Page 62 of A Most Favourable Match

“More’s the pity,” he answered with what Elizabeth supposed was meant to be a winning smile. “I should have liked to be able to call you my sister. Perhaps my behaviour would be better if I could.”

“You must look to your own behaviour, Mr Wickham,” she told him, holding on to her patience with an effort. “As we all must.”

“I shall,” he said, with a gallant bow, “since you have ordered it, Miss Elizabeth, and I shall never disobey an instruction from you.”

“Good.”

“Oh, one thing I meant to ask you. Are Mr Bingley’s sisters coming to stay with him at Netherfield Park? I’ve heard that Darcy and his sister are there and thought the Bingley ladies might follow.”

“I have no idea, Mr Wickham. If you see Mr Bingley, you might ask him yourself.”

Allowing for no further comment, Elizabeth turned on her heel and walked away.

Chapter 22

“Are you not tired, Georgiana? It has been a long walk,” Darcy suggested. “We could turn back to Netherfield Park if you wish.”

“Turn back?” she answered, pulling a face of dismay. “I am sure we have not been out an hour, and I hoped to collect more wildflowers. I should much rather stay out longer and enjoy the sunshine…Oh, look, Brother! It is Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth. We cannot go back now, can we?”

Georgiana’s face lit up happily as she spotted the two young ladies on the path some way ahead of them and raised a hand in greeting.

“So it is,” Darcy answered quietly, having already spotted the two women coming towards them but having hoped to turn and avoid them before a meeting became inevitable. “Yes, I suppose we must speak to them.”

“Come now, Fitzwilliam,” Georgiana laughed at his obvious reluctance. “It is no hardship to make conversation with these particular neighbours. I can tell you like them as much as I do. You know you do, even ifyou will never join me when I call at Longbourn.”

“I suppose I do not always feel like talking,” he offered a little lamely, not wishing to expose anything of his feelings for Miss Elizabeth Bennet, or his suspicion that he was the last person in the world that she would wish to speak to.

In London, Darcy had told Elizabeth that they need not see one another again, and, from courtesy, he had tried hard to keep out of her way here in Hertfordshire. Yet it still seemed their paths were fated to cross. He could not stop it now, only make the best of an awkward situation.

As they drew closer and the lines of Elizabeth’s face and figure grew clearer, Darcy felt another pang of his loss. To look upon her again was an undeniable pleasure, but a painful one.

“I shall talk for both of us,” Georgiana told him, not to be deterred by Darcy’s low appetite for sociability. “Good morning, Miss Bennet. Good morning, Miss Elizabeth. What a beautiful day it is for a walk!”

The two Bennet sisters returned this greeting with all requisite civility, and Darcy read genuine pleasure at the meeting on the face of Miss Jane Bennet. Her sister’s expression was harder to decipher. Elizabeth’s hazel eyes did not quite meet Darcy’s own, and her skin was somewhat flushed, although that might have been from their exercise rather than any heightened emotion.

“I do hope this weather lasts for the whole of September,” Elizabeth remarked, directing her words toGeorgiana.

“We will not be here to see it if it does,” his sister said regretfully. “We depart for Pemberley within the week. I should like to see more of Hertfordshire, but my brother wishes to be in Derbyshire quickly.”

“There is estate business,” he excused himself. “Miss Bingley also arrives from London this evening and will bear her brother company, I trust. Bingley has no further need for me, and there is no reason to stay longer.”

Darcy found his gaze drawn to Elizabeth as he spoke. He was surprised to find her eyes also on him, and her expression thoughtful.

There was a reason to stay longer, of course. Elizabeth was the reason, but without hope, he could only torment himself and inconvenience her. If he had not had to think of Georgiana and Mrs Annesley too, he would have left Netherfield as soon as Caroline Bingley’s letter to her brother arrived.

“Ah, yes. With the Season over, I dare say there was little to keep Miss Bingley in London and much to recommend Netherfield Park,” Elizabeth said and Darcy thought he detected a hint of compassion in her words, although she could not know the extent of his determination to avoid Caroline Bingley.

“The Season has been over for weeks,” Jane Bennet observed. “I suppose Miss Bingley wished to be with her sister and had to stay longer since Mrs Hurst is established in London. It must be hard for Caroline Bingley to choose where to make her home under thesecircumstances.”

“It was all very sudden,” Georgiana offered, innocent of the undercurrents that carried Caroline Bingley’s decision-making. “Mr Bingley was expecting her to stay in London for the rest of the year. Then she suddenly wrote and announced that she was coming immediately to Netherfield Park and would make her home here again.”

“Quite,” Darcy said noncommittally. Upon hearing the news, he had become more certain than ever that Caroline Bingley presently chose to make her home wherever she might most easily pursue him. It was not a comfortable thought, nor one he would choose to share with Georgiana, young and innocent as she was.

“Might we walk with you?” Georgiana asked their neighbours with surprising boldness for so shy a girl. “My brother and I are only out for exercise and have no particular aim in our route. As I shall be leaving so soon, I fear I may not have another chance to see you before I go.”

“Of course,” Miss Bennet agreed very readily. “We are only taking a short walk ourselves, or at least I am. My strength is not perfect yet, and it was never so great as Lizzy’s.”

“Then you must walk with me, Miss Bennet, and my brother can stride ahead with your sister,” proposed Georgiana, smiling. “His legs are so much longer than mine, and I know I hold him back.”