When MrGardiner emerged from the office some time later, Elizabeth was waiting for him in the passage.
“I am pleased with your suitor, Lizzy,” he said. “Now, your young man has several matters to discuss with you privately, and I shall allow you fifteen minutes in my office, with the door open.”
“Very well.” Elizabeth kissed her uncle’s cheek before stepping into the room.
Darcy stood by the desk with his back to her, looking out of the window onto the street. His posture suggested he stood engrossed in thought; she simply watched him.
“You have not changed your mind, have you, William?” she asked, her tone teasing, though a faint thread of uncertainty had crept into it.
She touched his shoulder. He turned at once, drew her into his embrace, and pressed his lips to her forehead.
“Elizabeth,” he murmured. “I know I saw you but a few minutes ago in your aunt’s sitting room, but I have missed you, dearest.”
Elizabeth smiled to herself, her arms tightening around his waist. As he held her, she settled against his chest, inhaling the familiar citrus scent that clung to him.
“I have missed you as well,” she said, before laughing. “I am surprised by how very much.”
They remained thus for a long moment, until Darcy cleared his throat and released her. “There are matters we must discuss,” he said as he took a step away from her.
“Of course,” Elizabeth replied, leading him to a settee a few steps away. “But first, tell me quickly, did you speak to Papa?”
“I did.” He kissed her hands.
“And what of your other errands in Meryton?”
“All my business was accomplished, even though I cannot say how well my information was received,” he replied. “A few of the gentlemen I spoke to were justly angry that I had waited so long to speak, but I think I was generally believed. Colonel Forster intended to investigate the matter. Your father, along with Sir William and a few other gentlemen, discussed refusing him in their homes, but I warned them to be cautious, for Wickham is entirely too willing to use others to exact his revenge. It will be best for everyone if he is tossed in the gaol sooner rather than later.”
“My sisters?” Elizabeth asked, worried that Wickham might try to harm Darcy through them.
“I spoke to your father,” he said. “I told him that I knew Wickham too well to think that he would not act out of vengeance if he learnt of our engagement. Your sisters are no longer permitted to go into Meryton without him or your mother.”
Elizabeth could only nod and, with much reluctance, released Darcy to depart.
Darcy had brought Bingley to Gracechurch Street one afternoon, a week after Elizabeth’s arrival, giving Jane and Bingley the opportunity to arrive at a cautious, if tentative, understanding with one another. Elizabeth and Jane remained in London for another fortnight to shop for Elizabeth’s trousseau. Sooner than expected, they received word that Wickham was to be conveyed to Marshalsea.
It was Georgiana’s constant, watchful presence that kept Darcy composed when Elizabeth playfully provoked him; more than once, he came close to forgetting both propriety andcompany, and with effort did he recall that his sister’s eyes might be upon him. Knowing he would one day supervise her courtship served as a reminder for his conduct, for it would make it easier for him to enforce the rules if she observed his proper behaviour. And yet, Darcy knew that it would be far easier to escape that constant supervision in the country.
At the end of April, Darcy and Bingley delivered Elizabeth and Jane to Longbourn. MrsAnnesley accompanied them and proved a more vigilant chaperone than Georgiana.
While MrBennet had not been pleased at the idea of such a prideful and reticent man as his son-in-law when Darcy first came to Longbourn, he was resigned to the match. Darcy was hardly the sort of man whom one could refuse anything, much less a daughter’s hand, not when he had five to marry off. However, it did not take long after Elizabeth’s return for him to see some hint of what Elizabeth perceived in him.
In mid-May, Elizabeth relinquished the name Bennet for Darcy in the small chapel at Longbourn. It was the same chapel in which her parents and generations before them had wed, and though her mother maintained that the church in Meryton was more fashionable, this was one point on which Elizabeth would not yield. The idea of marrying in the small chapel appealed to her, and she was determined that her wedding should take place there.
The wedding was everything Elizabeth could have wished for, but the wedding breakfast was an affair that would have been spoken of for years, even if her mother complained there had not been enough time to prepare for it. Still, after more than two hours, Elizabeth needed a respite from her mother and the guests who still lingered over the sumptuous breakfast prepared for her wedding to a man often thousand a year.
A short time later, while Jane helped Elizabeth change into a travelling gown after the wedding, Elizabeth took the opportunity to ask her sister a question she had been wondering about ever since she had arrived in London engaged to MrDarcy. Although MrBingley had been visiting Jane with some frequency, she seemed reluctant to move beyond a courtship. To Elizabeth, she wondered if Jane were determined to force Bingley to atone for their months apart.
“Dear Jane”—her smile carried a hint of mischief—“I know you wish MrBingley to prove himself capable of acting for himself, but how long do you intend to make him wait?”
“He made me wait for him for months,” Jame said with unmistakable firmness. “For more than four months, I was heartbroken and convinced he did not want me. While he did not know I was in Town, he made no effort to return to Netherfield and allowed himself to be guided by others. I cannot think of him as I once did, and if he is to win me, he must do more.”
Nodding, Elizabeth understood why she might think that, and was convinced that both partners should enter a marriage with their eyes wide open.
When Jane opened her mouth to explain more fully, Elizabeth lifted a hand, forestalling her from the need to excuse herself.
“I cannot fault you for that, Jane,” she continued. “Still, I would urge you to do more than smile at him and sit next to him while he speaks to Mama. If you wish to know what sort of man he is, you must speak to him and get him away from our mother. Yes, he has returned to Netherfield, and yes, he continues to call at Longbourn despite Mama’s constant prattling and your silences. But if you wish to know him, you must speak to him more freely.” She squeezed Jane’s hand. “Fitzwilliam and I have spoken of inviting you to Pemberley later this summer, and ifyou wish it, he will invite MrBingley as well. Not his sister, mind you—”
Jane did not wait for her to say more. She drew her shoulders back and straightened, colour rising in her cheeks.
