Page 225 of A Question of Character

“I agree. How pleased I am that we are of an accord again!”

His eyes sparkled.

“I confess I greatly prefer agreeing with you to quarreling.”

“So do I.”

“Minx. I shall strive to always be so. Now, I shall return shortly. I must speak with your father.”

Darcy stood and kissed her on her forehead.

She watched him straighten his coat unconsciously before crossing the room with the composed dignity that seemed so natural to him. At the door he glanced back once. Their smiles met, needing no words to complete the exchange.

Elizabeth watched him depart.

The future was a pleasing prospect, indeed.

Epilogue

Darcy’s request for Elizabeth’s hand was naturally granted with a little teasing from Mr. Bennet.

Mr. Bennet had invited Darcy into the library with an expression of such studied solemnity that Elizabeth afterward confessed she feared her father intended to keep the gentleman waiting an hour merely for his own amusement. Instead, the interview lasted scarcely twenty minutes. When the door finally opened, Darcy emerged looking both relieved and faintly amused, while Mr. Bennet followed him at a more leisurely pace, one eyebrow lifted in unmistakable satisfaction.

“I suppose, Mr. Darcy,” Mr. Bennet remarked as they entered the drawing room together, “that a gentleman who has survived my Lizzy’s opinions may reasonably be trusted with the remainder of his trials.”

Darcy bowed.

“I shall endeavor to prove worthy of the confidence, sir.”

“You had best do so. My daughter possesses an alarming tendency to discover when I am wrong. I have no wish for her to begin making the same discoveries about you.”

Elizabeth laughed despite herself, and Darcy’s answering smile assured her he understood the affection concealed beneath the teasing.

The happy couple was congratulated warmly on all sides.

Mrs. Bennet wept without the least attempt to restrain herself, declaring alternately that she was the happiest mother in Hertfordshire and that she could scarcely bear to lose two daughters within so short a time. Jane embraced Elizabeth with tears of her own, though hers sprang wholly from joy. Kitty and Lydia demanded every particular of the proposal before propriety had even permitted the newly engaged couple a private conversation, while Mary, after offering her sincere good wishes, observed that marriages founded upon mutual esteem promised the greatest felicity. Even Mr. Bennet abandoned his customary reserve long enough to kiss Elizabeth upon the forehead and tell her she had chosen wisely.

News of the engagement spread through Meryton with astonishing speed. Before another day had passed, Mrs. Long professed to have anticipated the match from the beginning, though Elizabeth distinctly remembered hearing very different opinions a few months earlier. Sir William Lucas declared it a most elegant alliance, and Lady Lucas congratulated Mrs. Bennet with such enthusiasm that even Mrs. Bennet’s lingering anxieties gave way to triumph.

Darcy made quick work of ensuring all in Meryton knew Mr. Wickham was a good man, and all discord between them was resolved.

He accomplished it with characteristic directness. Wherever the subject arose, Darcy corrected the misunderstanding without hesitation, speaking openly of Mr. Wickham’s indispensable assistance in recovering Georgiana and acknowledging that he himself had judged too hastily. Such candor carried considerable weight. Those who had once repeated whispers against the young solicitor discovered equal enthusiasm for repeating favorable reports instead.

Mr. Philips, pleased beyond measure to have so respectable a gentleman publicly praise his clerk, found no shortage of opportunities to mention the reconciliation. Darcy did what he could without exposing Georgiana. He spoke openly of Wickham’s indispensable assistance in recovering a member of his family and acknowledged that his former opinion had been founded upon a grave misunderstanding. Mr. Philips supplied more practical testimony, praising his clerk’s honesty, diligence, and usefulness. Meryton did not surrender its rumors in a day, but the worst of them gradually lost their force, and those who had been quickest to condemn Wickham soon discovered reasons to remember that they had never entirely believed the stories.

The townsfolk, contrary as they were, all claimed they had never really believed that the amiable clerk could be anything other than the congenial fellow they knew.

Elizabeth found this remarkable revision of history thoroughly entertaining. Gentlemen who had privately cautioned one another against placing confidence in Wickham now congratulated themselves upon never having doubted him. Ladies who had once exchanged meaningful glances whenever his name arose insisted they had always considered him unfairly treated. Lydia laughed over every fresh example she encountered, while Wickham accepted the sudden transformation of public opinion with remarkably good humor.

“I have discovered,” he remarked one evening at Longbourn, “that reputations are much easier to recover than I once feared, provided enough respectable people decide they always admired one in the first place.”

Mr. Bennet looked up from his book.

“My dear fellow, you have merely described society.”

The observation amused everyone present, including Darcy, who confessed that Hertfordshire possessed no monopoly upon that particular inconsistency.

Mr. Bingley proposed to Jane soon after Darcy and Elizabeth’s engagement became official.