“Ah, true,” I said. “Well, stay home from tea like usual, and I shall come to you then.”
She considered.
“If you’ll speak to me, that is,” I said.
“Stop whispering to each other,” huffed Richard, falling into step on the other side of me. “What are you talking about?”
“Later, then,” said Miss Bennet.
“Later,” I agreed.
“I say, you are both acting very strangely!” exclaimed Richard.
“Yes, we may have caught a fever,” said Miss Bennet idly. “I should go back to the parsonage and lie down.”
Richard furrowed his brow. “Well, I shall walk with you.”
“No need, you might catch it from me,” said Miss Bennet blandly.
“Of course I’m going to be chivalrous enough to walk with you,” said the colonel, going after her.
I watched them both go.
CHAPTER FOUR
elizabeth
I faked a headache and tears and stayed home.
He arrived just as he had the day that he had proposed to me.
I received him in a sitting room in the parsonage, and he was wearing a waistcoat and a cravat, which I noticed and could not help but comment upon.
“I am beginning to think that my lack of decorum might have put us in some danger,” he muttered.
“Danger?” I said.
“Well, you are…” He looked me over. “We should not get in the habit of doing things that are improper near each other is all. I should not like to do anything to you that would be untoward, and—” He cleared his throat. “Never mind this. It is neither here nor there.”
“We are meeting alone, which is improper,” I said. It was really rather improper that we walked together, I supposed, for we were unchaperoned whenever he appeared, but it was ludicrous, really, to think of anyone trying to compromise me, especially not Mr. Darcy.
I was not wealthy, so no one would be doing it for financial gain.
And Mr. Darcy did not even find me pretty. I was barely tolerable.
“Yes, I suppose.” He folded his arms over his chest. “And I was going to attempt to make you like me, but perhaps I oughtn’t. Maybe that will keep us safe, if you dislike me.”
“Safe from what?” I said.
“I don’t wish to talk of this with you,” he said, annoyed. “This is not why I came.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Why are you here?”
“We should, erm, try to get ourselves unstuck in time, I suppose, don’t you think?”
“Well, yes, I agree,” I said. “We must. And I have a theory about that, in fact. I think you are being punished for your arrogance and your lack of consideration for others. I think I am being punished for being too hard on people. So, we must both correct these things, and then I think we shall be free to live out our lives again.”
“Wait,” he said, furrowing his brow, “let me get this straight. You think we’re being punished and we’re meant to learn a moral lesson?”
