Page 31 of An Accidental Meeting
Darcy’s uncle held a hand up from where he still stood on the bank with his line cast. “Call me Judge Darcy, if you please.”
“Mr. Gardiner,” Bingley said at once, “I have only just learned . . . Would you walk with me, sir? I have some apologies to make, and I ought to start with you.”
“I require no apologies,” Mr. Gardiner said, “but I do have things to say.” He handed his fishing pole to Darcy. “Sir.”
Darcy watched the two men meander off. He joined his uncle on this bank and attempted to quell the unease he felt.
“Relax, nephew,” Uncle Hugh said. “It is unlikely to come to blows.”
“That is a great comfort,” Darcy replied drily.
“Mr. Bingley is a young man with a large income. He may not have been required to face the consequences of his flirtations before. It is good for him.”
“I do not think this was merely a flirtation for him, Uncle.”
“No?” His uncle peered up at him, his dark eyes assessing. “Then the more fool him.”
“He allowed himself to be guided by me,” Darcy confessed. “And I knew how to work on him.”
“You wanted him to give up the association, then?”
“I did.”
“Then the more foolyou.”
“I am well aware. And Miss Bennet—that is, MissElizabethBennet—knows it, too.”
Uncle Hugh frowned. “My word, nephew. What have you been doing in your time away from home? I would have thought you might be trusted to behave as a gentleman.”
“I truly believed I was helping Bingley. Wrongly, as it turns out.” He shook his head tiredly.
“You must have a great deal of ground to make up with the Miss Bennet currently in residence.”
“I do.”
“Well, she has not stomped on your foot or thrown wine in your face as your Aunt Nora would have done at that age, so perhaps you havesomehope.”
“Thank you,” Darcy said wryly.
“You are welcome. Who else came with Mr. Bingley?”
“His sisters and Mr. Hurst.”
“Unmarried sisters?”
“One of them.”
“Yet another hopeful Mrs. Darcy? They could never resist your grandfather, either.”
“There is no telling what she wishes, sir. She simpers and fawns in such a way that it is difficult to know what she truly thinks.”
“There was one house party while we were young that . . .” Uncle Hugh chuckled and shook his head, a wistful expression upon his countenance. “Be grateful that your sister is such a lamb. Jack and I did enjoy tormenting Edmund. He was so much older and rather serious.”
“I feel my luck, I assure you.”
Uncle Hugh smiled a little to himself before returning to the conversation. “Hurst . . . you have mentioned him before. Is he the one who went through seven bottles of wine in three days while losing all his money at cards?”
“That is the one.”
