The following afternoon Darcy found himself in the midst of yet another shooting expedition arranged by Bingley. Oddly his friend had not improved his aim despite his enthusiasm for the sport. Once again Mr. Bennet was part of the party, and Darcy found himself coming to like the sarcastic wit of the older gentleman.

During the course of their shooting, Mr. Bennet said, “My daughter declares you declared yourself amiable antagonists.”

“We certainly declared no truce,” Darcy replied as he pushed the ball down the long gullet of his hunting rifle. “That would not entertain. And she has too ill an opinion of my opinions.”

“What are your real opinions? Can women never be so clever as men?”

“My rejoinder shall please neither Miss Bennet, nor, it is my sad suspicion, you. Your daughter holds that it is a matter of circumstance. Women experience different modes of education than men, so they develop their faculties in a different manner. This determines the differences in accomplishment between the sexes — I confess, the ring of plausibility is present.”

“You do not believe it?”

“No.” Darcy shook his head.

Bingley called out, “Take a break from your argument, they are about to flush the covey!”

Both gentlemen lifted their fowling pieces to their shoulders. They waited alertly, and with a squawking flap the birds burst over the treetops, seeking a safe height.

With a near simultaneous crack three guns went off and two birds fell squawking from the sky.

“The deuce!” Bingley exclaimed, as Darcy and Mr. Bennet released their dogs to retrieve the catch.

Mr. Bennet said in an even voice to his son-in-law, “You forgot, again, to account for the wind. Too impatient.”

“I understand Darcy.” Bingley replied, “The man does everything deuced well. But at your age and with all the time you spend with books, you ought not be able to beat my catch so easily.”

“My eyesight is kept in good practice by the books.” Mr. Bennet looked at Darcy. “Why are you yet convinced men are superior in the mind, despite the example of my daughter?”

“Different, not superior.”

“Ah, men are only superior in the ways which are important, while women have superiority in those which are not important.”

“Miss Bennet became almost vicious after I suggested men have greater cleverness.”

“Any aspersion on her sharpness and cleverness will land you more grief than one upon her age and fading looks — if your goal is to court her, you have done a fine job so far.”

Darcy grimaced. Was Mr. Bennet mocking him for how he’d insulted Elizabeth, mocking the idea that he might admire her, or simply mocking him — or maybe Mr. Bennet, in his sardonic manner, told the truth, and he thought that the verbal sparring he had with Elizabeth excited and exhilarated her as much as it did him.

“Your opinion considering Lizzy’s cleverness.” Mr. Bennet tapped the butt of his rifle against the ground. “Give it. What says your frank and original mind?”

“You wish to know because I am courting your daughter?”

Bingley laughed. “A joke, Darcy. I was joking. The two of you would make a horrid couple. Mr. Bennet sees that. So much argument — it would exhaust a spirit.”

The dogs returned carrying the dead birds in their muzzles, and Darcy took his bloodied bird from his hunting hound. He opened the string of the bag, deposited the dead pheasant, and tied it up once more. Darcy wiped his gloves off on the cloth provided for that purpose by the gamekeeper and calmly reloaded his gun.

“I question,” Mr. Bennet said, “every gentleman who shows such understanding of my daughter’s character.”

“A claim about the cleverness of females deals in generalities Your daughter is a particular… I may attack female cleverness without saying anything against her.”

“Slippery, slippery. But clever — Elizabeth will not accept such slipperiness.”

“The idea that men and women have the same potential endowments in mental pursuits feels entirely wrong to me. I confess I have no proof beyond the general experience everyone has of the world, which different persons interpret in different manners. It would be a most peculiar matter if the Lord created man and woman so different in all other respects, woman so well adapted to being man’s helpmeet and support in body and appearance, if she was not also formed to be his helpmeet in her mind.”

“A religious fanatic’s reply, then.”

“Nay.” Darcy shrugged. “I attend church; I believe. But I am no enthusiast.”

“I do not believe.”

“And Miss Bennet? She named her cat after that Scottish atheist.”

“Do not assess her opinions in this off mine. She believes, at least a little — Hume is worthy of admiration by all.”

“I appreciate the philosopher’s arguments, even if I am unconvinced by his irreligion. His history of England is unparalleled.”

“Deuced good story.”

The guns were reloaded, and the gentlemen waited for the gamekeeper to flush the next covey, leaning on their tall rifles. The cold wind rustled through the bushes.

Bingley filled the quiet. “Bennet, will you join the fox hunt this year?”

The older gentleman shook his head. “I’ve no taste for the sport anymore. Young man’s game.”

“You are enjoying this shooting so much.”

Darcy did not wait for him to reply to Bingley and asked Mr. Bennet, “Your philosophy regarding women and men? Do you share your daughter’s radicalism?”

““Lizzy is cleverer than I.” Mr. Bennet shrugged. He made little circles in the dirt with the boxwood stock of his rifle while looking at the trees. “And I have a high regard for my own cleverness. So my general experience of life is entirely different from yours.”

There was the crashing sound, and the next covey was sent up. Darcy sighted his rifle carefully, and he hit his bird once more. It was deuced fine shooting on Bingley’s estate. There wasn’t as much space as in Derbyshire, but more than enough birds for their group.

Mr. Bennet checked his rifle carefully to ensure it had in fact fired with the other guns.

Darcy thought the older man was annoyed that this time he had missed while Bingley struck his bird. “I clearly heard three shots.”

“Yes. I am satisfied it is unloaded.” Mr. Bennet pointed his rifle at Darcy. He said in a surprisingly intimidating manner, “Be warned, my daughter will always expect to have her will indulged.”

“I…” Darcy stared down the gleaming dark metal barrel of the unloaded — he had heard three shots — rifle. “I agree, she is very willful.”

“I raised her that way.” Mr. Bennet punctuated his statement by thrusting the rifle forward.

“Bennet—” Bingley was half torn between laughter and concern. “Darcy isn’t courting Elizabeth. Our man here would never want to argue with his wife. He likes command too much. He knows Lizzy is willful.”

“He likes my Lizzy. I watched your eyes the day past.” Mr Bennet waved the gun around, its muzzle making small circles, moving between Darcy’s chest and his stomach. “You admired her person to an excess.”

“I had realized it was impolitic to stare at a woman in such a manner whilst her father stood next to me. This is an extravagant reply to my stare.”

“Now you claim I should care less than I do for my daughter’s welfare? Those are the words of a scoundrel.”

“I do not — merely that you should not threaten him with a gun, every time a man looks on her with…ah…matters are not serious.”

“You do not know if you will become serious — do not decide speedily, I am not worried about you ‘hurting her’, and I feel no requirement to defend her honor. Lizzy can protect her own heart, and you are an honorable man.”

Darcy looked at the rifle. It was unloaded. “If I am an honorable man, why—”

“The deuce!” Mr. Bennet wildly waved the gun and pointed it at Darcy’s face. “Women do not exist for us. They have their own ideas about matters. If you cannot accept that you have no business marrying, and if you do not desire a willful wife, content yourself with unguarded leers at my girl.”

“You take this matter too seriously,” Darcy replied, unsure whether this was no more than a joke from the odd gentleman.

“By waving an unloaded gun, which you have seen discharged, at your chest?”

“That does not, to my surprise, entirely undercut the menace of an angry father threatening the unwanted suitor. I confess ignorance of your purpose.”

Mr. Bennet laughed and set down the gun. He waved their worried attendant forward to help him begin to reload his gun. “I said my piece.”

Darcy shrugged and finished reloading his own gun.