Page 54

"Marriage should not be an extension of guardianship," Lady Matlock answered. "If a gentleman approaches you as a charitable duty, you ought to reject him. If he approaches you because he wishes to share his life with you, that is another matter entirely."

Elizabeth felt the tears gather before she could prevent them. "You make it sound quite simple."

"Simple to understand. Not always easy to believe."

Lady Matlock did not ask the gentleman's name. Elizabeth loved her for the discretion almost as much as for the advice.

During the last week of May, before the family removed to the country, Saye requested that Elizabeth accompany him and Richard on an inspection of a cottage belonging to a retired estate employee. The man's daughter had written that the roof leaked after heavy rain, and Saye intended to see whether the carpenter's estimate was reasonable. Richard complained that he was being dragged into a battle against slate and chimney pots, but he came willingly enough.

Darcy joined them because the road passed a property he wished to inspect on his uncle's behalf. The morning was clear, and Elizabeth enjoyed the ride through a landscape beginning to fill with summer green. Saye asked her opinion of a path that could be improved for the older tenants, and she suggested that the steepest turning might be avoided by following the lower hedge. Richard informed them that horses would prefer the present route; Elizabeth answered that some residents possessed only two feet and deserved as much consideration as a horse.

At the cottage the retired steward greeted Saye with the particular warmth of a man whose long service had not been forgotten. His daughter was embarrassed to have written about the roof, but Saye assured her that repairs were a matter of prudence rather than charity. He inspected the damage with the carpenter and made certain the work would be completed before another heavy rain.

Elizabeth sat with the older man while the others examined the building. He told her stories of the present Earl's youth and of the two boys who had once visited the cottages with their father. Saye, he said, had always wished to know whether every tenant had enough firewood. Richard had been more interested in whether a horse could jump a particular gate.

"That is entirely true," Elizabeth said when Richard came within hearing. "Your brother was born to concern himself with people's welfare, and you were born to concern them with your survival."

"I have matured considerably," Richard protested. "I now ask whether the horse can jump before committing myself."

Saye returned from the roof with a note for the carpenter and heard enough to shake his head. "Your version of maturity is difficult to distinguish from your earliest habits."

On the return journey a rain shower forced them to shelter beneath the trees. Richard announced that the weather was a deliberate attempt to prevent Elizabeth from repeating the story of his childhood, and she assured him that a family anecdote improved with each telling. Saye stood beside her holding an umbrella while Darcy watched the easy affection among them.

It struck him suddenly that Elizabeth had become the younger sister the brothers had never possessed. Richard treated her with all the irreverence of long familiarity, but his eyes followed her when the path grew slippery. Saye appeared to offer no protection at all until a difficulty arose, and then he was quietly beside her before she asked. Neither sought thanks. Their regard was woven into the ordinary habits of the day.

Darcy thought of Georgiana, whom he loved fiercely but sometimes protected so anxiously that she was afraid to disappoint him. He thought, too, of the girl Elizabeth had been when she came to Matlock House and of the confidence that had since flourished around her. For the first time he understood that he did not merely admire her happiness: he wished to be one of the people with whom she shared it.

When the shower passed, Elizabeth thanked Saye for holding the umbrella and Richard for providing the entertainment. She looked toward Darcy and asked whether he had enjoyed his morning.

"More than I expected," he answered.

"That is a cautious compliment."

"I shall endeavor to make the next one less cautious."

Elizabeth coloured, though Richard's immediate demand to know what compliment had been withheld prevented further discussion. Saye redirected his brother toward the waiting horses, and Darcy was privately grateful for the rescue.

The next afternoon, rain began before Darcy and Elizabeth reached the far end of the terrace. It was not heavy enough to justify running, but a sudden gust sent loose leaves spinning between their feet. Darcy lifted the edge of the umbrella to shelter her; the movement brought them closer than either had intended.

"You are getting wet," Elizabeth said.

"I shall survive the indignity."

"You are remarkably confident for a gentleman who refused to walk without an umbrella."

He looked down at her, and she saw that he was trying not to smile. His gloved hand held the umbrella steady, though rain trickled from the brim of his hat. Elizabeth could have stepped farther beneath it. She remained where she was.

They spoke of books for another minute, both aware that neither could afterwards have repeated a sentence of the discussion. Darcy noticed a leaf caught in the fringe of her shawl. He removed it, then held it between two fingers as if uncertain what to do next. Elizabeth reached for it; their gloves touched. They drew apart almost together.

At dinner he listened to her conversation with Saye and found himself waiting for the moment she would turn back toward him. Elizabeth, across the table, was just as conscious of his silence. She had imagined affection announcing itself through declarations or grand sacrifices. She had not known it might arrive in the shape of a gentleman standing in the rain and refusing to admit that half his shoulder was wet.

In early June, a week before Elizabeth's twentieth birthday, Darcy accompanied the family on a visit to the Earl's country property. Saye arrived from his own estate, and Richard obtained sufficient leave to join them for several days. Georgiana was to remain with her companion in London until the following week. The country house was smaller than Matlock House but had a sheltered garden and a long avenue of limes where Elizabeth liked to walk.

On the second morning, she encountered Darcy examining a fallen branch near the avenue.

"Has a tree offended you?" she asked.

"I was considering whether the path is safe after yesterday's wind."