His Good Opinion: A Mr. Darcy Novel (21 page)

Though he tried to attend to his aunt, the quiet conversation between Richard and Elizabeth held most of his attention. Finally, Lady Catherine noticed this as well. "What is that you are saying, Fitzwilliam? What is it you are talking of? What are you telling Miss Bennet? Let me hear what it is."

Darcy blushed faintly at the rude manner with which she inserted herself into a conversation she was not party to, but he was secretly glad she had done so. His impatience equaled his aunt's.
At least I do not tap my fingers on the table while I await an answer.

"Fitzwilliam! You will answer me!"

Richard finally turned toward them. "We are speaking of music, madam."

"Of music!" Lady Catherine leaned forward in her seat. "Then pray speak aloud. It is of all subjects my delight. I must have my share in the conversation, if you are speaking of music. There are few people in England, I suppose, who have more true enjoyment of music than myself, or a better natural taste. If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient. And so would Anne, if her health allowed her to apply. I am confident that she would have performed delightfully. How does Georgiana get on, Darcy?"

Darcy had watched Elizabeth throughout his aunt's raptures, and the amusement he saw in her eyes increased his own embarrassment over his aunt's behavior. He glanced at Elizabeth again before he answered the question, a little hopeful that he might improve her opinion of his family. "She does very well, Aunt. I trust that were you able to hear her play, you would approve."

"I am very glad to hear such a good account of her, and pray tell her from me, that she cannot expect to excel if she does not practice a great deal."

Darcy stamped out the flare of irritation. Lady Catherine always gave her own advice; it was not a true commentary on what she believed of Georgiana. "I assure you, madam, that she does not need such advice. She practices very constantly."

Lady Catherine nodded sagely. "So much the better. It cannot be done too much; and when next I write to her, I shall charge her not to neglect it on any account. I often tell young ladies, that no excellence in music is to be acquired without constant practice. I have told Miss Bennet several times that she will never play really well unless she practices more, and though Mrs. Collins has no instrument, she is very welcome, as I have often told her, to come to Rosings every day and play on the pianoforte in Mrs. Jenkinson's room. She would be in nobody's way, you know, in that part of the house."

Now he did blush; his aunt had always been proud, but her rudeness became more and more pronounced as the years went by. The invitation to allow Elizabeth to practice on one of the many pianofortes available at Rosings would have been well done, if she had not indicated that she did not really want to extend it. The implication that she did so only because it was possible to place Elizabeth in a part of the house where she would not be inconvenienced was truly beyond the pale.

As usual, his aunt positioned Anne by his side when it was time for coffee. He smiled a little at his cousin and wondered if she knew what plans her mother had in store for her, and if she would go along with them if she did. He doubted very much that she would put up any resistance. Anne's entire life had been shaped by forces stronger than herself: first her mother, then her illness.
She does not know how to find her own mind.

The whole time he drank his coffee, Darcy sought a way to draw the attention back to Miss Bennet and away from himself. Therefore it was with great pleasure that he heard Richard say, "Miss Bennet, you have promised to play for us."

Darcy watched with interest as she seated herself at the instrument, and with some degree of consternation when his cousin seated himself near her.
What game is Richard playing?
he wondered.
He knows as well as I that he needs to marry an heiress. What does he mean by singling her out in such a manner, when he cannot follow through on any expectations he might raise?

What was more, his cousin's defection to Elizabeth's side left him yet again to entertain their aunt. "Pray tell me, Darcy, how does Mrs. Reynolds get on? Does she still keep so many servants at Pemberley?"

Darcy smiled a thin-lipped smile. "You must allow me the freedom to run my house as I choose, Aunt. Mrs. Reynolds has had the management of the household for many years; my mother trusted her implicitly. Surely you do not think Lady Anne's judgment was lacking?"

The reminder of her sister discomposed Lady Catherine for a bare moment, but it was enough time to allow Darcy to escape her side. Elizabeth's playing was unusually strong tonight, and he wondered if it was the company that brought out her latent talent, or whether she had indeed been practicing.

One look at her face drove all thoughts of her playing from his mind, for though she performed quite well, her beauty bewitched him. She played with her eyes half-closed, and her features mirrored the emotions of the music: first thoughtful, almost pensive, then questioning, and finally turning playful.

After a few minutes, she opened her eyes and said, "You mean to frighten me, Mr. Darcy, by coming in all this state to hear me? But I will not be alarmed, though your sister
does
play so well." She lifted her hands from the instrument and smiled at him. "There is a stubbornness about me that can never bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me."

Her smile made Darcy go weak at the knees, and he placed a hand on the pianoforte to steady himself. "I shall not say that you are mistaken, because you could not really believe me to entertain any design of alarming you; and I have had the pleasure of your acquaintance long enough to know that you find great enjoyment in occasionally expressing opinions which in fact are not your own."

The pleasure of her laughter was immediately deflated when she turned to Richard and addressed her next remark to him. "Your cousin will give you a very pretty notion of me, and teach you not to believe a word I say. I am particularly unlucky in meeting with a person so well able to expose my real character, in a part of the world where I had hoped to pass myself off with some degree of credit." She looked at Darcy and raised an eyebrow. "Indeed, Mr. Darcy, it is very ungenerous in you to mention all that you knew to my disadvantage in Hertfordshire--and, give me leave to say, very impolitic too--for it is provoking me to retaliate, and such things may come out as will shock your relations to hear."

Though he welcomed her beauty, it was this wit he had missed most. "I am not afraid of you."

