Page 138 of Near Pemberley

At length, Mr. Bennet spoke. “That is an extraordinary offer.”

“I believe the circumstances are extraordinary.”

Mr. Bennet looked slowly around the room.

“You understand what you are asking.”

“I believe I do.”

“I should be leaving this.”

“For the sake of your family. But you can take whatever you wish with you. There is plenty of space even if there is already a full library.”

Mr. Bennet laughed. “A dangerous argument.”

“I have been told I ought not to attempt persuading you.”

“Wise advice.”

“I therefore do not.”

Mr. Bennet regarded him for another moment before giving a thoughtful nod. “No. You merely make it exceedingly difficult to discover why I ought not accept.”

They spoke a little longer – not of persuasion, but of practicalities. The distance. The estate. The servants. The house itself.

Nothing was decided. Yet when they finally left the room, Darcy thought that Mr. Bennet’s resistance no longer appeared quite so immovable.

Music drifted towards him from the drawing room. To his surprise, Georgiana was sitting at the pianoforte.

They next listened while Lydia, with unexpected seriousness, recited a poem she studied with Mrs. Annesley. Even Mr. Bennet forgot himself sufficiently to praise her.

Elizabeth then took her place at the pianoforte. Someone had prevailed upon her to sing as well.

The first notes floated gently toward him. He remained where he was.

There would be Ramsgate tomorrow. There would be Bingley tomorrow. There would be decisions enough tomorrow. For this one quiet evening, there was only Elizabeth’s voice. Sweet, and touched with the slightest huskiness, he noticed.

And for the first time in many weeks, Fitzwilliam Darcy allowed himself to believe that the future he had dared imagine at Lambton might yet become their own.

***

The following morning passed with a cheerfulness that would have seemed impossible only a fortnight earlier.

Breakfast at Longbourn was, as Darcy had already discovered, a lively affair. Mrs. Bennet insisted that everyone take a second helping whether they wished it or not. Lydia spoke so quickly that Miss Kitty was obliged to remind her twice to breathe. Mr. Bennet escaped behind his newspaper only to lower it every few moments and contribute some dry observation which inevitably set Miss Elizabeth laughing.

Darcy found himself wondering, not without amusement, how this family had ever managed to keep a civil tongue in silence.

Georgiana must have eaten twice as much as she used to, with the biggest smile on her face. He himself could not refuse the third pastry offered by Miss Elizabeth with the biggest praise.

When breakfast was over, the household dispersed with surprising efficiency.

Lydia declared that she required “only half the house,” while Elizabeth assured everyone that between them they should endeavour to reduce that estimate. “I shall rescue her from herself,” Elizabeth promised.

“I object to the expression,” Lydia replied. “I am perfectly capable of rescuing myself.”

“No one doubts it,” said Mr. Bennet. “Our concern is for the furniture.”

Their laughter followed the sisters from the room.