The wide river with Thames estuary opened up on either side.The bramble and trees lined the banks, mostly dense brown sticks grown high at this time of year.Elizabeth had read in journals that her father had subscribed to about the peculiarities of this large area where different fish than those in either the rivers or the seas lived, fish that could survive in both the salt water of the ocean when the tides came in, or the fresh (except for the sewage tossed into the river in London) water that poured out from the Thames.
The large cargo ship passed many fishing boats, whose busily working occupants ignored them.Other freighters worked their way up the river towards the greatest city in the world, and occasionally a faster ship, built for speed rather than efficiency, passed them on its way down to the ocean.
Elizabeth’s face was cold and chapped from the wind, but Darcy had found a thick blanket to wrap around her shoulders.
He kept her warm.
The reddish sun setting was a beautiful sight, the light gleaming almost painfully off the waves created by their wake in the river.
She had not been scared the entirety of the passage through London.It was strange.But now she felt like shaking and crying, and becoming entirely maudlin.She had not even killed a man, and she was safe, and she trusted Darcy to see she was cared for.
Elizabeth glanced from the corner of her eyes at him.
Darcy stood a few feet away, his powerful forearms propping up his chin on the rail of the ship.A slight manly shadow had appeared on his face.He had a thick head of rich dark hair, and a muscular neck.His face was carven finely, with noble and aristocratic features.He looked less proud when he smiled at her, but she liked the look of him now, as he stared out towards the seashore, thinking thoughts Elizabeth could not guess.
She remembered the smooth feel of his hands gripping her as she thrashed from side to side in her fevered delirium.
She had called his name in that fever.She remembered calling his name.
He turned to her, perhaps realizing that her idle eyes had turned to stare at his glorious features, thus missing the glorious setting of her lastBritishsun for an unknown time.
And he smiled at her, that grin making him even younger than he had appeared when she had first known him as a Miss Bennet of Longbourn.It transformed his face, and made her breath catch.There was something in his eyes that made her heart race, and yet at the same time made Elizabeth to feel entirely relaxed, happy and calm.
“Miss Bennet—”
“Elizabeth,” she interrupted, shuffling consciously so that she stood just a fraction closer to Mr.Darcy.“You prefer to call me Elizabeth, and you have saved me so many times now.”
“Today was the product of General Fitzwilliam’s intrepid quickness.”Darcy looked back out at the passing riverbank sliding relentlessly away.“I ought to have brought him into the matter immediately.It was his relation to Lord Lachglass that made me hesitate, but…”
Elizabeth softly smiled at him.“You are far more my hero than he is.”
Darcy swallowed.
“You do not mind that I title you my hero?My champion.I expect you to slay any dragons I may face.General Fitzwilliam of course may be your second, and he can bring up a cannon from his regiment, but you will need to be the one who puts the final stab to the creature.”
“I would happily kill any dragon that might torment you.If only…” His voice faded away.
“Yes?”
“You are very much under my protection at this time.It is not… I cannot speak on certain matters while you are under my protection.But I will, again, and, and… I will then want you to know that gratitude has no place in such a matter.I have done nothing for sake ofgratitudeor because…”
“Fitzwilliam.”
He looked her deep into the eyes.They stood so close, and in the cold winter’s evening, she could feel the warmth of his breath brushing against her cheeks.An albatross leapt over them from its perch on a railing, cawing and flapping its wide wings.
Elizabeth smiled at Darcy.“I will say yes, and not for gratitude’s sake.”
“I ask you, say nothing, make no promisesnow.Once you are safe, and once you have some hope of making your way without a dependence on me, and—”
Elizabeth laughed.“You are such a dear man.But as you insist, we shall do such as you wish for the moment.”
They stood silent together, so close that their elbows and wrists brushed against each other.The night became dark and darker, and as they left the relatively tame waters of the Thames estuary for the open sea in the channel, the light faded completely, and no more was there sight of England.
All they could see was lit by the swinging brass lanterns of the ship that waved side to side with the rocking motion of the ship, and the brilliant spangled stars high above, as clear as on one perfect night in Longbourn, when she and Papa had taken the carriage late at night to Oakham Mount to test out a telescope he had purchased, and they were able to see the moons around Jupiter, and the rings around Saturn.
That night they had lied there together, with a picnic packed by cook for this expedition, on a warm summer evening, looking up into the sky as Papa told her stories about the constellations, and their meanings, and about the history of astronomical discoveries, from Copernicus, to Galileo, to Kepler, to Newton, to the more recent greats such as Herschel, Laplace, and Lagrange.
Tonight was freezing cold, the constant sea breeze bit through her, and though Elizabeth did not want to leave the deck, she shivered despite the heavy blanket Mr.Darcy had given her.
