Page 131 of Near Pemberley

The Great Pagoda rose above the trees exactly as Elizabeth remembered it from her childhood, though she confessed she had once imagined it considerably taller.

“Everything appears larger at ten years of age,” Darcy observed.

“Except one’s mistakes.”

He smiled.

They wandered slowly through the gardens, allowing Lydia and Georgiana to move some distance ahead whenever their conversation became animated.

They had walked some distance when Darcy said, rather unexpectedly, “There is something in your letter which I have been considering.”

Elizabeth looked at him.

“You mentioned that I had called you tolerable.”

She stopped – and crimsoned.

“I believe I owe you a correction.”

“A correction?”

“Yes. I was wrong.”

Elizabeth glanced at him. “You did not appear to think so at the time.”

“I remember. I was determined not to dance that evening. I wished to be left alone, and I confess I scarcely considered you properly at all.”

“And yet you found time to pronounce me not tempting enough to be danced with.”

“I see you remember it well.”

“Unfortunately.”

Darcy smiled.

“That was abominably unfair. I had hardly given you my attention before forming my judgement.”

Elizabeth looked away.

“I had hurt you. Was that why you disliked me so much afterwards?”

She looked at him in surprise.

“At Hunsford, you told me that you had decided against me from the very beginning.”

Elizabeth could not speak.

“Was it because of that?”

She considered the question.

“Not entirely. But it certainly did not help.”

“I see.”

He was silent for a moment.

“Then let me correct that statement.”