“We must go in, it is too cold,” Darcy said to her, worried. She was less warmly dressed than he was.
She did not move. After a minute she pressed her hands against her face once more.
“Eli—” Darcy cut himself off. He had no right to use her Christian name. “Please, I do not like to see you so cold.”
She turned to face him. Their eyes met and caught for a long time. Elizabeth then smiled a little. “You try to be kind.” She looked down at her hands, and then shivered again. She shook herself almost violently, like a dog shaking off water. “So cold.”
Then she rose, and without looking at him she went to step inside. But at the door she stopped, turned, and said, “No, no. We shall not be like this. We are friends. And we will be friends — come in yourself. And perhaps, though you hate the practice so much, we might dance a second time tonight.”
Darcy stared at Elizabeth, beautiful, lit from behind by the chandeliers, then he nodded and felt a deep confusion in himself.
Chapter Eight
An inquisition faced Elizabeth across the breakfast table.
Mama and Mr. Collins glared at her. Mr. Sykes sat in the background, holding a glass of burgundy high, while grinning madly. He was delighted by the whole of the situation.
“But the two of you were out on the balcony for so long.” Mama fluttered her hands. “I was so sure. So sure. Lord! You’d looked like you cried. It made your face wholly ugly.”
“Some men,” Mr. Sykes offered as he drained the glass of wine and refilled it, “like the look of a sobbing woman.”
“Yes!” Mama said, “And you danced together again. Perchance… No, I am sure of it! He shall call today.”
Another stab through the chest, and into the soft intestines.
Elizabeth had cried silently for fifteen minutes before she could bear to get out of bed that morning.
Her insidious, stupid hope that Mr. Darcy would marry her had clearly clawed its way deep into her heart, like a worm working through an apple.
“He shall not,” Elizabeth said blankly.
Mama wrung her hands again. “Lord! He must. He must. I need him to! How can we ever manage if you now do not marry anyone?”
Mr. Collins stood once more and frowned. He paced back and forth, his hands behind his back. Each clunking step made the floorboards creak. “But… Mr. Sykes, you have the acquaintance of longest duration with Mr. Darcy, do you consider it probable that—”
That gentleman, using the title loosely, interrupted Mr. Collins with a harsh cackle. “Miss Bennet, wish you had treated me kindly now? You do, don’t you? Now that your other gentleman hasn’t come up to scratch. Damned women. Youonly care about a gentleman’s looks and his wealth. Never his character.”
“No,” Elizabeth replied easily. “Not at all.”
Mr. Collins had a pained expression at hearing Mr. Sykes’s use of the worddamned.
“Oh, but, but — Heavens!” Mama exclaimed. “He will come today. I still expect it. The way he looked at you when you when you danced, and—”
“Mama! Mr. Darcy made it exceedingly clear to me that he would not marry me. I hinted at the question, and he explained at length that he would not marry again.” And that she was not, in any case, good enough to marry him.
That hurt in her stomach.
It was hard to keep to her determination that they would remain friends when she thought of it.
Mr. Collins ceased his relentless pacing. “Not such a disaster then.” He let out a slow breath. “He will not marry you because of the memory of Mrs. Darcy? I can tell that to Lady Catherine, that he stood so strong as to specifically not pursue a woman for that reason. At least she will be pleased, which is a great joy in a difficult time.”
Another laugh from Mr. Sykes.
Turning to that gentleman, Mr. Collins put his hands together beseechingly. “You’ll not tell Lady Catherine anything about this, that my cousin aspired to his hand? — I beg you, by our friendship.”
Mr. Sykes just laughed again, and took a long swig of his wine, gulping the rest of his second or third serving this morning back. “Fine bottle — do not concern yourself. I’ll not spread stories to your precious Lady Catherine.”
“And oh! If Mr. Darcy is not to marry Cousin Elizabeth, then there is nothing stopping you from—”
