Page 90 of Dear Friend

“Know what?”

“How obvious they are.”

“I doubt Bingley cares.”

“And Jane?”

Darcy considered her sister. “Miss Bennet is more difficult to read.”

“Not to me.”

“No. I imagine not.”

Elizabeth watched Jane smile at something Bingley said. “There is something rather enviable in being so certain of another person's affection.”

Darcy's attention shifted to her. “Do you think so?”

She became aware too late of the direction into which she had led the conversation. “I meant generally.”

“Of course.”

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. “Do not look so pleased with yourself.”

“I am not.”

“You are.”

His smile confirmed it.

They crossed the stile and continued into the field beyond, Jane and Bingley again moving ahead. Elizabeth found herself considering what she had said. Certainty had never seemed particularly important until lately. Her parents' marriage provided little recommendation for choosing upon attraction alone, while Charlotte had always argued that happiness in marriage was largely a matter of chance. Elizabeth had never agreed with her, though she could not have said precisely what she expected instead.

“What do you think makes a happy marriage?” she asked.

Darcy looked at her with some surprise. “That is a considerable question.”

“You may take more than five seconds to answer this one.”

“How generous.”

“I thought so.”

He considered it. “Respect. Affection. Similar principles, though not necessarily similar opinions.”

Elizabeth smiled. “How fortunate.”

“You disagree?”

“Not at all.” Elizabeth brushed away a fly that had ventured too near. “But gentlemen of your station are often persuaded that duty ought to have some part in the choice.”

“Not in that choice.” His gaze settled upon her. “I would not sacrifice my happiness to duty in marriage. Nor should I wish to marry a woman who agreed with me merely because she thought my position entitled me to obedience, or because my consequence made her afraid to oppose me.”

“Then I may be exceptionally well qualified.”

“That particular qualification recommended itself very early.”

She laughed. “You say that now. Ask me again after twenty years of disagreement.”

“I hope to have the opportunity.”