Page 110 of The Engagement at Longbourn

Mr. Bennet took it.

Neither man spoke. Bingley looked from one to the other and suddenly understood he was unnecessary. “I believe Jane wanted me in the drawing room.”

“She did not,” Mr. Bennet said.

Bingley stood anyway. “She may by now.”

He left.

Darcy remained standing. Mr. Bennet gestured to a chair. “Sit. You make the room nervous when you loom.”

Darcy sat. Mr. Bennet turned the returned book over in his hands. “You leave for Derbyshire two days after the wedding.”

“Yes.”

“Lizzy tells me you will stop in London for a week.”

“Yes.”

“And then Pemberley.”

“Yes.”

Mr. Bennet was silent.

Darcy understood suddenly. “She will write.”

Mr. Bennet looked at him. “Of course she will.”

“You may visit whenever you wish.”

“I know.”

Darcy waited. Mr. Bennet sighed. “I have spent years wishing for my daughters to be secure. It is inconvenient to discover security requires them to leave.”

Darcy’s expression softened. “She loves Longbourn.”

“I know.”

“She loves you.”

“I know that too.” Mr. Bennet’s eyes moved to the shelves. “I have not always deserved it.”

Darcy said nothing. That silence was different from his old silences. It did not hide judgment. It made room. Mr. Bennet looked back at him. “I have been lazy with my family.”

Darcy thought of Elizabeth’s words months earlier. “You have begun to change that.”

“Too late for Jane and Lizzy.”

“Not too late to matter.”

Mr. Bennet studied him. “Is that what you tell yourself?”

Darcy considered. “Yes.”

Mr. Bennet nodded slowly. “Then perhaps there is hope for us both.”

The next morning Mr. Bennet accompanied Lydia into Meryton himself rather than waving her off with Kitty and a servant.