Page 45 of Elizabeth Bennet Says Yes to Mr. Darcy

“Not here,” I murmured.

An almost painful gleam flickered in his eyes.

“Elizabeth, you are cruel.”

“You once accused me of taking pleasure in provocation.”

“I stand by that.”

I laughed and withdrew my hand before my father returned.

This conversation should have left me happy. Yet that very evening, a rumor arrived from Meryton and transformed our new intimacy into a public threat.

Lydia returned from dinner at the Forsters’ with eyes bright with excitement.

“You’ll never guess what everyone is saying! Wickham says Mr. Darcy has purchased a debt of Papa’s, and that he did it because Lizzy must marry him!”

Silence fell over the drawing room.

My mother let out a cry.

“What debt? What absurdity! Lizzy, is it true that Mr. Darcy wishes to marry you? Why have you told me nothing?”

My father rose so abruptly that his chair struck the wall.

“Lydia, who told you this?”

“Mrs. Forster heard it from an officer, who had it from Wickham. Apparently, a clerk from Mr. Harcourt’s solicitor talked at the inn. All of Meryton knows that Mr. Darcy has saved our family.”

Jane turned pale. Kitty looked eagerly from one to another. Mary opened her mouth, no doubt to offer a moral reflection, then had the wisdom to close it again.

“Mr. Darcy hasn’t bought anything,” I said.

My voice trembled with anger.

“Then he’s marrying you?” my mother asked.

“He’s asked for my hand, but he’s giving me time to think it over.”

She sank onto the sofa.

“Ten thousand pounds a year! And you never said a word to me! I knew you were his favorite, despite all your impertinence. Oh, my poor nerves…”

“Mama, nothing’s been decided.”

Her joy crumbled.

“Not decided? How can you hesitate? After everything he’s doing for us?”

The words I had been dreading had just been spoken in front of my entire family.

After everything he’s doing for us.

I felt Jane’s eyes on me.

“Precisely,” I replied. “I will never marry him simply because he helped Papa.”

“What ingratitude!”