“Lizzy,” Lydia called out breathlessly. “We have been watching you and Mr. Wickham deep in conversation for ages. What are you being so secretive about?”
“Indeed,” Kitty added, reaching them with a flutter of ribbons and lace. “You both looked so serious, we thought perhaps you were planning to elope.”
“Kitty!” Elizabeth laughed, though her cheeks flushed. “What a ridiculous notion.”
“Not so ridiculous,” Lydia said with a wicked grin, batting her eyelashes at Wickham. “Mr. Wickham is certainly handsome enough for an elopement. Pray, what has captured your attention so completely that you forgot about your poor sisters?”
Wickham bowed gallantly to both girls. “Miss Lydia, Miss Catherine, you look charming as always. Your sister was merely telling me of her adventures in Kent.”
“Adventures?” Lydia’s eyes lit with keen interest. “How deliciously mysterious. Do tell us everything, Lizzy.”
While Elizabeth thought of how she could respond, her mother and their aunt Phillips rushed over, all aflutter with their parasols and quite out of breath.
“Girls! Girls, what is this gathering about?” Mrs. Bennet panted, pressing one hand to her heaving bosom. “I could hear Lydia’s voice from halfway down the lane.”
“Oh, Mama,” Lydia laughed breathlessly, “we were just teasing Lizzy about eloping with Mr. Wickham!”
“Eloping?” Mrs. Bennet’s voice rose to a dangerous pitch.
Wickham chuckled indulgently. “Miss Lydia flatters me, but why would Miss Elizabeth consider such a thing when she has already secured a proposal from Mr. Darcy?”
All eyes turned expectantly to Elizabeth, trapped by their eager faces. She glanced helplessly at Wickham, who offered her an encouraging smile.
“It is true,” Elizabeth said reluctantly. “Mr. Darcy made me an offer of marriage.”
The effect was instantaneous and overwhelming. Lydia’s squeal of excitement, Kitty’s gasp of amazement, Mrs. Bennet’s cry of joy, and Mrs. Phillips’ exclamations of “Good heavens!” created such a hubbub that several passersby stopped to stare.
“Mr. Darcy!” Mrs. Bennet’s voice rose to a pitch that surely carried across three counties. “Ten thousand a year! Oh, what happiness! What joy!”
“But Mama,” Elizabeth said firmly, “I refused him.”
The words fell into sudden and absolute silence. Even the birds seemed to pause their chirping as both her mother and aunt stared at her with expressions of perfect stupefaction.
“Refused him?” Mrs. Bennet clutched dramatically at her chest. “Oh! I cannot believe it! You refused Mr. Darcy of Pemberley? Have you lost your senses?”
“You have always said you disliked him,” Elizabeth reminded her mother. “You called him a disagreeable, horrid man who thought himself above his company.”
“That was before he offered for you!” Mrs. Bennet wailed. “Oh, to think—my daughter, mistress of Pemberley! All lost because of your stubborn pride!”
“TEN THOUSAND A YEAR LOST!!!” Mrs. Phillips screeched, causing a nearby horse to shy nervously.
“His proposal was most insulting, Mama,” Elizabeth insisted. “He spoke of our family with disdain.
“Disdain?” Mrs. Bennet’s distress transformed instantly to outrage. “What did he say? What exactly did he say about our family?”
Elizabeth hesitated, suddenly reluctant to repeat Darcy’s words in such public company.
“Come now, Elizabeth,” Wickham prompted gently. “Your family represents the finest qualities of English country gentry. Darcy’s inability to see that speaks to his own limitations, not yours. Any man of sense would consider an alliance with the Bennets a privilege.”
Elizabeth felt a rush of gratitude at his spirited defense.
“But ten thousand a year, Lizzy,” Mrs. Bennet moaned, her indignation warring with regret. “And Pemberley! They say it has thirty-six fireplaces!”
“I would rather live in a cottage with someone who respects me than in a palace with Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth declaredsharply. “He was insufferably arrogant. He told me that his love was against his will, against his reason, and even against his character.”
“The unmitigated gall,” Wickham murmured. “To suggest that you, of all people, would be a stain upon his character.”
“He made it quite clear that marrying me would be a sacrifice to his better judgment,” Elizabeth explained, her temper rising again at the memory. “He spoke most contemptuously of our family.”
