Page 25 of An Accidental Meeting
His aunt searched his eyes for something, Darcy could not tell what. But after a moment she nodded elegantly. “Very well. If you are sure.”
“I am. Whether or not that makes any difference to Miss Bennet, I cannot say. We have quarrelled in the past.”
“She does not appear averse to your company now, though she has been everything proper.”
Darcy was sure his aunt was about to compare Elizabeth’s behaviour rather favourably to Miss Bingley’s, but she stopped herself in time. It would not do to criticise a guest.
“It is as much as I can hope, for now.”
“Very well. If you are sure of your course, we shall help you, your uncle and I.”
“That is not necessary . . .” Darcy protested, but she simply shook her head.
“You need not thank me.”
Thanking was not what Darcy had in mind. But given the disaster he had created in his relationship with Elizabeth, he supposed whatever help his aunt intended could not make things any worse.
Elizabeth gazed out the window over the beautiful grounds. Each room she entered had a better view of the woods and hills than the last, but this room, referred to by the servants as the northern saloon, had perhaps the grandest. The building itself was situated in such a way that it became a part of the natural landscape rather than an attempt to subdue it, and as a result, the views became another form of art.
“The Bingleys have arrived with the Hursts,” Elizabeth informed her aunt with a sigh. “I caught sight of the carriage as it entered the drive.”
“No doubt that is where Mr. Darcy has gone,” her aunt replied calmly. “Elizabeth, it is a little late to change our plans now, but I will say again that if you find you cannot comfortably remain in company with them, we will offer our regrets.”
“And be driven away by the likes of Caroline Bingley?” Elizabeth said in exaggerated horror. “Never!”
“Do mind your tongue, niece,” Mrs. Gardiner warned, but there was a smile on her face. “For soon Miss Bingley and her family will be in the house, and you would not wish to offend Mr. Darcy’s guests.”
“Of course not,” Elizabeth agreed. Still, she did not regret having made the statement, for it had reminded her that she was not one to be intimidated simply because someone else wished her to be. “Will it bother you, Aunt?”
“I will admit to you, and only you, Elizabeth, that I shall rather enjoy making them uncomfortable with my presence. A tiny bit of recompense for their treatment of Jane.”
“Mrs. Gardiner? Miss Bennet?”
Elizabeth turned to the door, her aunt already rising from the settee. “Yes, I am Mrs. Gardiner.”
“Lovely.” The speaker was a pink-cheeked girl, young, but taller than Elizabeth and built on a larger scale. She glanced at her companion who was half-hidden behind her and received an encouraging nod. “My aunt and brother have said that you are to be our guests at Pemberley for the duration of your stay in Derbyshire. Fitzwilliam will be here shortly to introduce us.”
All four of them waited. And waited.
“Please pardon me,” the girl said at last, a little awkwardly. “I shall find him.”
Aunt Gardiner met Elizabeth’s eye as the girl disappeared. They smiled.
“She is a proper young woman,” Elizabeth said, “for I should have started the introductions without him.”
“You would not dare, Lizzy,” Mrs. Gardiner said lightly, amused.
She sighed. “Oh, I suppose I would not. But it is all so silly. We were all of us standing in the saloon of her house.”
“Silly or not, it would be impolite to introduce ourselves.”
“She already knows who we are. And we know her identity as well, for she does resemble Mr. Darcy.”
“Even so.”
Elizabeth was aware she was behaving foolishly, but it helped her check the anxiety she felt but did not understand.
“Mrs. Gardiner,” came a deep voice. “I see my sister has anticipated me.”
