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“I know. I sound positively mad. I do not care.”
“What do you not care about?” asked Alistair as he walked into the room.
“How ridiculous he sounds,” I said, giving Richard a look. He rolled his eyes at me but remained quiet.
“What are you two getting up to today?”
“I have no plans as I thought I was dying,” said Richard. “I will probably write a letter to Mother.”
Alistair was accustomed to Richard’s antics and did not react to his words. “She will be glad to hear from you. She may even be on her way to Town.”
“I wish she would not. I would like to head to Matlock as soon as I can arrange travel. We will only pass each other on the road.”
Alistair shrugged. “What about you, Darcy?”
“I will call on Miss Bennet. She had some sort of emergency with her aunt yesterday and needed to urgently come to Town. She rode along in my carriage and then I unceremoniously left her at the door. It was rather ungentlemanly of me.”
“You took her to her aunt’s. It is hardly ungentlemanly if you did not go inside,” Alistair said.
“Not her door. Mine.”
Richard let out a great laugh. “You mean you leapt out of the carriage and just left her standing there?”
I cringed. “Actually, she was still sitting in the carriage when I ran into the house.”
Both my cousins laughed and shook their heads.
“I could hardly think of social niceties at the time,” I defended.
“Oh, Darcy!” said Richard. “Whatever are we to do with you?”
“Not leave him alone with ladies, for one,” said Alistair.
I huffed. “Miss Bennet understood the situation. She was only going across the street. It is not as if I made her walk half a mile with her trunk dragging behind her.”
They laughed uproariously at this. I stood and dropped my napkin onto the table. “If you two are done laughing at my expense, I shall leave you to your letter. I have a call to make.”
“Shall I accompany you?” asked Alistair.
“Do you not have anything else to do?”
“Darcy, you really must work on your manners,” said Alistair, exasperated. “If you do not wish me to accompany you, simply say you wish to go alone. There is no need to be rude about it.”
“Forgive me. I was merely surprised. Please, accompany me to call on a lady you have never met at her elderly aunt’s home. Is that better?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Richard laughed at us as we prepared to leave, and soon I was knocking on number twelve.
“How do you know this lady again?”
“She is a neighbor of Bingley’s in Hertfordshire.”
“And apparently her aunt is a neighbor of yours in Town.”
The butler answered the door and we presented our cards, then were led to a pretty parlor at the back of the house, overlooking a frozen garden.
“Mr. Darcy!” Miss Elizabeth stood and curtsied. “I believe you know my aunt, Mrs. Monroe.”
