"Oh. Good morning."
"I wished to speak with you," Elizabeth said. "Properly this time. I have a strong suspicion that my previous apology was more concerned with making myself feel better than making you feel better, which I now realise was entirely insufficient."
To her relief, Miss Darcy smiled.
"My brother says things like that. And please call me Georgiana."
"Thanks you, and I am sorry to hear it. You must call me Elizabeth."
"He can be exhausting."
Elizabeth laughed.
The awkwardness disappeared almost immediately.
???
They collected their outerwear and left the house together, walking slowly towards the promenade. The morning had brightened considerably. The sea was reappearing in fragments beyond the dissolving mist, and the town seemed to be waking around them.
"I know you were sorry," Georgiana said after a while. "I never doubted it. The difficulty was never really what you said."
Elizabeth waited. "It was remembering a situation in which I behaved very stupidly."
Elizabeth tried to waft the comment away but Georgiana stilled her hand and continued.
"I think what embarrassed me most afterwards was not even that I had been deceived. It was discovering how thoroughly I had deceived myself. I thought I was in love. I thought Iunderstood everything. Then suddenly I realised I understood nothing at all."
There was such honesty in the confession that Elizabeth felt protective of her instantly. "That must have been very painful."
"It was humiliating."
The word hung between them.
After a moment Georgiana added, "Your mother understands."
Elizabeth smiled.
"I never intended to tell her anything.And yet somehow I did."
"That sounds exactly like Mama."
Georgiana laughed and they continued walking.
After a while Georgiana said quietly, "My brother is not usually like this."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "You may have to be more specific. I have discovered a remarkable variety of ways in which Mr Darcy can be difficult."
To her satisfaction Georgiana laughed again. "Yes. I realise it is not a useful description. What I mean is that he is usually very certain. He thinks about everything. Too much, probably. But generally all that thinking leads somewhere. Lately it seems only to be making him unhappy, which is unfortunate because hedislikes being unhappy so much that he becomes rather difficult for everybody around him."
"That does sound familiar."
"I do not mean to excuse him."
"No."
"He would be horrified if he thought he had hurt you."
Elizabeth looked out towards the water. "I believe that."
