“I am very busy,” she began, but as she met his eye, he winked at her. She flushed and drew her brows together. “As I was saying, sir, I have duties which require my attention, and I do not have leisure to wander about.”
He lifted his brows, and Elizabeth saw that he mocked her.
Georgiana looked toward her beloved friend with concern. “Lizzy, do you still dislike my brother for his trespass?”
Kitty’s eyes widened, but she applied herself to her sewing and remained silent.
Elizabeth colored. “Of course not, my dear. It was of little consequence, was it not? Had Miss Bingley not been present, it would have signified nothing.”
Georgiana’s expression eased. “I am glad, Lizzy, for Fitzwilliam is my favorite person in the world, and you are my next favorite, and I should be very unhappy if you did not like one another.”
Darcy rose. “Then, Miss Bennet, since you do not dislike me, let us walk out. As I said, it is a fine autumn day, and the leaves are turning.”
She stood. “Very well, I shall fetch my things.”
She stepped from the room, and he followed. Mrs. Hill came forward to assist her with her cloak and placed her bonnet in her hands. She stood before the mirror and adjusted it upon her head, and as she did so, she met his gaze in the glass. He smiled, and she took in his even white teeth and the dimples in his cheeks, the neat line of his whiskers, and the fullness of his lower lip. He gave a low laugh but did not speak. She pressed her lips together and, taking up her gloves, went out.
Darcy came up beside her and offered his arm, which she accepted. They walked in silence to the hermitage. Elizabeth remembered the happiness she had felt when he had pushed them on the swing. She sighed. They continued up the slope of Oakham Mount without speaking.
When they reached the summit, he said, “You are very skilled in climbing trees, Miss Bennet.”
She lifted her chin. “You watched me yesterday.”
“I did, ma’am, and I was impressed.”
“You ought to have spoken, sir, and made your presence known.”
“I would have done so, had I known what to say. I was troubled to see you in tears and believed myself the cause. Was I?”
“Yes, sir. I found Mr. Allen to be a pleasing gentleman, and had you not returned, we should soon have been engaged.”
“He has been attentive to you for several weeks, and he told me himself that he had not spoken because you were not prepared to answer.”
“I would have been, sir. It was a very near thing. Another week or two, and it would have been settled.”
“Why did you hesitate, Miss Bennet? Was it because you still loved me and could not give yourself to another?”
She turned upon him with anger. “You are a proud and arrogant man, and I do not know how anyone can endure you.”
He took her hand and bowed over it, then brought it to his lips and kissed her knuckles. Though she wore gloves, she felt the strength of the gesture travel through her and stir something deep within.
He had captured her attention, and she watched him closely. He rose and met her eyes.
“Pray, forgive me and allow us to begin again. The time I have spent in your company has been the happiest of my life. Do not let my words place an insurmountable distance between us. Say that you will forgive me.”
“Mr. Darcy, you are a bird of the air, and I am a fish of the sea. We belong to different orders, and if I were to marry you and hear such words from you again, it would destroy me. I know I am beneath you, and I believe it would be ruinous to reach so far above myself. I fear I could never be happy, for your elevated relations and your fine friends would regard me as Miss Bingley has done. I do not desire a life filled with hardship and discord, sir. I am a simple woman, with simple desires, and by joining myself to you, I fear I would condemn myself to a life of sorrow.”
He came near enough to take her hands in his, his expression one of concern.
“Elizabeth, we are not so different. We are both born of the gentry. It is true my grandfather was an earl, but my father held no English title. I have been a prideful man, but these past weeks have shown me how empty my life truly is without the woman I love.”
He drew her to a fallen log, and they sat.
“I do not claim that every proud habit has been removed from my character, but I have been humbled, and I shall endeavor each day to become a man worthy of you.”
Elizabeth sat in silence throughout his speech, neither word nor expression revealing her thoughts. He took up her hand.
“Have you no answer for me, my darling?”
