Mrs. Bennet left exclaiming in a confused jumble of, “I do not understand, Mr. Darcy? Lizzy? But, but… but? I do not understand.”
After Mr. Bennet whispered something to her she exclaimed, “Oh, my! Oh, my! As good as a Lord!”
The other sisters left laughing, and as Lydia stepped out the door she said clearly to Kitty in a voice they both could hear, “The cripple! Wouldn’t it be such a joke if Lizzy refused him too after the mill she set off with Mama refusing Mr. Collins.”
The door closed, and Darcy looked paler than before. Elizabeth rose, she tried to smile at him, but she was filled with anxiety as well.
“Please sit down. Please.” Her voice cracked as she gestured to the sofa that she had been seated on.
Elizabeth knew that the following five minutes would determine the fate of her entire life.
There was no other explanation that made sense to Elizabeth for why Mr. Darcy would so precipitously return to Meryton, and then immediately come to Longbourn, andthenask her if he could speak with her privately.
He was going to ask her to marry him.
Elizabeth had been so clear with herself that there was no possibility or hope that he might determine, with his pride of family and place, to stoop to marry her, that she had never settled in herself if she reallywantedhim to.
That serious expression on Mr. Darcy’s face. She suddenly realized from the pallor in his face and the cast of his expression that despite everything, despite his superiority in position to her, he was terribly nervous.
That calmed her.
This was a place she knew very well. The familiar blue-green sofa that she’d been sitting on since Mama had refreshed the room the year Jane came out. The lovely, but almost boringly familiar look of the yard outside through the big windows, with white painted wood framing them. The browned hedges and bare trees looked lovely and crisp in the cold late November air. The familiar tea set on the low oak table in the middle of the room.
This was a real moment.
The room was empty, and Mr. Darcy sat near her, now on the divan where Papa had sat a few minutes earlier.
Suddenly Elizabeth smiled brightly at him, warmth and knowledge of what she would say coming into her heart. She was suddenly happy.
They looked at each other, and his lips trembled. Then he said, “Elizabeth, you must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
Elizabeth flushed to hear him say this.
She impulsively grabbed his hand.
He swallowed and smiled, compulsively kissing her hand. He spoke unsteadily, “I cannot resist you… it is that bright look in your eyes when you are happy. It is your smiles. It is the intense affection and care you showed to your sister—”
“Dear Jane, anyone would care for her! That is no virtue of mine.”
Darcy’s lips curled up into a smile. “Miss Elizabeth, I am trying to ask you a question.”
She laughed at him, and took his hand to her lips and kissed it.
Yes, that feeling of rightness and certainty was growing. He looked so very handsome when he was amused.
“Then go on with it. You have begun with a very pretty speech. I hope you might continue in such a manner.”
“A high expectation, from a woman worthy of being pleased.”
She felt like a cup of thick chocolate was bubbling inside of her as they looked into each other’s eyes. For a moment it seemed as though Darcy could not speak, his eyes lost in hers. Then he cleared his throat. “As Iwassaying, your eyes sparkle in such a way that no man could resist them.”
“Certainly not you, is what you actually mean to say.”
Darcy laughed aloud, transforming his face again into that sort of boyish look that Elizabeth wanted to bring out again and again. “I certainlytriedto resist your eyes.”
With a pout, Elizabeth replied, “That is not such a romantic claim.”
“Perhaps not expressed in that way — but the fundamental point is that I love you sufficiently to overcome each of the serious objections that exist to our marriage. That is romantic — such a union is contrary to the wishes of my family, to my own material interests, and to the ordinary conduct of my life. Our stations are very different, and our connections are very different. Furthermore, and I do not wish to belabor this point, but the behavior of your younger sisters and your mother often is not such as to… leave me satisfied with their breeding. For a long time I struggled in myself, considering what I owed to the Darcy name, to my aunts and uncles, to my sister, and to all those connected to me. However as soon as I was in London, and as soon as I saw my aunt and uncle, and the cousin who they wished me to marry, all I could think of wasyoureyes,yoursmiles, andyourgoodness — and so I determined, like a man choosing to pluck up from the muck a pearl that was cast before swine, I determined that I would marry to indulge myself and only myself. And so, Elizabeth, I have chosen you. My heart belongs to you, all that I am belongs to you. And I beg you to accept me as your companion, and as the partner of your future life.”
