Elizabeth was indicating the older couple who had arrived with her. “May I present my aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner?” The sound of her melodious soprano recalled better days when she had enchanted him with her singing at Rosings. But a challenging light in her eye dared him to object to associating with a merchant from Cheapside. Determined to thwart her worst expectations, Darcy shook Mr. Gardiner’s hand and exchanged pleasantries with the couple, who seemed sensible and well-spoken.
By now, Miss Bingley had maneuvered herself into position at Darcy’s elbow. He was not surprised when Elizabeth hastily took her relatives in search of Richard. Left alone with Miss Bingley, Darcy sighed, anticipating an evening alternating between fawning compliments and thinly veiled insults. “I suppose your cousin’s engagement was a surprise to you,” she smirked. Darcy understood her insinuation; fortunately, no one else of his acquaintance had guessed of his affection for Elizabeth.
“Indeed. They had not known each other long. I believe it was a surprise even to Richard,” Darcy said drily.
Miss Bingley tittered uncertainly. “They seem well-matched,” she said. Miss Bingley apparently labored under a delusion that Elizabeth’s betrothal would bring her closer to achieving Darcy’s regard.
“Yes.” Darcy employed a familiar strategy; if he said little to Miss Bingley, she would sometimes quit his company due to a dearth of conversation.
“Such happenings in town since last I saw you!” Miss Bingley continued, apparently not requiring a conversational partner. “I hope we shall be seated near each other at dinner.”
Darcy was spared the necessity of a reply by another knock at the door. Everyone in the entrance hall turned to view the new arrival. The butler opened the door to admit ... Mrs. Bennet.
Darcy’s eyebrows rose as Caroline Bingley’s mouth fell open. Jane Bennet hurried forward to take her mother’s hand. “Mama, I thought you were too unwell to join us after the long carriage ride.”
“I feel a vast deal better after taking a little wine back at my brother’s house. And I just had to see everyone again! Oh! Colonel Fitzwilliam! It is so good to see you. Let me give you a kiss!” Richard smiled and allowed himself to be kissed by his future mother. “And Jane and Lizzy, oh, you girls look just lovely tonight!”
Bingley, Jane, and the Gardiners gave her their patient attention as Mrs. Bennet exclaimed rapturously about the entrance hall’s marble floor and the wainscoting on the walls.
A few moments later, Elizabeth approached Darcy and Caroline Bingley. His treacherous heart gave a leap of excitement, but Elizabeth’s regard was fixed on Caroline. “Miss Bingley,” she said with a smile, “my mother’s unexpected arrival necessitates that Richard must make some adjustments to the seating arrangements, and we thought to put her next to you. Since so few people in London are known to my mother, I thought she would find a familiar face at dinner to be of comfort. My uncle will sit on your other side. I believe you have met him.”
Miss Bingley’s mouth opened as she sought an acceptable means to decline this “honor.” She gaped for several moments. “Yes, of course,” she said finally. Her expression suggested she would prefer to contract a disfiguring skin disease.
“You are the soul of generosity.” Elizabeth smiled sweetly at Miss Bingley, who glared back but did not reply.
Darcy masked his inappropriate laughter with a cough. Elizabeth’s eyes briefly met his, and she smiled conspiratorially. He allowed himself a brief smile in return. Perhaps her good opinion of him was not irretrievably lost. But it hardly mattered. His hopes lay scattered in shards at his feet. Nevertheless, besotted as he was, Darcy still cared what she thought of him.
Richard’s butler ushered the guests into an elegant drawing room where they could enjoy refreshments before dinner. Seating herself on a loveseat, Elizabeth smiled an invitation for Richard to join her, where, in Darcy’s opinion, they sat far too close for propriety’s sake. However, there was no denying they both appeared very happy.
Perhaps Elizabeth truly was in love with his cousin.
Ah, yes, here was a new idea with which he could torture himself. Excellent.
Although they had not known each other long when they had become engaged, Richard had later confessed to Darcy how he had formed a strong attachment to Elizabeth from almost the first moment of their acquaintance. Did Elizabeth return some measure of his affection? The thought drove the knife a little deeper into Darcy’s heart. Somehow their betrothal was easier to tolerate if he imagined that she primarily sought a secure future, while the thought that she cared for Richard …
Elizabeth’s heart should have been mine! She has commanded mine for months.
None of this signifies, he reminded himself. It was done. Richard and Elizabeth would marry. Darcy would see them for holidays and occasional visits—and somehow learn to bear it. What she felt for his cousin and when—these questions were of no consequence.
She could not be Darcy’s, and that was the end of it.
Darcy’s thoughts were too agitated to participate in ordinary conversation. Turning away from the room at large, he stared through the nearby window to the street outside, wishing he could simply open the window sash and dive out. Somehow the situation had managed to go from uncomfortable to intolerable in a mere quarter of an hour.
The darkened window reflected Elizabeth and Richard, in close proximity to each other on the loveseat, laughing and talking with the Gardiners. Darcy hurriedly switched his gaze to Bingley and Jane Bennet, who were having a low-voiced discussion near the doorway. Miss Bennet wore her customary sweet smile, while Bingley grinned widely. They seemed so happy it made his teeth hurt. Damnation! He wanted to gaze upon someone who was as miserable as he was. Where was Lady Catherine when he needed her?
Although, Darcy considered, Caroline Bingley’s face at dinner might suffice.
Darcy had anticipated Bingley’s attachment to Jane Bennet would be slight and short-lived. Bingley’s misery had demonstrated how badly Darcy had misjudged. Now he was forced to real
ize he may have been wrong about Miss Bennet’s affections as well.
And he had been wildly mistaken about Elizabeth’s opinions of him.
Good God, had he ever really known the people surrounding him? Perhaps Lady Catherine de Bourgh was in reality a sweet gentle soul and Mr. Collins a genius!
He was no longer amazed that Elizabeth thought he disliked her. Instead, he was amazed that she managed to be at all civil to him at Rosings while believing him to be the person who had ruined Wickham’s life and her sister’s future with Bingley.
Glancing at the clock on the mantel, Darcy realized he had only been at Richard’s house for half an hour; it seemed an eternity.