“I did not expect to be out long.” She had felt compelled to visit the path where she had seen Mr. Darcy once before. How prophetic that had been! “The wind was not blowing when I set out. That is why it feels so cold.”
“It does not only feel cold, itiscold. I would not be surprised if it snows tonight.”
“Do you think so?”
“I hope not, for Mr. Darcy’s sake. Charles did not tell me his friend was still here, but he will be here longer still if there is any snow to speak of.”
“WhyisMr. Darcy still here? He mentioned horse trouble, but I thought he was to leave directly from the wedding breakfast.”
“He was. A series of mischances, it seems. His horse fell lame not five miles down the road, and another lost a shoe, and then there was an illness in the house . . .”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. Jane was not looking at her as she spoke, only fluffing pillows and replacing them on the settee.
“Jane . . .”
“I will check on your soup. Is the tea still hot?”
“Nearly scalding, yes.” Elizabeth looked at the kettle hanging over the fire and then back at Jane. She wanted to ask her sister what was happening, why Mr. Darcy had suffered so many delays, but suddenly she did not want to know. She only wished for Mr. Darcy to be delayed again so that he could ask her what he wished to know.
It will not be that,she warned her fickle heart. He would apologise for something or thank her for something, and in either case, he ought not. It would have nothing to do with calling on her or courting her, or better still, marrying her. It would not.
“I am sorry that you will be required to spend more time in close quarters with Mr. Darcy,” Jane was saying, peeking at Elizabeth as though she was afraid of her sister’s response.
“Jane, I have said time and again that his presence does not bother me.”
“Then you were not embarrassed that he carried you back to the house? For I must say, Lizzy, I am greatly indebted to him for his care of you.”
“You realise, of course, that Mr. Darcy caused the entire accident by coming upon me and crying out my name as he did?” Elizabeth was vastly amused by the whole thing now that her nose and the tips of her ears were thawing.
“Oh, Lizzy, no. He was merely surprised to come upon you. Imagine, you were both in the same house at the same time and never saw one another.” Jane busied herself about the room.
“He was hiding, that is why! Why did he not come to dinner last night?”
“I cannot tell you. Perhaps because Miss Bingley is here.”
“Mr. Darcy has never eschewed Miss Bingley’s company before.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because he . . . because I . . .” Elizabeth hesitated. “Well, I suppose I do not know, do I?”
“You were only in their company a very short time, sister.”
More time than Jane had been in her husband’s before she agreed to wed, given the weeks Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy had been in Kent together and the additional days at Pemberley. Enough to know . . . she sighed and patted the space next to her.
Jane sat and put her arm around Elizabeth’s shoulder. “You frightened me today, Elizabeth. Thank heavens it was only a shallow part of the pond.”
“I was never in any danger, Jane. I would only have been a little colder had I needed to find my own way back. And as I said, had Mr. Darcy not been there, I would not have fallen in at all.”
“You cannot blame him when he was so gallant as to rescue you.”
“He didnotrescue me. I could stand up on my own and was in no need of a knight.” Elizabeth laughed. Why did Jane insiston painting her as a poor weak heroine waiting for a man to save her? Nothing could be farther from the truth. Not that she did not appreciate Mr. Darcy’s assistance. The safety and comfort of his strong arms—no, she would never forget that. Moreover, shehadbeen very cold, and his coat had been quite warm. “Why do they not make greatcoats for women, Jane?” she asked suddenly. “They are wonderful. I should traipse the entire estate in the dead of winter if I had a coat like Mr. Darcy’s.”
Jane’s lips twisted slightly in amusement. “If you had a coat like Mr. Darcy’s, you would forever be tripping on the train.”
Elizabeth laughed again, and this time Jane joined her. “Heisvery tall.”
“And you are very . . . not.”
