The Beginning of Hope

Part 5

Cards had afforded Darcy occupation for only the shortest of times. Charles Bingley's attention was usually changeable and this afternoon was no exception, for every slight noise was cause enough for him to turn his head towards the window, to tilt one ear up and enquire of the room if they, too, heard what sounded like carriage-wheels.

Darcy had not the heart to redress his eagerness, for he was fond of his friend and was cheered to see his mood so lifted by the promise of a call. Privately, he wondered at Jane Bennet's suitability for his friend, particularly when one considered the changeable affections of her sister. Darcy grimaced, his grip on his hand of cards tightening until his knuckles turned white.

"There!" Charles laid down his cards, prompting Darcy to do the same, and noted with a jolly laugh that he was once again the victor. "I'm not sure I recall ever winning so many hands against you, Darcy! You are surely off your game this afternoon."

"Perhaps, brother dear, Mr Darcy is being a kind friend and letting you win."

Caroline's suggestion was sly, accompanied by a look aimed at Darcy that was designed to connote some kind of understanding between the two that did not exist. He respected Caroline Bingley as sister to his friend and admired her as an accomplished young lady in her own right, but his feelings for her went no further and he thought of her rarely, save for when she sought to insert herself into his activities.

"Oh!" Bingley turned, crestfallen, to his friend. "You are teasing me, Darcy?"

"Not at all." Darcy gathered the cards together, permitting a tight smile that would set Charles' disappointment to rest. "You have the best of the cards today, that is all."

He paused partway through the action of shuffling as a sound reached his ears and had barely time to identify its source before Charles remarked upon it, pushing his chair back with a loud scrape and leaping to his feet.

"Why, that must be our guest!" he exclaimed, raking one hand through his hair and tugging at his cravat with the other. When none of his companions seemed likewise spurred into action, he turned helplessly to Darcy, who felt no small measure of foreboding at the forthcoming visitation but, out of concern for his friend, obediently ceased from his task and stood, tugging vaguely at his cuffs in a half-hearted show of support.

Caroline caught his eye when Bingley's back was turned, her eyebrows arching up towards her hairline in an expression of despair she evidently expected him to share. He kept his features neutral, not entirely fond of the habit Caroline had cultivated of seeking to team with him against her brother. He was Charles' friend before he was anything to her, and he had never been fond of exploiting divisions between brothers and sisters. He thought, again, of Georgiana, recalling the fabled letter he had penned to her and safely hidden from view. He would need to write a genuine one by way of replacement soon, for the errand remained undone. He would not tell her about Wickham, of course, but perhaps she would care to know a little about Hertfordshire and Charles' absurd preoccupation with their neighbours.

The door to the parlour opened and Miss Bennet was ushered across the threshold, much to Charles' delight, and - to Darcy's despair - she was not alone.

"Miss Elizabeth! Oh, how pleased we are to see you, and that Miss Bennet did not make such a long journey alone!"

"It is not such a very long journey, Charles," Caroline said, sourness seeping into her voice. With great effort, it seemed to Darcy, she arranged her features into some vague approximation of a smile and leaned forward to greet their guests. "Eliza! Dear me, you look a little windswept. Come and sit by the fire and we shall order tea."

Her voice dripped with concern but Darcy, ill-acquainted with society and young ladies as he was, could deduce no small amount of disdain in the comment and felt a flicker of amusement when Elizabeth reached a hand up to the dishevelled curls that prompted Caroline's concern, rumpling them further.

"It is deliciously breezy outside, Miss Bingley, and I never can get on well with my bonnets!" She beamed at Jane. "Much to my sister's despair."

Jane smiled, the very picture of calm, and allowed Mr Bingley to escort her to the very seat that Darcy had lately vacated. Left with neither a chair nor an occupation, Darcy felt every inch of his height, awkward and ungainly in a room that he had but a moment or two earlier felt quite at home in. He shuffled his weight from one foot to another, before stalking purposefully towards the window, as if that had been his desired position from the beginning.

Staring out into the garden, he was free to listen to the conversation that soon began to spill out into the high-ceilinged parlour, without being forced to contribute a word. A small smile crept onto his face. Surely the best I could hope for. His back was to Charles, and he turned his body a little more to the right, angling it so that, with very little further effort on his part, he might glimpse Elizabeth Bennet out of the corner of one eye. She was oblivious to his scrutiny, of course, and he endeavoured to remain invisible. He ought not to have noticed her at all, much less chosen to look at her, but his curiosity would not allow him to remain ignorant of the way her hands flew this way and that, illustrating her points as she made them and very soon spelling near-disaster for her teacup, which was rescued at the last moment and set down with a clatter and a musical laugh, which made Caroline scowl and shift her skirts a safe distance away from her companion.

"...I am sure Hertfordshire cannot compete for you with London, Miss Bingley," Elizabeth was saying.

"No, indeed! Caroline sniffed. She opened her mouth to say more, but the very tone of her voice indicated her next words would be rather less than complimentary. Darcy was poised to intervene, for he felt a strange and sudden desire to save Elizabeth Bennet from hearing her home county criticised by a newcomer. Perhaps it was merely good manners to save Caroline from blundering into a faux pas. He was spared having to do either, though, for rescue came from the rather surprising quarter of Mr Hurst.

"Now, now, Caroline, do not be so quick to dismiss the attractions of the country. I assure you, there are few corners of London as vast and unspoiled as this." He nodded towards the window and Darcy strove quickly to turn away, lest he be observed eavesdropping. He was but partially successful, for his presence there, however silent, did not survive without comment.

"Don't you agree, Darcy? You are a proponent of country living, I believe. Tell us, how does Hertfordshire compare with Pemberley...?"