Page 27

K itty worked until her hands cramped; she soaked them in hot water and then went back to her pencils.

In just two days, she had completed a dozen copies of her sister Lydia’s likeness.

She showed them to Mr. Bennet, who was astonished.

“Kitty, truly, I had no idea you were so very gifted! This is fine work, indeed. But – hold, wait a moment.”

Mr. Bennet disappeared into his study and returned five minutes later with a large volume tucked under his arm.

“Kitty, this is a book that discusses the techniques of the great masters, and has a good many colour plates that you might examine. Keep it as long as you like; I suspect you will make better use of it than I.”

Kitty, who had never before been offered a chance to even look at her father’s books, was surprised and gratified, and she thanked her father sincerely.

***

When the gentleman next came to visit, she presented Mr. Darcy with the likenesses. He reviewed each one carefully, taking his time, and then turned to Kitty and said, “I will put these to good use. You have a rare gift, Miss Kitty.”

Kitty blushed and thanked him.

“Miss Elizabeth, might we walk in the garden?” Mr. Darcy asked. “Perhaps Miss Bennet and Mr. Bingley could accompany us.”

Elizabeth and Jane assented readily, and the four of them soon set off together. Elizabeth walked rather swiftly and Jane rather slowly, so it was not long before the couples could speak in relative privacy.

“Miss Elizabeth, tell me truly, how are you?”

“Sad, worried and confused,” she said, with a small smile.

“Everything seems so unsettled! I miss my mother dreadfully; as much as she annoyed me, she was the mistress of Longbourn. She took care of all of us, Papa as much as we girls. Her passing has left such a hole in our lives. And then, of course, there is Lydia.”

“I imagine that to be very worrying indeed,” he said.

She stopped walking; he stopped as well. “Mr. Darcy, allow me, please, to speak frankly.”

“I believe I once told you that disguise of every sort is my abhorrence,” he replied.

“Yes, you told me so when you proposed to me at Rosings,” she said.

He winced.

She continued, “I had the strong feeling at Pemberley that you were still – well, interested in me. I want you to know that I understand completely that a relationship between us is no longer possible. You need not feel uneasy on that score.”

“Your impression of my interest at Pemberley is quite correct; however, I do not agree with your conclusion.” The sincerity in his voice could not be mistaken.

“All the objections that you voiced at Rosings – “

“None of which should have been spoken!” he declared with heat.

“Nonetheless, all those objections pale in comparison with the objection your family will have to you aligning yourself with a ruined family.”

“I would marry you no matter your family’s reputation. That said, though, I have no intention of allowing your family to be ruined.”

“What if Lydia is never found?”

“You know the answer to that as well as I, I believe,” he answered, quietly.

“We tell everyone that she is dead, I suppose,” Elizabeth answered, dully.

“Yes; sad to say, a deceased sister is preferable to a ruined sister, as far as society is concerned.”

“And if she miraculously reappears?”

“We will deal with that if it happens. It would be best if we were married by then.”

“Thereby presenting your family with a fait accompli ?”

“Precisely.”

“I cannot believe –“ she burst out and then stopped.

“What can you not believe?”

“That you could care for me that much,” she said, staring at the ground.

“Miss Elizabeth, please look at me,” he whispered.

She complied.

“I love you more than you can imagine. I think of you constantly.

I imagine you at the breakfast table, at tea, at the dinner table, at –“ he stopped.

He could not say that he imagined her in his bed, true though it was.

“All the time,” he amended. “It has been difficult; I am a man accustomed to being in control of his feelings, of being motivated entirely by rationality, not by emotion. This is an entirely new experience for me, so I beg you to forgive my clumsiness! But, Miss Elizabeth, I must know. Do you think of me, as I do of you? Could you come to care for me?”

Her glorious eyes were opened wide. “I do,” she whispered. “I think of you, I care for you, I –“ she stopped. She could not tell him that she loved him, not here in the garden where anyone might hear them.

“That is all I need to know,” he replied, now grinning enormously. “I have already spoken with your father.”

“With Papa! But he said nothing to me of it!”

“Nonetheless, I have done so. I told him that I understood the family was in mourning, and I would wait the required six months.”

“Are you proposing to me, Mr. Darcy?” Her voice was a tapestry of emotions – hope, fear, disbelief.

“You deserve a real proposal,” he said. “Particularly after the mess I made of the first one!”

She laughed – yes, she actually laughed! – and turned her shining eyes to his.

Jane had seen Elizabeth stop walking and she stopped as well, so as not to intrude on her sister’s privacy.

She and Mr. Bingley had spoken very little up to that time, but when she stopped, he did as well, and immediately said, “I have made it clear to my sisters that if their behaviour to you does not improve, they will have to live elsewhere.”

“Truly?”

“I can hardly ask you to be my wife if your acceptance would force you to live with two ladies who treat you so very poorly.”

Jane looked at Mr. Bingley with surprise and hope. “That is very good of you, Mr. Bingley. But it is my sincere desire that they will learn to like me.”

“Miss Bennet,” Mr. Bingley began, and then stopped.

“Yes, Mr. Bingley?”

“Have you forgiven me?” he blurted out. “Not that I deserve your forgiveness after the terrible way you have been treated! That letter from Caroline – I had no idea in the world –“

“I have forgiven you, Mr. Bingley, and would be happy to resume our relationship as it was before your unexpected departure last winter.”

“Oh, Miss Bennet! I have never been so happy in all my life!” His face, open and guileless, was indeed the very picture of joy. He began to laugh for happiness and a moment later, Jane began to laugh with him.

***

Elizabeth and Jane had much to whisper about after the walk in Longbourn’s gardens with Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley.

Mr. Darcy had as good as proposed to Elizabeth, and Jane now felt reasonably certain of Mr. Bingley; both girls now felt that their futures were almost secure.

Almost was a key word here, as both feared that Lydia’s misstep could still cause difficulties for them, despite both gentlemen protesting that their affections would survive such an event.

And even if they did marry their beloveds, what of Mary and Kitty?

“Sometimes I think I will go mad, just sitting and doing nothing to help Lydia,” Jane said.

“I feel much the same; Kitty made those drawings, so she has assisted in the effort, but you and I must simply sit and wait,” her sister agreed. “This is the fate of women, is it not?”

***

A large package arrived from Brighton the next day. Jane opened it and discovered it to be the clothing Lydia had left behind when she had left the Forsters. She and Mrs. Hill carried the package to the attic.