last their meal was done and Elizabeth retired for the night. Her husband said that he must speak to the innkeeper so she went upstairs, anticipating the moment when he would join her.
She undressed with Annie’s help and put on her new nightgown, trimmed with expensive Bruges lace, and then she dismissed her maid.
She was nervous as she thought about all Lydia’s bawdy, soulless tales of married life. Would it be like that for Darcy and her? she wondered.
She thought not.
To help pass the time, she went over to the travelling writing desk she had brought with her and started a letter to Jane.
My dearest Jane,
You will be surprised when I tell you that we are not going to the Lake District after all, we are going to France…
She found it difficult to keep her mind on her letter and she lifted her head, listening for Darcy’s foot on the stair or the click of the interconnecting door, but the inn was silent, save for the murmur of voices coming from below.
She turned back to her letter. She wrote about the journey, about the inn, and about her hopes for the morrow, but still her husband did not come.
…Tell me, Jane, is marriage what you thought it would be?
she wrote.
Does Bingley have strange moods? Does he change his mind rapidly? Does he have caprices? I never thought that Darcy would be like this, with strange quirks and fancies, and such rapid changes of mind, and I never thought he would abandon me on our wedding night, either, but I have been in my room for an hour now, Jane, and I am still alone. Perhaps he is tired after the journey, or perhaps he thinks that I must be tired—unless I have done something to offend him. But no, what could I have done?
She wrote on until the clock struck midnight, and then beyond, until at last she fell asleep in the chair.
Elizabeth was awoken by her maid. She was stiff and sore from spending the night on the chair and she was ashamed that her maid had seen her abandoned, but the woman gave no sign that she had noticed anything unusual. Instead, she busied herself with preparing Elizabeth’s things. An hour later, Elizabeth, somewhat refreshed by highly scented soap and water, and dressed in clean clothes, went downstairs.
Darcy was in the dining room. He looked up when she entered the room and his eyes widened when he saw her, telling her more clearly than words that he found her lovely. He took her hand and kissed it, then led her to the table, but he made no mention of the night before and she could not say anything in front of the servants.
They made a good meal and then set out for the docks. Elizabeth, missing her daily walks, rejected the coach and they went on foot. The day was uncommonly fair. It was October, but it felt more like September in its mild air, brisk soft wind, and bright sun. Everything looked so tranquil, with the shadows pursuing each other over the landscape, that Elizabeth wondered how she could ever have found the castle, the sea, and the cliffs menacing. They were now picturesque, adding charm to the scene before her.
Darcy was affable and their thoughts were in tune when they made a comment on the port or the people or the bustle all around them. There had been rain in the night, and Darcy teased Elizabeth when her skirts dragged through the dirt.
‘Mrs Darcy, are you aware that your petticoat is six inches deep in mud?’ he asked her.
She laughed, recalling the time, almost a year ago to the day, when she had walked to Netherfield because Jane was ill and had arrived looking very bedraggled.
‘Caroline would be horrified!’ she said as she looked down at her muddy hem.
‘She was certainly horrified last year.’
‘What a sight I must have looked! You must have thought me a strange creature, to turn up at the house in all my dirt.’
‘Not at all. It is true that I thought it unnecessary for you to have walked all that way to see your sister when she had nothing but a trifling cold—yes, I really was so pompous, I must admit it—but your eyes, I distinctly remember, had been brightened by the exercise. In fact, your whole face was glowing. I don’t think I had ever seen anyone looking more lovely. I believe it was from that date I started to