Page 87 of Dear Friend

“Well, several.” Elizabeth smiled. “One of which was very near to what we have now, though I confess I began to think you would never ask me.”

“You did not appear like a lady who wished to be rushed into anything.”

“That was very perceptive of you. I eventually concluded that you either admired me or had mistaken me for someone else.”

Something passed briefly over Darcy’s expression, too quickly for Elizabeth to make sense of it. Surprise, perhaps, though there was something almost uneasy in it. “And which conclusion did you prefer?”

“The more flattering one, naturally,” she said.

“I am relieved.”

“You may be. Though I confess I did wonder why.”

“Why I admired you?”

“Yes.” Darcy was silent for several steps, and Elizabeth glanced at him. “That was not intended to be so difficult a question.”

“It is not difficult.”

“Then you are taking an unreasonable amount of time to answer it.”

His mouth curved. “Perhaps I am deciding how much vanity I ought to encourage.”

“My vanity requires very little assistance.”

“I had noticed.”

She gave him a look. “You are becoming impertinent, Mr. Darcy.”

“I have been keeping unsuitable company.”

Elizabeth laughed and nudged a loose stone from the path with the toe of her boot. “You still have not answered me. When did you first decide that you admired me?”

Again he seemed to consider his answer. “Before I had any sensible intention of doing so.”

“That is not an answer.”

“It is the safest one I can give.”

“Safest?”

“There are questions upon which a gentleman may easily say too much.”

“And you think this one of them?”

“Where you are concerned, increasingly.”

Elizabeth looked ahead, smiling despite the warmth which had risen into her face. “Very well. I shall ask something easier. Why did you continue seeking my company?”

“That is easier.”

“I am pleased to have finally discovered a question you can answer.”

“Because every conversation with you left me wanting another.”

Her steps slowed.

He had spoken without flourish, almost as though the answer ought to have been obvious, and Elizabeth found herself looking at him longer than she intended.