Page 20 of Undone

"I had expected to find your horse tethered below," Elizabeth observed, for want of another subject.

Darcy nodded. "I thought I would walk instead. I am told it is excellent for the constitution."

"It is my favourite exercise."

"I begin to understand why. Many ladies think of walking only when there is company to admire them."

Elizabeth laughed softly. "I assure you, sir, there is seldom anyone upon Oakham Mount to admire me."

"Then I imagine you are spared a great deal of inconvenience."

"I believe I am."

They continued slowly along the crest before Elizabeth spoke again.

"What do you make of our little corner of Hertfordshire, now you have had a fortnight to judge it properly?" she asked at length. "I confess I am curious whether it meets with a Derbyshire gentleman's approval."

"It is pleasant country. Gentler than what I am accustomed to, though I do not say that as a complaint." He glanced about them as though seeing it afresh. "Derbyshire is wilder in its prospects. More hill than field, in the parts I know best. This is prettier in a quieter way."

"You make it sound as though you are choosing your words very carefully, sir, for fear of offending either county."

"I had not thought myself so transparent."

"I fear you are."

Something very like a smile appeared. "Then I shall confess, without diplomacy, that I have grown rather attached to this part of Hertfordshire."

"Only this hill?"

"I cannot yet claim acquaintance with enough of the county to speak more generally."

She laughed again. "A prudent answer."

"You are beginning to make me value prudence more highly than I once did."

"I cannot imagine you have ever been imprudent."

His expression altered almost imperceptibly.

"On the contrary, Miss Bennet, I have been imprudent more than once."

She looked at him in surprise, wondering whether he referred to the assembly or to something else entirely, but before she could ask, he continued, "Have you been to Derbyshire at all?"

"Not at all. My aunt has spoken of it, as she grew up in Lambton, but that is about the sum of all I know of the county."

"Lambton." Something in Darcy's expression sharpened with interest. "That is no great distance from Pemberley. I did not know you had connexions so near."

"My aunt Gardiner. She is married to my mother's brother, though she was raised in Derbyshire herself, before her marriage." Elizabeth smiled at the thought. "She and my uncle live in London now, in Gracechurch Street, but she speaks of Lambton still as though she left only last week rather than a dozen years ago."

"Lambton is a small enough place that I may very well know your aunt, though I could only say for certain if I were to meet her. My family has held land in that neighbourhood all my life."

"If I knew her father's name, I might be of some assistance. The truth is, I have never thought to ask." She smiled at her own oversight. "She has been simply my Aunt Gardiner for as long asI can remember, and I never once thought to wonder what she was called before she became so."

"That is no great fault. Very few people trouble themselves to wonder what their aunts were before they became their aunts." Something almost like a smile touched his mouth. "Though I confess you have made me curious. I may very well have known her when she was younger."

"I shall have to write and ask her, now you have made me curious as well." Elizabeth glanced at him, amused. "Though I confess I did not expect a discussion on my aunt to occupy so much of our walk."

"Nor did I. Yet I cannot regret it."