Page 50 of A Most Unwelcome Acquaintance

Bingley’s smile remained. “Did she require help?”

“She had Sarah.”

“And yet you came home marked by the encounter.”

“The gate was defective.”

Caroline laughed. “You have inspected Longbourn’s hedges and now its gates. Soon they will have you managing the estate.”

“I held the gate.”

“Was Miss Elizabeth grateful?” Bingley asked.

“She thanked me.”

The answer ended the conversation, but Darcy continued to consider the encounter. While he meant that Elizabeth should be spared the work, she heard judgment of her home and family.

He could not claim she had misunderstood him.

At Pemberley, his steward would have secured a gate near a public lane before the flock found it. He had measured Longbourn against standards supported by an income many times greater, then spoken as though the comparison required no explanation.

Elizabeth had not denied the fault; she objected to the ease with which he judged it.

Later, in the library, he attempted to read and failed. The scene returned in pieces: Sarah lying flat in the lane, Elizabeth lifting the gate, the smear of earth on her glove, her laughter when he apologized to the dog.

He had caused that laughter without becoming its object. The distinction mattered more than it should.

He closed the book.

That evening, Sarah lay before the drawing-room fire with her paws stretched toward the hearth. Elizabeth sat near her with a book open on her lap, though she had not turned a page.

The dog raised her head at a sound outside.

“It is only the wind,” Elizabeth said.

Sarah settled again.

Elizabeth looked at the printed lines.

Mr. Darcy’s conduct had been better than his words. His words revealed the habits beneath the conduct: disorder belonged to lesser estates, and a gentleman’s daughter had no business doing the work required to sustain one.

She would remember that.

She would also remember that when his horse shied, he thought first of preventing harm. When the sheep scattered, he asked for instruction. When she corrected him, he listened.

She disliked the balance of the account.

It would have been easier had he remained disagreeable.

Elizabeth turned the page without having read it and rested one hand on Sarah’s head. The dog sighed beneath her fingers, content with work completed and the flock secure.

Elizabeth envied her the certainty.

Chapter 16

JANE RECEIVED MISS Bingley’s invitation with a pleasure she tried, and failed, to conceal. Elizabeth watched her read it twice before folding the note.

“She invited both of us,” Jane said.