Page 40 of The Work of a Moment

“Merely that you were much occupied at Darcy House. I may have praised Miss Darcy’s playing and your enjoyment of it, but I must say, Miss Bennet’s imagination is very rapid. It jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment.”

She saw the moment her explanation had penetrated. His pacing slowed, and the consternation in his expression softened into a more familiar, confused wariness.

“You did not write the words claiming I hoped to marry Miss Darcy or that I was courting her?”

“Of course not. Hopes for our families to be connected through marriage do not rely solely on your charms and interest, Brother. Although I am less certain I shall ever capture Mr Darcy’s heart, I will always wish for the two of you to be brothers.”

“There is little chance of that,” he muttered, pulling on his ear as he had done since his childhood disappointments. “Regardless of what you say you wrote and what Miss Bennet read or thought she read, Darcy is livid over it.”

“He has written to you?”

“Written? He is in town.”

“You spoke to him. He made these accusations here?”

“As I said, at my lodgings, whilst I was still in my robe! The worst of it came from Miss Elizabeth⁠—”

Caroline launched herself from her chair to grasp Charles’s arm, surprising both of them with her nimbleness. “She was there? In your rooms?”

He shook off her hand and stepped away, giving her a cool look. “You are very pale, Caroline. I will not burden you with more intelligence to add to the hum you created. You have shown no sympathy for my heartbreak nor a care for how your letters hurt Miss Bennet. I see now that Darcy was right. Miss Bennet did not misunderstand your words, you did all you could do to ensure our separation, and I allowed myself to be coerced to entertain Miss Darcy, in public, as if to prove truth in what you had written.”

“Charles—”

“Will you admit to it?”

The anger she had seen after the swimming incident paled to the absolute fury her brother now emanated. Any other man would frighten her, but she knew Charles could not hold onto ill temper, nor was he ever able to see through her prevarications.

She shook her head.

“It is a pity you cannot,” he said, moving towards the door. “You have decided the unhappiness of others for far too long. I shall tell my solicitor to release your money after I meet with Hurst and Louisa. They must decide whether you may continue to live with them.”

CHAPTER 30

A Most Convenient Cousin

“Miss Elizabeth Bennet?”

Elizabeth looked up from the pavement, which had provided her with no answers these past few minutes, to find Colonel Fitzwilliam approaching her.

“It is you,” he said, his voice as jovial as she remembered. “Have you been to call on my cousins, or dare I hope you have just arrived?”

She stared at him blankly, the shame she felt at having been turned away by the butler only moments ago with a polite ‘Miss Darcy is not taking callers’ overcoming any easy response. “I did not know you were in town, sir,” she finally said.

“And I did not know you had left Kent so precipitously, sent off in an abhorrent manner that shames me, until…” His brows furrowed. “My aunt would never apologise for, or even recognise, her ill treatment of you, but I must beg your forgiveness and hope that—” He looked at her closely, and his voice, which had grown grave, took on an urgent tone. “You are not without shelter and in need of aid here in town, are you? Zounds, is that why you are here, seeking Darcy’s assistance?”

“No, no,” she cried. “I stay with my aunt and uncle.”

“Ah, good, very good,” he said. “You are well, and will accept my apology on behalf of my peevish aunt?”

She smiled. “Of course.”

He bowed and held out his arm. “I am here to see Darcy and his sister. May I impose on you to join me? You did say you had only just arrived, did you not?”

The colonel had a little of Lady Catherine in him, presuming the wishes and intents of others, but in this matter, Elizabeth was pleased to acquiesce. Pleasure turned to amusement when she saw the astonished expression on the butler’s countenance.

“Is Darcy in his study?” the colonel asked.

“I am here.”