“Did you fall and hit your head while you were on your walk?”
“No!” he cried, almost laughing at her sweet disbelief. “I am in complete earnest! Indeed, it cannot be wholly surprising. You must have suspected, for I know I have made a poor job of concealing my feelings.”
Her expression was now all frown and no smile.
“Pray, be not angry with me for not declaring myself sooner. I know it would have brought you comfort had you known you were loved properly bysomebodyall this time, but I could never perceive any advantage in it. I never thought we would have such an opportunity as this to act.” He stepped towards her, closing the space she had put between them. “But that does not mean I did not feel it. Every moment of every day, almost since the beginning of our acquain?—”
“Stop!” She threw her arms in the air and turned to stride away from him towards the house. “I cannot listen to any more of this!”
He hastened after her. “I have shocked you. Forgive me! Only I have so long despaired of ever being happy that, now I see there is hope for us, I cannot but rejoice.”
She neither slowed nor looked at him. “You have lost your mind, sir. I beg you would stay away from me.”
“Nay, Lizzy, I am of sound mind! I comprehend what I suggest is scandalous, but we need not care for that! We would be gone to where nobody would know what we had left behind. We might even be able to marry!”
She stopped abruptly and turned to him, agape. “Are youproposingto me?”
He gulped. “Well…yes. Yes, I suppose I am.”
“He was right!” she cried. “I shall never walk alone in a garden again!”
Elizabeth stormed through the house, growing angrier with every door through which Bingley pursued her.
“Wait, I beg you,” he pleaded.
“I insist you cease this madness this instant!” She slammed another door closed between them and stood still, breathing hard. Her furious march had brought her all the way to Darcy’s study. Though not consciously done, she was relieved to be able to put his vast desk between herself and Bingley when he ignored her plea and followed her into the room. “Come no nearer, or I shall scream.”
“Lizzy, I?—”
“Do not call me that. I am Mrs Darcy to you and shall never be anything else!”
He had the nerve to look unhappy about that. “I comprehend that you are apprehensive of what Darcy will do, but?—”
“I know precisely what my husband will do, and believe me it is youwho ought to be apprehensive. I am more concerned with what you intend to do.” She stepped towards the bookcase to pull the bell for someone—anyone.
He held up his hands. “Pray do not summon anybody! I have gone about this very ill, I know, but I beg you to consider! This may be our only chance to be together.”
The bell was forgotten. Elizabeth came out from behind the desk that she might direct her fury without impediment. “You are gravely mistaken if you suppose the mode of your declaration is all that prevents me from consenting tobe togetherwith you, here or anywhere.”
“I agree there is a great deal at stake, but the reward would be worth the sacrifice.”
“I see no reward in it, sir!”
“Because you will not believe that I love you.”
“No, I will not, for it opposes every feeling of decency I possess.”
“To blazes with decency! I love you!”
“Cease saying that! You cannot justly claimanyregard for me and, in the same breath, prevail upon me to betray my husband! And while I carry his child!”
“I would love the child as my own, you must not concern yourself in that regard.”
“Upon my word, you are speaking of incest and child abduction! I think my concernsperfectlyjustified!”
“When you put it like that, I grant you it is not an ideal situation, but it is the only chance we are ever likely to have.”
“What is?” This most welcome interruption came from Mrs Sinclair. She bustled into the room and perched with decided purpose on a sofa.
