Elizabeth glanced toward the doorway instinctively. For the briefest instant she thought she saw Toby vanish behind the hall corner. Suspicion stirred sharply.
Tea and conversation followed before Mrs. Bennet proposed a walk while the weather held fair. Mr. Wilson was required to stay behind, given the absence of his footwear. Mr. Bingley had attached himself happily to Jane, leaving Elizabeth and Darcy drifting naturally several paces behind.
The ease of it disconcerted her slightly. Darcy walked beside her without pressing conversation too quickly, allowing silence to settle comfortably between them before speaking.
“Your brothers,” he said at last, “possess remarkable energy.”
Elizabeth smirked. “That is a charitable description.”
“I strive toward charity where possible.”
His wry humor made her laugh. “You should be canonized.”
Darcy’s mouth curved. “Surely not for surviving Thomas and Toby Bennet.”
“You underestimate the challenge.”
Darcy glanced toward the twins racing ahead near Bingley. “They are unusually clever.”
Elizabeth’s expression brightened. “Exceedingly so. Sometimes I think they possess more intelligence than is safe for the rest of us.”
“Two heads are often more formidable than one.”
She grinned. “Particularly when they share identical thoughts.”
“A terrifying advantage.” Darcy turned and bestowed a glowing smile upon her.
She raised an eyebrow and smothered a chuckle. The sound seemed to please him. Elizabeth became aware of it and glanced away quickly toward the trees lining the lane.
“When I first came to Longbourn,” she said after a moment, “I thought the country unbearably strange.”
Darcy sounded surprised. “Truly?”
“I spent the first years of my life in town. Everything here felt enormous. Too much sky. Too much silence.” She smiled. “Now I cannot imagine preferring anywhere else.”
“What changed?”
“Freedom, perhaps.” She glanced toward him. “In town every movement felt observed. Here I could run wild across fields, and no one minded.”
“You sound happier remembering it.”
“I was.” She preferred freedom to confinement.
Darcy listened with an attentiveness that made further honesty dangerously easy.
“My father intended to expand the business greatly before he died,” she admitted. “Sometimes I wonder what life might have become had he lived.”
Darcy’s expression gentled. “You miss him still.”
“Yes. I miss what I knew of him.” The answer emerged more morosely than intended.
They walked several moments before Elizabeth spoke again. “You truly meant what you said at Netherfield?”
His gaze shifted toward her fully now. “Regarding what?”
“My father. Trade.” She wavered briefly. “You truly do not care?”
Darcy answered without pause. “I meant every word.” Something in his tone steadied her unexpectedly.
