“You do not think ill of me for this?” Elizabeth asked, smiling at him. “I confess, I understand how your Lady Catherine became what she is. It is so easy to come to expect deference as your right. And always there are things amiss in the mode of life of those who give you that deference. Whynotadvise them how to repair those mistakes when you are one to whom they are determined to listen.”
Darcy laughed. “My dear Elizabeth, you shall always be who you are. And I shall love you, even once you are very used to receiving the deference you deserve.”
The next day after an early luncheon Darcy sat on the garden swing in the yard with Elizabeth next to him. The warm air hung heavy around them, and all the leaves were thick and green. The soft sound of Georgiana playing the piano in the drawing room with Lydia floated out. It was quite peaceful and quiet, but they were observed directly by Mr. Bennet from the open windows of the library.
“The season of courtship has had many charms,” Darcy murmured to Elizabeth, “but I confess to being eager for it to end.”
“Oh, Mr. Darcy,” she replied in a falsetto, “but whatever is it that we shall do to occupy our time once we are married.”
He looked at her with burning eyes. “I have some notions.”
“Oh, my. But I am just an innocent maiden. I have no notion of what you might mean.”
As Darcy leaned forward, wishing to kiss her, she shook her head slightly and gestured towards Mr. Bennet’s window.
A glance showed that Mr. Bennet was in fact there, grinning down at them while holding a book. He waved, and Darcy waved back.
“I think,” Darcy said, “that kiss we shared after you asked me to marry was dearly bought. If only your brother had not directly seen it. It gave both him and Mr. Bennet the excuse to become tyrants. I think engaged couples with established characters such as ours are usually given alittlemore freedom.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Now, now. It was a very good kiss. Papa simply wishes to protect me...and tease us both.”
“And Rochester only wishes to teaseme. I think it is a way of gaining revenge for how I have always been taller and older than him.Youare simply an unfortunate object harmed by schemes aimed at another.”
Elizabeth laughed. “I have said it many times, but I do like Bobby very much.”
They heard the faint sound of a horse rider coming up the drive from the other side of the house, and they noticed that Mr. Bennet had left the library, presumably to greet him.
Elizabeth gave Darcy a sparkling and glowing and eager look. “Quick, whilst he cannot see.”
Obeying, Darcy carefully cradled her head (he had already discovered that doing this without care would lead to mussing thatRochesterat least would notice and comment upon) and kissed her with some passion.
They only gave themselves half a minute before separating, with rosy cheeks and wide smiles. Soonsomeonewould come around to watch them again.
The season of courtshipcertainlywas not without its charms.
“My brother has changed,” Elizabeth said, as she flattened her dress down. “Is my hair right?” At Darcy’s nod she continued, “After he came back from Ironwood Hall, once he’dfully taken on the business of being master, he seemed older, more serious—more like you. Odd how a name, the change from ‘Lord Hartley’ to ‘Lord Rochester’ can do so much to a person.”
Darcy nodded. He had seen so much as well.
“I shall change when I become ‘Elizabeth Darcy’. I shall have a new role, and though I am eager for it, there is a little fear of being changed once more simply through being looked at differently—Iknow. You shall say that in essentials I am much as I ever was. And I agree with you, but—why hello, hello!”
Elizabeth and Darcy stood as Colonel Fitzwilliam opened the back door out of Longbourn, followed by Mr. Bennet and Rochester.
“Came over straight from Bingley’s rented pile. I dropped my bags there, but he said all of the interesting people werehere, so I rode over straightaway. Apologies for making you both rise, you two looked very cozy there.”
“We were,” Elizabeth replied cheerfully, with a smirk at Mr. Bennet.
He rolled his eyes.
“Now what have you been doing with my innocent little sister this time?” Lord Rochester asked.
“Not so innocent,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said. “I’ve seen the girl shoot.”
“I am generally acknowledged,” Elizabeth said, “as the second best shot in the neighborhood.”
“Have you thought about forgetting this Darcy chap and joining the army. The scouts could use a person like you in Spain.”
Though they laughed, there was something sincere in how Colonel Fitzwilliam said that.
