Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

" Y ou warned me away but I must ask, do you like Miss Bennet or do you more than like her? I find it hard to tell, the distance you keep from her and how often your eyes seem to be on Collins. Perhaps it is his oafish company and his stultifying platitudes that you fancy."

Darcy knew Richard's words were meant to be more teasing than sardonic, but tired and hungry after a long afternoon inspecting the roof on a tenant house and conferring with Rosings's closest neighbour over a crumbling stone fence, he tossed an annoyed look at him. "I wish to keep Collins's attention from her. He watches our every interaction, undoubtedly still resentful of innocent events last autumn. I feel, protective, I would say, for she has been importuned too often by men she does not like."

"She liked me," teased his cousin. "I made her laugh and never intended in any way for her to think I held serious ambition for her affections."

"Right. Such earnest flirtation could cause a woman of less sense to swoon into your arms. Do be careful or you will find yourself with a wife of far less charm and beauty."

"Do you plan to protect her from unwanted swains, as a brother might? As a brother myself, I would not look kindly on a man whose cheeks flushed when my sister leant over or whose eyes darkened with desire when she smiled."

"You are incorrigible." Darcy flushed, but it was anger rather than besottedness that overtook him. "I believe you did exactly that on her first evening at Rosings."

"I was helping turn her pages, as I have told you twice before." Richard slowed his pace as Rosings came into view, its windows brightly lit. "Now tell me, do you plan to marry her yourself?"

Darcy hesitated. He feared confessing too much to Richard, but revealing to him that Elizabeth was bound to accept the next proposal she received, no matter the man's station or purse or decency was giving away too much information. Perhaps it was the tedium or Richard's propensity to drink and flirt to excess these past weeks, but he could not trust his cousin not to make light of her predicament in the wrong company.

"She leaves Rosings in two days, and I will see her again next month at Bingley's wedding. Then I can best determine what is in her heart. After two proposals she did not desire, I cannot chance mistaking her feelings."

"You cannot fear joining her list of rejected suitors?" Richard smiled. "No lady of sense, as you like to portray her, would refuse you. But you always were rather principled. "

No, he thought. Thanks to you and Elizabeth, I have been made aware of my limitations and failings. He had been astonished by Elizabeth Bennet, struggling to reconcile what he knew was an imprudent connexion with his fascination with her. Everything about her had delighted and vexed him, and if not for an untimely encounter, a deluge of rain, and a conveniently placed boat-house, he might not have ever known she held the opposite opinion of him. Her misapprehensions about Wickham were easily relieved and she had been forthright, sweetly teasing in fact, about his terrible manners at the assembly. Of course, he had said nothing of that to Richard, either. The only teasing he wanted—needed—was from Elizabeth, and the longer they both remained in Kent, the less of it was being accomplished.

"She is a lady who deserves a man of principles."

Richard appeared distinctly amused, much to Darcy's exasperation. Sighing, he asked, "May I ask what you find amusing?"

"The contrast between you and Collins as her suitors is beyond understanding. With him as your comparison, even you can charm the lady."

Darcy raised an eyebrow and smiled a little. "Well, she is a woman of sense."

Chuckling, Richard said, "I do wish you joy. Miss Bennet is very charming and very pretty, if too poor for my tastes."

"As you have expressed, even to her ."

"Honesty is a virtue." A wide grin formed on his cousin's face. "Were you jealous of my charm, old man?"

"Alas, older man, I have never been jealous of your dubious charms." Darcy patted Apollo's neck, urging him into a canter, and called out, "I only wondered at your shockingly good taste to choose her as your object."

The sound of raised voices drew both men quickly from the entry hall towards the dining room. Elizabeth? What is she doing here? Darcy picked up his pace as he heard Lady Catherine's voice, full of vengeful spite.

"...Are all of her sisters as given to harlotry and beguilement?"

"Do not impugn Miss Bennet's good name!"

Darcy practically launched himself into the room, glad at the shock he saw sweeping across his aunt's face, and approached the table in slow, measured steps, his voice low with anger. "Miss Bennet was never alone with Mr Collins, nor alone with any man. I, too, was there, in the boat-house, and in fact assisted her in helping Mr Collins to reach it after he injured himself. She acted with haste to find shelter for us, and ensured Mr Collins was cared for upon his return to Longbourn. She is a fine young lady of gentle birth who has shown nothing but quality of character and manner in the face of the invectives you hurl and the discourtesy shown her by others."

