Page 34 of Elizabeth Bennet Says Yes to Mr. Darcy

“Your judgment?” I murmured.

She replaced her glove with excessive care.

“Gravely compromised.”

Then she passed me on the path.

Chapter 11

Elizabeth

Mr. Darcy asked Jane's forgiveness the next day.

He arrived at Longbourn before Mr. Bingley—in itself extraordinary enough to unsettle my mother. She received him eagerly, offering tea, coffee, currant wine, and three kinds of cake before he could explain the purpose of his visit.

“I should like to speak with Miss Bennet,” he said.

My mother smiled at me so meaningfully that I almost wished for curtains thick enough to hide behind.

“Lizzy is here, naturally. She's doing nothing important. Lizzy, take Mr. Darcy to the library. Your father is in Meryton.”

“I was speaking of Miss Jane Bennet,” he clarified.

My mother's smile froze.

Jane set down her cup.

“Of course.”

Darcy turned to her.

“I should like your sister to remain with us, if you will permit it.”

Jane glanced my way. I could tell she already guessed the subject.

We went into the small parlor, where the door could stay ajar without letting my mother hear every word. Darcy remained standing until we were seated. His usual stiffness had returned, but I now knew it often shielded an emotion rather than a judgment.

“Bingley has no doubt told you what I revealed to him in London,” he began.

“Yes,” Jane replied.

“He told you that I encouraged him to leave Netherfield, that I concealed your presence in London from him, and that I believed your affection less deep than his.”

“He did.”

Darcy clasped his hands behind his back.

“I was mistaken about your feelings. That error does not excuse the rest. I made a decision that belonged to Bingley and caused you several months of pain. I cannot undo that. I wished, however, to ask your forgiveness without assuming that your present happiness erases what I did.”

Jane lowered her eyes. She never sought to punish, but her silence was not empty. I watched Darcy wait without attempting to fill it with fresh justifications.

“I suffered greatly,” she said at last.

Her frankness surprised me. Jane shielded others from her pain so carefully that she rarely named it.

“I regret it deeply,” Darcy replied.

“I did not know why Mr. Bingley had left. I thought I had misunderstood his attentions, or that my reserve had misled him. Then his sister made me understand he no longer thought of me. I blamed myself for having hoped.”