Page 221 of What Change Entails

Darcy took several steps before continuing. “Your refusal stripped away the comfort I had taken in my own judgment. I was angry first.”

“I remember.”

“I was humiliated.”

“I remember that too.”

“That persisted longer.”

A smile tugged at her mouth despite the seriousness of the moment. “I am sorry.”

“No, you are not.”

“No,” she admitted. “Not truly.”

His laugh was brief and startled, and she treasured it.

“I read your words many times,” he said. “They were much kinder than the letter I gave you. The letter I wrote after… well, it was meant to defend myself. By the end, it had accused me more thoroughly than I intended.”

“It changed me too.”

“The letter?”

“Yes. I did not wish it to. That was extremely inconvenient of you.”

“I shall try to be more considerate next time I dismantle your understanding of a man’s character.”

“See that you do.”

They walked farther, past a clump of thorns and where the path dipped between patches of late summer wildflowers. Elizabeth gathered her skirt, and Darcy slowed to match her steps without making a show of assisting.

“Wickham frightened me after I knew the truth,” she said.

Darcy’s attention came to her.

“Not because I feared him for myself. Because I had liked him so easily. Because his charm had cost Georgiana so much and might have cost Lydia—” She stopped. “It might have cost Lydia more than any of us understood.”

“Yes.”

“I still think of what Georgiana told her. Lydia needed the truth, though I do not believe she could ever have accepted it from me.”

“I do not think she would have.”

Elizabeth nodded. “I only hope she understands that the confidence was Georgiana’s to share and not hers to repeat.”

“She has altered. Besides, Georgiana made that plain. Miss Lydia appeared to understand.”

“She has. I keep expecting to discover she has hidden her old self under the bed and will retrieve it when no one is watching.”

“Perhaps she has brought parts of it.”

“The noisy parts.”

“The loyal parts.”

Elizabeth looked up at him. “You are fond of her.”

“I have made peace with the fact.”