Page 3 of Sketching Mr. Darcy

“Ma’am, are you hurt? There, let me help you,” he said, grabbing her arm as she turned to him and almost fell again.

A moment later he froze, staring into the eyes that opened in surprise. “Miss Bennet?!”

“Mr Darcy!” Her lips were blue and trembling as she forced a smile.

“What are you doing here? What happened? Are you hurt?”

“No, I am not hurt. Only my pride is.” She attempted a joke, her lips trembling. “You are very kind to help me, sir, but I would not wish to ruin your coat. I think I can walk by myself.”

Darcy stared at her, astonished and lost. The only familiar thing was her eyes, still bright and lively; otherwise, her appearance was entirely altered. Aside from her dirty clothes, she was completely frozen, struggling to overcome the trembling of her lips and hands.

“Miss Bennet, are you alone? Forgive me—what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I just came for a walk, and I had a small accident. It is nothing, really. I shall go now.”

Elizabeth hurried to depart from him. Surely, it must be some sort of punishment to have Mr Darcy, of all the people in the world, encounter her in such a disastrous situation.

His eyes searched hers in earnest, and she was certain she could read a severe disapproval of her looks, as happened when she appeared at Netherfield on foot.

He withdrew his hand, which was holding her arm, and called for his horse. She hoped he would leave. There was nothing worse than his silent deprecation. But he removed his coat in a great hurry and put it around her shoulders, wrapping her in the thick fabric.

“This should help you a little. You must be frozen. You look truly ill,” he said severely, and her cheeks blushed with equal shame and growing anger.

She imagined she looked truly ill, but was it so difficult for a gentleman not to point that out?

She was prepared to refuse his help as sharply as he deserved.

It was more difficult to bear his rudeness than the cold.

“I am afraid you are in a dangerous state. You must return home at once.” His voice turned unexpectedly friendly, and she stared at him disconcerted.

“Thank you, sir,” she heard herself replying hesitantly. “Yes, I must return home…”

His hands were still resting on her shoulders as he wrapped his coat about her. She felt suddenly uneasy and called her dog to avoid Darcy’s eyes then started walking.

The dog growled in warning, uncertain what the man was doing to his mistress. Elizabeth forced a smile. “He is not friendly with strangers, and he is very protective of me.”

“Yes, he seemed very protective, which is a good thing. Miss Bennet, you cannot walk back home. It will take you forever. Please use my horse. I will send someone to fetch it later.”

She glanced at him, barely giving credit to what she heard. Was he willing to remain on foot, dressed only in his frock coat so far from his residence? Mr Darcy, of all men?

“I thank you for your care, sir, but it is not very far from here…besides, I am too poor a rider to venture taking your horse. But I greatly appreciate your offer. Oh, I am afraid I have ruined your coat completely—such a shame…” Her voice sounded incoherent even to her as her chin trembled and her feet grew heavy. His gaze became more insistent.

“You must realise it will take you hours to return home in such a state. I have started to became cold myself, and I am not wet at all,” he said.

“I see only one way for both of us to avoid catching a dangerous cold. Perhaps it is not the most proper method, but it is certainly the fastest. We shall ride together to Longbourn.”

She looked at him in shock. “Sir, please do not think me ungrateful, but you must see how unreasonable that sounds. We cannot possibly ride together! It is not… How could we?”

“I understand your concern, and I am perfectly aware of the impropriety. However, for the moment, I am more concerned about our health than our reputations.”

He attempted a smile then continued in earnest. “Had my sister been in a similar circumstance, I would consider her safety and well-being more important than anything else.”

She watched him in silence. He seemed to be right: her immaculate reputation would be of little use if she were to die from cold, as her father would certainly say.

She looked around a few times to delay a decision then reluctantly nodded in agreement, wondering again how she could have stumbled into such a horrible situation, and with none other than Mr Darcy.

He immediately lifted her into the saddle then mounted behind her. His arms supported her as he took the reins, and the horse’s pace soon increased. Elizabeth’s hands clenched his arm, and she closed her eyes, trembling—from the cold as well as the distressing ride.

“Are you well?” he inquired, and she nodded while her hands tightened on his arm. She tried to look after Lucky, but her uncomfortable position offered little freedom to move.