He turned and looked at Elizabeth—poor, dear Elizabeth, her stricken expression nearly his undoing—and bowed his head in apology. "It is a fault in my character that I ever allowed you, or anyone, to believe otherwise."

Lady Catherine pounded her hand on the table. "You, Darcy? You were in intimate company with such a forward young woman? You are fortunate indeed that Mr Collins has upheld your reputation, much as his own is now harmed by a deliberate withholding of fact."

He nearly laughed at the absurdity of her rationalisation. "You commend that man for protecting my name while you impugn his and Miss Bennet's? It is she who ensured our well-being, no matter the threat to her reputation, during a violent storm."

Lady Catherine's eyes narrowed and she gave the trembling vicar a dark look, one filled with disgust and the promise of an unpleasant future conversation, before returning her gaze to Darcy. "You have withheld critical information about your time at that rented estate, for you clearly are far better acquainted with Miss Elizabeth Bennet than you have admitted. Dare I guess how well acquainted? Is she your mistress?"

Gasps filled the room. "How dare you," Darcy snapped at his aunt. "You hold the title of ‘Lady' and besmirch it with your every word and action. You must apologise, now, to Miss Bennet."

"I will do no such thing. I want my question answered."

"Here is your answer. Your ‘guess' is a slander to my character," Elizabeth said, rising from her seat. "I have been nothing but polite in company that clearly thinks poorly of me, and will spin its own web of hideous conjectures for nothing more than amusement and outrage. Being kind and courteous costs nothing, but you prefer to trade in insult. It can only make you poorer in the eyes of God."

Breathing heavily, she looked at Mrs Collins. "I am beset by a headache and will return to the parsonage."

And then she fled the room .

Darcy raced after her, leaving behind the outraged shouts from Lady Catherine to bring Elizabeth to heel, Collins's loud and fervent declarations that he would do so, and Richard's angry growls to shut up. She was at the front door, begging the white-wigged footman to open it, when he reached her. The servant appeared uncertain, looking back towards the commanding voice of his mistress to ‘control your cousin'!"

Darcy could see Elizabeth was pale and trembling; he took her arm and steered her away, down the hall to a small sitting room, where he sat her on a striped-green sofa. He pulled open the curtains to allow in the moonlight and brought in a candle from the wall sconce in the hall. It being Rosings, no fire was lit, so he took her cold hands in his own, cradling them. "Elizabeth, are you well? No apology is enough for what my aunt has said?—"

"No, no. She went too far, but she had provocation—no, I am not a harlot, but neither am I heroic, as you seem to believe. I am forward, with my opinions and in my efforts to be friendly. My father has warned me of it, that I invite attention through it, and you have seen it and it has injured you with your aunt."

"Fie on my aunt, who has abused you in every way imaginable since your arrival. I should have stopped it sooner, but took the coward's way out by merely diverting her attention. Obviously, the strength of our—" he fumbled for words—"um, friendship and my respect for you is easily seen."

Even in the dim light afforded them, he could see a blush sweep her cheeks.

"I thank you for your timely arrival this evening. Had I known you and the colonel would not join us at dinner, I may have pled an indisposition."

He shook his head. "We were not informed of the invitation."

Her eyes closed and she let out a quiet laugh. "Of course. Truly, I must go. Lady Catherine cannot want me in her home."

She began to rise, and he stood as well, knowing the situation would only worsen if they were seen together. "Will things be safe for you at the parsonage? Your cousin fears Lady Catherine, which will guide his actions."

"Mr Collins is a benign actor. He does not like me, wholly resents me, but I am not afraid of him."

She smiled up at him, her eyes bright and glowing and brave, and he knew he had never loved anyone as he did her. Only the sound of voices moving in the hall could pull him away from making an untimely declaration. He looked into the corridor and saw Richard with Mrs Collins and Miss Lucas in the front entry. Richard waved a hand to signal it was safe, and Darcy led Elizabeth to her friends, whose troubled expressions eased a little when they saw her.

"Lady Catherine demanded to speak alone to Collins," explained Richard. "He can find his own way back to the parsonage. We shall escort the ladies."