Page 29 of The Sole Love

Elizabeth told the others about their last conversation when Jane ran to her mother. It was not good news for them.

“She is an exceptional young lady, beautiful and kind. I am sure she will find in life all that she desires,” Mr Bennet said with affection.

“She will be fine, I am sure!” Mr Gardiner agreed. “Maybe even rediscover her love for Mr Bingley.”

But Elizabeth was not as certain. David had shown Jane a new kind of relationship, and she enjoyed the lack of opposition from his family.

“It is not your problem anymore,” Mrs Gardiner said the next day in the carriage that took them to Darcy House. “Please leave all your troubles behind and try to see only what lies ahead: this meeting with Mr Darcy that both of you want.”

“How can you know he wants to see me?”

Mrs Gardiner looked lovingly at her niece. Once again, she wondered at the absurdity of everyone in love.

“My dear, it is so obvious. Just have confidence in me and try to behave naturally.”

“I am not sure I can ask him to help Jane meet Mr Bingley…” Elizabeth whispered. “Am I being selfish?”

Mrs Gardiner reflected for a while, taking Elizabeth to the verge of anxiety.

“Am I?” she asked in a shaky voice.

“No!” Mrs Gardiner said vehemently. “You are not. I was just reflecting on my discussion with your uncle last evening. I told him it was not fair to ask you to accomplish such a task. I would have preferred not to tell you anything and to have those involved solve this problem between them: your mother could go to Mr Haskett, tell him the truth, and together they could find a solution. But your uncle almost begged me to convince you to attempt something that would not involve the Hasketts. He is terrified that our good name could become involved in nasty gossip or even a scandal.”

Elizabeth understood and accepted her duty to try to save her family. Still, she doubted whether she and Mr Darcy could influence the former lovers.

Such a distressing subject had worried and saddened everyone; however, that morning, it had also prevented Elizabeth from becoming nervous. In the large entrance hall of his home, she faced their host with courage, and only after the bows and curtseys did her anxiety return.

Mrs Gardiner smiled when, in the parlour, they found Colonel Fitzwilliam sitting beside Miss Darcy. She could easily imagine Mr Darcy asking his cousin to be present, perhaps to help him steal a moment alone with Elizabeth. And from the look in Miss Darcy’s eyes, she shared their secret.

A good plan made by a man in love.

Chapter 12

Darcy stood for several minutes with Mrs Gardiner’s note in his hand, confirming their visit. He had already read it. It contained only a few polite words, yet they had an unexpected effect upon him.

It seemed only yesterday that he had written that letter to Elizabeth. He had been convinced that everything between them was over. Her violent refusal had left him in a state of shock. It had seemed impossible that she could reject him in such a manner; if either of them had reason for doubt, he had believed it was himself.

And although her words had wounded him deeply, after a time her image had returned to his mind. Not the angry woman he had left at the Parsonage, but the young lady he had first met at the Meryton assembly and had liked almost immediately, despite the disastrous impression he had formed of the society around her.

His struggle with himself had been real and painful. His desire to begin their marriage with honesty still seemed honourable to him, but he gradually realised he had been wrong in one essential respect. Elizabeth had not loved him and, at the time he proposed, had apparently liked him very little.

He should have won her affection first. Yet during those two weeks in Kent, instead of courting her openly and naturally, he had allowed himself to be governed by his own internal struggle rather than by his love for her. To Elizabeth, it must have appeared as hesitation and uncertainty, certainly not as the behaviour of a man trying to win a woman’s heart.

Within a month of his return from Kent, his anger and frustration had diminished, while the desire to see her again had grown despite himself.

A few days before their unexpected meeting, he had decided to ask Bingley to return with him to Hertfordshire. Darcy would do what he should have done from the beginning: allow Elizabeth to know him properly and, at the same time, show her the man he truly was.

The ball had been the greatest surprise. First, he had seen her again, but he had also discovered that her family from London was completely different from the one in Meryton.

And that was not all. Elizabeth had smiled and danced and, in her own way, told him that she was not displeased to see him.

That had begun at the ball, and he hoped it would continue.

Elizabeth had agreed to come, and that was the best sign.

However, uncertainty did not completely leave him. He was better in the morning, while every night in bed, he remembered how strong-minded and final her answer at Hunsford had seemed. Fortunately, when doubts overwhelmed him, his cousin was nearby, always encouraging him not to lose his desire to see her again.

“She is the woman for you, accomplished, funny, neither bound to the home nor inclined to spend all her time in Oxford Street.”