Page 55 of A Most Favourable Match

Walking over to the window, as if to make clear she had never any intention of reading his private correspondence, Miss Bingley looked out briefly and then smiled back at Darcy again, with a rather conspiratorial glint in her eyes.

“May I ask you something, Mr Darcy? I am sure you must know the truth if anyone does.”

“I cannot say until I know the question,” Darcy said tersely. Miss Bingley’s arch and flirtatious manner was as uncomfortable as her too-deliberate proximity.

“There is a rumour going about that Miss Jane Bennet has broken her engagement with Lord Grantchester. Had you heard of it? Is it true?”

Darcy turned sharply and looked hard at her. Was there really such a rumour abroad? If it were true, he would be very pleased indeed for Jane Bennet’s sake.

“I have heard no such thing,” he told her. “Then, I have not heard from Grantchester this full week. He and Keeble are always very busy at this point in the Season.”

When Miss Bingley continued to gaze upon him, Darcy dropped his eyes and checked his pocket watch, deciding that such mild rudeness was quite acceptable by this point, given Miss Bingley’s own lack of good manners. How he wished she would go away and leave him alone to finish his letter to Elizabeth…

“We are all busy,” Miss Bingley responded, seeming finally to take Darcy’s heavy hint, or at least accept that she would not get the intimate tea and conversation she was looking for. “You and I, as well as Lord Grantchester and Lord Keeble. I should go.”

Darcy only nodded. “Of course. Soames will show you out, Miss Bingley. Do give my regards to your sister and Mr Hurst.”

“I shall. I do hope we shall see you at the Conway musical afternoon with dear Georgiana.”

Again, he inclined his head while silently determining to send his sister with Mrs Annesley instead.

After one more bow of Darcy’s head in response to her curtsy, Caroline Bingley was finally gone from the room and Darcy let out a long sigh of relief, closing the heavy door after her and leaning heavily against it, as if to prevent her re-entering.

Miss Bingley’s interest had always been evident, as he supposed that she might have interested herself in any rich and well-born friend of her brother. In previous years, however, she had not overstepped his boundaries, and they had maintained a tolerable truce, where Miss Bingley advanced and Darcy side-stepped to avoid her.

Now, however, either her interest in him had grown stronger, or her spirit more reckless. It seemed foolishness to Darcy, when Miss Bingley’s generous dowry, regular features, and fashionable figure could easily have secured a less discerning man of fortune.

From what he had seen of Caroline Bingley’s scheming character and her dislike of being thwarted, Darcy suspected she saw his coolness as a challenge rather than discouragement, and sought to capture him by any means she could.

Her attentions were now too marked andembarrassing to ignore, and the situation could become dangerous, Darcy reflected. Nor did he wish to risk offending Bingley, who had been a dear friend for many years.

But he would not be able to help causing offense in the end — not if Miss Bingley continued to throw herself at Darcy and eventually forced him to reject her, whether privately or publicly.

Wildly, thinking of his obsession with Elizabeth Bennet, Darcy wondered how Miss Bingley would react if he confided that his own personal interests were already engaged elsewhere, although against his will. No, even that would not drive her away. Like his cold manner, it would only make her more determined and desperate.

Darcy must take the same advice he had given to Bingley and leave London. If he took Georgiana up to Pemberley for the next few months, that would remove him from the orbit of Miss Bingley and the Misses Bennet at a stroke. What a blessed relief that ought to be, released both from threat and lure at once!

He might stop at Netherfield Park first and see Bingley too. First, however, Darcy had a letter to finish and deliver. He was not a man to leave a task half done.

∞∞∞

Wearing a clean shirt and a freshly pressed dark suit, Darcy descended from his carriage at Gracechurch Street an hour later and looked up at the neat and respectable townhouse where Mr and Mrs Gardiner livedwith their family. With its painted white front and red door, the house had a welcoming air that Darcy suspected did not extent to him.

With a sigh, he strode up the steps and pulled the doorbell, before asking the young maid who answered if Miss Elizabeth Bennet was at home.

“Who is it, Ettie?” called out a familiar voice from beyond the hallway. “Uncle will not be home for another hour.”

“It’s for you, Miss Elizabeth,” the maid squeaked, looking at Mr Darcy in something like awe and seeming not to know whether she ought to bring him inside. “A gentleman has come to call on you.”

“A gentleman?” queried Elizabeth’s voice, coming closer as her footsteps approached. “I was not expecting…Oh!”

Elizabeth Bennet stopped dead in the hallway, her cheeks reddening and her eyes full of something that Darcy took for dismay.

“Miss Elizabeth,” he addressed her from the doorstep with a bow. “I will not detain you. I have only come to —”

“Do come in, Mr Darcy,” she said with polite efficiency and then turned to the maid. “Ettie, please take Mr Darcy’s hat and cane and put them on the rack. Do excuse our maid, Mr Darcy. It is the butler’s half day and Ettie is very newly arrived.”

Had Darcy really expected Elizabeth Bennet to shout at him and throw him into the street? Well, hehad been prepared for it, if it came, although he preferred that she rail at him privately.