Page 9 of A Prudent Engagement

Elizabeth laughed a little. “Your cousin spoke the truth. You really do arrange business just as you please.”

“I hope to please you in this.”

“I then accept your offer and thank you with all my heart.” Elizabeth looked at him with a warm smile. “It is truly very kind of you.”

Mr. Darcy nodded, a little stiffly. He turned to Charlotte. “If you are willing to accompany us for the journey, to provide added respectability beyond what a maid would give, I would appreciate that.”

Charlotte said, “There is nothing I would be happier to do.”

“Given the lateness of the hour,” the gentleman added, “it may be best if I convey you for the night to your uncle’s residence in London. I have promised Colonel Fitzwilliam that I shall deposit him in the capital. And if your eldest sister is still there, I can take you both to Longbourn early tomorrow morning.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth had no notion what else to say.

She could only study him, the deep colour of his eyes, the healthy tan of his skin, the bushy side whiskers, the well-formed body, the waves of his hair falling over his temples and a little over his forehead.

Elizabeth wanted to run her fingers through his locks to feel whether they were as soft as they looked.

She was quite shaken and not herself.

“This is as good a scheme as could be contrived in such a situation,” Charlotte answered for Elizabeth. “I know that my friend is most happy to have your aid at this time.”

“Yes!” Elizabeth cried out. “I am most grateful! I had no notion that you might offer such help.”

Mr. Darcy bowed. “Miss Bennet, I am always at your service—I assure you. You must know that. You must know that I shall see you well cared for and that you need not be concerned about anything. I—but we can speak more about that later. You cannot wish to—I cannot—that is to say, we shall speak more later. I promise you that we shall and that you need not fear any—I am sure that you understand me. I must return to my aunt’s to prepare to leave, and we shall come back as soon as the carriage is prepared and packed. I do not think it will be more than two hours.”

“Yes, I shall be ready then as well. We shall begin to pack immediately,” Elizabeth echoed back in some confusion.

Mr. Darcy looked at her with meaningful eyes.

He then bowed once more, took her hand, kissed it in a way that sent a shiver up Elizabeth’s arm, then turned away and hurriedly left the room.

Despite the gentleman’s expressed confidence that he was understood, Elizabeth had seldom been more confused in her life.

There was something inside her though that was beginning to reappraise Mr. Darcy. He was not quite who she thought he was. Certainly, he could be rude, find it difficult to speak to strangers, and there was the unkindness that he had shown to Mr. Wickham. But Elizabeth also realised that once he considered a person to be his friend, Mr. Darcy could speak easily enough, and he could be remarkably kind and attentive.

Mr. Darcy certainly considered her to be his friend.

“My dear Eliza!” Charlotte exclaimed. “I told you! This proves that I was right beyond any other consideration.”

“What can you possibly mean?” Elizabeth said. “I have no notion of what you speak.”

“I said that he must be in love with you. The first time that he called upon us alone. And you thought that he would not speak so little if he were in love. But there can be no two meanings about what he said just now.”

“No two meanings! I perceive no first meaning in what he said. I have no notion of what he meant to say, no matter how much— Oh.”

If he was in love with her, then everything he had said and done made perfect sense.

That would explain why he thought that she would not need to be concerned about anything. That would explain what he meant to speak to her about. That would explain why he was always at her service.

“But if he is in love, what could he mean by speaking so little when he called?”

Heat rose up Elizabeth’s neck.

She had been in company with Mr. Darcy when he was not so silent with her. He had spoken more easily with her when they had met in the grove, though still not so easily as a man like Colonel Fitzwilliam or Mr. Wickham.

He had spoken as if she would be staying at Rosings itself the next time she visited this part of Kent.

That had confused her greatly.