“My mother tried toforceme to accept the first god-awful proposal. The man is my father’s heir presumptive, but the most ridiculous man alive… well, perhaps second most at any rate.”
She paused, feeling tears at the corner of her eyes before continuing.
“Only my father’s support saved me, and his ability to withstand an assault from Mr Darcy is suspect at best. I… I… Well… I panicked! I ran from the room without a single word, went to Hunsford Village and took the first coach that left with nothing but the clothes on my back. I have been running ever since. I was running from him, running from myself, running from my mercenary mother, running from the calendar, running from everything. I turn one and twenty in three days, andI will notbe forced into anything by anybody.”
Nobody said anything for the longest time, as everyone pieced the story together with growing horror and confusion.
Finally, Georgiana screwed up her courage and tried to crack the silence. “If you are hiding from my brother, Lizzy, you might not have picked the best place to do it,” and the room erupted in tension-relieving laughter for a moment.
Lady Matlock sat beside Elizabeth, put an arm around the younger lady’s shoulders, and pulled her into an embrace. Elizabeth was shaking, very close to tears, though whether from sadness, confusion, or rage she could hardly say.
“You have been through a difficult time, my dear. That is quite a story.”
Mr Wythe spoke up. “She told us a week ago, my lady. She has been trying to understand your nephew for some time.”
Elizabeth drew comfort from the elder woman's sympathy. Indeed, she felt the luckiest woman in the world. She had demonstrated her competence by acting as mistress of an estate she had never set foot in, but she had also demonstrated that she was simply lucky. Entirely by chance she had found the Wythes,Lady Matlock, and Mr Breton. She might even be willing to help Mr Darcy fill in that hole he seemed to be in, as his sins did not seem so awfully terrible at the moment.
With a deep sigh, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, until Mr Breton handed her a handkerchief.
Straightening, she said, “Thank you… all of you.”
Everyone smiled, nodded, and disclaimed any need for thanks.
Feeling quite bold, and still in Lady Matlock’s embrace, she reached up to kiss the lady on the cheek.
“My lady, Georgiana, Mr Breton; pray, tell me about Mr Darcy.”
Assembly Hall
“Brother, have you received your dancing orders?”
Darcy started at the oddly phrased question, but nearly a month in the Bennet household had left him resilient to statements made purely for effect, so he answered calmly.
“I hope you are not being overly presumptuous, Miss Kitty. I amnotyour brother and may well never be, though I dearly hope it may come to pass. Ihopenobody outside this household knows of your supposition?”
Catherine Bennet was capable of chagrin, he was happy to note, though her downcast expression did not last long.
“Out of curiosity, which of your sisters told you?”
“Oh, none of them… secret to the grave and such. I worked it out on my own, and needled Lydia until she confessed. Do not fret though, the idea is still quite foreign to Mama, and nobody outside this house knows, nor will they. We have enough sense of self-preservation to protect Lizzy’s reputation.”
“I see you comprehend that your sister’s reputation affects your own. I am happy to see it.”
Kitty laughed. “Not that kind of self-preservation; I mean avoiding Lizzy’s foul temper. I assume you are acquainted with it. I am curious. Just how bad was the set-down she delivered? You still seem to be able to walk straight, and still have most of your teeth, so maybe she went easy on you.”
“She walked out without a single word, got in a post coach, and left the county.”
“Lucky you! If she had spoken, you would have no chance at redemption at all. You would be a broken man, wandering the country hoping you might stumble upon her one day by chance.”
“Perhaps she would tour it on holiday at the exact moment I arrived.”
“Yes, yes, yes. She would stay in Lambton and… well, this is all quite ridiculous.”
“Yes, Miss Kitty. You may be right about her mode of communication. I might not havemuchchance of redemption, but a little is better than none and I will take what I can get.”
“Ah, so you are a man who gives up after one setback?”
Darcy chuckled, realising that teasing was a congenital habit, passed down from the patriarch, though he had thought the youngest Bennet daughters I capable of anything beyond giggling during his first sojourn.
