Page 7 of Shadows Of Rosings Park: Part 2

When the ladies withdrew after dinner, leaving the gentlemen over their port, Elizabeth found Jane immediately.

"You are pale as chalk," Jane whispered, drawing her to the window seat. "Are you unwell?"

"A slight headache."

"It is more than that. You start whenever Mr. Darcy approaches. Your smile never reaches your eyes. When you think yourself unobserved, you look — forgive me — haunted."

"What fanciful notions you entertain, Jane."

"Don't dissemble with me." Jane's voice was quiet but firm, the gentlest steel Elizabeth had ever encountered. "Whatever has transpired, whatever secret binds you to a man you once despised, you need not bear it alone."

Elizabeth wavered. Deception cramped her breath. Jane's face was close, worried, and full of love. How simple it would be.

She couldn't. The truth would destroy Jane's peace. Peace was Jane's most precious possession, and Elizabeth would not take it.

"There's no secret. Merely the natural reserve of new attachment."

The parlour door opened. The gentlemen returned. Darcy's eyes found Elizabeth the way a compass finds north, inevitable, unerring, requiring no thought. He gave her a slight nod. A command dressed as a greeting. Come to me.

She went. She was learning that the small submissions were easier than the large ones, and that this ease was itself a danger.

Mr. Bennet rose first, glass in hand and irony banked so low it was almost invisible. "Ladies and gentlemen, my daughter Elizabeth has accepted an offer of marriage from Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley."

He sat before anyone could read more in his face than he wished to show. Sir William rose at once, delighted to be useful. "A most joyous occasion! Let us drink to their happiness!"

Exclamations. Congratulations. Mrs. Bennet's voice soaring above the rest. Elizabeth maintained her smile through all of it while Darcy's hand settled against her lower back, a gesture that appeared supportive to the company and felt like a hand holding a chair in place.

"You perform admirably," he murmured against her ear. "One might almost believe you genuinely pleased."

"I'm an apt pupil. You have made the consequences of failure abundantly clear."

His fingers flexed against her back, a small flinch from a man reminded of something he preferred not to think about.

Charlotte approached with congratulations. Her face was steady, her voice level. One look held everything they shared and could not say, the whole road to their parallel captivity in a cheerful parlour full of people who understood nothing.

"I wish you every happiness, Lizzy," Charlotte said, and the formal words meant: I know. I'm sorry. Survive this.

"Your good wishes mean a great deal, Mrs. Collins," Darcy replied.

The evening ground on. Elizabeth moved through it as though underwater, smiling, speaking, accepting felicitations, while maintaining constant awareness of Darcy's position as a swimmer maintains awareness of the current.

Mr. Bennet caught her near the refreshment table.

"You'll call upon me tomorrow in my library," he said without preamble. "Before your daily correspondence is sent."

"Papa—"

"Whatever hold that man has upon you, whatever circumstances in Kent precipitated this match, I'll know of it before I give my blessing."

"Please. Don't pursue this. For all our sakes."

Something in her tone arrested him. He studied her face, his own going grave. "Is it as serious as that, my child?"

The question hung between them. Her father's face was grave, his hand resting near hers on the table. His concern pressed at every defence she had raised around the truth. She wanted to say: Yes. It is exactly as serious as that. Help me. She opened her mouth.

Darcy appeared at her elbow just as the conversation reached dangerous territory. It might have been rehearsed. It had not been. He simply watched her with the sustained attention of a man who always knew Elizabeth's position in a crowd.

"Mr. Bennet, I hope we might speak privately tomorrow. There are certain arrangements regarding Elizabeth's settlement that require discussion."