Were it not for Richard's presence, his joy in her teasing would have been complete. However, his cousin shot him a sly glance, and Darcy knew he was scheming. "Pray let me hear what you have to accuse him of. I should like to know how he behaves among strangers."

Indignation rose up in Darcy.
This method of gaining Elizabeth's attention is beneath you, Richard.

Elizabeth, however, did not feel the undercurrents in the room, and she turned fully from the instrument, though she remained seated on the bench. "You shall hear then--but prepare yourself for something very dreadful. The first time of my ever seeing him in Hertfordshire, you must know, was at a ball--and at this ball, what do you think he did? He danced only four dances, though gentlemen were scarce; and, to my certain knowledge, more than one young lady was sitting down in want of a partner. Mr. Darcy, you cannot deny the fact."

An uneasy suspicion formed in the back of Darcy's mind. He well remembered that first ball, and he also remembered Bingley attempting to get him to dance with Elizabeth herself. He could not recall the exact phrasing of his refusal, but he knew it had been ungenerous.
Could she have overheard me?
He sought for a way to explain his unjust words, and finally said, "I had not at that time the honor of knowing any lady in the assembly beyond my own party."

Elizabeth shook her head slightly. "True; and nobody can ever be introduced in a ballroom. Well, Colonel Fitzwilliam, what do I play next? My fingers await your orders." She turned back to the pianoforte and rested her hands on the keys.

Darcy's heart sank. Her posture spoke clearly of her disinclination to forgive his offenses against her.
I must make her understand.

He placed a hand on Richard's shoulder and shook his head. His cousin nodded his acquiescence, and Darcy drew a breath before giving the only explanation he could. "Perhaps I should have judged better, had I sought an introduction, but I am ill qualified to recommend myself to strangers."

The words were difficult to speak, and he could not tell from the set of Elizabeth's shoulders if she accepted his unspoken apology. She glanced back at Richard and said, "Shall we ask your cousin the reason of this? Shall we ask him why a man of sense and education, and who has lived in the world, is ill qualified to recommend himself to strangers?"

"I can answer your question without applying to him. It is because he will not give himself the trouble," Richard said, and Darcy had never felt more out of charity with his cousin.

True though this statement might be, it did not paint Darcy in the light he cared for Elizabeth to see him in. He clasped his hands behind his back and said, "I certainly have not the talent which some people possess of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done."

Elizabeth flexed her fingers slightly where they rested on the keys. "My fingers do not move over this instrument in the masterly manner which I see so many women's do. They have not the same force or rapidity, and do not produce the same expression. But then I have always supposed it to be my own fault--because I would not take the trouble of practicing. It is not that I do not believe
my
fingers as capable as any other woman's of superior execution."

Elizabeth looked at him through her lashes, a smile playing around the ends of her lips. Darcy's knees went weak again, this time with relief. Here then was a second chance, an opportunity to promise he would do better. "You are perfectly right. You have employed your time much better. No one admitted to the privilege of hearing you can think anything wanting. We neither of us perform to strangers."

Elizabeth accepted his apology with a smile and began playing with no direction from Richard. Darcy recognized the piece she had selected, but at first he could not place it. He listened to a few more bars and his eyes widened--it was a sonatina which had played on the night they met.

Lady Catherine voice broke into his fond recollections. "Miss Bennet would not play at all amiss if she practiced more and could have the advantage of a London master. She has a very good notion of fingering, though her taste is not equal to Anne's. Anne would have been a delightful performer, had her health permitted her to learn."

Darcy bit back his retort. He did not see anything lacking at all in Miss Elizabeth Bennet, save one thing: she was not yet Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Darcy wandered the park for much of the next morning, hoping to meet Elizabeth on another of her walks. The quiet country lanes gave him space to think, and he realized that he had very little time to settle matters with Elizabeth before he and Richard planned to leave Kent. Lady Catherine's manner was not inviting, and her nephews rarely stayed longer than two weeks.
Though I am sure Richard will not object to a longer visit,
he thought bitterly.
He is determined to woo Elizabeth.

When he did not find Elizabeth in the park, his path was obvious, loathe though he was to spend any time in the company of Mr. Collins. He rapped on the door of the Parsonage and was quickly given entrance by the maid. With nary a word, he was escorted to a quiet sitting room where he was surprised to find Elizabeth sitting alone.

The chair she sat in was near a writing desk, and from the slight flush in her cheeks, he could easily tell she had been writing a letter she did not wish anyone else to see.
About me, perhaps?
he wondered, and immediately turned bright red himself.

"Miss Elizabeth! I did not expect... That is, I had expected to find all the ladies at home this morning."

"Mrs. Collins had business to attend to in the village, and Maria accompanied her. Please, do sit down."

Elizabeth's courteous manner eased Darcy's nerves but a little. He took the chair she offered, though he wished he could remain standing.
You did not think to court a lady without ever being alone with her, did you, Darcy?
The mental reminder did nothing to calm him, and what little skill he had in the art of small talk evaporated.

Thankfully, Elizabeth was not likewise stricken dumb. "I hope this morning finds everyone at Rosings doing well."

Darcy swallowed. "Yes, very well thank you."

"Your aunt seemed in fine spirits last night."

Darcy's lips twisted into a wry smile. "Lady Catherine enjoys company above all things."

There was a brief pause, and Darcy knew she sought a new topic. "How very suddenly you all quitted Netherfield Park last November, Mr. Darcy! It must have been a most agreeable surprise to Mr. Bingley to see you all come after him so soon; for, if I recollect right, he went but the day before. He and his sisters were well, I hope, when you left London."