“She said late morning or early afternoon. Is it too early now?” Mr. Fitzwilliam asked.
“Let us wait another hour,” Mr. Darcy suggested.
“Very well.”
Mr. Fitzwilliam wandered into the library and promptly wandered back out in order to lecture Mr. Bingley on the stateof the library. Mr. Darcy took his cousin out on a walk, during which Mr. Fitzwilliam consulted his pocket watch with some frequency.
Finally, the hour was up, and Mr. Fitzwilliam pronounced himself ready to depart.
“We will take my carriage,” Mr. Darcy said.
“I thought we would just ride over,” Mr. Fitzwilliam objected. “It is not far.”
“No, but you do not wish to arrive smelling of horse and dust, do you?”
“Oh! No, certainly not. It is good that you think of these things, Darcy.”
“It is good, yes,” Mr. Darcy agreed, with a wry smile.
When they arrived at Lucas Lodge, Charlotte was sitting in the drawing room with her mother, her younger sister and – Mr. Darcy nearly gasped aloud – Miss Elizabeth!
The ladies rose as the gentlemen entered. Mr. Fitzwilliam went at once to sit beside Charlotte and the two murmured together in voices so low that they could not be overheard. Despite the impropriety, Lady Lucas could not help but beam at the two of them.
Mr. Darcy could scarce contain his happiness at seeing Miss Elizabeth. He knew he must leave her as soon as may be, but surely no harm could come from him having one last conversation with her!
He sat as near to her as manners would permit, though he knew he must address his hostess first. He thanked Lady Lucas for her hospitality the night before, adding, “I no longer wonder why the Lucas card parties are held in such high regard throughout Meryton.”
He could not have said anything that would have pleased Lady Lucas more. She went on at some length about how delighted she was to provide entertainment for theneighbourhood, how important dancing was, and so on. It was some time before Mr. Darcy felt that he could turn his attention to Miss Elizabeth.
“And you and your sisters had an enjoyable evening, I trust?” he asked her.
“We did. Kitty and Lydia behaved themselves, which was more than I had dared hope for.”
“Are they normally not well-behaved?”
“In all honesty, they are sometimes a little overloud. But – well, they are young, and so much may be forgiven them. Mr. Darcy…”
“Yes?”
She nodded toward Charlotte and Mr. Fitzwilliam. “Is my friend safe?”
“Safe?”
“I do not mean her person, of course. I mean her heart.”
“Her heart?” he repeated, dumbly.
“Yes.” She sounded impatient. “I would not want him to make her fall in love with him and then vanish.” Her voice faltered.
Mr. Darcy took a deep breath. “Miss Elizabeth, we are all in danger of that, are we not? When gentlemen and young ladies spend time together, there is always the possibility of love unrequited, is there not?”
“I suppose so,” she replied, looking at the floor.
Mr. Darcy continued, earnestly, “But I can tell you that my cousin would never do such a thing deliberately. He is a rather odd sort of man, frankly. He does not do well in social situations and lives rather like a hermit in Derbyshire at the Matlock estate, working on a massive writing project. I have never seen him speak to a young lady as he is now speaking with Miss Lucas. It is completely unprecedented. But what is in his mind and in his heart – well, I have no way of knowing.”
Elizabeth bit her lip. “I love Charlotte, Mr. Darcy, and anything that injures her will hurt me.”
“I will speak with Reginald. I do not think he understands the concept of raising expectations, but I will do my best to explain it to him.”
