His escape had been nearly cut off by Lady Catherine, who had halted him as he was leaving his uncle’s house with the demand that he find her blameless in the whole affair. “I never knew a thing but that you were dead!” she vowed. “Surely, Darcy, you must see how it was all the earl’s fault for failing to govern his son!”
She immediately followed this statement with her absolute insistence that he forswear his engagement to Anne. During his absence, it seemed that the young lady had formed a particular attachment to the new Viscount Matlock, and Lady Catherine would not see her dear daughter’s heart broken again. Darcy merely shook his head and passed on. Richard would have to fight that battle on his own. Later. After a month of sleep.
At his own door, Georgiana greeted him with serene composure. He paused for the first time in some while to look—really look—at his baby sister. She had grown taller, her curves softening and even her skin appearing silkier. The expression about her eyes was what struck him most. There was a newfound maturity reflected there—the wisdom of one who has been tested by fire, and found to be made of iron.
“Good evening, Dearest,” he smiled and touched her chin. “What news do you have for me?”
“Mrs Gardiner sent word not half an hour ago that Mr Gardiner is speaking and taking nourishment today.”
“That is a relief. Was anything said of Mrs Vasconcelos?”
“No, but Elizabeth has been there much of the day, so perhaps she knows more than I. It was she who brought back the message from Mrs Gardiner.”
“And Mrs Wickham?”
“Making over one of my bonnets for Easter. What she has been unable to do with one hand, Mr Wickham makes up with both of his. He has scarcely left her side for a moment; he says he will remain until Richard drags him away.”
Darcy shook his head. “That was not what I expected to hear. Where will I find Elizabeth?”
“Oh…” Georgiana smiled, reddened, then laughed. “She is entertaining in the library.”
“Entertaining?”
She grinned mischievously. “You have a guest, Fitzwilliam.”
She declined to tell more, so he walked with nagging curiosity to the appointed room. He paused at the entry, sighing in delirious contentment to admire Elizabeth, in his home where she had always belonged. She was poised gracefully upon the sofa they had shared for a precious few moments the previous night, half-turned from the door and speaking to someone. Her full lips were parted in a smile, her laughing eyes directed at some point hidden around the corner. One long curl fell over her temple, the hands that had so often soothed his cares rested lightly in her lap, and her feminine shape was quite pleasingly augmented by her welcoming posture.
Her attention leapt to him an instant later, and the light of her heart’s joy shone in those fine eyes. She rose to meet him as he entered the room, even giving him her hand before this unseen guest. “William,” she whispered, “you remember my father?”
He looked swiftly into her face to determine what sort of father might be expecting to meet with him. Mr Bennet was hardly an intimidating fellow, but he would have good reason to question a number of things. The conversation could become an unpleasant one; could even cost him an unreasonable delay before they could marry, if her father was not at his ease about every matter concerning his favourite daughter. Elizabeth, however, merely smiled, squeezed his hand, and left the room.
Mr Bennet allowed his book to fall and peered upward at him. “Well, Mr Darcy, it seems the rumours are true. You look remarkably hale for a dead man.”
Darcy bowed. “I am very glad to see you, sir. I have been wishing to call upon you for some days.”
“So I understand, but it is your cousin I came to task with his mismanagement of his office.”
“I beg your pardon, sir?”
Mr Bennet gestured above his head, toward the upper floors of the house. “Colonel Fitzwilliam promised safety and dignity to my girls whilst they were in his care. Yet, I come to your house and find one daughter gun-shot and consorting with deserters, and another nearly thrown from a third-story window—and likely ruined beyond any hope of recovery, if the mute tongues of your footmen are any indication of what takes place behind closed doors.”
“Sir,” Darcy felt his cravat tighten, “a number of matters bear explanation, but my cousin is not to blame.”
“Indeed? He chaperoned the hours spent with my daughter in the library? I understand you both pass a deal of time in this room.”
“Mr Bennet, if it is my honour and my hand you have come to request for your daughter, I give both readily. I regret that I have not yet come to you—”
“Mr Darcy, my daughter has already revealed most of what I wished to know. I daresay you have had trials enough, without an irate father threatening to kill you all over again. Besides, I am rather impressed by your library, and would be pleased to make use of it when next Mrs Bennet insists that I bring her to Town. I would like only one question answered, sir.”
Darcy’s brows rose. “Of course, sir, whatever you wish.”
Mr Bennet surveyed him for a moment, an unreadable half-smile touching his eyes. “When did you speak to my Lizzy? Were you engaged to her before your disappearance last summer?”
Darcy hesitated, then carefully took a seat before the elder man while he gathered his thoughts. “You ask two different questions, sir, and the answers are not one and the same. If you would know when I first spoke to Miss Elizabeth of my affections, it would be nearly a year ago in Kent.”
“In Kent! And she did not fall smitten into your arms at that very moment, sir? I find it difficult to believe that a man of your open cordiality, genial address, and enviable situation in life would not instantly ensnare the object of his desires. Had you neglected to shave that day, Mr Darcy?”
“Sir, my words and actions that day have been a continual source of torment for me,” Darcy answered tightly. “Miss Elizabeth was perfectly in the right to refuse me, but I hope that since then I have improved my behaviour and character. By her, I was properly humbled, and there is nothing I could wish more than for such a woman as my partner in life.”
