His cousin frowned. “That is painting it a bit brown, do not you think? A young lady has no other means to raise her status than through marriage.”
“And yet not all young ladies seek a partner merely for pecuniary advantage.”
“They cannot marry without some thought for their security, Darcy, just as men cannot.”
Darcy shook his head. “You know better than I that women like Miss Bingley are not interested only in marrying a man they admire who can provide them a comfortable home. They want a good deal more. Were we still merely officers, she would not deign to look upon us.”
The men were silent for a moment until Fitzwilliam stuck his head into the cobbler’s shop and asked for directions to Jensen’s. Once they were on their way again, he shrugged. “Miss Bingley might improve on closer acquaintance. She has a handsome fortune.”
Darcy stopped walking. “You cannot be serious. You are no longer a man who requires a woman of fortune, you have your own.”
Fitzwilliam smiled. “As that Yank Franklin said, ‘old habits die hard.’” He shook his head. “Even now, I cannot seem to make myself believe it.”
Miss Lucas and her younger sister came around the side of the building only a few feet from them. Darcy touched the brim of his hat. “Good day, Miss Lucas. Miss Maria.”
Fitzwilliam echoed him. “You are in fine looks this morning, ladies,” he said with a smile and a gallant bow.
Miss Maria’s cheeks pinked a bit, but Miss Lucas’s expression transformed from civil to annoyed. She curtseyed to them but gave Fitzwilliam a rather disapproving frown before she wished them both a good day and pulled her sister away with her.
Darcy chuckled as his cousin turned to watch the ladies hurry down the road. “Speaking of old habits. What have you done to Miss Lucas, Fitzwilliam?”
His cousin gazed after the departing Miss Lucas and placed his hat back on his head. “I have not the faintest idea.” He sounded regretful.
“You might ask Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy offered. “They are particular friends.”
This seemed to shake Fitzwilliam, for he shook his head. “No, never mind. There is no knowing what is in the minds of women, is there?”
Darcy shrugged. He understood Miss Elizabeth’s mind a little better every day, though she was still, in many ways, a mystery to him. Perhaps one did not need to understand women so much asonewoman, and perhaps he did not need to understand everything about Miss Elizabeth so much as be willing to learn.
He shook his head. This was neither the time nor the place to be creating romantic philosophy. Even if it were, he was not the man for the job.
“Jensen’s,” he told Fitzwilliam.
“Jensen’s,” his cousin repeated distractedly, and turned to lead the way.
Lydia certainly had no intention of returning to Longbourn with any haste. She deliberated with excruciating precision over every ribbon in the shop, comparing colour, adornment, length, width, and any other detail she could imagine. After nearly an hour spent in this tedious fashion, long after the three eldest had chosen shoe roses and Kitty her own ribbon, Elizabeth touched Jane’s hand and nodded to the door.
“Do not be long,” Jane whispered, and Elizabeth nodded. She simply required a few moments of respite and stepped outside to the wooden pavement to seek it.
The air was crisp and cool. She took a deep breath and released it before walking briskly to the corner. The door to the dressmaker’s opened, and Charlotte stepped out, shadowed by Maria, who was the same age as Kitty but already out.
“Charlotte!” Elizabeth called, pleased to see her friend. “Good day!”
Charlotte smiled and held up her hand in a half-wave. She made her way over to Elizabeth. “It is good to see you, Eliza. Where are your sisters?”
“Inside the milliner’s. Are you and Maria having new gowns made?”
“Just Maria,” Charlotte replied. “She is to have a new gown for the ball, for there are potential suitors who will attend from London. Is not that right, Maria?”
Maria nodded shyly. “I do not expect any of them to have an interest in me, but I am happy to have a new dress all the same. Shall you have anything new for the ball, Lizzy?”
“Shoe roses,” Elizabeth said with great solemnity, and then laughed softly. “I have the advantage of many sisters. I expect we shall exchange lace and ribbons so that our best evening gowns appear new.”
Charlotte appeared grateful for the knowledge that she would not be the only young woman without a new gown to wear, and Elizabeth felt a flash of anger towards Charlotte’s mother. She could well imagine Lady Lucas telling her friend that there was no purpose in spending money on a new gown for her.
As she placed her hand upon the knob of the milliner’s shop, she noticed a flash of red coats at the other end of the high street. To her surprise, Mary slipped out whilst she was holding the door and watching them.
“Jane warned Lydia that if she does not decide soon there will be no time to visit Clarke’s,” she said. “She has now decided that she wanted the pink ribbon all along. Jane said they would meet us if we wished to walk ahead.”