Page 34 of He Insulted My Entire Family Before Proposing

"I had an instructor."

Elizabeth accepted the compliment with a look rather than a blush, because she was not going to become easy merely because she was engaged.

The second letter was to Mr. Bennet, who read it in the library and emerged looking delighted.

"Lady Catherine informs me I have failed in every paternal duty by allowing you to attach yourself to her nephew," he told Elizabeth. "It is pleasant to be blamed for an event in which I had so little influence."

"Will you answer?"

"Certainly. I shall thank her for taking such interest in my household and assure her that if she discovers any of my other daughters engaged to men of consequence, I hope she will inform me at once."

The third letter was to Mrs. Bennet and therefore made the least strategic sense. Mrs. Bennet read only half before deciding Lady Catherine must be jealous because no one had offered her ten thousand a year. This interpretation proved so satisfying that no correction could survive it.

But the most important apology was not in a letter.

Darcy asked Elizabeth whether he might speak to Jane, not alone and not in a manner that would make Jane feel she must comfort him. Elizabeth carried the request to her sister. Jane, after one quiet look at Bingley, agreed.

They walked in the garden: Jane and Bingley together, Darcy beside them, Elizabeth within sight but far enough behind that Jane could have privacy unless she wanted help. Darcy apologized plainly for separating them, for trusting his own judgment over Jane's heart, and for calling interference protection because it made his mistake sound honorable.

Jane listened with the grave kindness that had once made him misread her. This time he did not use her gentleness as evidence against her.

When they returned toward the house, Jane's eyes were bright.

"He apologized very plainly," Jane said.

"Did he explain?"

"A little."

"Too much?"

"No. He said explanation was not payment."

Elizabeth looked toward Darcy, who stood with Bingley near the gate. Bingley was speaking with animation. Darcy listened, not managing, not steering, only listening.

"That is new," Elizabeth said softly.

Jane took her hand. "Are you happy, Lizzy?"

Elizabeth considered teasing. It was the family language, after all. But Jane deserved the truth first.

"Yes," she said. "Not because he had been right all along. Because he finally understood whom he had hurt, and why."

Jane squeezed her hand. "Then I am happy too."

In the weeks that followed, Elizabeth discovered that an engagement did not end a story. It merely gave everybody permission to tell it incorrectly.

Some said she had conquered Darcy by wit. Some said he had rescued her from an uncertain future. Some said Lady Catherine had opposed it, which made the match romantic. Some said Mrs. Bennet had planned it all, which Mrs. Bennet accepted as no more than her due. Caroline Bingley, whenever she was next obliged to hear the engagement mentioned, said nothing in public, which was taken by many as proof of feeling and by Elizabeth as proof that even malice sometimes needed rest.

Elizabeth learned to correct only the versions that mattered.

No, Mr. Darcy had not rescued her from Longbourn.

No, she had not tricked him into affection.

No, her family had not become less embarrassing through the magic of income.

Yes, he had once insulted them.