Elizabeth laughed. “And for the purchase of other sundry necessities, I believe that is the terms in the settlement.”
The three of them smiled at each other.
Though it was already an hour past dark, to their surprise, they then heard a carriage coming up the drive.
Darcy felt rather concerned as he stepped to the drawing room window to look out. A carriage was pulling up to the great entryway of the manor house, with four lamps hanging from about the windows.
“I do hope,” he said, “that there is nothing amiss with anyone.”
“Even if someone is dead,” Elizabeth said, “what could anyone mean by coming in a coach and four and arriving two hours after dark?”
“Oh, it’s your papa!” Georgiana exclaimed as the gentleman stepped out of the carriage and waved jauntily at the lit windows of the drawing room.
The older man grinned at them, and that did a great deal to relieve the anxiety Darcy felt.
He still hurried down with his wife out to the grand entrance hall to the estate.
Mr. Bennet already stood inside, being helped out of his coat by the butler.
“Good God, Papa, what are you doing here?” Elizabeth exclaimed as she embraced him and stepped back.
The reply was a wide grin as Mr. Bennet offered a handshake to Darcy and to Georgiana. “I imagine the young ones are long asleep by now? No trouble, no trouble. They’ll be happy enough to see me in the morning when they wake.”
“No, seriously, Papa, what are you doing here? And at nine at night when it is nearly winter.”
He grinned widely, “Do you not recall that I said I would visit often, and when you least expect it?”
Darcy laughed.
He found it easier to laugh the longer he was with Elizabeth, and there was something very much like his beloved wife’s manner in the way that Mr. Bennet said that. “I am happy,” Darcy said, “to see you, no matter the hour. Though I do not intend to stay up much pastmybedtime to keep you company.”
After saying that, Darcy felt rather worried thatElizabethwould remain up speaking with him till late, as she always had when they were in the same house. He was very much hoping for them to spend some time together, intimately, before falling asleep.
The glowing eyes that Elizabeth looked at him with when he talked about going to bed suggested that her mind had gone in a similar direction as his, and that she at least felt a strong desire to join him in bed.
Mr. Bennet laughed. “Just show me this library of yours and a room to sleep in, and I’ll be happy as a lark. No need to entertain me.”
“If you stay up exceeding late,” Elizabeth said warningly, “I’ll still set George on you as soon as he wakes in the morning.”
Mr. Bennet grinned.
“Can I assume, based on your happy manner,” Darcy asked, “that there was no news of importance brought you here?”
“Well, no,” he replied cheerfully. “My visit is prompted by news of importance. It is just quite nice news. Ah, yes, I’ve letters for you both. From Jane and your friend Bingley.”
“Bingley?” Darcy replied in surprise. “Why is he using you in place of the post?”
“Oh,” Georgiana exclaimed. “Is he to marry Miss Bennet? I mean Jane—Lizzy, I know you’ve insisted that I must think of your sisters as my own.”
“Guessed it in one,” Mr. Bennet agreed.
The party thendidgo to the library, and from her expression, Elizabeth very much enjoyed seeing Mr. Bennet’s reaction to the library. “Oh, my. Oh, my.” He repeated several times, and then immediately walked over to one of the bookshelves, accompanied by his daughter who started pointing out some of the best items in the collection.
Darcy made a serious effort to interpret the letter that Bingley sent him, but in the end he gave it up for a bad job.
The words ‘Joy’, ‘brothers’, ‘angel’, and ‘Jane’ appeared with frequency, or at least Darcy thought they did. But if Bingley hoped to convey any particular information, it was impossible for Darcy to decipher.
He walked over to where Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth laughed at a printing from the first edition ofParadise Lostthat Darcy had purchased at a good price about three years previously.
