Elizabeth laughed softly. "Nothing at all… only a feeling of… oh, I don’t know. Restlessness, perhaps."
She crossed to the window and looked out across the gardens. Mrs Hill was directing two maids who were hanging sheets, Lydia had persuaded Kitty into a game of graces—something that showed they weren’t quite as grown up as they claimed to be—and Jane, a basket at her feet, was pruning her beloved rose garden.
"I cannot complain of anything," she said. "We are happy here. I know that. I only find myself wishing, now and then, thatsomething unexpected might happen. Somewhere new to see. Someone new to talk to. A conversation whose ending I cannot predict before it has begun."
Mr Bennet smiled. "Too many novels, I suspect, my girl. You may wish for a gothic castle and swashbuckling hero. But I suspect they would all be rather tiresome in real life."
"I knew you would blame the novels."
"Hah! Even I have become predictable."
Elizabeth turned back towards him. "Am I being a goose, Papa?"
"I believe," he said, setting his book aside altogether, "that there are not many young women possessed of both your intelligence and your energy, Lizzy. Most are blessed with one or the other. You have somehow contrived to inherit both. It is an excellent combination, but not one that sits comfortably with a life that meanders slowly down familiar channels."
Elizabeth blinked. "I had expected a lecture."
"My dear, if I had intended to lecture you, I should have left the task to Mary."
She laughed. "So I am not ungrateful?"
"No."
"Nor fanciful?"
"I have known at least one other lady who would understand exactly what you mean. She also shone brightly and could not be contained by a small or ordinary life."
Elizabeth's curiosity was immediately awakened. "Who was she?"
"An old friend."
"Have I met her?"
"No."
"Is she still living?"
"I have every reason to believe so."
"Then why have I never heard of her?"
He looked down at the book resting in his lap, turning it absently between his hands before meeting her eye once more. "That is a story for another day."
Elizabeth let out a disappointed sigh. "You always become mysterious when you have no intention of answering me."
"It is one of the privileges of being a father. You must allow your old Papa his whims."
She shook her head, laughing despite herself. "You are impossible."
"So your mother has been telling me for nearly twenty-five years."
As Elizabeth reached the door, his voice stopped her once more.
"Lizzy."
She turned.
"There is nothing unreasonable in wishing to see a little more of the world than has thus far presented itself to you. But life may change rather faster than you would wish it, and I hope you will remember these times together at Longbourn with fondness."
