I am not sure we can hang so much on a single word, angel. A man might call a woman a beauty, a hottie, a 10--but that does not mean he thinks he is in her league. Especially if he thinks a pretty woman would not be interested, he backs off. Only a total boor ignores the reaction he thinks he is likely to get from a woman.
Bingley had thought Jane liked him though never in the same degree as he liked her. When Darcy convinced him that she was actually indifferent, Bingley assumed that Darcy was seeing matters more clearly than he.
Darcy even admits he knew when Jane visited Bingley's sisters in London, and he feared Bingley might take her appearance there as interest. Darcy therefore kept Jane's visit away from Bingley.
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That they might have met without ill consequence is, perhaps, probable; -- but his regard did not appear to me enough extinguished for him to see her without some danger.
Again, Bingley was being manipulated by his well-meaning friend. It was Darcy who was convinced that Jane was wrong for Bingley, and Darcy was willing to go some lengths to have his point.
