Page 33 of The Countess and Her Sister
Elizabeth had little chance to reflect in solitude as she desired; she and her sisters were still giggling together in a heap on the music room floor when Lady Augusta fluttered into the room.
“Girls, you must consider if this is how you wish to appear to the gentlemen! Your brother has come home, and Darcy and Mr. Bingley are with him!”
“Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth and Jane cried in unison as they scrambled to their feet.
Lady Augusta winked at Elizabeth with an indulgent smile, then turned to Jane.
“And Mr. Bingley! Is that not lovely, my dear?” She brushed a hand under Jane’s chin, still smiling brightly.
This was the first time she had acknowledged which gentlemen her girls truly preferred, and even Rebecca made a droll face at their mother’s apparent acceptance.
“I am surprised Richard is not still catatonic,” Rebecca drawled.
Tangled in her own skirts, she reached a hand up to her mother, who helped Rebecca shamble onto her feet.
Rebecca grimaced. “I need more headache powders.” She paused on her way out of the room, turned back around and added, “Do not tell Richard. I am the picture of health!”
Lady Augusta puffed out her cheeks and let out a long breath. “My children, marvels of nature,” she muttered to herself.
“We ought to be studied by science, I am sure,” Richard drawled as he sauntered into the room, with Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley close behind.
Richard spun on his heel, kicked off his shoes, and hurled himself onto the sofa until he was laying with his head in Elizabeth’s lap and his legs dangling over the arm of the sofa.
Last Augusta ignored him and gestured for Mr. Bingley to sit on the other sofa beside Jane, and then gave her nephew a helpless shrug. Darcy glanced over at Elizabeth, who looked down at Richard. She tugged at his hair and hissed, “Get off me!”
He swatted her hand away. “I am very tired, and I have already had to use my brain more this morning than I prefer to do in a whole day.”
“Not at all, then?” Rebecca returned to the room and casually reached out to pull the curtains closed as she joined them. “Richard, you are still wearing your costume! Only, where is the cape? I hope you did not lose it! It belonged to father, did it not, Mamma?”
Elizabeth squirmed away from Richard, who must surely understand that Elizabeth particularly wished Mr. Darcy to sit beside her. He grinned; he was taking delight in vexing either her or his cousin. On the opposite sofa, Jane and Mr. Bingley were already whispering and laughing together.
“I wish for a private word with Miss Bennet,” Mr. Darcy said, glancing between his aunt, Elizabeth, and Richard – at whom he grimaced.
“Certainly,” Lady Augusta said, beaming at Elizabeth before turning to ascertain that Jane was unbothered by this declaration.
Jane smiled back at their mother, who nodded at Mr. Darcy.
“The rest of us shall adjourn to the front parlor, which is much cozier. Richard, up with you before Darcy demands retribution. Rebecca, I should love to hear what diverts you so.”
Rebecca pointed to the window that looked out over the street corner. “He comes Lady Susan – it appears she has Richard’s missing cloak. Let us all go and greet her; I am sure she has much to say after last night’s festivities!”
Elizabeth shoved Richard upright and stood, meeting Mr. Darcy’s gaze with a playful smile.
When Lady Augusta had cleared the room for them, Elizabeth took a step toward Mr. Darcy, excitement blending with lingering embarrassment as she refused to look away.
The recollection of what had transpired on the balcony was tangible in the air between them, drawing them each closer, though she hardly knew how to speak of it.
“Our relations are so charmingly chaotic, are they not? Life has surely been more interesting since you have come amongst us, Mr. Darcy.” He stared at her, his mouth opening then closing again, and he merely nodded as his face grew pink.
Elizabeth resumed her seat and tried again; she gestured to the sofa. “Will you sit with me? You need not rest your head in my lap unless you are as unsteady as my brother.”
“I hope I am steady.” Mr. Darcy sat beside her with a spark of amusement in his eyes. “It pleases me to hear you speak of the Fitzwilliams as your true family.”
Elizabeth raised a brow. “When first we met, I had supposed you might think me presumptuous in doing so.”
“I was only surprised by the circumstance. I had never imagined a young lady could be so endearing, so naturally familiar with those she esteems, nor so devotedly loyal that my relations could hardly do otherwise than welcome you amongst them. Since coming to know you, I could not imagine my family without you in it.”
