“Good evening.”
She smiled blearily at him as he walked out the door and watched from the window as he went down the lane towards Rosings.He turned at the bend in the road and tipped his hat at her, and she waved sleepily before trudging up the stairs and falling into bed.
Somehow, Still Thursday
Darcylefttheparsonagewith a smile on his face, but by the time he arrived at Rosings, he had begun to worry.Elizabeth’s words had been perplexing and even alarming.She had believed Wickham.If that were true, what had she thought of him all along?She had found him saying he loved her to be absurd.That was an odd reaction, surely?Even if she were in her cups.
He entered the house and made his way upstairs, bypassing the drawing room where his aunt sat with her guests.He had much to think about, and he could not abide company at the moment.
He had been staring at the fire in his room for nearly an hour when Colonel Fitzwilliam came in.
“Where have you been, Darcy?”
“Hmm?Oh, I did not feel like company.”
“That I can easily believe.But I saw you striding across the lawn.Where were you off to?”
Darcy looked away from him.
“Checking on the welfare of a certain lady, perhaps?”
Darcy huffed.
“I saw Miss Bennet today.”
Darcy abruptly turned towards his cousin and Fitzwilliam manfully withheld a smirk.
“I’m afraid I quite upset her.”
“Really?”Darcy tried to appear less interested than he was, but he was burning with curiosity.
“It was unwittingly done.She mentioned a militia officer she knew by the name of Wickham, and, well, I had to warn her off him.She is a lovely girl, and I would hate to see her fall prey to the likes of him.”
“Did you tell her of Georgiana?”asked Darcy, alarmed.
“No, of course not!But I did tell her that he was not to be trusted with ladies or money, and especially when the two were in the same room.”
Darcy nodded.“How did she take it?”
Fitzwilliam grimaced, then laughed a little.“Not well, I’m afraid.She had swallowed his lies wholeheartedly.I think she was most angry with herself.”
“Yes, she does not like to feel a fool.”
Fitzwilliam looked at him shrewdly.“No, no one does.Anyroad, she is warned off him now.”
Darcy debated with himself a moment, then decided he should confess to his cousin.Fitzwilliam already suspected his affection for the lady, and she had said he should speak to his cousin.
“Fitz, I went to see Miss Elizabeth this evening.”
“Oh?”
“It was an interesting interview.”
“How so?”
“She had been very upset earlier and Mrs.Collins had given her tea with brandy in it—quite a bit I gathered.”
Fitzwilliam’s eyebrows shot up his forehead.“Is that why she did not come this evening?”
