Thank you for hosting me today, Candy. It is always nice to visit your blog.
Did you read the excerpt from the first stop at Babblings of a Bookworm? If you did, this one is a continuation of the scene in the billiards room. If you did not and want to catch up, click on the link to go back and read what is taking place. Darcy’s enlightenment by his cousin has been shocking, to say the least.
Excerpt
Darcy looked at Fitzwilliam in shock mingled with a disquieting suspicion that his cousin might have a valid point.
Could I have been so thoroughly mistaken about everything? he thought, unable to avoid a feeling of dismay.
Fitzwilliam saw the mingled emotions chase across Darcy’s usually controlled face. At the moment, his cousin was clearly at sea, so Fitzwilliam leaned forward and pressed his argument while his cousin might listen to him.
“You should have seen her face when I mentioned you saving Bingley from an imprudent marriage. Her eyes flashed fire at your arrogance in deciding whether or how he was to be happy. That was one very upset young lady, and she was upset with you! I would wager her sister was really in love with Bingley, and your separating them broke her sister’s heart.”
Darcy really wanted to refute Fitzwilliam’s charges, but he found his doubts growing. He knew Fitzwilliam was more accomplished at interpreting the feelings of others than he was; his cousin lived in a more intense, often dangerous, world than he. Was he also seeing with more clarity?
“But, surely, if I offer marriage…” he began, his voice now tinged with desperation.
“Darcy, you are not listening to me! I have never seen an endeavour less likely to succeed!”
“But even if you are correct about Bingley and her sister, a part of Miss Elizabeth’s animosity has to relate to mistakenly believing I deprived Wickham of his just due. Surely, I can defend myself against that.”
“Wickham? How does Wickham come into this?”
“He turned up in Hertfordshire like a bad penny, and I know he must have been spinning tales to Miss Elizabeth. She more or less accused me of ruining his hopes.”
“I advise you to give it up, Cuz. If she is going to believe Wickham instead of you, she is too foolish to concern you.”
However, after a few moments of introspection, Fitzwilliam backed away from his statement. “No, I take it back. It simply cannot be. I have had many chances to observe Miss Elizabeth, and foolish she is not. Very perplexing.”
“Remember Wickham’s silver tongue. Perhaps I should have taken the occasion to counter her charges, but it was in the middle of a dance. I certainly could not make any explanations in such a setting.”
Fitzwilliam could only shake his head in dismay. “Just what I should have expected. The great stone-face Darcy will not confront unjustified accusations levied against him and now expects justified accusations not to be held against him! Obviously, your infatuation has not only blinded you, it has obliterated what used to be a respectable intellectual capacity.”
Darcy had to look down in extreme discomfort. “My only explanation is my confusion,” he finally said, his voice almost a mumble. “On the one hand, I was trying to fight the attraction I felt for Miss Elizabeth, and on the other, I could not stop myself from trying to further the acquaintance—resulting, I suppose, in doing neither well.”
“Confusion could partially explain the incredibly strange behaviour you have exhibited since we arrived here. You are more taciturn, more bumbling, and more thick-headed than I have ever seen you. If you truly intend to pursue this girl, you have a lot of repair work to do.”
Darcy said nothing to this, not able to meet Fitzwilliam’s gaze.
“But I am incredibly confused on one point: Why are you even contemplating connecting yourself to this young lady when you steered your friend Bingley away from her sister?”
Darcy looked away from his cousin and stared out the window in silence, trying to rein in the thoughts and emotions stampeding through his mind. When he finally turned towards Fitzwilliam, his eyes were haunted.
“That was then,” he said slowly and paused before continuing. “At the present time, I am not sure I can help myself any more. She has grown to occupy my every waking thought and even my dreams. I fear going to sleep because I chase her but cannot find her. You are completely right about how tongue-tied I have become. I simply am unable to act normally. Several times I have called at the Parsonage or met her in the park and been unable to utter a single word.”
He stood and walked to a window, looking out at the overly manicured garden adjacent to the house. Finally, he said, “Talking with you seems at least to have cleared the fog from my mind. I now see that I have avoided thinking of what I might do if I manage to resolve my doubts and offer marriage, only to have her soundly rebuff my addresses. That would be…devastating.”
“I daresay,” Fitzwilliam said dryly.
*****
It would be devastating indeed. I can’t even begin to imagine how one would feel, although from canon, we do know how Darcy felt. Thankfully, those feelings may be prevented this time.
What are your thoughts about the conversation between the cousins? Seems like Colonel Fitzwilliam has the right of it, and Darcy has been clueless!
Stay tuned for the next stop at Austenesque Reviews. The scene has changed to a lovely stroll on the Rosings grounds, and Lizzy has entered the equation. What will she think?
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