Page 16 of Searching for Elizabeth
“I quite like Miss Mary, but I assure you that I am not courting her. I asked her to gain your permission to call on you, and Miss Mary suggested that she could relay your answer if I came to Longbourn during visiting hours, pretending to be calling on her. Miss Mary thought that your mother would be so desirous of marrying her off, she would allow a bit of privacy with me if I pretended to be her suitor.”
Lizzy could not help chuckling again. “That is such awiseidea.”
“Indeed, it seemed so to Miss Mary and me, but….” Mr. Darcy lost his smile and shook his head, and he went on: “Poor Mary—Miss Mary, that is; she was furious thatyour mother did not cooperate, but instead tried to pair me with Miss Bennet.”
“With Jane?”
“Yes. Miss Jane Bennet seemed to be as compliant to being matched with me as she had been when your mother promoteda match with Bingley. Obviously, I am not saying that Miss Bennet likes me, and Icertainlywould never want to court her, but from what I have seen, she does as your mother directs.”
Lizzy brought up both of her hands to her chest, feeling pain that she knew not how to relieve. “JanelovesMr. Bingley! I amcertainof it.”
Mr. Darcy cocked his head and said carefully, gently, “The first time I called for you at Longbourn, the day after the Netherfield ball—was that just two days ago?—Miss Bennet had been crying; I do not know why. But today, her complaisance with her mother’s quite obvious machinations to push her toward me very much appeared to be the same complaisance with which she accepted Bingley’s attentions and your mother’s pushing of that match.”
Lizzy stared at Mr. Darcy, seeing his sincerity, and she tried to see Jane as he had seen her. Could it be true? Could Jane havenotbeen in love with Mr. Bingley?
“Oh, dear,” Lizzy said. “I have often thought of myself as someone who is smart about people. Capable of sketching people’s character. But now I see that I misjudged Mr. Wickham, I misjudged you, and I certainly misjudged my father.Did I misjudge Jane as well?”
Mr. Darcy said quietly,“Your mother seated me next to Miss Bennet, although I had said I was calling for Miss Mary. She did not look at all embarrassed by your mother’s machinations, but rather did this glance-up-glance-down thing that many young women have tried with me, and her smile was…I supposecoyis the word to describe it.”
Lizzy was startled to feel real anger toward Jane, if she was flirting like that with someone she should have accepted was there for someone else.
Mr. Darcy continued, “I had to lean forward in order to easily talk to Miss Mary, and Miss Bennet interrupted us multiple times, for no good reason. Finally, Miss Mary and I went outside to talk, and when Miss Bennet came out to call us back in, she did the thing with her eyes again, but this time she took my arm. It reminded me of Miss Bingley, and somehow the idea that it was your sister flirting with me, and that Miss Mary was so upset, and that Bingley had quite liked her—the whole thing made me literally nauseous.”
“It makes me angry!” Lizzy said. She shook her head and said, “I will concede that I am the worst possible judge of any person if we are now allowed to stop talking about my sister flirting with the man I …with you.”
“You are too harsh on yourself, Miss Elizabeth.” Mr. Darcy gave her one of his sweetest smiles and said, “You are, in fact, quite good at sketching people’s characters. But you are not infallible. I should like to be infallible myself, so I understand your desire to be perfect, but perhaps you can just relax into being imperfectly perfect for me.”
Lizzy instantly felt better. She looked up into Mr. Darcy’s eyes and said, “Now you are flirting with me, so I need to know how to answer back. What was it? Eyes up, eyes down, coy smile?” She tried to match her actions to the words, but she felt ridiculous.
He looked at her so adoringly, however, that the feeling faded. She kept her eyes trained on his and just smiled herregular old smile. Looking directly at him, smiling—it may not be flirtation, but it would do.
Chapter 15: Darcy
—the next morning—
Fitzwilliam Darcy knew he was the luckiest man in the world. He had found his beloved andbeguncourting her, and it seemed to be going very well indeed.
He had not known what he would face. How dare he even seek her, when she was so capably running her own household, when she clearly had no need to be rescued? Thatis what a voice in his head pointed out as he stood by the neat cottage, which had the appearance of a building that had fallen into disrepair and then had been carefully, perhaps lovingly, restored.
If a voice in his head was pointing out that Elizabeth needed no rescue, Darcy was almost certain that fieryElizabethwould say that and more.
But instead, she welcomed him inside. She welcomed him even before she knew that he had brought her food.
And she was so cheery, it was unbelievable. How could a young woman bear up to her parents attempting to force her into an unwanted marriage and then banishing her from their home and family? Elizabeth not only survived, she laughed, and teased, and worked hard, and, by god, shecooked! The resulting meal was not the finest he had ever eaten, clearly, but it was surprisingly tasty.
He had asked for and heard the story about how Blackthorn Cottage came to be: Elizabeth’s discovery of the ramshackled building, her work to learn about home repair, her physical labor to actually make the repairs, and finally her efforts to furnish it. Darcy could not imagine a more truly accomplishedwoman. Painting screens was not nearly as impressive as limewashing walls, and netting purses was not as useful as re-thatching a roof.
Today, he would send an express to his agents in London, calling off the search for Elizabeth’s London relatives.Then he would purchase some food, wine, and other goods for the cottage.She would needan axe, because the one she had was broken. He also thought she would benefit from an oilcloth tarp to cover her outside wood pile. Then he planned to call on her and hoped that she would be as welcoming as she had been the day before.
Darcy wrote the express, bathed, dressed, broke his fast, and then went to Meryton. Uncharacteristically, he took his carriage, because he wanted the potential of carrying more purchases than would easily fit in his saddlebags. Of course, he did not want to overwhelm Elizabeth. To bring too much, too soon would send the message that he had found her home wanting.
Or that he did not think her capable of being independent.
Or that he did not want to sit on her mismatched cast-off furniture. Which he did not much want to sit on, to tell the truth, but he would gladly bear old furniture, for her sake, at least as long as it would bear his weight!
Still…Darcy wanted to shower Elizabeth with gifts just for the pleasure of doing so. He hoped she would welcome gifts as well as him.
After posting his express, Darcy purchased toasting tongs, a kerosene lamp, a whisk, a metal bowl, a Dutch oven,a stout bucket,several candles, and a small paper packet of coals, in addition to the axe and oilcloth. He bought butter, eggs, two kinds of cheese, bacon, small jars of pickled beets andcarrots, fresh root vegetables, and bottles of wine, sherry, and cream. After he paid for his purchases at the general store, he remembered that Elizabeth’stea supply looked very low, and he bought black tea leaves in a separate purchase.
