Mr Darcy nodded to the footman, who opened the door, revealing that the carriage was waiting outside. He escorted her to the carriage door and handed her in, lingering for a beat longer than necessary. Elizabeth took a quick breath. Her whole being seemed to come alive every time he touched her. What sweet torture waiting was!
“Until the morrow?” he asked, his eyes filled with hope.
“Until the morrow,” she promised. She seated herself, and Mr Darcy nodded to the driver to indicate that he should proceed down the lane.
It took a long while for her heart to slow its rapid pace on the way home. She could not believe it was possible, but she seemed to grow more in love with her fiancé every day. How she had ever thought him cold and aloof, she could not know. His serious temperament concealed a wealth of other gifts from those not privileged to know the real Mr Darcy, for his quietness was matched by great warmth, and his seriousness by a surprisingly wicked sense of humour.
When she arrived home, it was nearly time for supper. She thanked the driver and sent the carriage back to Netherfield, racing up the steps to get herself ready for supper. She changed into one of her more subdued gowns, not wanting to drawattention to herself. Though perhaps it was effort wasted. It seemed that no matter what she wore or what she did, Jane accused her of flaunting herself or lording her engagement over her sisters.
Her one consolation was that she would only have to endure for another month. Less, really. And she could press on, supported by her love for Mr Darcy.
On the way into the dining room, she saw Jane standing outside the door. Elizabeth sighed and tried to slip through the archway without being accosted. Jane sneered at her as she entered. “Well, here she is at last.”
“I hope you all were not waiting supper for me,” she apologised and tried to walk around her sister to find her seat.
“Yes, we have been, in fact. We know you do not have a care for us anymore, now that you are marrying a rich man, but it would have been nice if you had been on time to have supper with your real family. You do not have many family suppers left, you know.”
Elizabeth bit her lip to avoid answering back in anger. Jane’s harshness was wholly beyond her understanding. “Just because I am getting married does not mean you are any less my family,” Elizabeth replied steadily. “I see it as my gaining more family in the Darcys, not as losing you all.”
Jane scoffed. “So you say, and yet you think yourself a cut above the company by showing up late. But you are about to find out something that will knock you off your high horse.” She gave a satisfied smile and brushed past Elizabeth. With haughty dignity, Jane took her seat at the table, between Mr Collins and Lydia. There was only one seat left open for her, between Mary and Kitty. Her parents greeted her warmly and asked how herday at Netherfield Park had been. They did not seem to mind that she had been gone all day, visiting with Georgiana.
Elizabeth answered briefly, hoping to turn the subject and avoid attracting any more of Jane’s ire. “It was very enjoyable, thank you. Did you receive any visitors after I left, Mama?”
As supper got underway, Elizabeth struggled to understand the undercurrents swirling about the table. Something seemed about to happen, for Mr Collins looked even more smug than usual, no easy task, and Jane was casting frequent satisfied glances towards her, as though to say she knew something that Elizabeth did not. Ill at ease, she wondered what it could mean. Surely, any information Jane held with such spiteful satisfaction would mean trouble. She remained apprehensive through the first course, and the beginning of the second.
Then Mr Collins suddenly stood, tapping his fork gently against his glass.
“Forgive me, dear family, but I have an announcement.” He nodded to Elizabeth’s father, then glanced at Jane. She offered him a sweet, demure smile, then glared at Elizabeth from across the table.
“After much self-reflection these last few days, it has come to my attention that I was hasty with divulging my feelings to a certain young lady at this table, who shall remain nameless.” He gave her a sideways glance before he continued. “I had been wilfully blind to my true feelings, for I did not believe I could attain the heights that I would be forced to climb.” He raised his right hand high while placing his left on his heart. “I never would have hoped for such good fortune if you had not given me hope, my dearest darling.”
Mr Collins reached for Jane’s hand, and she took it without hesitation. Elizabeth had to stave off the impulse to drop her lower jaw open in shock. What was Jane doing?
“It is with joy that I tell you all that I have proposed to Miss Bennet, and she has agreed to be my wife!”
For a few seconds, everyone was silent. In the moment of frozen shock, Mr Collins turned to their father. “If I have your blessing, that is!” Mr Collins jovially stated rather than asked.
By that time, Elizabeth’s mother had jumped out of her seat and had gone around the other side of the table, and was hugging Jane. “Oh, happy day! Two daughters, engaged! And Jane, you shall be the mistress of Longbourn! I never thought I would live to see this day!” she gasped.
Lydia and Kitty began to giggle, whispering behind their hands about their sister’s husband-to-be. Mary looked horrified for a moment, then hung her head. Elizabeth reached for her sister’s hand under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze. What could Jane be thinking?
“Betsy! Bring a bowl of punch!” Mrs Bennet called down the corridor before returning to continue her boisterous celebration. Elizabeth could not say a word in her shock. She looked at her father, shivering in horror as he confirmed with an almost imperceptible shake of his head that he had neither known nor approved of Mr Collins’s proposal. Would he say nothing to convince Jane she was making a horrible mistake? What could she possibly see in the ridiculous Mr Collins?
Elizabeth risked a glance at her sister. Jane only raised her chin and looked down her nose at her. It would do none of them any good to confront her here. Perhaps later, when therest of the household was asleep, she could speak with her sister alone.
After supper had concluded and they had suffered through a particularly mind-numbing speech from Mr Collins in the drawing room, they all excused themselves and made ready for bed. As soon as Jane went into her room, Elizabeth slipped across the hall and entered without knocking, closing the door behind her.
Jane turned on the vanity stool, her eyes narrowing when she saw that her visitor was Elizabeth. She turned back to the mirror and continued to scowl at her through the glass. “What do you want, Elizabeth?”
Elizabeth was jolted every time Jane addressed her so coldly. Would she never hear the familiar “Lizzy” again? She entered cautiously, as if she were approaching a wild animal. “I came to talk.”
“Oh? Well then, get on with it. It has been quite an exciting evening,” Jane said, though there was little of genuine excitement in her looks.
Elizabeth sighed and sank onto the wooden chest behind Jane at the foot of her bed. “Have you really accepted Mr Collins?”
“Of course, I have,” Jane said, refusing to look at Elizabeth as she took off the simple golden chain that had belonged to their grandmother. “I would not have allowed him to make the announcement if I had not.”
Elizabeth could not believe what she was hearing. “But why?” she pleaded.
