Darcy returned to his chair, but his thoughts followed Elizabeth upstairs.
She had listened.
She had understood.
Whether she approved remained uncertain.
And he still owed her a true apology—one spoken directly rather than implied through general observations.
That conversation would have to come later.
If the weather permitted, he would suggest a walk the following day. The gardens would answer perfectly well, and Miss Elizabeth was a woman who clearly preferred air and movement to unnecessary confinement.
There, beyond Miss Bingley’s interference and Bingley’s well-intentioned interruptions, he might finally say what ought to have been said days earlier.
He would apologize.
Not as a formality.
Nor simply to correct a social error.
Because she deserved it.
Because he could not endure the thought that she might continue to regard him as the man who had dismissed her with a careless word and then lacked the courage to repair the injury.
Darcy turned his gaze toward the door once more.
Tomorrow, then. He would find a way.
Elizabeth closed the door behind her and stood for a moment with her hand still upon the latch.
The music from below reached her only moderately now, the distance between floors muffling its edges until it became little more than a pattern of sound without shape. It suited her. She had no wish to hear it more clearly, nor to return to the room from which she had just withdrawn.
Jane stirred as Elizabeth crossed to the bed.
“Lizzy?”
“I am here.”
Jane’s eyes opened, though they did not fully focus on her sister “Has the evening gone on long?”
“Not very. You have slept.”
Jane smiled weakly. “That is something.”
Elizabeth drew a chair closer and sat. “It is a great deal.”
Jane’s hand found hers, the touch warmer than it had been earlier. “And how have you passed your time?”
Elizabeth wavered. It would have been simple to answer lightly—to speak of Miss Bingley’s music, of Bingley’s kindness, of the general comfort of the room. Any fuller answer would have demanded a steadiness she did not presently possess.
“It has been… instructive.”
Jane studied her more closely. “In what way?”
Elizabeth released a breath that came very near a laugh. “I am not fully certain.”
Jane’s fingers tightened around hers. “Something has occurred.”
