Page 28
“Will you be going for a morning walk after breakfast, Lizzy?” asked Mary.
“I had thought to. Would you wish to accompany me?”
Mary considered her sister’s offer. She had intended to practise the pianoforte, but the thought of a walk was not unwelcome. After a moment, she accepted, on the condition that they remain on the paths.
“The air is rather bracing today,” said Mary as they began their stroll together. “It shall not be long before winter. I am glad you invited me to walk, Lizzy, for it may be one of the last I take before the weather forbids it.”
“I agree,” Elizabeth replied, glad she had thought to have a maid fetch their warmest pelisses.
All the while, Elizabeth considered her sister, wondering what could have changed her so thoroughly. It did not take long for realisation to dawn. She had seen that same radiance upon Jane’s face no more than a month before, after the Meryton Assembly. An attachment of the heart, then. But to whom? Her thoughts turned instinctively to Mr. Collins, only to dismiss the notion at once. No, that was impossible. The man’s company might be borne as a duty, but it could never inspire such a change as this. No, the only man who might have occasioned such a transformation must be Mr. Lucas; and the more she considered her sister, the more she was certain she was correct.
“Lizzy, are you quite well?” asked Mary.
“I am perfectly well,” Elizabeth replied, quickly returning her expression to its usual state.
“You have been staring at me rather intently,” her sister observed. “Is there something amiss?”
“I was merely thinking, Mary, how happy you seem of late. I could not help but wonder at the cause.”
Mary looked away. “I am often happy.”
“Of course you are,” Elizabeth said gently, “but this is different. You seem... at ease with the world, in a way I have not seen before.”
Mary fell silent for several paces, her gaze fixed on the path ahead. She had not planned to tell anyone, not unless her hopes came to fruition. But Lizzy’s quiet observation felt like an invitation.
“It is only,” she began, faltered, and quietly tried again. “I believe I may have reason to be so.”
“Mary!”
“It is not Mr. Collins,” Mary said quickly.
“Mr. Lucas, then,” Elizabeth said slowly.
“Is it so very obvious?” her sister asked.
“Not to all, I am sure,” Elizabeth assured her. “But ever since you sat speaking with him for so long at the last assembly, and with his spirited defence of our family, it could not be anyone else.”
“He went out, you know, after his quarrel with Mr. Collins. When he failed to return, I quite forgot myself and went to see if he was well.”
“Surely you did not!” Elizabeth exclaimed in astonishment.
“I did indeed, Lizzy,” Mary said, her face crimson. “I will not repeat all that passed between us, but believe me, I am now quite certain of his regard. He entreated me not to think of marrying Mr. Collins.”
“I was not aware that Mr. Collins had made you an offer.”
“He did not, but Mr. Lucas believes he intends to.”
“And that was enough to compel him to speak.”
“He could not bring himself to speak to Papa without some encouragement, but my following him was enough. He said it gave him reason to hope.”
“Dear Mary!” Elizabeth could not help but exclaim and hug her sister.
“He did not make an offer,” Mary reminded her sister. “He just wishes to speak to Papa. He may ask for courtship.”
Elizabeth, in spite of herself, could not help but smile at the gravity with which Mary uttered the phrase. “Indeed, he might,” she responded with playfulness in her voice. “Therefore, we must all be circumspect and not startle him away, for men are quite delicate when it comes to such matters.”
“You are quite absurd, Lizzy,” was Mary’s only reply. As the sisters continued their walk, for the first time in a great while, the distance between Elizabeth and Mary seemed to vanish. The sharing of a secret had returned them to girlhood, hiding under the table eating sweets they had taken from the kitchen.
