than such a piddling account of how her good fortunate came to be than this to rob Mrs. Bennet of her joy. “My Lizzy is a cunning girl, indeed, to have found herself in such a position.” She smiled knowingly. “I always supposed my second eldest daughter could not be so clever for nothing.”
Having been described as an elegant woman by Longbourn’s heir on first making her acquaintance, Mrs. Philips real opinion of him would not be repressed. “Certainly too clever to settle for the likes of Mr. William Collins, I’d say.”
Mrs. Philips was anything but elegant. A favorite of her younger nieces who was always the best source of the latest gossip in town, the lady was often described as rather vulgar.
Mrs. Bennet waved her handkerchief in the air dismissively. “Oh! Forget about Mr. Collins!”
Mrs. Philips peered over the rim of her spectacles. “Then you are not at all concerned that he spent the greater part of the day at Lucas Lodge paying court to Sir William’s eldest daughter.”
Mrs. Bennet huffed. “I could not care one jot where he goes or with whom he spends his time. Our Mr. Darcy is one hundred times that gentleman’s consequence, I am sure.”
~*~
Elizabeth received an abundance of felicitations that evening. She could honestly say her intended suffered her friends and neighbors good wishes with ample civility so as to give no one any cause to complain. She also had opportunities to be snubbed a time or two. Her aggrieved cousin went out of his way to avoid her as best he could. She wondered at his being there. True, he was still a guest at Longbourn, but surely he took no pleasure in it. She came to suspect his purposes, plain and simple, were to vex her. He spent a great deal of time wooing her friend Charlotte. Elizabeth could not be too disheartened by the swift transference of his affection, despite what it portended for her friend. At least he wasn’t wooing Jane.
My sister is safe.
Before the evening drew to a close, Darcy and Elizabeth found a quiet moment alone. She said, “I imagine you will want to return to Derbyshire before Christmas, Mr. Darcy. You must miss your home.”
“To be honest, Miss Elizabeth, I had looked forward to returning to Derbyshire for December. My sister and I spend Christmas in Matlock with my late mother’s family,” he replied, his hands clutched behind his back.
“You have my condolences on the loss of your parents, sir,” she said, her voice solemn.
“I appreciate your saying that.”
“You said you had looked forward to returning to Derbyshire. Is that to say your feelings have changed?”
“Must you even ask?” He took her by the hand. “I have no intention of spending an entire month apart from you. As much as I love my family, and no doubt I will miss them dearly, my time is better spent here with you. How I wish we might be married soon so you might come to Derbyshire with me.” He kissed her hand. “However, such a scheme would require that you spend the season away from your family, and I do not expect you to make such a sacrifice. Next year, we shall invite all our relatives to celebrate Christmas with us at Pemberley. That is, of course, assuming such a prospect would bring you pleasure.”
“I do believe I should like that very much, sir. However, I should also like you to consider that I am very aware that, as much as I love my family, our lives are irrevocably intertwined. I would not consider it a sacrifice were I to spend this Christmas in Derbyshire.”
“Miss Elizabeth, I was under the impression that you wanted a long engagement.”
Remembering the exquisite sensations of his kisses alone gave Elizabeth to consider that, if such pleasurable delights were a semblance of what she might expect as his wife, she had no wish to wait too long.
Darcy and Elizabeth parted company with an agreement that she would invite Jane to accompany them to Derbyshire after the wedding, along with Georgiana. That way Elizabeth would