Chapter Eleven
Darcylookedratherasthough someone had hit him quite hard on the head with a cricket bat, Elizabeth thought as she turned to stare at him in astonishment. She could easily imagine his gallant cousin doing exactly as Mrs Bennet had just described, but picturing him married to Lydia was quite another matter.
The door opened again at that precise moment and the very man they were speaking of entered, accompanied by Mr Bennet and Colonel Forster.
“Darcy!” Colonel Fitzwilliam cried, a broad smile coming to his face. “How came you here so fast? I only sent my letter three days ago, whenever did you receive it?”
“I didn’t,” Darcy said dryly, shaking his cousin’s offered hand. “I chanced to be in the company of Miss Elizabeth, however, whenshereceived a letter.”
“A very great pleasure to see you again, Miss Elizabeth,” the colonel said warmly, bowing over her hand. “I know Lydia will be glad of your presence also.”
I doubt it, not when she hears what I have to say to her,Elizabeth thought, but aloud she said “It is always a pleasure to see you, Colonel. May I present my eldest sister, Miss Bennet?”
“The legendary Jane!” Fitzwilliam bowed over her hand too. “Tales of your beauty and grace have preceded you.”
Jane looked as though she wanted to tell him to save his flirting for Lydia, but she no more said that aloud than Elizabeth. Instead she curtsied and murmured a platitude.
The door opened again as Mr Bennet was introducing Mr Gardiner to Colonel Forster, this time to admit Lydia. Angry with her as she was, Elizabeth hesitated at the sight of her sister.
Lydia looked smaller, somehow, dressed in a simple spotted muslin gown with a dark blue sash, her hair drawn back in a style much plainer than her usual fussy curls. Her face was pale, without its usual high colour.
She looks unhappy, Elizabeth thought, and instinctively she moved forward, her arms opening to embrace Lydia.
Obviously startled, Lydia accepted the embrace a little stiffly, though she did say softly “I am glad you are come, Lizzy.”
“I am glad you are safe,” Elizabeth returned honestly, and Lydia produced a small smile, which widened slightly when Jane stepped forward to embrace her in turn.
“I was so worried about you, Lyddie,” Jane murmured against Lydia’s hair, and to Elizabeth’s surprise, two fat tears slid down Lydia’s pale cheeks.
“I’m so sorry. I’ve made such a mess of things.”
“You havenot.”
The last thing Elizabeth expected to happen was to be set aside, if quite gently, by Colonel Fitzwilliam as he rushed to Lydia’s side to comfort her. Arm placed comfortingly around shaking shoulders, he guided her to sit down on a large sofa and took the seat beside her as he murmured comforting, soothing words.
“What ishappening?“ Darcy asked in despairing confusion.
Elizabeth would really very much like to know the answer to that herself. Her head was aching with trying to put all the pieces together. Exchanging a bemused look with Jane, she finally moved forward and took a seat opposite Lydia, watching as her sister calmed under Fitzwilliam’s fond attentions. Fitzwilliam cared about Lydia, she thought, though whether or not he loved her was another matter.
After a few minutes, Lydia seemed to regain her composure. Wiping her eyes with Fitzwilliam’s handkerchief, she gave him a tremulous smile.
“Thank you, Richard,” she whispered.
“Be easy, dear one. All will be well,” he told her reassuringly, touching one of her curls lightly before rising to his feet. “I must go speak with Darcy, who looks as though he may expire at any moment if he cannot ask me all the questions he undoubtedly has, and no doubt your sisters wish to talk to you, as well.”
Lydia looked as though she would rather do almost anything other than talk to Elizabeth and Jane, but she squared her shoulders and nodded. “Would you like to see my room?” she asked in a small voice.
“Indeed I should.” Elizabeth rose to her feet with alacrity, and Jane followed. They exited the parlour on Lydia’s heels, Darcy and Fitzwilliam following close behind.
The two men entered another room at Fitzwilliam’s murmur of “This way,” and Jane and Elizabeth followed Lydia up the narrow stairs.
Lydia’s feet dragged as she led the way to her room. The last few days had been a confusing whirl of activity, though one thing had been a constant; from the moment she accepted ColonelFitzwilliam’s offer, he had been her staunch defender. He had charmed her mother within moments of their meeting, and even her father had quickly expressed his relief that Lydia had ‘fallen on her feet in finding such a good sort of man to marry’ despite her almost-disastrous error with Wickham.
Lizzy, however, looked as though she had spent the trip from Derbyshire thinking up cutting remarks and criticisms to make, and Lydia knew full well she deserved every one of them. Disappointment was writ large even on Jane’s gentle features, and Lydia felt that even more keenly, from her most loving and forgiving sister.
“I have to apologise to both of you,” Lydia decided to go for a pre-emptive strike as she closed the door to her room.
Lizzy raised a cynical eyebrow, but it was Jane who asked “What for, Lyddie?”
