Elizabeth decided that was that, and she grinned at the maid.“A right strange illness, to take the memory of a husband.”
“I dare say, he must not have been a very good one, though I have suspicion you will do right better with your next.”
Elizabeth blushed atthatremark.
It was easy and quick for Becky to slip the dress over Elizabeth’s shoulders, and fasten everything that was to be fastened — though she wasn’t tightened into a corset — but the harder matter to manage was her hair.
“Needs to be brushed all of the way out and worked with.Sleeping on it and tangling it for three days straight.”Becky looked mournfully at it.“I suppose you don’t want to be sitting up for so long yet, do you.”
“Ihavebeen ill,” Elizabeth replied, amused.
“Such beautiful hair!I love this shade.You have far better hair than Mrs.Monroe had — though my former mistress’s hair was quite fine.But yours has a perfect clarity and color, and once the sweat and grease is out of it—”
“You know,” Elizabeth said, laughingly, “how to mix a fine compliment together with a crushing blow to a lady’s self-importance.”
“It is my duty to ensure you look your best.You would not wish Mr.Darcy to see you with your hair all a mess, would you?”
Elizabeth flushed again, and though she had to laugh at herself on the inside, she confessed both to herself and Becky that she in fact didnotwant Mr.Darcy to see her with her hair a mess.
As it happened it took twenty minutes for Becky to carefully pull some of the largest tangles apart, and she worked gently enough that Elizabeth’s scalp onlyhalffelt like it had just had nails pulled out of it.She wrapped Elizabeth’s hair into a simple braid and bun that she said should protect it from further damage until she had the chance toproperlyclean and brush her hair.
Then clucking her tongue, Becky used some white creams to hide and smooth away the remaining black and blue bruise on her forehead.
Elizabeth was already quite tired at this point, but she wanted very much to talk to Mr.Darcy, and so she settled into the bed again, but this time dressed in a semblance of normality, and she was seated almost upright against the giant pile of pillows carefully collected behind her.So prepared she sent Becky off to tell Mr.Darcy that she was now prepared to receive a visitor.
As it happened, and not to Elizabeth’s surprise, he was still standing in the hallway right outside her door.
Chapter Four
For a moment Darcy could not say anything when he stepped into the room and saw Elizabeth smilingly seated up, her hair lit like a halo by the last rays of the dying sunlight.
His breath caught, and she looked at him and smiled, and there was something in her eyes that made Darcy think that Elizabeth knew how he saw her when he looked at her, and that she liked it.
He swallowed, and he walked forward.
She stretched her delicate hands out to him.“Mr.Darcy.I must thank you again, and again, and again.”
Her voice was rough and had a nasal burr.But it was also strong.
“No thanks.No thanks are needed.”Darcy took and kissed her hand and then pulled the chair that he’d been sitting in to care for her close again and looked at her closely.
She looked clean and neat now, and the scent of sickness that had been in the room for the past days only lingered at the edges.
“You had Becky to dress me, and not in my own clothes.I at least must thank you forthat.”Elizabeth winked at the maid.“I should not say this in front of her, but she is quite capable and determined.”
The lady’s maid blushed when Darcy looked at her and looked down and mumbled something.
Elizabeth laughed and that sound made Darcy’s heart soar.“I forget that we are only to speak freely with each other when the master is not present.Propriety and decorum in front of the servants.”
Darcy peered at Elizabeth carefully and studied her.She was pale now rather than flushed.But while she looked somewhat thinner than she had when she arrived before her fever, there was a clearness to her skin that was different from the dried, almost parchment tone of her skin in the depths of her illness.
The fear that had entered his heart the moment he saw her collapse in a faint in his drawing room now at last left.
Elizabeth, he hoped, would not too long from now be recovered fully in health.
“Becky, I must have a few words with Mrs.Benoit alone.Might you stand in the corridor, and I will leave the door unlocked, enter again in two minutes, and I think that shall be enough to ensure some propriety is observed.”
“Yes, sir.”The woman bobbed her head and stepped outside.
