The gentlemen had returned from their walk by twelve o'clock, and Fitzwilliam and the two cousins waited near the front door to watch Bingley and Miss Darcy starting for their ride. Hardly had the horses moved off, and Colonel Fitzwilliam was considering what the guests might like to do next, when Tom Bertram seized William by the arm, and with a word of apology to the Colonel, carried him off to a distant patch.
"I want to speak to you, William," he began, with some abruptness, "and Miss Bennet will be popping out on us if I do not take this chance. I want to know—did you happen to hear what that gossiping old woman, Mrs. Jenkins, or what ever she is called, said to me last night, just as she was leaving?"
"I certainly did not hear anything particular, but I'm afraid one never does pay much attention to Mrs. Jennings," returned William.
"Then let me tell you, she had the impertinence to give me the broadest hint I ever had in my life—to give me, if you please!—that I was paying court to Miss Darcy. I never was more astounded. I forget exactly what she said, but she made it quite clear, and—yes, one remark I do recollect, something about the 'charming future Lady Bertram.'"
"Good heavens!" exclaimed William, "what unpardonable insolence! I have never heard anything more outrageously offensive. Was she—I hope, I hope, Tom, that Miss Darcy did not hear any of this?"
"No, she was nowhere near at the time, but imagine my feelings, William, never having dreamed of such a thing, and then having it suddenly brandished in my face, as it were, by that odiously vulgar woman."
"It was disagreeable, certainly, but I am thinking more of Miss Darcy's feelings, as from what I know of her, I can conceive nothing which would be more repugnant to her, than to have such a subject bandied about in jest."
"Well, you may make your mind easy, for she was certainly not listening. But that was not what I wanted to say. Of course, it was a complete surprise to me, but once it had been put into my head, I could not help thinking of it, and, indeed, I have been pondering over it ever since, and have come to the conclusion that it would not be at all a bad thing."
"What is this?" exclaimed William. "Do you expect me to listen to you with patience, Tom, when not three weeks ago you were sighing over Miss Thorpe, and regretted your parents' objection to her, and declaring there was not such another girl in the world?"
"You need not be so hasty, William. You talk as if I were already on my knees to Miss Darcy, when I have no intentions whatever towards her; the idea has simply been put into my head by the circumstances, and naturally I must think it out."