Elizabeth entered the Gardiners' house with a light step and a smile, her aunt's enthusiastic welcome brightening her spirits still further.

'Well, Lizzy,' said Mr Gardiner, in his no-nonsense way, 'you look astonishingly well. From your sister's account, we thought you must be wasting away.'

Elizabeth kissed his cheek and laughed. 'Poor Kitty longs for a bit of romantic nonsense in her life. I had a trifling cold, and she imagined it the worst sort of consumption.'

'Trifling, was it? You are too thin and pale still, Lizzy — but we shall cure you. There are to be no fainting heroines in my house. Come, you must eat.'

She did, with a voracious appetite. Shortly afterwards, Mr Gardiner was taken away on business, and Mrs Gardiner turned an expectant look on her.

'My dear Lizzy,' she said, 'we are delighted to see you again. I have so missed your company.'

'And I,' said Elizabeth warmly. 'Jane is only a few miles away, but somehow — it is not the same, I cannot confide in her as I once did. You cannot imagine how I have wished for your good sense and advice, aunt.'

'I hope you know, Lizzy, that you may speak to me on any subject; your confidences will go no further than myself and Mr Gardiner. I will not even speak to him, if you do not wish it.'

Elizabeth hesitated, then smiled with a hint of mischief. 'I am very glad that you are fond of — my Derbyshire friend,' she said, 'for that will make everything so much more pleasant. Otherwise, it would be awkward every time he called.'

'Every time, Lizzy?' Mrs Gardiner achieved an expression of superhuman discretion. 'Shall we see him very often, do you think?'

'Oh, I expect so,' Elizabeth admitted cheerfully. 'He asked if I would mind, and I said — well, I said I should not. I am afraid it did not occur to me to ask your opinion, but you seemed to enjoy his company so much . . . '

'Well, then,' said Mrs Gardiner, 'we must guard him from your uncle.'

'My uncle?'

'Yes, indeed.' She nodded soberly. 'He cannot be trusted with your friend, Lizzy; he will insist upon stealing him away, plying him with wine and talking politics until they are almost too tired to walk. Apparently they share many, if not all, of the same opinions and ideals. Unless we rescue him, I assure you we will see scarcely anything of them — whatever Mr Darcy may wish.'

Elizabeth laughed. 'I shall protect him,' she said.

Several days later, a note from Darcy himself arrived, bearing apologies of a sort. It seemed that he had been entrusted with the care of a cousin — or several; he was not entirely clear on that point. In any case, he asked if the child (or children) would pose too great an inconvenience. If so, naturally he would understand and postpone his call —

'Nonsense,' said Mrs Gardiner aloud, and wrote back. The cousin was perfectly welcome.

Elizabeth knew nothing of this. She had been walking out with the boys and a servant, and a brief misadventure involving an acorn, Neddy's thumb, and a Swiss baker delayed her return. In fact, Darcy's party arrived rather earlier; when she walked in, calling out to Mrs Gardiner, she received no reply.

'My dear aunt, are you — oh!' Elizabeth blinked at Darcy, who was holding a rather bedraggled flower in his hand. He showed not the slightest inclination of giving it to her, though he did spring to his feet. Several children — her other cousins and a fair-haired little girl — were clustered about him.

'Miss Bennet! I — er — Mrs Gardiner, I believe, was called upon to settle a dispute.'

'I see,' said she, with a brief curtsey. A thin, rather sickly gentleman accompanied him — a man she recognised, after one startled moment, as Colonel Fitzwilliam. He looked quite dreadful.

'Your aunt kindly extended her invitation to my cousins,' Darcy explained, twirling the flower. The youngest Miss Gardiner beamed.

'Miss Bennet,' said Fitzwilliam, his voice gravelly.

'Colonel Fitzwilliam, it is a pleasure to see you again.'

He only nodded, his expression queasy. She hoped it was indigestion rather than disapprobation of the company; in Kent, he had struck her as more prudent than proud, but perhaps the cousins periodically exchanged personalities. It would explain rather more than not.

'Emily, this young lady is the friend I spoke to you of,' Darcy went on, placing a hand on the golden-haired girl's shoulder. 'Miss Bennet, my cousin and goddaughter, Lady Emily Fitzwilliam.'

The colonel's diminutive sister acquitted herself rather better. 'Good afternoon, Miss Bennet. Did you enjoy your walk? Mrs Gardiner said you like to walk as much as Fitzwilliam and Georgiana. I think walking is very nice even though — '

'Emily,' said Darcy. She wrinkled up her nose.

'I am delighted to meet you, your ladyship,' said Elizabeth, smiling. 'However, I do hope you will excuse me for a few minutes. I am afraid I am in quite a state.'

Lady Emily eyed her dress. 'I think you look very pretty,' she said. 'Does she not, Cousin Fitzwilliam?'

Darcy and Elizabeth exchanged a mortified glance; they both mumbled something and she dashed away, just able to hear the girl's loud, plaintive voice — 'But cousin, if she is pretty why should I not say so?'

Mrs Gardiner returned downstairs just after Elizabeth did, and they gladly went into dinner.

Elizabeth, brilliantly happy, was at her most effervescent; her fingers went through the motions of carving and slicing while she talked and laughed, setting everyone at ease and amusing even the colonel. Darcy, too, seemed in high spirits, responding to her sallies with dry, cheerful wit. Elizabeth had never seen him so animated — but his cousins' perfect unconcern persuaded her that they had. Indeed, as the gentlemen retreated, she heard Colonel Fitzwilliam say,

'It is good to see you more yourself, coz.'

Darcy only laughed.

As soon as they were gone, Lady Emily rushed over. 'Miss Bennet,' she demanded, fixing a familiar pair of dark green eyes on her, 'are you going to marry Fitzwilliam?'

Mrs Gardiner, fussing over the teapot, pretended not to hear. Even so, Elizabeth gathered the child close to her and whispered in her ear,

'Yes, if he asks me.'

The rest of the evening flew by, and before anyone quite knew what had happened, it was all over. Darcy shook hands with Elizabeth and the Gardiners, then solemnly thanked little Amelia Gardiner for her gift. Colonel Fitzwilliam roused himself to offer a warm if weary farewell, and his sister threw Elizabeth a conspiratorial smile.

A servant in Darcy livery arrived early the next morning, bearing a letter for Miss Bennet. Elizabeth, at first rather bewildered, took one look at the narrow, precise penmanship and dashed upstairs, breaking the seal with trembling fingers.

My dear Elizabeth —

Tears sprang to her eyes, blurring the words together. I hope you will forgive the liberty I again take — my affections and wishes, as I believe you know, are unchanged — do me the honour of accepting my hand in marriage —

Then, as she read the last line, her tears vanished, and she collapsed onto her bed, laughing so hard that her heart ached. Clearly, his pen had outpaced his thoughts, for he had been forced to cross out one line - I remain your humble servant - and replace it with another:

I remain your devoted servant,

Fitzwilliam Darcy

Elizabeth went to her desk, turned the paper over, and wrote,

Mr Darcy,

I hope I never need address you so coldly again, for I shall certainly be the happiest woman in all the world when you honour me with your hand. You know, I hope, that I love you above any other person, and must forget anything I have ever said to the contrary.

Devotion, I think, is far superior to mere humility.

Elizabeth

The End