Was that why I was cursed?
Fine. I would be happy to repent of it and see everyone in a positive light if only I could see Friday, April tenth. I gazed heavenward, sending up a silent prayer and promise.
“I suppose that would be awful,” said Mr. Darcy. “Being married to that man. I am sorry for having said that to you. You definitely should be able to do better.”
“But not nearly as good as you, of course,” I retorted, sarcastic.
“Well, naturally, Miss Bennet. I am the grandson of an earl,” he said witheringly.
I let out a noise of disbelief. “On second thought, I shall simply go back and take my chances with Mr. Collins. You are absolutely horrid, Mr. Darcy. I cannot stand being near you.” Normally, I would not say something so bald to anyone at all, but there was something about all of this—first, Mr. Darcy’s relative lack of formality, and second, the repetition of Thursdays—that had caused me to lose a great deal of self-control.
I stopped walking and turned back around to go back to the parsonage.
He caught my arm.
I turned to look at him in shock. He hadtouchedme.
“Oh, my apologies,” he muttered. “You’re not wearing gloves, you know.”
I looked down at my hands. “W-well, we left in quite a hurry. I didn’t have a chance—”
“I’m only saying we are breaking a number of social expectations, Miss Bennet. We shouldn’t even be alone together, let alone without cravats and gloves—”
“You don’t have a waistcoat either,” I pointed out.
“Exactly,” he said. “So, I hardly think you need to get out of sorts about my hand on your arm. Anyway, don’t go. I haven’t had a conversation with someone who I thought would remember it tomorrow in some time. I am enjoying it. Please. I’m sorry if I’m impossible to stand being near, I suppose. Should I not have pointed out the fact that we do not travel in the same social circles?”
“Except we do, sir,” I said tartly. “In fact, it seems that our social circles seem to cross quite often. Witness the fact, for instance, that we are both here, in Kent.”
He considered. “Sort of, I suppose. But I couldn’t really marry you, you know.”
“Well, I would never marry you.”
“Yes, I got that message,” he said. “If anyone had any right to have hurt feelings, you know, it would be me. You were exceedingly cruel when you refused me.”
I gasped. “Cruel? I don’t think I was.”
“You said you wouldn’t marry me if I was the last man on earth.”
“I don’t think I said that.”
“Something like that,” he said.
“Well, I suppose it’s true, no matter what it was I said,” I sighed. “But I am sorry if I hurt your feelings. It’s only thatyou weren’t really in love with me anyway, so I can’t see why it matters what I said.”
“Yes, just so,” he said with a nod. “My thoughts exactly. Except it was rather bracing. I can’t say it hurt my feelings precisely, but it was unpleasant. I shan’t ever do that again, that’s for certain.”
I glared at him. “Yes, well, no one wishes you to.” I started walking in the direction of the road.
He hurried to fall into step with me. “I am sorry. Again. I’ve apologize before, but I shall keep at it, as long as I must, and I shan’t even point out how many times I’ve apologized.”
I clenched my hands into fists.
“Here it is, Miss Bennet, I must say that I am not in love with you ardently or otherwise, but that I do think you are likely the smartest woman I’ve met in my life and probably the best conversationalist I’ve ever known, amongst men or women, and I think you’re very funny. So, Ilikeyou, you know. I see that you don’t like me, but I wish you would.”
I stopped walking and gaped at him.
He flushed, a stain of red over his cheeks and his neck. He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, casting his gaze down. He had rather large hands, didn’t he? He walked past me. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I seem to have forgotten how to carry on with another human being since I got stuck repeating Thursdays. That was dreadful. Perhaps we could pretend I didn’t say it?”
