The warmth of it was immediate, and Elizabeth felt her breath catch before she could prevent it.
"Mr Darcy," she said under her breath, with more effort than she liked, "you are quite forgetting where we are. You must release me."
He did not, looking at their joined hands with an intensity that Elizabeth did not want to think about too deeply.The moment stretched long enough for the room to pay attention.
Mr Fletcher’s attention faltered, his regular chuckle replaced with a hesitant cough. Miss Reed’s fan paused mid-motion. Bingley, who had been speaking, broke off abruptly. Even Jane’s hand stilled over her cards.
From her seat beside Mrs Bennet, Georgiana had gone very still. Her fan lifted, almost as though to conceal her expression, though not before the smallest, startled smile had touched her mouth.
Then Mrs Bennet spoke with a crisp evenness that Elizabeth barely recognised. "Mr Darcy. You will not detain my daughter’s hand at a public table."
He released it at once, inclining his head to Mrs Bennet, a severe expression on his closed face.
A brief pause, and then, with the same composure, "And Lizzy—you will not permit it."
Elizabeth stared at her. "I am doing nothing—"
Mrs Bennet met her gaze directly. "You are doing exactly what is being seen," she added in an undertone
Elizabeth felt the heat rise to her neck, sudden and unwelcome. She realised that at no point in the evening had her mother fluttered or exclaimed. She had not pushed her daughters into the path of the eligible men in the room. She had been in good humour, chatting and gossiping with the other women, but she had behaved well within the confines of good behaviour. It was an accolade that Elizabeth could not claim for herself that evening.
Mrs Bennet turned away again as though the matter required no further attention.
Mr Fletcher cleared his throat. "Shall we proceed?"
"Yes," Jane said gently.
The game resumed.
Elizabeth kept her eyes on her cards. Darcy did not touch her again.
He misplayed the next hand.
Chapter Sixteen
The evening did not end all at once, though Elizabeth rather wished it had done.
Mrs Purvis called for more candles, as though the room required only better light to recover itself, and Mr Fletcher, after a moment’s hesitation, proposed another rubber with such mild good humour that it was accepted almost before anyone had thought to refuse him. Miss Reed resumed her place with perfect composure, her lace settling about her. And Elizabeth played the rest of the evening without error.
Darcy addressed his remarks to Mr Fletcher and to Bingley, and once, when appealed to directly, to Jane. Everyone behaved with perfect propriety, though the shadow of the moment felt as though it lingered in the corners of the room.
Bingley was, as ever, in excellent spirits. Though the more observant guests may have noticed him observing Darcy watchfully as he declared himself delighted with the company, the game, and the general conduct of the evening.
Mrs Bennet spoke easily, and at length, and with none of the fluttering agitation Elizabeth would once have expected.She moved the conversation along with a quiet authority that did not draw attention to itself. Georgiana even managed to throw a remark or too into the wider conversation, receiving approving smiles from Mrs Bennet when she did so. When at last cloaks were called for, Mrs Purvis saw them all out with such composure that the evening might almost have been called unremarkable.
There were the usual pauses for farewell, for arranging who should walk with whom, for Bingley to insist upon one more word with Jane, which she received with a smile that made his whole face light up with pleasure.
???
When they returned to the house, Mrs Makepeace declared that nothing sensible was ever said after midnight and shooed them off to bed.
Jane laughed softly and wished the party goodnight. Elizabeth did the same, and they went upstairs together.
Their room was small, but comfortable, the fire banked low and the air still holding the warmth of it. Jane went at once to the dressing table, removing her gloves and beginning the careful work of unpinning her hair, while Elizabeth moved to the window and stood there, looking out into the dark street below.
"Well," Jane said after a moment, her voice gentle, "that was rather more eventful than I expected, dearest."
Elizabeth let out a breath that might have been a laugh, though it held little amusement. "Yes," she said. "It was certainly that."
