Page 44

"Only a few? You set yourself a severe limitation."

They began with a passage from a book of travels. Darcy read it deliberately, and Elizabeth corrected him only when an alteration would change the meaning. She was a patient teacher, though she could not resist smiling when he gave an ordinary word such a stern emphasis that it sounded like an accusation.

"Have I offended the author?" he asked.

"Not at all. But you sounded rather as if you intended to arrest him."

"Then perhaps I shall reserve that expression for the next man who mismanages my accounts."

"You must not. Your steward has been good enough to tolerate your English."

When Richard entered, he found Darcy reading a German sentence for the third time while Elizabeth listened with an expression of grave concentration.

"This is a dreadful sight," the colonel announced. "My cousin has surrendered his pride to scholarship."

"His pride is perfectly safe," Elizabeth answered. "He has simply discovered that consonants cannot be commanded by rank."

"And what is he learning to say?"

"That a traveller ought to be careful when crossing a mountain."

Richard considered this. "Tell him to say instead that the traveller ought to bring a horse. It will prove more useful."

Elizabeth translated the colonel's suggestion. Darcy considered it, then answered in German, his accent imperfect but his meaning entirely clear. "A horse can do nothing to make a foolish rider wise." Richard, who required Elizabeth to translate, declared the lesson a personal attack and withdrew to find Saye, who would presumably protect the injured honour of the family.

After he left, Elizabeth closed the book. "You improve quickly."

"I have an advantage over other pupils."

"And what is that?"

"A teacher whose conversation is worth the difficulty."

The simplicity of the compliment left her unprepared. She looked at him across the table, conscious of how often his presence had lately altered the colour of an ordinary day.

"Then I should take care not to make the lessons too easy," she said.

"Please do not. I should be disappointed to finish them soon."

Lady Matlock appeared in the doorway before either could say more, bringing an invitation that required Elizabeth's answer. The moment passed, but it lingered in Elizabeth's mind. She had become accustomed to Darcy's respect and to his attentiveness; she was not yet prepared for the possibility that they might mean something beyond friendship.

That evening she attempted to explain the matter to her diary, discovered that every sentence sounded either foolishly hopeful or absurdly cautious, and shut the book without writing anything at all.

A few weeks later a private invitation came through Lady Matlock's acquaintance with one of Queen Charlotte's attendants. The countess was asked to attend a small musical gathering at which the Queen would be present, and Elizabeth was included among the guests. It was not a drawing-room presentation, with trains and formal curtsies, but an evening of music and limited conversation.

Elizabeth entered feeling considerably less frightened than she had at the palace the previous year. Her Majesty was seated among a small company and listened attentively to a selection performed by musicians attached to the household. Afterward, while the guests conversed, one of the Queen's ladies mentioned Miss Bennet's German.

"You were born in England, my dear?" the Queen asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty. My father was an officer in His Majesty's navy."

"And you have learned our language so well?"

"From my mother, Your Majesty," Elizabeth answered in German. "She spoke it to me before I could make myself properly understood in English."

The Queen's expression brightened, and she continued in German. Elizabeth answered naturally, taking care to use the respect due to Her Majesty while avoiding the stiff phrases a pupil might employ merely to display an accomplishment. They spoke briefly of books and the pleasures of music. Queen Charlotte appeared especially pleased when Elizabeth mentioned a song Minna had sung to her as a child.

"Do you know where your mother was born?" Her Majesty asked.