Suddenly, the man swiveled his head toward her and said, “I beg your pardon?”
Elizabeth was taken aback by such a response to a simple wistful statement. So, she blurted out, “I said, ‘me, too.’ I was agreeing with the sentiment that you just uttered.”
“I said nothing,” he claimed, “so, I don’t know what it is that you are agreeing with.”
Elizabeth was confused. She had distinctly heard his statement. She was certain of it. “I apologize if my agreement was offensive to you,” she said.
“That is not what this is about,” he said. His voice grew louder as he approached her. “You shouldn’t be agreeing with silence, which is all that has come out of my mouth.”
Elizabeth decided to allow him his illusion. Perhaps, he had not noticed that he spoke his thoughts aloud. She had done something similar a few times, herself. “Perhaps I was simplyagreeing with the silence,” she said. “It was quite a relaxing silence.”
“It was,” he said. “Unfortunately, it is silence no longer, since we are now speaking.”
Elizabeth was annoyed at the implication that this conversation was entirely unwelcome. She was not used to anyone wishing to ignore her completely. However, she could not deny that his statement was correct.
“I suppose,” she said. “Since we both came out here for silence, perhaps it would be best to end this short conversation.”
For a moment he simply looked at her as if she had said something he was finding difficult to comprehend. “Very well,” he said. Then he turned and headed back to his side of the balcony.
Elizabeth again leaned on the balustrade and breathed in the quiet of the night. Her peace only lasted for moments this time before the gentleman said, “What a strange lady.”
It was on her tongue to object to his criticism when she stopped herself. His voice had been low, as if he was almost whispering. Yet, it had not felt particularly distant despite the fact that he was on the other side of the balcony, likely about ten feet away. At that distance such a soft statement should have sounded a bit muffled or difficult to make out.
As she thought about it, she realized that she had not heard his words with her ears. Rather the words were clear in her mind as if she was remembering them instead of hearing them.
What in heaven’s name was going on? Was she going crazy imagining some stranger saying things? Perhaps he was correct to speak to her with annoyance.
Suddenly, a memory popped up in her mind, an image of Jeanie telling her of the wish she would most often make inthe future, that she would wish to know what Mr. Darcy was thinking.
Was this Mr. Darcy? Was she hearing his thoughts? She didn’t know, and she couldn’t exactly ask the gentleman what his name was since they had only just agreed to silence between them. She settled on hoping that the man’s thoughts would not surface enough to make their way to her, and she tried to relax.
It did not work. Within moments, the man’s thoughts came to her once again.I don’t even know why I’m here. Such chaos. I should have just stayed at Netherfield for the evening.
The statement was long enough that Elizabeth had time to glance at him in the middle of it to verify that she was hearing his thoughts rather than his speech. Of course, the man was not moving his lips, which left only one possibility. This man was Mr. Darcy, and she truly was hearing his thoughts.
Elizabeth was uncertain what to do. It felt decidedly impolite to deliberately impinge on his privacy in such a way, but she did not wish to go back inside just yet.
She vaguely remembered something about a limit to the distance at which she could hear his thoughts, but she could not remember exactly what that distance was. The balcony they were on was fairly small, but she decided she would at least try to get out of range.
She moved as far to the side as she could until she was standing right in front of the stairwell leading down into garden. She held her breath for several moments to see if it had worked. When no thoughts came from the gentleman, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Elizabeth stood there for several more minutes simply breathing in the peace of the night. Oddly, the presence of Mr. Darcy, while not necessarily easy to ignore, did little to disturbher peace. He clearly was not attempting to draw her attention, and his presence was simply relaxing.
Eventually, the cold began to be a bit too uncomfortable. With a sigh of resignation, she turned to head back into the assembly rooms.
Unfortunately, she had forgotten she was so close to the stairs. As she turned, her foot caught the edge and she began to lose her balance. Her arms windmilled in an effort to regain it and prevent a fall, but she couldn’t seem to completely right herself.
For two seconds, which felt more like two eternities, she teetered. She heard Mr. Darcy’s voice cry, “Watch out!” Then he rushed toward her. With a feat of dexterity, Elizabeth would not have believed, he managed to grab one of her arms which was still waving wildly in the air. He pulled, and suddenly she was no longer teetering.
Instead, she was leaning against a strong chest surrounded by the smell of Mr. Darcy’s cologne and shaving soap.
Instinctively, she sighed in relief. Her sigh was interrupted, however, by the intrusion of Mr. Darcy’s thoughts.I’m glad I caught her. What was she thinking moving so far away that she was practically standing on top of the stairwell? I’m not an ogre.
Elizabeth looked up into his face. She couldn’t make out his expression. Even though she had heard his thoughts, she didn’t really feel as though she knew what he was thinking or feeling. Nevertheless, as he gazed down at her, she felt as though she were a fly caught in a spider’s web. She could not move, and she could not turn away.
Those eyes.
The thought she heard pulled her out of her mesmerized state, and she finally managed to pull herself together. She took a step back.
