Free His Good Opinion: A Mr. Darcy Novel by Nancy Kelley

be met with in the country as in town, which you must acknowledge to be true."

    Her quick defense and understanding of him gratified Darcy. He caught a glimpse of her reflection in the window, and her reddened cheeks drew his sympathy. You are a charming young lady, Miss Elizabeth, but I fear few men will wish to attach themselves to your family.

    As if to prove his point, her mother continued without heeding her much wiser daughter. "Certainly, my dear, nobody said there were; but as to not meeting with many people in this neighborhood, I believe there are few neighborhoods larger. I know we dine with four and twenty families."

    From where he stood, Darcy could easily hear the sudden coughs and whispers between Bingley's sisters, and he shook his head. Ridiculous as the statement was, one did not mock a guest to her face.

    "Has Charlotte Lucas called at Longbourn since I left, Mama?" Miss Elizabeth asked, in an obvious attempt to turn her attention to another topic.

    It almost worked. "Yes, she called yesterday with her father. What an agreeable man Sir William is, Mr. Bingley--is not he? So much the man of fashion, so genteel and so easy! He always has something to say to everybody. That is my idea of good breeding; and those persons who fancy themselves very important, and never open their mouths, quite mistake the matter."

    Better to keep one's mouth shut and appear ill-bred than to open it and remove all doubt, Darcy thought, with some indignation. Really! That he should be compared to Sir William and found lacking.

    "Did Charlotte dine with you?"

    Miss Elizabeth seemed determined to turn the focus of the conversation away from Darcy, and he admired her efforts. He knew he did not bear up well under public scrutiny, though in this case he cared little enough for the result.

    "No, she would go home. I fancy she was wanted about the mince pies. For my part, Mr. Bingley, I always keep servants that can do their own work; my daughters are brought up differently. But everybody is to judge for themselves, and the Lucases are a very good sort of girls, I assure you. It is a pity they are not handsome! Not that I think Charlotte so very plain--but then she is our particular friend."

    Darcy was not sure which was worse: the invectives on his own character, or this fawning after Bingley and his good opinion. The woman seemed unable to hold any other thoughts in her head, and she would bounce back and forth between the two subjects and nothing else.

    "She seems a very pleasant young woman," Bingley said generously of Charlotte Lucas, naturally oblivious to the undercurrents in the conversation.

    Darcy sometimes wished Bingley would be more aware of the machinations of scheming mamas-- But if he were, he thought, he would not be Bingley. It was plain to him what such a commendation of another young lady would lead to, and his assumption was correct.

    "Oh dear, yes! But you must own she is very plain. Lady Lucas herself has often said so, and envied me Jane's beauty. I do not like to boast of my own child --" here Darcy could not help but snort quietly, for it seemed that was all Mrs. Bennet did like to do--"but to be sure, Jane--one does not often see anybody better looking. It is what everybody says. I do not trust my own partiality. When she was only 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."

    "And so ended his affection," Elizabeth interrupted, and Darcy marveled at the way she controlled her mother. "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!"

    Such a contrary way of thinking compelled Darcy to turn around, and he rejoined the conversation, almost against his will. "I have