She smiled broadly. “It is true. He and Jane are very happy, and they are so well-suited I cannot imagine that will ever change.”
They spoke for a few moments about the engagement, before moving on to other topics. When they entered Longbourn the captain was greeted warmly by all the family gathered there. He spent some time in conversation with Mr Bennet, who could fairly be said to relish any opportunity for masculine companionship, and then spent a pleasant while with the ladies. He took his leave with every promise of returning when his duties allowed.
* * *
As March advanced, the fields and hedgerows came alive with blooms. Elizabeth returned from her morning ramble one fine, sunny day and over breakfast addressed all of her sisters. “If you will dress for a walk, Mary and I are going to take us all somewhere.” Neither Elizabeth nor Mary would say any more, so they all donned their walking shoes and gamely followed along as Elizabeth led them down one of her favourite paths.
They passed the boundaries of Longbourn and ventured into the woods, and thence into a meadow festooned with all the flowers of the early spring. Mary said to Lydia, “When you were ill, you said you wanted to come picking flowers in the spring with all your sisters. Lizzy knew where they grew first and best, and agreed to tell me when it would be worth the trip.”
Tears of happiness running down her cheeks, Lydia dashed off into the meadow like a little girl, seeking the prettiest blooms, and her sisters came laughing behind her. They returned to Longbourn windblown and smiling, clutching great posies with which they festooned the parlour. They all wore crowns of bluebell and cowslip, and did not remove them even when the Netherfield party called.
Elizabeth playfully set her own crown of flowers upon Miss Darcy’s head, and the young lady hardly knew whether to laugh or blush. She soon decided on the former, as all her friends were similarly topped.
“What do you think, sir, will Miss Darcy set a new fashion in town?” she asked her friend’s brother.
“Hm?” He startled, having lapsed into thoughts of his own. “Oh, certainly.”
Elizabeth’s eyebrows rose, and she was fairly sure he had no notion of what he had just agreed with. She turned back to Miss Darcy, ready to make sport of the gentleman for a little while before relieving his confusion, only to find that his sister was giving him a fretful look, and he had already ceased to pay any attention to either of them. She soon had the young lady in gales of laughter, suggesting places where she might wear her flowers: Bond Street, St. James’s Court, perhaps Almack’s?
Soon Kitty had engaged Miss Darcy to tell her of the delights of town, and Elizabeth was able to attract Mr Darcy’s attention simply by sitting silently next to him and looking at him expectantly until he took notice. This he did, stammering an apology for failing to attend, which she dismissed with a smile. Pitching her voice low and soft, she said, “Sir, something is troubling you. Will you not tell me what it is?”
He smiled slightly. “I thought I had concealed my worries.”
“You have not fooled me, nor your sister. She has been casting concerned looks at you since you arrived.”
He looked startled. “The last thing I wished was to worry Georgiana.” He paused. “Will you come walking with me? I will tell you, but I cannot risk it being overheard.”
“Of course,” she replied easily, and announced to the room that she was in need of another turn in the fresh air. Darcy volunteered to escort her, and as no one else wished to walk again so soon, it was all arranged quite easily. Mere minutes found them strolling arm-in-arm about the garden, where only a handful of daffodils and the early leaves and shoots provided any colour to break the monotony of browns and greys.
* * *
He watched Elizabeth turn her face to the sun and smile. She was always beautiful to him, but never more so than when surrounded by nature, even that of a denuded garden. She had taken his breath away when he had entered the parlour earlier, with her flushed cheeks and flowers in her hair. And then she had put those flowers on his sister and induced Georgiana to laugh. If only he were not so very worried; he regretted that he had not been able to better enjoy the visit.
“I believe you recall that little more than a fortnight ago I received a letter from my aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, in which she berated me for refusing to follow her plans to marry me to my cousin, her daughter.”
“I do,” Elizabeth answered. “Has she written again?”
“No, the letter I received last night was from my uncle, with whom she stayed for some days before returning to Kent. It seems a maid in his house overheard her speaking to my cousin Anne, and word eventually reached the butler, who informed my uncle. If the girl is to be believed, my aunt was considering sending an announcement of the engagement, which has never been formed outside of her own mind, to the papers.”
Elizabeth gasped.
He slanted a grim look her way. “You are too clever to miss the implications. If she succeeds, if even one paper were to print it, she could use it as evidence in a breach of promise suit. She would not succeed; even if she were to have marriage articles forged, I am confident I could prove them false, but the mere existence of such a suit could damage my reputation, and the Darcy name, for years.”
“And she thinks to use your care for your name to force your compliance,” Elizabeth said.
“Just so.”
“And what have you done to counter her? I do not think you would be here now if you had not already acted.”
This raised a faint smile in him. “Indeed, I sent an express to my man of business in London first thing, instructing him to contact every paper in town, Kent, and Derbyshire with instructions that printing any announcement involving me, which does not come directly from him or myself, would be a potentially costly mistake. He will also monitor the papers and if her announcement is printed, immediately issue a denial. I only hope we are not too late, or that she has since decided against this course. But I wonder if I should go to town, in case the worst occurs.”
“Do you trust your man to carry out your wishes fully and well?”
He was silent for a moment. “I do. Mr Coulter was my father’s man for some years, and I have never had reason to question his competence or his loyalty. Yet I believe my aunt would be most likely to strike through the London papers, and would it not be better if I were on hand in that event?”
“You are but half a day’s travel away, and it is far from certain that your presence will be required at all. Why sit alone in your house in town, fretting over a circumstance which may never occur, when you can remain with your friends and still arrive there quickly if need be? I do not see how, if she should succeed in having an announcement printed, a delay of a day would make any difference.”
He nodded, sighing. “You are correct. I feel a great need to take action, but there is little I may now do, save wait.”
