Page 10 of Elizabeth Bennet Says Yes to Mr. Darcy

“You’re not curious?”

“Terribly.”

“And yet you ask nothing.”

“You told me you could say no more. I don’t wish our engagement to turn all your boundaries into permissions.”

She remained silent. I feared I had spoken too solemnly. Then she placed her hand on my arm again to step over a root, though she had no need of my help.

This tiny gesture filled me with disproportionate joy.

When we rejoined the road to the parsonage, we spotted Fitzwilliam in the distance. He raised his hat and came to meet us.

“Miss Bennet,” he said, “I find my cousin didn’t leave me time to offer my congratulations before monopolizing your morning.”

Elizabeth blushed.

“It seems Mr. Darcy fears competition.”

“With good reason. I’m infinitely more amiable.”

“But less wealthy,” she replied.

Fitzwilliam placed a hand over his heart.

“You strike precisely where the truth hurts.”

I smiled in spite of myself. Elizabeth looked at me, and I thought I saw a new warmth in her eyes.

I didn’t yet know that before this walk ended, my cousin would destroy the illusion on which all my happiness rested.

Chapter 4

Elizabeth

Colonel Fitzwilliam accompanied us to the fork that led to the parsonage. Mr. Darcy had to return to Rosings on business with the steward and took his leave with a reluctance that might have flattered me had I not been so occupied with concealing my distress.

He looked at me before walking away.

“Until this evening.”

Only two words, yet their intimacy lingered as he disappeared among the trees.

The colonel fell into step beside me.

“You seem surprised by my cousin.”

“Mr. Darcy has had that talent since our first meeting.”

“I have rarely seen him so happy.”

Guilt gnawed at me. I lowered my eyes to the path.

“He told me he hesitated a great deal.”

“Then he has told you more than he has told me. Darcy keeps his emotions under lock and key, then wonders why no one knows where he has put them.”

“Yet it seems to me he acts decisively enough when he believes he knows what is best.”