Page 65 of Fortuitous Encounters

“Nothing like getting it straight from the horse’s mouth, I suppose,” he replied sadly. “I naturally feel terrible for having placed her in that position in the first place. The companion had excellent references, but they were cleverly forged. I knew about the man’s character all his life, but I never thought to warn her about the darker side of humanity, nor did I think he would descend so far. I felt rather stupid.”

“I suppose that will be hard for you to get over.”

“Yes, but I will in time,” he replied glumly.

Elizabeth thought they should abandon the past and move on to the present and future.

“Does your sister have friends or relations to help her recover? Society and company often serve as a balm—providing it is the right company. Naturally, few if any acquaintances can be enlightened about what happened, but just getting on with normal society should help her.”

“Therein lies the problem,” he said ruefully. “She is shy like me—”

He startled when Elizabeth scoffed, “Shy! You?”

“Yes, shy, or perhaps its near-cousin, haughty,” he said with a chuckle.

“I would never imagine you to be shy. You have been perfectly amiable from the first moment of our acquaintance.”

“I think that is more a reflection of you than me—or maybe Flora and Mrs Redgrave,” he said with a careful look. “Absent your intervention, I doubt I would have danced with anyone at all. Bingley would have nagged me to dance, which I ordinarily despise unless I am particularly acquainted with my partner, and I probably would have slighted someone inadvertently.”

“Well… ah… I have no idea what to say to that. Thank you? Congratulations? Well done?”

He chuckled amusedly. “You need say nothing. We both know you are due the credit but need not beat the subject to death.”

“Well!” she began but found that gambit difficult, so she retreated a bit. “We were speaking of your sister.”

“I was at school when she was born, and again when our mother died. She was mostly raised by nursemaids and governesses. I was not home often or for long, and my father paid her little attention. Our housekeeper is as close to a mother as she has ever had. When our father died, I had no idea what to do, so I followed my relatives’ advice and sent her to school.”

“I might have liked to go to school,” Elizabeth said ruefully, “but it is not for everyone.”

“Perhaps for you, who is brave and outgoing, and who already had a great deal of female companionship, it would have worked out well, but poor Georgiana never quite fit in. She became vulnerable because I took her from school at her request and made a bad choice in her companion. The woman was in league with Wickham.”

Elizabeth had believed her shock could not be increased, but she could not even say a word about that.

She finally said, “Betrayed all around. It is no wonder she is reticent, especially if she has no friends or female relatives her age. I do not suppose Mr Bingley’s sisters are all that useful.”

Darcy scoffed but did not quite feel that made his point adequately, so he moved on to laughing uproariously, while Elizabeth joined him.

“Not as such,” he finally said.

“Bring her here!” Elizabeth said definitively. “I can offer my friendship, and of course, Jane, Mary, Charlotte Lucas, and another half-dozen ladies of my acquaintance are kind and welcoming. My two youngest sisters are exceedingly silly, as you are no doubt aware, but even they might help her a bit, so long as your sister does not pick up any of their bad habits.”

“For all we know, her good habits might rub off on them.”

“One can only hope,” Elizabeth said with a sigh, not the least bit optimistic in Miss Darcy’s ability to reform her sisters. She thought nothing short of an army sergeant would do the job, but she could certainly help her friend’s sister.

With that, they finished the last circuit, and Elizabeth thanked the gentleman for the walk, reiterated her willingness to help Miss Darcy, and suggested she needed to look in on Jane.

A Lady’s Accomplishments

Jane was not up to taking dinner, but she was feeling well enough to come down to the parlour afterward for an hour or two.

The meal was a tedious affair, since they decided not to reuse their argument ploy. They allowed Miss Bingley to have her way in banishing Elizabeth to the hinterlands with Mr Hurst. She did not mind as she thought that she was well into their fortnight before she and Mr Darcy might have to warn Jane and Mr Bingley to be aware of what they were about, so it might be useful to pay slightly less attention to Mr Darcy and more to Mr Bingley and his family. The results were not auspicious.

During dinner and the separation of the sexes, Elizabeth learned that Miss Bingley was an unrepentant social climber who had somehow gotten it into her head that she could attract Mr Darcy’s attention by blathering on about her supposed connections in town, even though she could easily see from the end of the table that the noise was more annoying than attracting. From her attempts to garner his attention, it seemed likely his status was well above the Bingleys, but that was not exactly news. After all, a poor man would not have had to pretend to be one to go unnoticed. It was expected, but Elizabeth wanted to keep the illusion for a time.

Elizabeth somewhat enjoyed the absurdity of the whole thing. She tried her best to converse with Mr Hurst, and it took about half the dinner and a great deal of annoyance to learn he had no interests outside of cards, sport, food, and drink (not necessarily in that order).

Miss Bingley and her sister were equal parts amusing and annoying. Their powers of conversation were considerable. They could describe an entertainment with accuracy, relate an anecdote with humour, and laugh at their acquaintance with spirit. That said, it was obvious Miss Bingley had set her cap at Mr Darcy, and equally obvious that most of what she considered flirting just annoyed him. A prime example was that she liked to be late to every event, thinking it fashionable. Mr Darcy liked to be on time, or even early, so fashionable quickly became annoying. He had told her earlier that his walk to the assembly had been the first time he took such drastic action. She heartily approved of him for doing so and was amazed that Miss Bingley did not seem to learn anything from the event.