Page 54 of Elizabeth Bennet Says Yes to Mr. Darcy

“Yes,” I said. “I believe I will stay.”

Georgiana squeezed my fingers.

Darcy stood in the corridor when I left the drawing room. He had probably waited close enough to intervene if his sister needed him, yet far enough to give her freedom to speak.

“How is she?” he asked.

“Better. She's resting.”

“Thank you.”

“She doesn't need my pity.”

“I would never have asked you to offer it.”

“She needs to know the fault wasn't hers.”

An old pain darkened his gaze.

“I've been telling her that for years.”

“She believes you. She just needs to hear it from other voices.”

He inclined his head.

“Yours already means a great deal to her.”

We descended together. Netherfield's silence stood in stark contrast to the previous evening's commotion. Caroline and the Hursts had left early that morning, officially for an engagement in London. I suspected the coming announcement of our engagement had hastened their departure.

Darcy led me to the library.

“Does your father know you're here?”

“Jane came with me. She's in the breakfast room with Mr. Bingley, where they're examining once again the crucial question of the wedding date.”

“They'll change it again tomorrow.”

“My mother has already fixed her opinion in her mind. I fear it will be harder to correct than an invitation.”

He smiled, then grew serious again.

“You told Georgiana you would stay.”

I stopped.

“You were listening?”

“No. She told me when I went in after you left. She looked happy.”

“And you?”

He didn't answer immediately.

“I don't know what you meant.”

I approached the window. In the park, the trees were deepening into richer green. I thought of the young woman I had been at Hunsford, sitting across from a man she thought she knew, considering marrying him for five thousand pounds. She had no idea of the path that would lead her here.

“I no longer want our engagement to remain in suspense,” I said.