“Yes, Mr Darcy?”
“We are both quite hungry and I have no doubt that any dish you have prepared will be delicious.”
“Oh, Mr Darcy! How silly of me to keep you waiting! Let me call for Hill to bring the first course!”
Darcy tried to say something, but Mr Bennet signed to him to cease any effort.
“Mrs Bennet must be allowed to exhaust herself in such moments of utter excitement,” the gentleman said, offering Darcy a glass of brandy that he happily accepted. “You are most welcome in our home, sir, and we are indeed grateful and honoured to consider you our friend.”
“I am happy and honoured to be here too, sir,” Darcy responded in complete earnest.
“I am glad such a horrible situation appears to have moved towards a fair ending,” Mr Bennet concluded.
“Likewise, sir!”
Over the dinner table, Darcy’s eyes briefly crossed with Elizabeth’s. Both were distressed, anxious, confused, but content to end the day in a much better spirit than they had started it.
Then Elizabeth smiled and her eyes sparkled with mirth. Darcy understood that, for the first time, she was smiling at him only—and he could easily tell the difference.
∞∞∞
Despite the general exhaustion caused by the tumult of the last few weeks and the gentlemen’s long journey, the dinner lasted a long time.
Bingley seemed unable to move away from Jane—who was flushed most of the evening—so the gentlemen did not separate, choosing to enjoy their drinks in the ladies’ company. Mrs Bennet spent every other moment paying special attention to Mr Darcy, until her husband discreetly addressed her.
“Mrs Bennet, please keep in mind that Mr Darcy is a private man. He enjoys his solitude and peace, as much as I do. I am begging you, let him breathe a little. He certainly appreciates your gratitude, but let us not frighten him away.”
Mrs Bennet was ready to oppose such a notion. She knew too well that any man was delighted to be the centre of attention, especially one as proud as Mr Darcy. She would have continued with her attention if she had not happened to notice the gentleman speaking somewhat privately with Elizabeth in a corner of the room.
Watching their faces, a strange, daring and extraordinary thought crossed her mind and stopped her heart for a bit. She knew she could not and should not hope for something so impossible, but she realised that her husband might be correct. Perhaps Mr Darcy needed to be left alone and choose his own partner for conversation.
Therefore, she moved near to Jane and Mr Bingley, asking the gentleman about his time in London and expressing her joy at seeing him back at Netherfield.
Darcy was pleased to see Elizabeth moving towards him. He did not dare approach her, but he was anxious to hear her opinion about his impromptu and barely proper actions.
Her smile became brighter and he found himself smiling back at her.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Why would you thank me? I have done nothing but clear a misunderstanding that had affected both of us.”
“Thank you for your brave action. I know you are a private man and such a public exhibition must be more difficult for you than fighting a war.”
“Well, yes… but I admit to you only that I was unexpectedly satisfied in the end.”
Her eyes laughed at him. “This is unexpected indeed. As unexpected as your admittance that you proposed to me and I refused you. I imagine the entirety of Meryton was shocked as never before.”
“No, I believe they were even more shocked when I suggested Sir William might keep a mistress at St. James’s. I truly do not know where that comparison came from.”
Elizabeth laughed loudly and quickly put her palm over her mouth. Her joyful laughter warmed Darcy’s heart and aroused hopes higher than ever in Mrs Bennet.
“When Mrs Phillips told Mama, I thought she would kill me,” Elizabeth jested. “But luckily, not even my mother believed that you truly intended to marry me.”
Her entire face was brightened by amusement, but his expression turned serious.
“Miss Bennet, I made that proposal in complete earnest. I would never have said it if I did not intend it to happen. It is also true that I did not expect you to accept, since I know your opinion of me.”
“Oh…” Surprise turned her serious too. “Sir, we had no time to speak after the ball, but please rest assured that I have long realised how ill-grounded my opinion had been and it changed from the moment I discovered the truth. I have blamed myself many times since then and, even without these dreadful circumstances that brought you here today, I hoped for an opportunity to apologise.”
