Page 40 of The Blackmail of Mr. Darcy
Jane was silent for a few too many seconds. Finally she asked, “Do you think that our family and our position in society also means that I could never hope for Mr. Bingley?”
“No, that is a very different proposition. Mr. Bingley is the son of a man in trade. Convincing a woman in the first circles to accept his proposals would likely be impossible, no matter how much money he has, and marrying you, the daughter of a gentleman, elevates him. But Mr. Darcy has even more money than Mr. Bingley, plus he has very good connections. The Darcys are apparently a very old family, a highly respected family, and it seems clear that he is in one of the topmost circles amongst the top circles. He is the grandson of an earl, and I imagine his offer would be accepted by almost all non-royal women in all of England.” She ended her speech with a gulp.
And then she pushed a few more words out of her mouth: “Why would he ever consider offering for me?”
“Oh, Lizzy.” Jane’s hug was almost as comforting as Mr. Darcy’s embrace earlier that day.
The remembrance of Mr. Darcy catching her in his arms….
The remembrance of Mr. Darcy holding her….
She had begun to think more and more about Mr. Darcy in quiet moments, especially those moments when she was lying in bed, in the dark, with nothing to distract her wayward mind. But until today, those thoughts had been largely memories of his gaze or his smile. Having memories of his arms catching her, clutching her—these thoughts seemed decidedly less conducive to sleep.
Chapter 24
Darcy
The next day, Georgiana, Darcy, and Bingley were at Longbourn’s door at the earliest possible polite hour. A middle aged woman opened the door to them with courtesy, took their names, and announced their presence as she showed them to the parlour. Apparently their call had caused a great deal of surprise; Mrs. Bennet’s mouth opened in an “O,” and she almost forgot to stand, and all five of the sisters, as they stood and curtsied, smoothed their skirts and hair. Miss Lydia dropped a bonnet and some ribbons as if she had been caught in a disreputable act, and Miss Kitty hid her embroidery hoop in her skirts.
Darcy glanced sidelong at his sister and saw that she, like him, seemed a bit flummoxed that Elizabeth and Miss Bennet would be surprised; when they had left Netherfield the day before, the Bennet sisters had warmly invited them to call “at any time.” Darcy felt certain that they both knew how dear they had become….
When the greetings, Darcy’s introduction of his sister, and a few mandatory exchanges on the weather had occurred, and the three were urged to take seats, Darcy led Georgiana over to Elizabeth’s side, and he took a seat near them both. Elizabethmurmured, “What news is there? Did Sir William indicate what will happen to Miss Bingley?”
It was Georgiana who answered, whispering, “The magistrate is happy that Mr. Bingley is arranging care for his sister and seems satisfied to leave the law out of those decisions.”
Elizabeth nodded and then turned to Miss Mary to involve her in a conversation with Georgiana. Soon the three were happily conversing about music and novels. Darcy was quite delighted to just watch and listen.
His eyes were inexorably drawn to Elizabeth. Her dark eyes were sparkling and merry as she called her two younger sisters to join in a discussion aboutBelinda. All three of the younger Bennet sisters rose in his estimation because they were artlessly friendly to his sister. Indeed, during the twenty minutes of their visit, thus far, he almost felt guilty for ever thinking poorly of them.
Bingley stood and addressed all of them, saying that they should take advantage of the sunny day and take a walk. As they gathered outerwear, Miss Lydia and Miss Kitty began to squabble over a bonnet, and Miss Mary chided them both in the most overblown way, as if their disagreement was likely to destroy the entire family or, perhaps, Western civilisation. Darcy bit back a smile as his internal dialogue acknowledged that he’d had some reason to disapprove of their comportment.
He offered his arms to his sister and Miss Elizabeth and led them away from both squabbles and unwanted sermons. The three walked through the almost barren garden for only a minute before the youngest Bennets joined them and whisked Georgiana away with promises to show her the most darling litter of kittens, the best hawthorn berry bushes, and a particularly late-producing pippin apple tree.
Darcy was happy for a chance to be relatively alone with Elizabeth, and he hurried to take advantage by plunging into a speech he had laboured over through the night. “Miss Elizabeth, I have developed strong and steady feelings for you, and I wondered if you would be so good as to accept my courtship and, hopefully, eventually, my proposal of marriage.”
After hurrying through his declaration, a part of him wanted to laugh that he had tossed and turned for six hours in order to come up with a couple of dozen words. Of course, another part of him was dismayed that he had not uttered the praises of her intellect and character he had planned to say, nor did he use warm words such asloveoraffection, nor even strong words such asI admire and respect you. Instead, he had only admitted to havingfeelings.
Elizabeth had stopped walking and asked, “Courtship? Marriage?”
She seemed more than surprised; she seemed astonished.
Darcy cocked his head in question. “Surely you know—surely you have noticed how much I admire and respect you?”
She blushed and looked down. Then she raised her eyes to his again and said, “And I, you. But I thought….”
“You thought what?” he asked. He hated the fact that she dipped her head again. He felt that he very much needed to look into her eyes.
“I thought you would have to choose a lady with more—with better—a lady of your own circle.” She seemed to be addressing her own feet.
He could not go on without seeing her expression, her eyes. He used one finger to gently tilt her face up so he could do so.
“I again apologise for my horrible insult at that infernal assembly,” he said. “I hope that those untrue words did not make you feel as if you are not my equal, or rather, as if you were not better than me in many substantial ways. Becausespeaking of circles and other terms used within thetondoes not make much sense to me. I am, in some ways, merely a farmer—granted, my farm is quite large—and you could be called a farmer’s daughter. More realistically, given the size of the ‘farms’ in question, I am merely a gentleman and a landowner, and you are a gentleman landowner’s daughter. We two could easily be seen as social equals.”
Elizabeth looked ready to argue the point, and Darcy smiled at her. He had noticed, in the past, that she seemed affected by his widest smiles, and he was satisfied to see her response now. Her cheeks became pink, and she took a deep breath, and he drew upon his strength to continue: “I am certain that some people would consider that I should wed an earl’s daughter or a woman with a dowry amounting to tens of thousands of pounds. However, I am a man with wealth and connections aplenty. Why should I have to struggle to find a wealthy and connected woman whose company I can abide for longer than half of an hour, when I find myself completely in the thrall of a gentlewoman who combines intelligence and kindness with accomplishments and beauty?”
Elizabeth smiled. “Truly? I have not dared to dream that you could think so well of me.”
“I rather thought,” Darcy said, “that my embrace yesterday would have communicated some measure of my ardent love.”
