After a while, her mother said, "I had forgotten how large it is."
"Have you been before?"
"Once. Before any of you were born." A pause. "Your father thought it a great waste of time." She said it without particular feeling. "I thought it was wonderful," she added.
"It is wonderful, Mama," Elizabeth said. "And it is wonderful to see you looking so well. I have been worried that you have not been yourself."
They sat together and looked at the sea, and eventually Mrs Bennet said, "The light on the water is very pretty today, is it not?"
"It is," Elizabeth said.
"Your father would say it was just light on water."
"Yes," Elizabeth said. "That does rather sound like Papa."
A pause stretched between them.
"Mama," Elizabeth said. "I know something of what happened. Before we came. I don't know all of it but I wanted you to know that I—"
"Do you know," her mother said, "I think I should like a hat with a wider brim. The sun is really quite something even in April. "Shall we go in? I believe Mrs Makepeace mentioned a very good pie for luncheon and I find I am quite hungry."
She set off toward the lodgings at a good pace.
Elizabeth sat on the beach alone for a moment. "Very well," she said to a passing seagull, and got up and followed her.
Chapter Four
The tea that Thursday afternoon was Mrs Makepeace's idea.
"I have taken the liberty," she said to Elizabeth that morning, "of inviting Mr Darcy and Miss Darcy to take tea with your party this afternoon. At four o'clock. I have mentioned it to your mother, who thought it a very good idea, and I have sent word to Mr Darcy, who said he would be pleased to attend, which I thought very civil of him."
Elizabeth opened her mouth.
"Four o'clock," Mrs Makepeace said, and went back to the kitchen.
???
The Darcys arrived precisely on time, the gentleman ducking so as to not hit his head on the doorframe which stood at a jaunty angle like much of the tall, thin house. He appeared very large in the fussy, cramped parlour and Elizabeth was suddenly very aware of his shouldersthat stretched the fabric of his coat in quite a distracting way. Elizabeth had not previously consideredthe room particularly small, but Mr Darcy's arrival seemed to have reduced it by half. She found herself noticing, somewhat against her will, that he was even handsomer at close quarters than he had been at a distance.
His dark eyes were remarkably fine. It was unfortunate that their owner looked as though he expected disappointment from the world and was seldom obliged to wait long for it. Both parties stood awkwardly in the small space while Mrs Makepeace left the requisite dramatic pause before launching into an overly detailed introduction.
Mr Darcy bowed solemnly at the same time that Elizabeth ducked into a curtsy and they rose with somewhat unlikely timing at exactly the same moment, their foreheads cracking together with a painful thunk. Elizabeth let out a very Lydia-like "Lawks!" and stumbled sideways, stepping on Jane's hem in the process and pulling both of them into an ungraceful heap on the small sofa.
Mr Darcy had evaded the unwanted connection in the other direction, his elbow connecting with a porcelain shepherdess which spun off a doily-clad table and onto the hearth, smashing with a ferocity which made Mrs Bennet gasp and Miss Darcy cover her face with her hands.
In the face of such carnage, Mrs Makepeace said, "The shepherdess was a gift from Mr Makepeace's mother, God resther, who I did not especially like, and so perhaps we will say no more about it," and crouched to collect the pieces with complete composure.
"Are you hurt?" said Mr Darcy.
"Not in the least, sir" Elizabeth said, from an awkward angle on Jane’s lap.
"Frrghnne," said Jane, her voice muffled by Elizabeth.
"I am relieved to hear it." He looked at what remained of the shepherdess and then at Elizabeth with an appraising eye. "I wonder," he said, "whether you might have more success remaining stationary for the duration of the afternoon."
Elizabeth got herself upright, firmly ignoring his outstretched arm. "You were moving too," she said. "We were both moving. That is rather how two people come to hit each other."
"I was bowing," he said. "It is customary."
