Page 73 of A Witch Comes to Pemberley

Fitzwilliam Darcy

He read the letter once, removed nothing, and signed it.

The invitation to Mr. Bennet had not appeared in either of his earlier attempts. Darcy found that he meant it. A man who could protect his daughter’s refusal of an advantageous marriage against the wishes of her mother might be an agreeable guest, though Charles’s account suggested he could also be an inconvenient observer.

Darcy sealed the letter before he could consider that last circumstance too carefully.

At lunch Miss Bennet wore the same light gown she had worn upon the visit to Highwood. He had no right to regard its appearance as an argument in favour of his letter. It was a perfectly respectable gown. She looked very well in it.

She caught him looking and glanced down at her sleeve.

“Have I carried something in from the garden?”

“No.”

“Then I must have escaped Sir. He wished to show me where he had been digging.”

“Did you admire his work?”

“I admired it at a sufficient distance to preserve my shoes.”

Charles laughed. Caroline observed that the dog ought not to be permitted near the flower beds, and Darcy agreed to speak to the gardener about the opening beneath the paling. Miss Bennet’s smile faded as the conversation turned elsewhere. He could not tell whether it had ever been intended for him or merely for the joke.

After lunch, Jane asked her sister to fetch a book she had left upstairs. Miss Bennet went at once. Darcy remained in the hall to speak to a footman, and she met him there upon her return, the volume held against her waist.

“I have written to your father,” he said.

She stopped at the foot of the stairs.

“My father?”

“To assure him that you and your sister are welcome through the winter. There was also a matter concerning the provision of warmer clothes. Mrs. Reynolds mentioned your inquiry.”

Her fingers tightened upon the book.

“I did not intend her to trouble you. I only wished to know how Mama should send the parcel.”

“She has not troubled me.”