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Finally, he drew her hand to his lips to bestow the kiss he had withheld.

Returning her boot to the floor, Elizabeth leaned forward to kiss his cheek again. This time Darcy was not satisfied with a peck. He held her close until he found her lips. Determined to make up for his previous assault on her, Darcy brushed his burning lips slowly on hers, whispering her name, before catching her bottom lip gently between his to suck on it. This tender kiss was much more like Elizabeth had imagined her first kiss with Mr Darcy would be. Much better than her pillow.

Then, remembering her aunt and uncle were probably waiting in trepidation, she drew away, squeezed his hand, and hobbled to the door, wearing one unlaced boot and one slipper. Mr and Mrs Gardiner were standing at the entrance to the parlour, conversing in low voices with Finn.

“It’s all right, Uncle,” Elizabeth said cheerfully, emerging into the hall. “We are engaged!”

Chapter 40: Master stroke

Madeleine Gardiner had been quite annoyed with her husband for pushing Lizzy into Mr Darcy’s arms. Knowing the situation was complicated; she had hoped their issues could be discussed calmly and rationally before any commitments were made. Certainly, Mrs Gardiner had been dismayed when her husband explained that rumours were circulating with renewed vigour in Meryton, but she was still worried about the nature of Mr Darcy’s illness. On that head, at least, her husband had been able to reassure her. Mr Darcy’s illness was not contagious, or so the gentleman contended.

The Gardiners were still bickering when, much to their astonishment, the bell was rung from the study. Not expecting so speedy a resolution, it had occurred to them both that Mr Darcy might be ringing for succour, having been attacked by an irate Lizzy. When Finn walked past them with the bandbox, they could only watch, bouche bayant. On his return, Finn assured them that Mr Darcy was not having his eyes scratched out. He related some of the clever things that his master had thought of to try to win his lady’s heart and when, a few minutes later, Lizzy appeared at the door wearing one boot and one slipper, her flushed cheeks and large smile attested to Mr Darcy’s success.

Mrs Gardiner kept her misgivings in reserve and, with her husband, gave Lizzy her warm congratulations. She would talk to Lizzy later about the issue of Mr Darcy’s mistress, which she thought needed to be aired between the pair of them before things progressed too far. Mrs Gardiner knew that among the Ton it was almost considered a wife’s duty to look the other way when her husband kept a mistress, but she also knew that Lizzy would never tolerate such an arrangement. In her opinion, such things needed to be set right at the beginning, and if not, an early rupture would be better than a late one. Lizzy could still cry off.

When they all sat down to dinner shortly afterwards, Mrs Gardiner could see that Mr Darcy was just as radiant as Lizzy. It was the first time she had seen him smile and what a beautiful, boyish smile it was! It seemed his heart was as much engaged as he had claimed it to be to her husband.

Dinner was a very pleasant affair. Having gained his purpose, Mr Gardiner started a spirited conversation on science, as he saw it, which inevitably arrived at the topic of his winch. Darcy took this in good spirits and became quite animated on the subject himself, talking of the ingenious drawbridges that he had seen in Rotterdam. Lizzy watched the gentlemen’s discussion indulgently. While she had an avid interest in scientific topics, it did not extend to mechanical devices. Finally, Finn insisted that his master get some rest.

The family retired. Unpacking her bedroll upon the settee, Elizabeth felt so incredibly light and giddy, as if she might burst out laughing at any moment. Engaged to Mr Darcy! It hardly seemed credible!

She slipped into pleasant dreams, living in the Mayfair townhouse with her husband and Georgiana, with a dog they had somehow acquired. The other occupants of Gracechurch Street also spent a largely tranquil night after the happy resolution, although Mrs Gardiner was woken towards the morning by her husband’s restless dreams. Thinking he might be having a nightmare, she stroked his trembling arms, but soon realised he was not in need of succour and was instead excited about something. As it was not yet dawn, Mrs Gardiner rolled over and tried to go back to sleep but was woken again just as she was drifting off when her husband sat up in bed.

“I have it!” he said, flinging back the covers and groping for his dressing gown before leaping up.

“Wonderful!” said Mrs Gardiner, settling into the warm spot her husband had left behind.

When she woke again at a more respectable hour, Madeleine Gardiner drew on her dressing gown and pattered down to her husband’s study. Upon opening the door, she found him on the floor, seemingly deconstructing his patent rowing machine.