Tears formed in Elizabeth’s eyes as Mr. Darcy took her hands in his. Her chest swelled and she drew in a deep breath of anticipation at what he would say next. She had overcome her mortification to discover panic mingling with her eagerness to hear him.
“I hope I might always have the privilege of finding you the brightest light in our chaotic family, Elizabeth. I yearn to call you my family in the closest sense possible, and yet a word from you would silence my own wishes. There is a shadow of doubt about you that breaks my heart. If the sentiments you expressed last evening are not your true feelings, I shall humbly beg your forgiveness for my actions, and we might speak of it no more….”
Poor Mr. Darcy! Elizabeth could not bear to see him struggle, and raised one of his hands to her lips. He stopped speaking and looked at her with desperate hope. “I am sorry if I alarmed you, Mr. Darcy.”
As he extended his fingers to softly brush her cheek, Elizabeth moved closer to him on the sofa.
“I cannot say last evening was among my proudest moments, but whatever else I was, I hope I was perfectly honest in my… expressions. I have been fearing all morning that I had lost your regard – or worse, your respect.”
“And I have thought myself a fiend for having found you so irresistibly beguiling,” he chuckled. I hope you will permit me to consider last evening a happy recollection – at least until there may be a respectable repetition of….”
“You are very forward,” she laughed; she rather enjoyed it.
“Lizzy, I am undone,” Mr. Darcy blurted out. “I must beg you to be mine, and if your feelings are what they were last night – if you have no hesitation beyond your own natural modesty at what we need never mention again, then I must ask you….”
“I have – I have some further hesitation,” she cried, surprising even herself. “Jane.”
“But we saw….”
“Yes, but her actions were not a true a reflection of her real apprehension – she is not ready, and I cannot think it fair that I should – before she – it does not feel right. I must beg you to ask me only for courtship, whatever else I might wish to hear and agree to. I must follow the same advice that I gave her, or I shall have no right to have uttered it.”
Mr. Darcy exhaled sharply, his posture deflating. “I do not understand. Had Jane asked you…”
“She does not have to.” Elizabeth pressed his hands in hers. “Tell me something of your childhood – anything. Something happy.”
He knit his brows in confusion as he fumbled for an answer. “I… I liked to go fishing with my father in summertime.”
Elizabeth smiled. “The summer I turned seven, my father took me up to Oakham Mount and taught me how to fly a kite. It was the happiest day. We made lemonade in the kitchen after. But, you see, we have a great deal to learn of one another; we have been acquainted scarcely more than a month. Jane is so afraid of making any decision in haste, and I have advised her to take her time and to come to know Mr. Bingley properly. How could I – how could we do otherwise?”
Mr. Darcy smiled sadly at their entwined hands, gently stroking her palm with his thumb.
“I understand, and I will not argue with such sound judgement, nor ask you to appear a hypocrite in your sister’s estimation.
Your concern for her is something I can well comprehend, and I admire you for it.
I have yet another reason to wish a Bingley hasty success in winning Lady Jane’s hand. ”
And then Mr. Darcy looked up at her intently. “You may think me a great fool, but I have seen enough of your goodness and your vibrant spirit to be utterly and irrevocably in love with you, Lizzy. You have just added another reason for me to think you the finest woman in the world.”
With a playful squint of her eyes, Elizabeth teased him in a daringly flirtatious tone.
“You are a complicated man, Mr. Darcy – which of course must be to your credit, though it follows that I must comprehend far more of your character before I can make as thorough an assessment as you deserve. But I believe I have effectively demonstrated that my own sentiments are quite favorable. I have every expectation of those feelings coming to equal your own after you have courted me properly.”
Mr. Darcy responded with the same saucy ardor. “You mean to torture me, you minx, but I shall happily submit. I accept your offer of courtship. And, I have a surprise for you.”
“I am very fond of surprises!”
He stood and extended his hand to her. “I asked Mr. Bingley to wait for us before he proposes a scheme I hope you shall be fond of.”
Elizabeth took his arm and walked with Mr. Darcy into the front parlor.
Before they entered the room, he asked, “Shall I share our happy news?”When she nodded her assent, he stepped into the parlor, leading her by the hand.
“Everyone, I must tell you that Elizabeth has consented to a courtship with me.”
The chatter of their companions turned to boisterous effusions of delight. Jane smiled warmly at Elizabeth, and Mr. Bingley moved a little closer to Jane on the sofa, his own eagerness for such felicity apparent.