Page 165 of Near Pemberley

The whispering outside stopped immediately.

A pause.

Then Lydia’s voice: “Yes, Mr. Darcy?”

Elizabeth stared at him. He was enjoying this.

“I believe you wished to know what we were doing. Come in.”

A long silence followed.

Then both girls appeared at the door. Lydia, with her head held high, and Georgiana, looking at her shoes.

Both gasped. For a moment, nobody moved.

Lydia’s eyes went from Darcy’s arm around Elizabeth to Darcy’s face, and then back again. Georgiana looked as though she had suddenly remembered every lesson in propriety she had ever been taught.

“William.”

Darcy, entirely untroubled, looked at them. “Yes?”

Georgiana opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Lydia, however, recovered much faster. “Oh.”

Elizabeth felt her face begin to warm.

Darcy, who noticed everything, looked remarkably pleased with himself. “I believe your curiosity has been satisfied.”

Lydia blinked. Georgiana merely stared.

Darcy looked at Elizabeth, and the amusement in his expression softened into something much deeper.

“You see before you the happiest man in all England.”

Elizabeth’s breath caught slightly.

Then he looked back at the two young ladies, who were still attempting to recover from the discovery that their usually composed brother and sister had been standing in an embrace.

“Miss Elizabeth and I are betrothed.”

The silence that followed was complete.

“We are to marry.”

For several seconds, neither girl moved. Then Georgiana’s face transformed. “William…” There was wonder in her voice. And happiness.

Lydia, however, reacted first. “I knew it.”

Darcy raised an eyebrow. “You did?”

“You knew?” Elizabeth asked.

“Not exactly,” Lydia admitted. “But I suspected.” Lydia gave a small shrug. “You do not order a particular cake, put flowers everywhere, walk in gardens, without reason. But I really suspected on the way home from Longbourn. You looked at my sister as though she was the only person.”

Elizabeth’s cheeks coloured.

Darcy looked at her. Then at Lydia. “I see you have been making observations.”