Page 12 of A Most Favourable Match
“It was not quite like that,” Jane objected again. “I really do think that he was only startled by the news and uncomfortable at the assembly. It was rather loud and busy.”
“Why do you defend him, Jane?” Elizabeth interjected, frustrated with her sister’s mildness. “You really have no cause to do so after he was so rude to you, even if he is Lord Grantchester’s friend.”
“Love is blind,” trilled Mrs Bennet with hazy sentimentality. “Likely Jane can see no wrong in any of Lord Grantchester’s friends. You will understand when you fall in love yourself, Lizzy.”
Though she chose not to object aloud, Elizabeth found both her mother’s explanation for Jane’s attitude and the prediction about her own future rather unlikely. Jane was always far too apt to like undeserving people, sometimes to her own detriment.
“I only think that we ought to get to know Mr Darcy better before we judge him,” Jane tried to explain herself better. “One remark cannot be the basis for forming our opinions.”
“I agree with you completely, Jane,” put in Mary solemnly. “Indeed, one of Fordyce’s sermons touches on this subject with great perspicacity —”
“It was not just one remark,” Elizabeth revealed, cutting off Mary’s opportunity to expound on a subject of no interest to anyone else in the room. “I saw more of Mr Darcy than the rest of you, I think. You were all occupied with Lord Grantchester and Lord Keeble. His general behaviour did nothing to commend him, and he spoke most rudely a second time too.”
“What do you mean, Lizzy?” Jane asked with troubled eyes.
“For one thing, Mr Darcy was glaring at you and Lord Grantchester the whole time you were on the dance floor, Jane. It seemed to me that he was not only surprised by your engagement, but actively disapproves of it. I suspect he has a real prejudice against our family,but we are not the only ones who found his behaviour rude last night.”
Though Elizabeth had prudently kept a veil drawn over the most shocking details of Mr Darcy’s rudeness, Mrs Bennet was still quick to take offense. “He thinks himself better than us, no doubt,” she railed against him. “Well, if we’re good enough for Lord Grantchester, then I think we’re good enough for Mr Darcy of Pemberley or wherever his estate was. He has no title, does he? I dare say he has no fortune to speak of either, compared to his friends.”
“He has ten thousand pounds a year, Mother,” Elizabeth said dryly. “His uncle is the Earl of Matlock, and Pemberley a most impressive estate. Charlotte Lucas told me all about him. But this is beside the point. It was when I was talking to Charlotte that Mr Bingley approached Mr Darcy and took him to task for his behaviour.”
“Good for Mr Bingley,” Mrs Bennet almost cheered. “I don’t care if a man has ten thousand pounds a year if he has no manners and does not know how to behave.”
“I hope they did not fall out,” Jane worried. “I should hate to have been the cause of disharmony between good friends.”
“Not at all, Jane. As you say, they are good friends, and Mr Bingley was not shy of telling Mr Darcy a few home truths. He told Mr Darcy in no uncertain terms that he ought to have congratulated you properly on your engagement and was most solicitous about how your feelings might have been hurt by Mr Darcy’sreaction.”
Jane’s expression softened. A small smile even lurked at the corners of her mouth, although her eyes looked rather sad.
“There!” said Mrs Bennet triumphantly. “There is a gentleman for you, thinking of ladies’ feelings and defending them, even when he barely knows them. There are not many men like Mr Bingley in the world, girls. I warn you of that now. When I was young —”
“What else did Mr Darcy say?” Lydia demanded of Elizabeth, uninterested in her mother’s reminiscences. “You said he was rude again, Lizzy. I want to know what he said.”
Elizabeth paused for a moment, both trying to recall the exact words and also testing them in her head to ensure they should not upset Jane or raise her mother’s temper too greatly. For some reason, the fact that he had mentioned Elizabeth by name made her anger run particularly hot.
“Mr Darcy told Mr Bingley that he held his principles to be more important than the feelings of others,” revealed Elizabeth, feeling the same indignation all over again as she had the previous evening. “He also said that as he did not know us, and never wished or expected to see us again, what we felt was of no account.”
“Of all the rude, contemptible, ungentlemanly creatures!” Mrs Bennet reacted hotly. “Well, Mr Darcy might be Lord Grantchester’s friend, but I shall be no more than civil to him on that account. I know my manners, even if he does not know his.”
Lydia and Kitty only giggled together again, seeming to find the whole conversation most amusing and rather a tonic to their punch-addled constitutions.
“He is dreadful, is he not, Mother?” laughed Kitty. “May we ignore Mr Darcy too, if we see him again at the next assembly or out walking?”
“Of course you may, my ducks. He deserves nothing of our attention,” answered their mother thoughtlessly.
“A small curtsy or nod will suffice, Kitty,” Elizabeth added. “We must not be as rude as Mr Darcy.”
“I would not dance with Mr Darcy if he were the only man at the assembly,” Lydia declared. “I would much rather dance with Lord Keeble.”
“Lord Keeble likes dancing and games just as much as we do,” Kitty put in. “You like him, don’t you, Mother?”
“Lord Keeble would be a fine match for any of you,” Mrs Bennet answered approvingly. “Mr Darcy, we shall waste no more time on. Mr Bingley would make a good husband too, if Elizabeth would only stir herself to catch him.”
“I shall not be stirring myself to catch anyone,” Elizabeth replied pointedly. “One wedding in the family is enough for this year, it seems to me. Can you not at least pause your matchmaking efforts long enough to get Jane to the altar, Mother?”
“Jane’s wedding isn’t for another year,” Mrs Bennet objected. “That’s plenty of time for an ordinarywedding or two.”
“I shall go out for a walk,” Jane announced abruptly, rising from her seat and walking to the door. “I need some fresh air.”
