***
When the gentleman next came to visit, she presented Mr. Darcy with the likenesses. He reviewed each one carefully, taking his time, and then turned to Kitty and said, “I will put these to good use. You have a rare gift, Miss Kitty.”
Kitty blushed and thanked him.
“Miss Elizabeth, might we walk in the garden?” Mr. Darcy asked. “Perhaps Miss Bennet and Mr. Bingley could accompany us.”
Elizabeth and Jane assented readily, and the four of them soon set off together. Elizabeth walked rather swiftly and Jane rather slowly, so it was not long before the couples could speak in relative privacy.
“Miss Elizabeth, tell me truly, how are you?”
“Sad, worried and confused,” she said, with a small smile. “Everything seems so unsettled! I miss my mother dreadfully; as much as she annoyed me, she was the mistress of Longbourn. She took care of all of us, Papa as much as we girls. Her passing has left such a hole in our lives. And then, of course, there is Lydia.”
“I imagine that to be very worrying indeed,” he said.
She stopped walking; he stopped as well. “Mr. Darcy, allow me, please, to speak frankly.”
“I believe I once told you that disguise of every sort is my abhorrence,” he replied.
“Yes, you told me so when you proposed to me at Rosings,” she said.
He winced.
She continued, “I had the strong feeling at Pemberley that you were still – well, interested in me. I want you to know that I understand completely that a relationship between us is no longer possible. You need not feel uneasy on that score.”
“Your impression of my interest at Pemberley is quite correct; however, I do not agree with your conclusion.” The sincerity in his voice could not be mistaken.
“All the objections that you voiced at Rosings – “
“None of which should have been spoken!” he declared with heat.
“Nonetheless, all those objections pale in comparison with the objection your family will have to you aligning yourself with a ruined family.”
“I would marry you no matter your family’s reputation. That said, though, I have no intention of allowing your family to be ruined.”
“What if Lydia is never found?”
“You know the answer to that as well as I, I believe,” he answered, quietly.
“We tell everyone that she is dead, I suppose,” Elizabeth answered, dully.
“Yes; sad to say, a deceased sister is preferable to a ruined sister, as far as society is concerned.”
“And if she miraculously reappears?”
“We will deal with that if it happens. It would be best if we were married by then.”
“Thereby presenting your family with afait accompli?”
“Precisely.”
“I cannot believe –“ she burst out and then stopped.
“What can you not believe?”
“That you could care for me that much,” she said, staring at the ground.
“Miss Elizabeth, please look at me,” he whispered.
