Darcy's Passions by Regina Jeffers Page B

Darcy’s standing silenced the Bingley party. He started to respond, but a note of the mortification Elizabeth suffered at her mother’s hand caused him to stifle his disfavor. The gentleman himself turned silently away, cursing himself for having paid any attention to Elizabeth Bennet and to her poor connections.
    Elizabeth, however, softened the disdain he currently felt for her by coming to his defense while trying to smooth the indignity. “Mama, you mistake Mr. Darcy’s intention,” Elizabeth blushed for her mother’s intrusion into the conversation. “He only meant that there was not such a variety of people to be met within the country as in the town, which you must acknowledge to be true.”
    Darcy turned slightly back toward Elizabeth during this speech. He watched as she resettled her shoulders and brought her chin up in an act of defiance. He discovered he developed a fondness for this temerity, and he rued the day he thought her not handsome enough to tempt him.
    â€œOf course, Lizzie,” Mrs. Bennet continued, wrapped in her own self-importance,“but we live in a large country neighborhood here in Hertfordshire; I know we dine regularly with four-and-twenty families.”
    Bingley wanted to respond to Mrs. Bennet’s insipidity, but Elizabeth’s obvious embarrassment concerned him; therefore, he kept his countenance. Caroline Bingley could not channel her disdain elsewhere; a roll of her eyes and a shift of her seat away from the offending woman became obvious. She caught Darcy’s eye and offered him an expressive smile, which said, “See what your appreciation of very fine eyes will earn you. Mrs. Bennet will be a regular guest at Pemberley if you pursue your interest in Elizabeth Bennet.”
    The party found Mrs. Bennet impossible! Yet again, Darcy felt
his back stiffen; she displayed such deplorable manners. Miss Bingley’s distasteful taunt held little consequence; how Elizabeth felt mattered most at this time. No one seemed willing to breach the silence until Elizabeth herself plunged forward in hopes of changing her mother’s conversational intent. “Mama, have you spoken to Charlotte?”
    â€œShe was by to see you yesterday, dear. Oh, the poor girl! There is an old maid in the making, for sure. Not that I think Charlotte so very plain, but she is our particular friend. Of course, my Jane is considered to be the most handsome woman in the county. One does not often see anybody better looking.”
    â€œMama!” came Elizabeth’s protest.The woman’s audacity again amazed Darcy; he rarely experienced such boorishness. To think Elizabeth must live with this brought pity to his mind.
    â€œWhen Jane was but fifteen, there was a gentleman at my brother Gardiner’s in town so much in love with her that my sister-in-law was sure he would make her an offer before we came away. But, however, he did not. Perhaps he thought her too young. However, he wrote some verses on her, and very pretty they were,” Mrs. Bennet lamented.
    Darcy suspected the man withdrew with the knowledge of having Mrs. Bennet as part of his family rather than thinking Miss Bennet as too young. He turned to observe Elizabeth growing impatient with her mother; she actually interrupted this denigration of her friend and the overt promotion of her beloved sister by saying, “And so ended his affection.There has been many a one, I fancy, overcome in the same way. I wonder who first discovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away love!”
    Darcy enjoyed how the quickness of her mind and how her wit allowed Elizabeth to take control of an embarrassing situation. He could not resist another response; he quipped,“I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love, Miss Elizabeth.”
    â€œOf a fine, stout, healthy love it may. Everything nourishes what is strong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I am