“Not even after that incident at the Assembly? I beg to differ sir, for I alarmed myself right and proper.”
“An incident I am assured had less to do with your character and more to do with some peculiarity in the room.”
She smiled. “Well, I should be sorry to disappoint.”
Before he could answer, footsteps sounded from the drawing room.
“Lizzy!” Jane appeared, relief written plainly across her face. “The carriage is waiting. I was just coming to fetch you.”
“I am quite ready,” Elizabeth said, with a composure she felt she had earned.
Darcy stepped aside to make room for them. As she passed him, his attention followed—not boldly, not with any claim upon her, but with a quiet awareness that made itself felt all the same.
At the door, Elizabeth paused and glanced back once more at the stair she had descended without effort.
“Good morning, Mr Darcy,” she said lightly. “Thank you for keeping me company in such an… accommodating house.”
Something in his expression stilled, then eased—amusement, perhaps, or recognition. “I shall take that as encouragement rather than instruction.”
“I recommend it,” she said, and this time did not trouble herself to look away as she left.
Chapter Sixteen
The door had scarcelyclosed behind her before the house rushed to meet her.
“…and I said as much, Jane, for it is perfectly obvious to anyone with eyes that matters are advancing, and I cannot imagine why anyone should pretend otherwise—Lizzy! There you are at last.”
Elizabeth barely had time to set her reticule down before Mama swept her into her arms.
“You look very well,” her mother declared, inspecting her with swift approval. “Quite refreshed. I told everyone you would be, of course. Fresh air, good food, and proper attention—that is all that was ever required.”
Elizabeth smiled and stepped aside before she could be steered fully into the centre of the room. “I am glad to have satisfied expectations.”
“Oh, they are most satisfactorily exceeded,” Mama declared. “And now that you are home, we may speak freely. Jane, my love, tell your sisters what Mr Bingley said last evening.”
Jane protested at once. “Mama, there was nothing to tell.”
“There was quite enough,” her mother returned briskly. “Dining with the family, walking out every day, music in the evenings—why, they danced, Lizzy. A reel. In the drawing room!”
Elizabeth turned to Jane, one brow lifting. “You did not mention that.”
Jane laughed, flustered. “It was nothing formal. Only a little diversion. Mr Bingley insisted, and after some persuasion, Miss Bingley was prevailed upon to play for us.”
“He is so very good,” Mama declared. “And some things besides. Oh, so terribly clever of you, Lizzy, to fall ill at Netherfield, and how good you were, Jane, to make the best of it. Always thinking of your poor family, you are!”
Elizabeth caught her father’s eye across the room. He closed his book at last.
“So,” he said mildly, “Netherfield survives the Great Bennet incursion. I trust you did not exhaust them entirely.”
“I did my best,” Elizabeth said. “But I was outmatched.”
“That is always the danger,” he replied. His gaze lingered on her a moment longer than usual. “You are quite restored, then?”
“I am. At least, I appear to be.”
His mouth twitched. “Appearances are a great comfort to the anxious.”
“Oh, what about that enormous dog everyone talked about?” Kitty burst out suddenly, turning a chair for Elizabeth to take a seat. “Did you see him? Mrs Long said he was enormous. Was he as big as the table? Did he bark? Did he—”
