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“What a discouraging family habit.”

“It has kept us in employment.”

The answer pleased Elizabeth more than the discovery of another mysterious phrase would have done. Mrs. Reynolds had a family, duties, recollections which did not begin with Mara or end with a curse. Elizabeth had sometimes been so eager for an explanation that she had treated the housekeeper’s whole life as preparation for supplying one.

She pushed the sheet gently back across the table.

“I have kept you long enough.”

“You have kept me just as long as I offered.”

“Then I shall not add to my offences by arguing with your clock.”

She left without borrowing another paper. The fragile originals remained where Mrs. Reynolds could protect them. It was enough, for that afternoon, to have sat beside a woman who had seen something inexplicable and could still be particular about the airing of sheets.

On Sunday, Jane asked Elizabeth to read aloud after dinner. The gentlemen joined the ladies early in the drawing room, and Caroline took up her embroidery with the air of a woman prepared to endure the taste of others.

Elizabeth chose a short piece from the book at hand. Halfway through it she came upon a sentence so elaborate that she lost the sense before reaching the end.

She stopped.

“Would anybody object if I allowed this gentleman to arrive at his conclusion without us?”

Charles looked toward Jane, who was attempting not to laugh. Mr. Darcy held out his hand for the book.

“May I see?”

Elizabeth passed it to him. He read the sentence silently, then went back to its beginning.

“I believe the objection lies here,” he said, placing his finger upon a line.

“The objection lies with the author. He has not permitted a breath since the bottom of the last page.”

Darcy looked up. “He does appear unwilling to surrender his audience.”

Caroline set down her work. “Perhaps I might read the next passage.” book to her.

“By all means,” Elizabeth said, before Mr. Darcy could return the

He gave it to Caroline. She read smoothly, choosing a more manageable paragraph, and the evening proceeded without further difficulty.

Elizabeth sat with her hands folded, still wishing to laugh over Mr. Darcy’s examination of the sentence. It would have been easy to keep the book, to let him explain his objection, to draw him into another argument while everybody else listened. She had surrendered it because she knew how much she wanted to do exactly that.

Her father’s answer arrived on Wednesday, September 29.

This time she waited until she had carried her breakfast cup upstairs before opening it. Jane was dressing; there was no need to share the letter until Elizabeth knew how much Papa had found to tease her about.

Longbourn, September 26, 1813

My dear Lizzy,

Your letter reached us on Friday, followed yesterday by one from your host. I find him so determined to keep you all comfortable that I have accepted his proposal before your mother can discover further articles which ought to accompany the brown pelisse.

I have written to thank him. You may allow Mrs. Reynolds to supply what the winter requires without supposing that you have ruined me or obliged Mr. Darcy to sell a field. He has described a modest arrangement, entirely subject to your wishes. I advise you to exercise them, since you will otherwise have endured all the embarrassment of receiving an offer without acquiring the benefit of a warm gown.

The books will come. I shall send them with your shawl, for which your mother has found no substitute, and Mary’s volume, for which she assures me there is none. Your mother has undertaken the packing. She began with three articles and has already required a larger box. I declined to count them again.

Your account of the house pleased me. Your account of its master was less decisive. A gentleman who contradicts you about books ought surely to be condemned without hesitation; yet you appear unwilling to finish the sentence against him. I leave you to explain this irregularity.