The young lady had traded her muslins for a plain wool walking dress, and her fancy hairdo for something that looked like she could put it up herself, but she still took my breath away. Whereas her hair in our earlier meetings seemed deliberately designed to be plain, that morning’s was simple, artless, and quite attractive.
I had travelled farther to get to the mount, so I rode my stallion, while she obviously made it on foot, with or without her parents’ permission.
She curtsied, and I gave her hand a kiss, though I paused a bit longer than an indifferent acquaintance really ought to. She blushed again, thus bringing my average up to one blush per two and a half years or so. I hoped to improve on that score.
“I am so happy to see you, Miss Smith,” I began emphatically. “I have been cursing the calendar and my failure to introduce ourselves properly last time.”
“I have been awaiting our next meeting anxiously as well, though a properly bred lady does not curse the calendar.”
She smiled and I guffawed, and all was right with the world.
“I suppose true introductions are a bit superfluous, as you must know I am Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy, and you are Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”
She curtsied and smiled. “Actually, I did not know your given name. Based on our past encounters, I believed you to be Mr Jack Darcy.”
I chuckled and bowed. “Might we keep our nom de plumes for a bit longer?”
“Of course, but it is time to stop messing about. Tell me about your sister.”
I had been half-anticipating and half-dreading the conversation but thought it good to get it over with.
“I do not exaggerate when I say you saved her life. She was planning to run off to Scotland with that bounder I told you about, my father’s godson, the very next day. Absent your intervention, I would have found the house empty, and my sister bound for life to a wastrel.”
For the first time in our acquaintance, I thought she looked faint, but resilient woman that she was, it did not last long. “Thank Heavens, you saved her.”
“I thank you, and I will deny any claim you may have for modesty. It was all because of you.”
She looked like her natural reticence might make her want to argue, but she gave in with good grace. “I am tremendously happy to be of service. How is she?”
“In need of your company. Separating the pair required certain very unappealing things to be said and heard. She is not taking it well. She understands she did wrong, and that it was his fault, but—”
“But nobody enjoys learning of their own stupidity.”
“I suspect she mostly feels she let me down—me, or the family legacy, or what have you. I have my aunt and a new companion trying to help her get over it, but—”
She understood. “—but your father did not see fit to make them her guardian in the first place, so their perspective may not be as useful as one might hope.”
“Correct. I have faith that you can help her, which is part of the reason I was so happy to see you.”
“And the other?” she asked with a grin.
“Because I will always be happy to see you, Miss Smith!”
That set her back a minute, but her smile showed she appreciated the sentiment.
“I shall always be happy to see you as well, Mr Jones,” she said with yet another becoming blush.
“How go the wars?” I asked, and with that, we were back in harmony, not worrying about the future. I had asked for her help with my sister, she had acted as if wild horses could not keep her away, and that subject was retired for the moment. It was not as if my sister’s predicament was urgent.
For the next hour, we just walked around Oakham Mount (well, hillock, but why quibble), sat on a bench, and just talked about anything and everything. We had touched on any number of subjects such as our taste in literature and music in earlier discussions, but having the leisure to speak in depth was a real treat.
Time eventually came when she needed to return for breakfast, and I needed to keep Bingley’s sister from calling out a search party.
We stood facing each other, looking wistful, and she said, “I suppose you will have to accustom yourself to calling me Miss Bennet or Miss Elizabeth in company.”
I had been thinking about what to say to such a declaration for months, and thought that was the best opportunity I would ever have. I took both her hands in mine.
“This will sound precipitous, but I would vastly prefer to accustom myself to a different name.”
