Page 16

"Now try to draw something specific. A map of Pemberley."

He tried. The stick moved, but it traced nonsense patterns.

"A circle passed and the map did not," Elizabeth noted. "Perhaps it objects to revealing a place before I visit it. We shall need another example."

"Small victory."

"They add up." Elizabeth looked at her notes. "We're building a rulebook. And the more we understand, the more we can work within—or around—the constraints."

"A rational approach."

"I have my moments." She smiled. "Though usually by accident."

They continued testing for another twenty minutes, finding small areas of autonomy:

- They could choose where to look (mostly)

- They could decide whether to sit or stand

- They could make minor dialogue changes

- They could delay minor plot beats by up to 30 seconds

"Thirty seconds," Elizabeth said. "That's not much."

"It's something," Darcy countered. "Yesterday I had zero seconds. Today I have thirty. That's infinite percent improvement."

"That's not how percentages work."

"Then put down thirty seconds. In a large hand, if you please."

"You mean to make it look longer?"

He moved his knee so she could rest the notebook more securely. The bench was narrow, and the movement brought him nearer the rain. He noticed that too, but stayed where he was while she wrote.

"You will be wet again," she said.

"Only on one side. I'm attempting not to exaggerate my progress."

The rain began to lighten, precisely on cue.

"Scene's over," Elizabeth observed. "Weather's clearing."

Darcy retrieved his hat and offered his hand to help her up. "Shall we leave before it thinks of something else?"

"Might as well."

Still beneath the gazebo roof, Elizabeth folded his coat across her arm. He held out a hand for it, then stopped when she rubbed her cold fingers together.

"Keep it until the path dries," he said. "I am not likely to expire in the interval."

She put it on again. It was much too large, and the right cuff promptly swallowed her pencil. Darcy found the pencil by holding the sleeve level while she shook it. Neither the exercise nor his gravity was remotely seductive. She liked him rather more at its conclusion.

"Until the next contrived meeting," Elizabeth said.

"I should not be surprised to find another bench outside your gate tomorrow."

They stepped out from the gazebo, or rather, attempted to. Both moved toward the narrow doorway simultaneously, collided, and stumbled backward. Elizabeth grabbed the doorframe while Darcy windmilled his arms dramatically.