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“Oh, Lizzy! What have you been doing?” wailed Mrs Bennet.

“I twisted my ankle, Mama. It is nothing.”

“But it is not nothing!” exclaimed Mrs Bennet. “You may have broken it! I do not think you should be moved until Mr Jones has checked it!”

Lizzy was keen that Mr Jones not be consulted. After his medical opinion had kept Jane at Netherfield far longer then Lizzy believed her sister’s cold merited, she was fairly sure the Meryton apothecary was colluding with her mother.

“No, you see?” she said, brandishing the other foot. “It is perfectly fine.”

They were interrupted when Caroline walked into the room.

“Have you seen Mr Darcy, Louisa? We are engaged for the next set.”

“I believe he went to change his cravat, Caroline,” replied her sister.

Caroline walked out and Elizabeth could hear her hallooing down the hall.

“Honestly, Mother, I am fine,” reassured Elizabeth. “Now go enjoy yourself downstairs. Balls at Netherfield only happen once in a blue moon.”

With this encouragement Mrs Bennet was swayed. “I’ll come back to check on you later, dear. I am still not convinced you should be moved. It is a pity Mr Jones is not here to give an opinion.”

After the door closed behind the ladies, Mr Darcy emerged from the draperies, causing Elizabeth to stifle a giggle.

“What is so amusing?” he asked, noting her chestnut tresses arrayed on the pillow.

“It is like a bad play. Your name isn’t Squire Squeezem, is it?”

“Ho, ho,” retorted Darcy while thinking: Damn, she got me again! “So that is the gratitude I get for bringing your necklace back!” he said out loud.

“I am sorry. You had better go before Caroline has kittens.”

“Are you sure there is nothing I can do for you before I leave? I am only going to stand against the pillar downstairs anyway. Well… after I have danced again with Caroline.”

“There is one thing…”

“Yes?”

“Would you mind removing my shoe? I should have taken it off earlier before it swelled. My attempt to untie the ribbons with one hand has only knotted them.”

Darcy crouched down next to the bed to examine the knot and began to pick at it. “You cannot bend over? That is not a good sign. Your foot is quite a size. Perhaps your mother is right and there is something broken?”

“I do not think so. I believe I am just sore, but I guess I will find out in a day or two when the swelling goes down. I will put some arnica on it when I get home.”

“Surely that should go on sooner rather than later?” Darcy commented, still worrying the knot.

Lizzy was regretting troubling him. Clearly, only Jane’s nimble fingers could deal with such a Gordian knot. She wondered how a man like Darcy managed to write with such large hands. But the next moment, she saw she had misjudged him: a loop appeared and then was enlarged. In a trice the knot had yielded, and Mr Darcy slipped off her shoe.

“Shall I remove the other?” he asked. “You can put your feet under the covers then.”

“It is not necessary…” she began.

But he had already started untying the other ribbon. Clearly Mr Darcy’s question was only rhetorical.

He slipped off the second shoe and set it aside. Still holding the stockinged heel of her good foot in his warm hand, he looked up. Their eyes met and engaged for a moment before he looked down and lowered her foot to the cover.

“I’d better go,” he said, just as Caroline’s voice rang out again.

Miss Bingley was coming back down the hall.