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They exchanged a smile. Elizabeth went upstairs carrying two pieces of flowered cotton for Jane.

Dinner was noisy. Lydia had learnt that the Colonel would remain through the wedding and wished to know whether an officer could be absent from his duties for so long. He assured her that his leave had been arranged, whereupon she demanded to know why other officers always departed just as an acquaintance became interesting.

“Perhaps they are required elsewhere,” Mary suggested.

“That does not make it less disagreeable.”

Fitzwilliam admitted that the army did not always arrange its affairs with proper attention to assemblies. Mr. Bennet asked whether he intended to remedy the omission. The Colonel regretted that he possessed insufficient authority, and Mrs. Bennet said she had always understood colonels to have a great deal of it.

Later, when they gathered in the drawing room, Mary approached the instrument with several sheets of music. She hesitated before sitting.

“Lizzy, you said there was something you had learnt here.”

“Yes. Shall I play it first?”

“If you please.”

Elizabeth took the familiar air from the cabinet and set it upon the stand. Darcy came to turn the page, though she knew by now precisely where she would need to pause without his assistance.

Across the room Fitzwilliam grew still at the opening notes. Elizabeth saw his eyes move to his cousin before she returned her attention to the music.

She played it as well as she could. The difficult phrase no longer defeated her, though she gave it more care than the rest. When she finished, Darcy’s hand rested for a moment beside hers upon the closed page.

“Thank you.”

“You must thank Mary. She remembered to ask.”

“I shall.”

Mary took her place and arranged her own music. Elizabeth moved to the sofa beside Darcy. The Colonel remained standing behind the chair opposite, looking at the instrument.

“Georgiana would have wished to tell your sister which piece to choose next,” he said quietly.

“She might not have succeeded,” Elizabeth replied. “Mary likes to finish what she has prepared.”

“Then they would have had something to discuss.”

Darcy smiled. “A great deal.”

Mary began. Conversation quieted, and Elizabeth listened with the particular pleasure of hearing a familiar performance in a room which had once seemed so far from home.

Sir had slept beneath a side table through the music. He woke when Kitty moved a footstool nearer the fire and immediately placed his head upon it. She attempted to use the remaining space. Sir stretched one paw across that, too.

“Lizzy, your dog will not let me sit comfortably.”

“He is Mr. Darcy’s dog.”

Darcy looked at her. “You have accepted a share of the household.”

“I did not know that included every complaint against His Lordship.”

Fitzwilliam came round the chair. “A grave omission in the negotiations. You must insist upon an exception before January.”

Elizabeth rested her hand upon Darcy’s sleeve. “It may be too late. I am already fond of him.”

“Which of us?” Darcy asked.

She pretended to consider. Kitty supplied an indignant answer on her behalf when Sir pushed the footstool another inch.