“Thought of an improvement?” she yawned as she pulled the bell for tea.

“No! A completely new machine! To help Mr Darcy regain his strength! Could you call Mick?”

Mick was duly summoned and sent off to procure more bits and pieces from a shed in the yard: springs, rope and oak bearers. Between tea and toast the design was jury-rigged. Upon its completion, Mr Gardiner would have raced upstairs to wake Mr Darcy so that he might try out his new device immediately, had not Mrs Gardiner reminded him that the Ton were generally not early risers.

Reluctantly, Mr Gardiner sat down to breakfast before going off to work a little later than his usual hour. When he returned for an early lunch, he was gratified to find Mr Darcy in the parlour in his wheeled chair. After a suitable windup for his great invention, Mr Gardiner pushed Mr Darcy off to his study to demonstrate the new machine, much to Cook’s disgust, as she was about to bring the rabbit pie to the table.

With the help of Finn and Mick, Mr Darcy was guided into the centre of the contraption on the study floor as Mr Gardiner explained:

“It occurred to me last night that these leg braces that your doctor has recommended cannot be good for you in the long run. While they give you stability, they will only eventually keep your legs from further improving. What you really need is to build up your strength. I had already made a device called a rowing machine for someone on the Oxford team who wished to practice every day without the trouble of getting into a boat. He was very satisfied with it. I am currently building two more for other team members down at my warehouse. It occurred to me that I could modify my machine so that it strengthened the legs instead of the arms. So, I’m strapping your boots onto the paddles. Try pushing with your legs. That’s it! Well, these springs are obviously a little stiff, but we can change that! Mick, can you pass me that other set of springs? ...Still too stiff, but we can buy others, and as you regain your strength, we can swap in the stiffer ones. We’ll need to lengthen the bearers as well, for your legs are longer than mine. But you get the idea!”

“Yes!” said Darcy, a little rueful he had not thought of something similar himself. He supposed he had been too caught up in self-pity.

“Let me help you out!” said Mr Gardiner. “My wife says lunch is getting cold, but I’ll send Mick out for more springs and modify the bearers before I go back to work. That way you can try it out properly this afternoon!”

Buoyed by the renewed hope that rehabilitation might be possible, Darcy was eager to try the machine as soon as Mr Gardiner deemed it ready, but Finn insisted that Darcy lie down for an hour before doing anything else. When he was settled onto the sofa with his boots hanging over the edge, Elizabeth sat down beside him to read and thus kept his impatience in check. Finally, Finn’s interminable hour was up, and with the help of his valet, Darcy slid onto the seat of the wheeled chair and returned to Mr Gardiner’s study. Getting back into the contraption without Mr Gardiner’s help turned out to be a major undertaking. With the combined efforts of Finn, Elizabeth and Mrs Gardiner, Darcy managed to achieve this, but not without several precarious moments when both Elizabeth and Mrs Gardiner thought they might end up sitting in Mr Darcy’s lap.

The new springs turned out to be just the ticket. Darcy spent half an hour pushing against the paddles until Finn deemed that he had had enough. Getting out of the machine proved even more precarious than getting in, as Darcy’s legs were wobbling like a jelly after his exertions. Finally it was achieved and Mr Darcy was wheeled back to the settee. When Dr Gordon arrived at four, Darcy was eager to show him the machine. He had another session demonstrating the device to him. The doctor was rather sceptical at first, being daily inundated by practitioners selling snake oil, but once he saw Darcy working the machine, he was immediately convinced of its usefulness.

“Be careful about overdoing it,” Dr Gordon cautioned. “If you have ever worked in the fields, you would know how sore you can get from unaccustomed exercise. Stick to these half-hour sessions for the moment. You have done two today, so no more, and do not increase the number of sessions per day by more than one. You need to get into it gradually.”

Having worked next to his tenants as a scytheman during harvest, Darcy knew exactly what Dr Gordon was talking about. Before the doctor left, he helped Finn assist Darcy back to his room. This might have been too much for the two of them had Darcy not been able to stand with the help of his braces while they caught their breath.

Although he did not wish to admit it, the two sessions on the machine had significantly tired Darcy. After Finn had loosened the braces, he gratefully dropped off into an afternoon nap. He was awoken around an hour later by a knock.

“Ah, ha!” his cousin’s voice said. “Lazarus arises!”

“Richard, what are you doing here?”