed headache powders with water before he retired.
He had woken feeling well enough, though he rather feared the ladies at Matlock House might be in a similar state as he found his cousin.
He stood and drew the curtains partially shut, and Richard sighed with relief.
“What have you done to yourself? Surely the army has taught you to handle yourself after an evening of drinking.”
Richard groaned, running one hand down his face. “Do not ask me. Anything I tell you might be extorted from you by Rebecca through devious means.”
“If it is as bad as that, I would prefer not to know,” Darcy replied.
As the two gentlemen helped themselves to the basket of muffins, Whitman returned with Richard’s curative requests, and announced the arrival of Mr. Bingley, who strode into the room looking slightly deranged. “Well, Darcy, I have come to demand satisfaction!”
“Have you considered lowering your expectations somewhat? I can scarcely summon the will to carry on,” Richard drawled as he cracked the eggs into his brandy.
Bingley tore off one of his gloves as he approached the table, and then he threw it down as he glared at Darcy.
Richard nearly choked as he swallowed down his unsavory concoction.
In the prevailing silence, Richard lifted the glove off Darcy’s freshly buttered muffin, and took a bite out of the pastry.
“I have just had words with your aunt, Darcy, and know I shall have it out with you. She told me all about your intentions, and I will not be bullied!”
“Intentions? What, toward Jane?” Crumbs spilled down Richard’s chest as he spoke through a mouthful of muffin.
Darcy gaped at his friend, then at the glove, and then back up at a bewilderingly irate Bingley. “What?”
Richard fanned himself, chomping down another ravenous bite. “Lady Catherine must have done something incredibly amusing,” was his garbled observation.
Bingley nearly turned purple with rage. “Lady Susan told her all about the ball this morning.”
Richard’s posture straightened. “Pardon?”
Bingley ignored Richard. “She knows that Lady Jane prefers me, and has told me that you will pay me, Darcy, to step aside and clear the path for you to unite the earldom and Pemberley, and that she has sweetened the bargain by promising you the inheritance of Rosings besides! A half hour of relentless badgering about you building some great empire like your forefathers, and how I would not know a thing about noble dynasties!”
Still Darcy could only gape. After a moment, he managed to stammer, “ What? ”
“I thought my sisters would pass away from mortification! They were weeping and screeching together in Caro’s room when I left them.”
Darcy shook his head in dismay. “You were just accosted by Lady Catherine? And she told you I would… Bingley, I would never! Did I not witness your, ah, fondness for Lady Jane last evening?”
“Yes, and then I saw what I saw, and you spoke of how Miss Bennet would think you a rake for what you had done – all because you mean to have her sister, the woman I love!”
Richard took the final bite of his muffin, licked the butter from his fingers, and grinned. “What is this about Lizzy? I think I can guess – we all know he does not fancy Jane – surely you are not that daft, Bingley! But tell me more about how our aunt vanquished your sisters. Leave out nothing.”
Bingley’s imposing posture deflated somewhat as he looked between the two cousins at the table, and finally he sank into a chair, seeming to finally register Darcy’s confusion. “She lied to me?”
“She certainly took far too great a liberty in claiming Darcy would ever bribe anybody,” Richard said, reaching for another muffin.
Darcy clapped his friend on the shoulder.
“I refused my aunt’s offer of Rosings Park and all the aggrandizement she envisions for the earldom.
She may not choose to accept my answer, but she does not speak for me in whatever she said to you.
If you and Lady Jane have formed an attachment, I am glad to hear it; you have eased my own self-reproach at being unable to conjure such sentiments for her as Lady Augusta had hoped. ”
“You do not desire the… duty and honor and family... etcetera?”
“I told her to leave Rosings to Richard. I shall have enough to occupy me in managing my existing holdings and providing aid to Matlock, which I shall do for the young earl’s sake, until Lady Jane’s husband is ready to take on that responsibility,” Darcy said.
Bingley nodded thoughtfully. “You would do this for us – for Lady Jane… and me, if I am so fortunate?”
“It is the extent of my sense of family duty,” Darcy quipped, “but, yes, and I should be delighted if you should be the man to take on that role. I should tell you – and you ought to hear this too, Richard – I mean to court Elizabeth, not Lady Jane. I have spoken to them both already.”
“You were speaking, I suppose, when I encountered you on the balcony last night.” Bingley grinned and waggled his brows.
Richard swatted at him. “That is my sister you insinuate – but, Darcy! You have a guilty look about you….”
Darcy shifted uncomfortably. “I mean to call upon her tomorrow, and apologize for taking liberties before we could reach an understanding in such a state of… excitement. Ah, frivolity? The merriment of the event quite swept us all away, did it not, Richard?” Darcy looked pointedly between his two equally miscreant companions, daring them to challenge him.
Richard devoured an entire muffin in the prevailing silence; Darcy supposed that he was not alone in reflecting with chagrin and a little guilty pleasure on his scandalous behavior at the masquerade.
Finally, Bingley laughed as he retrieved his butter-smeared glove.
“Sorry for the manner of my arrival; ‘tis a relief I will not have to face you with pistols in the morning and doubtless be shot.”
“You imbibed enough last night to be forgiven for taking leave of your remaining senses, in supposing Darcy capable of such a dastardly scheme,” Richard said. “But now that you begin to speak sensibly, I have a proposition to put to you.”
“I should prefer not to duel you for Lady Jane, either,” Bingley laughed.
“Your fight must be one of the mind, in improving your skills in estate management,” Richard replied. “You have impressed my sister by giving Lady Catherine the business, but you must do more. She ought to see that you can provide properly for the young earl, and any children that may follow.”
“It is a shame she was not in Hertfordshire when I took the lease of Netherfield,” Bingley mused.
“I could let you Cameron Court for a few months – as long as you like, in fact. The last tenant lately quit the place. I find that I have a great hankering to be away from London, for the parties have become far too chaotic, and none of us have presented ourselves to advantage on certain occasions. Cameron Court is so happily situated between Matlock and Pemberley that I might enjoy the hospitality of my relations while you play lord of the manor.”
“It is a sound idea,” Darcy agreed.
“Well! I am relieved to hear I need not have my entire head removed, after all,” Richard laughed.
Bingley nodded, a broad smile spreading across his face. “It is just the thing! Let us go and tell the ladies at Matlock House directly! You are a feeble lover compared to me , Darcy – tomorrow indeed! I cannot wait a moment longer. We might be off to the country by tomorrow!”
Whatever hesitance Darcy felt at meeting with Elizabeth again after their indecent interlude at the ball now ebbed away.
He imagined being with her in the place where he was most himself, of seeing her among the splendor of Derbyshire, of bringing her to Pemberley and showing her all that might be hers, if she would have him. Tomorrow was indeed not soon enough.