Page 25 of Eavesdroppers Never Hear
“Explains what?” Elizabeth asked.
“Everything… just… everything!” Mary replied, and when she saw the look of confusion on Elizabeth’s face, she added, “If you have no objections, I shall clarify.”
“No objections whatsoever,” Darcy said. He seemed perplexed by the way the discussion was proceeding, but nothing about the day had been ordinary anyway.
“You remember when you played at Lucas Lodge and Sir William tried to goad you into dancing with Mr Darcy?”
“Yes,” Elizabeth said with a frown.
Darcy chuckled. “Tried is the operative word. I did ask but your sister was steadfast in her refusal… quite stubborn about it, as I recall.”
Elizabeth scoffed. “As if you really wanted to dance! I saved us both from Sir William’s machinations.”
“Perhaps not,” Mary said before it could degenerate into an argument.
“What do you mean?”
Instead of answering, Mary turned to Darcy. “I shall answer your questions with another that will make everything clear.”
“All right,” Elizabeth said sceptically, while Darcy nodded in silent agreement.
“At Lucas Lodge, what exactly did you say to Miss Bingley to make her face look like she swallowed a wasp?”
Darcy startled, looked thoughtful, then smiled in recognition. “Shall I repeat it verbatim?”
“I expect no less.”
Darcy pinched his nose to raise his voice to a squeak.
“You are considering how insupportable it would be to pass many evenings in this manner-in such society; and indeed I am quite of your opinion. I was never more annoyed! The insipidity, and yet the noise-the nothingness, and yet the self-importance of all those people! What would I give to hear your strictures on them!”
He lowered his voice to a deep rumble, to show he was emulating himself.
“Your conjecture is totally wrong, I assure you. My mind was more agreeably engaged. I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow.”
Returning to his normal voice, he continued gently.
“She naturally asked me to be more explicit about who owned the aforementioned fine eyes, and I replied: Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”
Elizabeth stared in utter confusion though Mary looked far less surprised.
“I neglected to mention your fine singing voice, light and pleasing figure, or intelligent conversation; but I suspect she got the gist from the key words:on the face of a pretty woman.I believe that was the moment her dislike of you turned to hatred, although she spent the next twenty minutes teasing me about my future mother-in-law and how often she would be at Pemberley.”
Elizabeth scrunched her forehead in confusion. “Light and pleasing figure? Pretty woman?”
“You must see it, Lizzy. Even your legendary stubbornness will succumb to the observation that Mr Darcy’s attraction to you is not the work of a moment. Charlotte noticed him staring and listening to your conversations clear back then… barely a fortnight into their visit. She mentioned it to me occasionally, and I have been equally confused by the same observations… right until this moment.”
Finding speculation unhelpful, Elizabeth stared at Darcy and asked bluntly, “Is this true?”
“It is! My admiration is not the work of a day, and it is stronger than I earlier implied. I cannot say whether I would have acted on it or not, but the admiration was there.”
“Why minimise it when you asked to call on me?”
He chuckled. “I was already taking my life in my own hands with my precipitousness. I did not want to press my luck—not to mention Miss Mary’s sudden appearance right in the middle of the conversation.”
“Yes, I can see that. You have had quite a few difficult speeches the past six hours.”
“That I have!”
