Elizabeth regarded at him attentively then.
Because he truly understood them.
Not in an indulgent fashion. Not dismissively. Simply accurately.
“They adore you,” she admitted after a moment.
Darcy seemed genuinely startled.
“That seems unlikely.”
“It is perfectly true.”
“Why?”
Elizabeth regarded him with something akin to respect. “You speak to them as though their thoughts matter.”
Something changed briefly in his expression.
Ahead of them Bingley and Jane drifted farther along the lane, deep in conversation. Behind, Miss Bingley complained to Charlotte regarding wet hems while Wilson attempted agreement and Lady Lucas demanded hot tea the instant they returned indoors.
Without fully meaning to, Elizabeth and Darcy became separated from the group.
The realization arrived only once the others rounded a bend partially obscured by snow-heavy hedges.
Elizabeth should perhaps have hurried forward.
Instead she continued walking beside him.
“I spent years believing trade embarrassed everyone around me,” she said unexpectedly.
Darcy gave her his full attention.
The admission surprised her as much as him.
She pressed onward anyway.
“In town one heard it often enough. Families eager to forget where money originated once they possessed enough of it.” She smiled without humor. “People praised success provided no one mentioned business too directly.”
Darcy listened quietly.
Not politely.
Attentively.
“My father worked constantly,” Elizabeth continued. “I remember ledgers spread across tables and ships discussed over supper and endless conversations about imports, tariffs, warehouse costs. None of it embarrassed me as a child. It only became embarrassing once other people informed me it ought to be.”
Snow crunched steadily beneath their steps.
Darcy spoke after several moments. “And do you believe it now?”
She dropped her gaze briefly to her gloves. “Sometimes.”
“No.”
The certainty startled her.
Elizabeth glanced toward him.