“Your dog is following us, do not worry. Surely, he would not allow you to be abducted by a strange man,” Darcy joked, and she had no reply. He appeared utterly unlike his usual self!

“He is a beautiful dog, though not very young,” he added. “ How old is he?” She noticed his effort to lighten their awkward situation and finally replied, meeting his eyes for a moment.

“He was ten last summer. He has been with me since he was a puppy. Your dog is beautiful too though he is much larger than Lucky.” She paused, feeling herself warming with each moment and suddenly aware of his presence too close to her.

She laughed nervously then continued. “If I were to believe Miss Bingley, everything about you seems large: your dog, your horse, your estate, your house, your library…”

She heard herself talking, and instantly her own words seemed wrong and highly improper. Her poor attempt at teasing him sounded ridiculous, even rude, to her own ears.

But he suddenly laughed—openly and with no restraint, as she had never heard him before.

“I never thought of that, but you might be correct. However, you should not give complete credit to everything Miss Bingley says.”

She watched him laughing and could not hide a smile at how different he looked.

“What about Mr Bingley?” she asked after a short hesitation. “Should we give credit to what he says? Oh, has Mr Bingley left for London?”

A few moments of silence followed, and his countenance become stern.

“We have finally arrived,” he eventually replied and rapidly dismounted, opening the gate and taking the horse by the reins, his actions watched closely by Elizabeth. His disposition had changed in an instant for no apparent reason. What a distressing man, she thought.

In the back garden, the horse stopped, and Darcy helped her down without a word.

She could barely move, wrapped as she was in his long, thick coat.

She felt her wet hair about her temples in great disorder, and her lips trembled.

He put an arm around her shoulders, and they walked to the main entrance with Lucky pacing between them.

Only a few steps and she would be in the warmth of her home and away from the stressful presence of Mr Darcy.

She was thankful for his help, though. She could not imagine reaching home without him.

She started to express her gratitude and apologise again for ruining his coat, when the main door opened, and a din of voices broke the silence. Elizabeth startled and turned quickly. Her feet slid, and she would have fallen had he not been alert enough to catch her.

“But depend upon it, Mr Collins,” Mrs Bennet was saying with complete self-confidence as she followed the parson outdoors.

“Despite Mr Bennet’s lack of involvement, Lizzy shall be brought to reason.

She is a very headstrong, foolish girl and does not know her own interest, but I will make her know it, and she will surely accept you—have no doubt. ”

“Pardon me, madam, but if she is headstrong and foolish, I know not whether she would be a desirable wife to a man in my situation who looks for happiness in the marriage state. If she persists in rejecting my suit, perhaps it were better not to force her into accepting me because, if liable to such defects of temper, she could not contribute much to my felicity.”

“But sir, you misunderstand me. Lizzy is not—”

“Mrs Bennet, I am grateful for your support, but I need time to ponder this in peace. I shall gladly accept Miss Lucas’s invitation for dinner, and we shall discuss this again tomorrow. Miss Lucas, Miss Maria, let us hurry. I cannot be—”

He suddenly stopped, hardly able to bear the shock: a few steps away was Miss Elizabeth, wet and dirty, in the arms of Mr Darcy and wearing the gentleman’s coat.

Mr Collins’s stupefaction was matched by Mrs Bennet’s cry, which immediately attracted from the house the other Bennet sisters, as well as Mr Bennet himself.

“Lizzy, where have you been? We have been looking for you all over the place! I have never seen you look so dreadful! And precisely in front of Mr Darcy! Just when he found you tolerable enough to dance with you! Oh, Mr Collins, I assure you she is not always—”

By the time she turned to lessen the damage to Mr Collins’s impression, the gentleman was already departing at a quick pace, followed by Charlotte and Maria Lucas.

Charlotte looked at her friend, worrying whether she was hurt or not.

Jane embraced her sister while Mr Bennet decidedly sent his younger daughters and his wife inside.

“Lizzy dear, are you well? What happened to you?” he inquired with deep concern.

“Oh, I am perfectly well, Papa. Forgive me for worrying you. I stupidly fell into the pond near Oakham Mount, that is all. It was fortunate that Mr Darcy happened to be in the vicinity. He truly saved my life. I doubt I would have been able to return home by myself.”