Page 32 of Twice Chosen

Darcy lowered the book. "I cannot measure another person's feelings for you."

The irony of the answer was not lost upon him.

Bingley paced toward the window. "She smiles."

"Yes."

"She smiles at everyone."

"Not like that."

Bingley stopped and turned. "Like what?"

Darcy almost smiled. "Miss Bennet watches you leave a room."

Bingley's face changed. "She does?"

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"I observe."

Bingley laughed. "Apparently. Do you think I should--"

He stopped.

Darcy waited.

"Should what?"

Bingley shook his head. "Nothing."

The younger Darcy would have pressed. He would have offered advice even if it had not been requested, confident that his superior judgment justified the intrusion.

This Darcy let his friend think.

That was the change.

Bingley's mistakes would belong to Bingley. His successes too.

Darcy looked down at the book without reading a word.

Elizabeth would approve.

The thought warmed him more than it should have.

If she remembered.

If.

Jane and Bingley's courtship continued in the spaces around these private tests. Bingley called frequently enough that Mrs. Bennet began listening for hoofbeats each morning. Jane never hurried to the window, but Elizabeth noticed she always knew when he arrived before Hill announced him.

One afternoon Bingley came without Darcy. Jane looked toward the hall behind him before she could stop herself.

Elizabeth saw and nearly smiled.

Bingley saw too.