Page 99 of The Crown’s Gift

"A defensible method."

Darcy watched these changes and understood how easily the Bennet girls might have become objects of ridicule in another life. Their abilities had required expectation, boundaries, and someone willing to see them before they became crises.

One evening he said to Sir Thomas, "You did more than improve an estate."

Sir Thomas looked toward the drawing room where Lydia laughed, Kitty sketched, Mary played, Jane leaned against Bingley, and Elizabeth argued with Lady Bennet over wedding lace.

"I arrived late," he said.

"You arrived."

Sir Thomas accepted the mercy from a man who understood late learning.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Winter Letters

Darcy returned to Pemberley before Christmas because snow threatened the northern roads and the estate required him.

For the first time, separation did not mean silence.

Their engagement permitted correspondence. Elizabeth discovered that Darcy wrote differently from how he spoke: less guarded, unexpectedly dry, and precise about feelings once paper removed the danger of interruption.

The north tenant farm has lost part of a barn roof, he wrote. No one was injured, though six hens have taken residence in the steward's office and refuse legal eviction. Your father's advice on slate arrived before my request. I begin to suspect he receives reports from the weather itself.

Elizabeth answered:

Papa has informants among the clouds. Treat the hens generously. Their occupation is the most decisive Pemberley has seen since Lady Catherine last visited.

Darcy described estate business, Georgiana's practice, and the view from his library under snow. He also wrote what he missed.

The breakfast room is quiet. I once believed quietness proof that a household was orderly. Netherfield has taught me it may only prove everyone interesting has gone elsewhere.

Elizabeth read that line more than once.

She wrote of Lady Bennet's wedding plans, Lydia's baskets, Mary's publication, and the ache of Jane's empty chair despite seeing her nearly every day.

I fear leaving them more than I confess aloud, she wrote at last. Not because they cannot manage without me. Perhaps because they can. I chose to wait for Mary and became accustomed to believing I stood between my sisters and difficulty. Now Mary no longer needs the same shelter. Jane has Charles. Kitty and Lydia have Papa. I am happy, and still there is grief in being released from usefulness.

Darcy's reply came quickly.

You are not loved because you are useful. Come to Pemberley as yourself. If you never improve one room, host one dinner, or solve one tenant's problem, I shall remain grateful you came.

Elizabeth pressed the page to her lips before folding it with the others.

Darcy returned to Hertfordshire in January through deep snow. His carriage reached Longbourn after dark, but he came to Netherfield the next morning on horseback.

Elizabeth met him on the terrace wrapped in a red cloak.

"You might have waited until the road was cleared."

"I did wait. For six weeks."

The answer left no room for teasing.

They walked into the winter garden while Kitty followed at a distance with a sketchbook. Snow softened hedges and branches. Darcy took Elizabeth's gloved hands.

"I missed you."