“Would you consent to visit us sometimes, or allow me to come to Mrs Cooper’s? There are so many things that interest me, and I have had no one with whom to discuss them since…my brother removed me from the academy I attended in London.”
Elizabeth studied her carefully, but she read nothing in the young lady’s face except a warm and sincere request, certainly not a proposal that she should occupy some paid position at Pemberley.
Mrs Cooper had praised her, that much was evident, but only in those terms, and Elizabeth found she did not dislike it. She preferred that people should know her for her mind rather than for her appearance.
“Certainly. We may meet whenever you wish.”
Elizabeth’s warm answer made Georgiana exclaim happily to her brother, who was approaching them,
“Miss Bennet has agreed that we shall see one another.”
She started away, intending to leave them alone, but turned back from the doorway and called to her brother,
“Alone!”
They were both laughing when she disappeared.
“She is still a child in many respects, but I am glad she is beginning to find the courage to make friends.”
Yet Elizabeth was already wondering whether she had done wisely in accepting. She could not withdraw her word,but she found herself questioning how such meetings with Mr Darcy’s sister would unfold.
Chapter 29
No important announcement was made that evening, and many ladies and young ladies breathed more easily. Yet the following morning, at a very late breakfast, Darcy made several hearts flutter when he said,
“I should like to make a brief announcement.”
Elizabeth looked towards him almost in alarm, wondering whether he might be capable of such madness as publicly asking her to marry him. It was something that simply was not done and, above all, something that would place her in a most uncomfortable situation.
“As those gathered around this table know, we have revived my mother’s tradition of holding a ball on the fifteenth of August in honour of my grandmother, Mary Darcy. I thank you all for attending, and I believe the ball has been a success.”
A chorus of thanks rose from the table, and Darcy bowed, obviously content, before continuing.
“The ball always concluded with this breakfast, and my mother was accustomed to presenting a gift to the ladies in attendance. As you may imagine, these gifts came from her collection of miniatures, for my mother believed that beautifulthings ought to circulate and that a collection should always be renewed. Before your departure, each lady will receive such a miniature from my mother’s collection.”
This time, the ladies applauded, for it was indeed an unexpected yet most agreeable conclusion. Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief, though a touch of melancholy settled upon her spirits. No gentleman had ever been known to propose marriage publicly. She had once read of such a scene in a novel, but a gentleman like Mr Darcy, who respected decorum so scrupulously, would never behave in such a manner.
Paradoxically, had he proposed in the greenhouse, she would probably have refused him. Yet in a dining room full of people, she might have accepted, because for the first time since she had known him, Mr Darcy would have become the man she had always dreamt of meeting, not merely in love, but daring as well, willing to disregard convention for her sake.
The thought vanished almost immediately when she remembered the miniature she was to receive and wondered how it would be delivered. They were determined to leave after breakfast, and she hoped it would be waiting in her parlour, where she had gone to prepare for the journey.
Yet nothing awaited her there.
Half an hour later, she took leave of the room reluctantly, then knocked at Mrs Cooper’s door, only to be informed by a maid that Mrs Cooper had already gone downstairs. And indeed, she found her in the drawing room, engaged in conversation with Mr Darcy.
Both turned towards her, yet neither betrayed anything beyond pleasure at seeing her.
Though an entirely unusual conversation had passed between them.
∞∞∞
When a maid informed Mrs Cooper that Mr Darcy wished to speak with her, she experienced a moment of uneasiness, for the only subject she could imagine between them was the unexpected understanding that had developed between herself and the colonel.
She could not deny that she liked Colonel Fitzwilliam more than she had ever liked any other gentleman in her life, and many had attempted to impress her during the seven years of her widowhood. While with the colonel, she did not know how matters would develop, and nothing definite had been said. It was far too soon for that. Yet the colonel had asked whether she would consent to visit his parents at Matlock Lodge when they arrived in a few days.
Mrs Cooper knew Matlock Lodge much as she had once known Pemberley: a place beyond her reach, even more so than Mr Darcy’s home, for Lord Matlock was an earl.
All these thoughts returned to her unbidden. Although she had come to know Mr Darcy as courteous and obliging, she could not entirely forget the arrogance with which he had once spoken of Elizabeth’s family, nor his direct interference in Miss Bennet’s separation from his friend.
