Page 195 of What Change Entails

The word should have comforted her. From Miss Bingley, it came too strangely to be dismissed.

“He is also a man of rank,” Miss Bingley continued. “A man with relations who will not admire what he admires. He is a man with a sister whose future depends in part upon the family into which she is received. A man whose tenants may adore him and whose servants may revere him, but whose equals will measure his choices against their own consequence.”

Elizabeth left her and walked to the window.

Lydia had put the biscuit in her own mouth. Horace appeared betrayed. The dog was ordinarily forbidden the principal rooms, but Mr. Darcy told Elizabeth he had relaxed the rule since their arrival. The servants, seeing how much Georgiana laughed whenever the dog appeared, wisely pretended not to notice.

For several seconds Elizabeth watched them and let the sight steady her. Georgiana was happy. Lydia was ridiculous. Mr. Darcy had smiled at both of them. He had defended her uncle. He had contradicted Miss Bingley at dinner. He had not behaved like a man ashamed.

“Mr. Darcy knows my family,” Elizabeth said.

“He knows what affection allows him to overlook.”

That stung.

Elizabeth faced her. “You assume too much.”

“Possibly.”

“More than possibly.”

Miss Bingley’s composure faltered. “Do you think I wish to say this? Do you think I enjoy lowering myself to confessions of my family’s origins? I have spent my life refusing to acknowledge how much it mattered.”

“Then why acknowledge it now?”

“Because you may one day stand in a room and discover that loving him did not prevent others from making you pay for it.”

Elizabeth’s fingers ran mindlessly across the window frame.

“There it is,” she said quietly.

Miss Bingley rose. “What?”

“The kindness you promised. It has teeth after all.”

Color rushed into Miss Bingley’s face. “You may call it cruelty if you wish. Cruelty would be letting you believe Pemberley is the world. It is not. Pemberley is kind because Mr. Darcy governs it. His servants love whom he loves. His tenants respect whom he honors. His sister is young and adores what is placed before her. But London will not be Pemberley. Rosings will not be Pemberley. His relations will not all be Mrs. Reynolds.”

The mention of Rosings chilled the air between them.

Elizabeth looked away first.

Miss Bingley saw that too. She saw far too much when it served her.

“Lady Catherine has long expected him to marry Miss de Bourgh.”

“I am aware of the claim.”

“Are you aware that expectation, however foolish, gives others permission to judge any deviation from it?”

“Lady Catherine does not govern Mr. Darcy.”

“No. But she can make his choice unpleasant.”

“She has often made things unpleasant. It is not a rare talent.”

This time Miss Bingley did smile, though briefly and without softness. “You are braver than I.”

“I am not certain this is bravery.”