“Have you ever hesitated?”
“In Hertfordshire, I not only hesitated, but restrained myself.”
“We are neither in Hertfordshire nor Hunsford. It is time to put all that in the past. Ask your question, if you please.”
Darcy noticed they had, perhaps unconsciously, slid towards each other until the distance was notquiteproper, as if their being alone were anything but improper.
He reluctantly moved a few inches away, the better to see her face. “Why did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Back on the drive, I suspect you knew you had an entire room to paint, so why did you start in the middle of the floor and work towards a corner?”
Elizabeth looked confused, so he added, “You might have interpreted our words a half-dozen ways. For example, the figurative meaning could have been,‘we are friends who are always welcome,’while the literal might be,‘we are invited tostay at Pemberley.’You could easily think of other variants.Why choose that one?”
Elizabeth stared at the ground. At last, she whispered, “Perhaps I was emulating Cortes.”
Darcy frowned a moment before realisation dawned. “Burning your boats.”
“I cannot say for certain. You know that I cannot lie well, and Iknewwhat you meant. Even had I tried to interpret it as something else, my aunt and uncle would have known. They would have let it go, but they would have known, and—”
She sighed.
He reached over and gently took her hand. “And?”
“And perhaps I just wanted to work this… this… this… whatever it is… out one way or the other.”
Darcy gripped her hand tighter. “You meanour courtship?”
“We do not have a courtship,” she snapped, and the sharpness seemed to surprise her.
Whatever moved within her—fear,annoyance, or the first stirrings of one of her thought storms—he did not pretend to know.
He replied softly and carefully. “Let us examine that assertion, since you like to do things logically.”
“That would be sensible.”
“How many people have you discussedme specificallywith?”
Startled by the question, she gave it some thought. “Hardly anybody, really. In Hunsford, there were, of course, Mary, Anne, Lady Catherine, her steward, 4 of her tenants, 7 of their children, and perhaps half a dozen parishioners. Then there was Jane, Mr Jameson, Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, Mr Oakley, Mr Samson, and your Uncle Darcy, the judge—I met him at a ball. Then I suppose you should count my father, my mother, Kitty, Lydia, CharlotteLucas, and perhaps half a dozen assorted people in Meryton. Of course, Georgie had to have her say as well, and your aunt’s stories of your misspent youth were absurdly funny. As I said, hardly anybody.”
She finished with a lazy smile.
Darcy chuckled. “Let us suppose we make a Euler Diagram, with your block being the people you talked to about me, and my block being the converse. The shapes would nearly overlap, as I have discussedyouwith about 2/3 of the people you mentioned, as well as a few others.”
“I suppose that makes sense.”
Darcy leaned forward until they faced each other, only a foot apart.
“Now make an order-of-magnitude estimate of the number of words each of us has spent talkingabout each otherwith other people, and compare that to the total count of words a typical courting couple would have before they came to an understanding. What would you say?”
“I suppose we have already spent far more words about each other than courting couples commonly exchange—double or treble, at least, and possibly more.”
“I admit it is unconventional, but I would definitely call that a courtship.”
“I suppose so. That does mean we need to… well—”
“Something holds you back, Elizabeth,” he said gently. “By your own admission, you find me at least adequate husbandly material, perhaps requiring some polish, but no more than is common to my sex… no?”
