“Oh, Lizzy! Do not tease me.” She bit her lip, playing with the ribbon, then looked up. “Do you really think he likes me?”
Oh, good grief.“Jane, I think if he liked you more, we would have to call a doctor to revive him. The man was smitten with you from the first glance!”
She sighed dreamily. “He is so very amiable. Handsome, too. And I like how easy he is—what I mean is that he was ready to laugh and enjoy himself at every turn, even when the lion kept roaring whenever he tried to talk. He only laughed and tried again because he is so modest. Not stodgy like…” She stopped herself and lifted a shoulder. “Like some men.”
“Do you mean like the other gentleman?”
Jane lifted one shoulder. “He seems a little more difficult to know.”
“That is putting it mildly. But whatever he is, he is not stodgy.”
“Well, I guess you would know. So? Does he have… you know… any ideas? Will you be able to do what you hoped?”
I held my breath and nodded carefully. “I think so. But tomorrow. We have to return tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Jane’s brow furrowed. “But what will we tell Aunt Gardiner?”
“I suppose we tell her that your Mr. Bingley asked to take you out driving. The weather is still fair, and Hyde Park is beautiful.”
A slow smile warmed my sister’s face, and then she dipped her head and laughed. “I would not want to impose on his time.”
“Believe me, Jane. He won’t see it as an imposition.” I put the ribbon back on the shelf, and we casually wandered around the corner toward a display of lace. Two more ladies had just entered the shop, and they stood across from us, looking over the ribbons we had just left.
“I tell you, I have never seen the like,” one of them said. “The man was so besotted he never even noticed me!”
“No! I do not believe it,” her friend replied.
“Upon my word, it is so,” the first lady assured her. “He was holding her hand! Not merely escorting her by letting her take his arm. I declare he would not turn loose her fingers and never looked at anything else.”
“Come, Jane,” I whispered, tugging at my sister’s sleeve. “Let us not eavesdrop on their pleasant little gossip session.”
“Hmm?” Jane had not even noticed. Naturally. She was sliding her fingers down a bit of hand-worked lace, pinned to a shelf as a sample of what could be ordered. “What are you talking about, Lizzy?”
“Come on. Let’s give them their space.” I inclined my head toward the ladies on the other side. I could not see more than the tips of their bonnets, but I could still hear their whispers. They weren’t trying to be quiet.
“Well!” one of them huffed. “That will put out a dozen debutantes this Season! I know for a fact that Lady Susan had her heart set on him.”
“Lady Susan never stood a chance. He would wed the Earl of Matlock’s daughter, Lady Sarah, long before he would ever look at Lady Susan.”
The first woman laughed. “Whatever came of Lady Catherine’s daughter, Anne? I heard a rumor years ago that they were arranged.”
“Stuff and nonsense. Lady Catherine started that rumor to force his hand, but Fitzwilliam Darcy is far too stubborn to submit to the likes of her.”
I wasn’t trying to listen. Truly, I was not. But those names… the Earl of Matlock—William had said that name, too. And hearing it again, I remembered—it was the man my father had said arranged the sale of the sculpture for the Prince! And Lady Catherine, Mr. Collins’ patroness, who had tried to purchase it first. My skin prickled with recognition. But what made my pulse race and my knees weak was the last name.Fitzwilliam.
Darcy.
I blinked and grabbed a shelf to steady myself. Papa had mentioned that name, too. But this was the first time I had heard the surname, and the given name in the same breath.
Fitzwilliam Darcy.
It all made sense now.
“Jane.” My voice didn’t work right. I swallowed and tried again, more loudly this time. “Jane!”
“Hmm?”
“We have to go.Now.”
