“Lizzy, stop teasing Mr. Darcy,” Mary complained. “It is not nice.”
“Thank you, Miss Mary,” Mr. Darcy replied.
Elizabeth smiled up at him. “Mr. Darcy does not mind, Mary.”
Mr. Darcy’s eyes met hers. “Miss Elizabeth does not realise that Mrs. Keller and I are good friends. Perhaps she is recalling her own relationship with your governess. Tell me, Miss Mary, was she often at odds with Mrs. Keller?”
“Oh, there was rarely a day when they did not cross swords, Mr. Darcy,” Mary said.
“Do you hear that?” Elizabeth withdrew her hand from Mr. Darcy’s arm before he could see her blush. “I believe Jane wishes me to join them.”
As she stepped quickly away, she heard Mary speaking cheerfully. “Once she came home with a cat and seven tiny kittens. Seven!”
It pleased Darcy to discover that Miss Mary was an excellent source of information about Miss Elizabeth, and very willing to share her knowledge. He relished the tale of the kittens living under Miss Elizabeth’s bed and the dog that had brought fleas into her mother’s small parlour. He likewise enjoyed hearing how a ten-year-old Miss Elizabeth had planned and executed a late-night assault on the general’s kitchen with all her sisters, only to be found out in the morning when the bread and milk were gone.
“We would have escaped without detection,” Miss Mary admitted, “but the housekeeper blamed one of the servant boys, and so Elizabeth confessed it had been her.”
Darcy could not keep the delight from his voice, but he did try. “Were you all restricted to quarters, then?”
Miss Mary shook her head. “Only Lizzy. She claimed to have been alone. I suspect Papa did not believe her—even Lizzy could not have eaten that much bread and milk—but she told us she was the leader, and therefore the punishment should be hers alone. Jane tried over and over to tell Papa that she was also to blame, but I think my father knew it would be worse for Jane if she were notallowed to share in Elizabeth’s punishment.”
“And you?” Darcy asked.
“Oh, I am afraid that I was very young and perfectly content to allow Elizabeth to take the blame,” Miss Mary said fondly. “She was quite my hero. But then, she is always doing that—taking care of everyone else.”
Sometimes to her own detriment. The woman was terribly stubborn. “I have noticed.” Darcy watched as the woman they had been discussing chatted gaily with Miss Bennet twenty yards or so ahead. “Were you always in a house, then?”
Miss Mary nodded. “Most often, yes, but of course, they were all temporary lodgings and all very small.”
Miss Elizabeth glanced back at them, but when she saw he was looking at her, she turned her head abruptly away again.
Darcy smiled. “With a sister such as Miss Elizabeth, certainly there must have been many such escapades.”
Miss Mary had several additional stories she was pleased to share, and Darcy found himself well entertained for the rest of their walk.
Chapter Thirteen
Whentheyarrivedintown, the ladies stepped smartly to the milliner’s shop, where the youngest were to purchase their ribbons. Once he and his cousin had seen them inside, he nudged Fitzwilliam. “Perhaps we might visit Jensen’s and check on what is left of Bennet’s coach?”
Fitzwilliam nodded. “When will the one from Pemberley arrive?”
“I have not yet heard. If there is one ready, it may arrive as soon as today. If not, a few days longer.”
“It does put a damper on evening engagements.”
Darcy scoffed lightly at that. “Anywhere Miss Bennet wishes to go, we need only mention it to Bingley.”
Fitzwilliam laughed genially. “They seem well matched, though his sisters . . .”
“Miss Bingley did size you up rather minutely.” Darcy pulled at the fingers of one glove to straighten them.
“After she rejected you as too ungainly. Neatly done, too, without ever saying a word.”
“In this instance, I cannot be sorry for it.”
“The woman speaks volumes with the smallest expressions.” Fitzwilliam kicked at a stone in the road. “She is ambitious.”
“We are most of us ambitious in our own ways,” Darcy agreed. “But what Miss Bingley displays is avarice.”