Page 54 of Roses from Pemberley
“I thank you for your intervention, Mr. Darcy,” she said, “for without it I would have had to wait weeks.”
He nodded with a small smile but said nothing.
Mrs. Bennet continued, “I suppose you meant - by me being connected to Lady Catherine - that my husband’s cousin is her parson?”
Darcy, who did not quite know what he meant, answered, “Yes, I suppose I did.”
However, on further consideration, he realised that therewasa closer connection Mrs. Bennet might have had to Lady Catherine, namely that her daughter was engaged to Lady Catherine’s nephew. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Still, Darcy was not beyond hope. He just had to speak with Elizabeth. One of these days.
*****
Elizabeth, who was actually a little tired, was able to fall asleep after being forced back into bed by her mother. However, when she awoke, her first thought was to speak to her about her outing with Darcy.
“Well, Mamma? How was it?” she asked as Mrs. Bennet walked into the room later that day.
“Oh, excellent, Lizzy! I met with Mr. Crump, the owner of the shop, who told me that my boots were unsalvageable and that I would need new ones. Of course, it was what I had expected. But then he told me that it would take weeks to make them. Now, Lizzy, you know I do not have weeks to wait. And naturally I explained this to him. But he remained adamant that I had to wait because he could not put my order before the others.” Her mother smiled. “It was then that Mr. Darcy told him that I was related to Lady Catherine. Or associated with her. Something like that, I forget. But it seemed to do the trick for Crump suddenly changed his tune and said that the boots would be ready in a few days. Is that not wonderful, Lizzy?”
Elizabeth contemplated this and wondered what sort of connection Darcy had in mind - between her mother and Lady Catherine.Is it through Mr. Collins,she wondered,or myself?She smiled at this, thinking how nice it would be if her mother were related to Lady Catherine by virtue of Elizabeth being married, or engaged, to Mr. Darcy.
CHAPTER 23 Dinner Party
It was the night of Lady Catherine’s dinner party and Darcy was sitting in the drawing room with Diana, the two having gotten dressed much earlier than the rest of their companions. He had questioned her at length about her meeting with Elizabeth but his cousin was remarkably close.
“But what did you speak of?” he asked for about the tenth time.
“Various things. The Season. Hertfordshire. The characteristics of certain people.”
She grinned at him and he realised that this was something she had not mentioned before.
“What people?”
“Oh, various acquaintances.”
“Such as?”
But instead of answering, Diana asked a question of her own. “Darcy, have you developed atendrefor Elizabeth?”
Despite being reserved like himself, Diana was also somewhat of a busybody, at least with people she knew well. So he did not know if he should mention anything about his attachment. True, he had already mentioned it to Charlotte, Anne, Richard, Lady Catherine, and just about everyone else heknew. Elizabeth must know by now that he was in love with her. He did, after all, propose. But still, sitting alone with Diana, it seemed more extreme that he should confess his feelings for Elizabeth. For she would surely question him in great detail about it.
“She is just a friend, at present,” he finally said. “Though we have argued at times. In any case, I just wish to know how she feels about me...”
Just a friend?thought Diana.Bloody unlikely.But she kept such thoughts to herself, not wishing to give her cousin any more reason to be secretive.
“Well, I liked her,” she said instead, an idea coming to mind. “She is very pretty, do you not think? Her eyes, in particular?”
“Yes,” agreed Darcy, rather dreamily, “her eyes are quite fine.”
“Any man would be happy to have her. Quite fortunate, in fact.”
“Yes, I think so too.”
Diana sighed. “But it is not likely, is it, for her to meet someone in such a small community as where she comes from.” She did not actually know if Elizabeth's community was small, but she thought it likely that it was. She tapped her forefinger to her lips and added, “Perhaps I shall ask her to accompany me to London.”
“London! Why?”
She shrugged. “I do not have many close friends, most of the ladies of thetonbeing extremely boring. But Elizabeth has something about her. A certainJe ne sais quoi,don’t you know. Yes, I think I shall ask her to London.”
“And what, pray tell, do you plan on doing with her while in London?”
