Mr. Collins was pleased to report that his darling Charlotte had fully recovered. “To think Charlotte’s loving presence as the companion of my life might have been denied me,” Mr. Collins continued. “Fortunately, there was an intervention, and I believe it very likely divine, that saved me from a life lived in loneliness and alone.”
While her cousin rambled on, Jane wondered how Darcy and Lizzy were doing in the library, and she decided that if it was taking them this long, then they must be getting on quite well. Mrs. Crenshaw was so happy to have company other than Mr. Collins that she had not yet noticed Lizzy was missing.
“May I speak, Mama?” Athena asked, with an angelic expression. Because Athena was the oldest child remaining at home, she was allowed to sit with her mother and the other adults so that she might fetch whatever her dear Mama required.
“Yes, my sweet.”
“I have heard Mr. Collins say that Miss Darcy and Mr. Darcy are relations of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Does Mr. Collins know that they are here?”
“Mr. Darcy! Miss Darcy! Here at Netherfield?” Mr. Collins said in a voice indicating his astonishment. “I am deeply moved that the niece and nephew of my esteemed patroness should have come so far to be witnesses to my wedding.”
“Yes, they are here, but Miss Darcy is resting, and Mr. Darcy is writing business letters. However, they will join us shortly,” Jane said in an attempt to silence Athena.
“But I saw Mr. Darcy go into the billiards room with Miss Elizabeth,” Athena responded, now with a sharper edge in her voice.
After Mrs. Crenshaw stopped laughing at the absurdity of a lady being in the billiards room, she told her daughter, “That was very funny, Athena, but please let the adults speak.”
“But I wasn’t being funny, Mama. I saw Mr. Darcy holding Miss Elizabeth’s hand as they ran across the foyer to the billiards room.”
No one was laughing now, not even Miss Bennet, whom Athena did not like at all. She was the reason Gaius and Lucius were in Scotland, and if it weren’t for her interference, the bossy Mr. Campbell would not be coming to Netherfield. As soon as he arrived, Athena and Darius would be subjected to endless recitations of sums, spelling vocabulary words, and reading poetry and stories with morals.
“Surely not,” Mr. Collins said, rising. “Miss Elizabeth is an unmarried woman. I can assure you my cousin would never be alone in a room with a man who is not her relation.”
“I can show you,” Athena said, looking straight at Jane.
Charles did his best to alert the couple of their approach. He walked slowly, but loudly, and pretended to have a fit of coughing. Jane hoped it would be enough. As the door creaked open, she was reminded of the time Mr. Carter’s wagon had overturned on High Street in Meryton and how everyone had gathered around to see how many of his chickens had been killed. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
After successfully crossing the foyer, Darcy had shut the door to the billiards room and started laughing. “Now I understand Antony a little better. There is something to be said for clandestine meetings. Do you know he once had to climb down a trellis, for reasons I won’t mention, and he had to jump the last few feet and landed in a hedge? I never thought the story was funny until now.” And then he put his arms around Lizzy’s waist and picked her up and spun her around.
Although Lizzy would have gladly stayed in Mr. Darcy’s embrace, she realized that one of them had to keep a cool head, and it was not going to be Mr. Darcy.
“Why are you stepping away from me? Do you not trust me?” Darcy asked.
“Of course I don’t trust you. You are a man.”
“I have waited all these many months for you, and now I am to be denied a few kisses?”
“You have waited for me! It was not I who was running back and forth to London. It was I who waited for you.”
“Let us agree that we were both waiting, but what is the harm in a few kisses now that we are together?”
“Because we cannot stay here. The servants will be coming in to stoke the fires and…”
“The servants will not come in here until we are called in to supper. They have enough to do without tending fires in empty rooms.”
“All right. I shall concede that point. However, Mrs. Crenshaw knows I am here. Surely, she is wondering what has happened to one of her guests.”
“She thinks you are with Georgiana.”
“Why would she think that?”
“Because that is what Georgiana told Bingley to say.”
“My goodness, what a clever girl.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” he said, laughing at the thought of all of his sister’s maneuvering. “Now, may I kiss you?”
“You said we were going to talk.”
“I did not say that was all we were going to do.” He briefly kissed her before putting his arms around her again. He could hardly believe that after all this time and all the hurdles, he was finally free to hold the woman he loved. But then he suddenly stepped back and asked, “Was Athena in the foyer when you came in?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Elizabeth, you have to leave immediately,” he said, taking her by the hand and walking with her to a door that was hidden by the wood paneling. “There is a door just like this one on the other side that will exit into a hallway leading to the foyer. Please go quickly. I do not trust Athena.”
Darcy had barely thrown off his jacket, chalked his cue, and tossed a few balls in the pockets before he heard Bingley knocking on the door, and he was not surprised to see Athena among the group.
“Hello, Bingley. I hope you don’t mind that I did not immediately join your party. I have been in carriages too often of late, and I was not quite ready to sit down again. Please forgive me, Mrs. Crenshaw,” he said, bowing, “if I caused you any inconvenience.”
“None at all, sir,” she replied.
“Mr. Darcy, this little girl was having some fun at our expense,” Mr. Collins stated. “She thought Miss Elizabeth was in here with you.”
But Athena knew what she had seen, and the little schemer dropped to her knees, looking under the table to see if Elizabeth was hiding there.
“A lady in a billiards room? Well, that would be very odd,” Darcy answered. “But no harm done,” he said, looking down at the kneeling Athena.
“That is very generous of you, Mr. Darcy,” Mrs. Crenshaw said, but she was not amused by her daughter fabricating a story about one of her guests, and she sent for Tom Smart and asked him to escort Athena to the nursery. Shortly thereafter, Lizzy and Georgiana came into the billiards room, walking arm in arm, and both smiled as they passed Athena on her way out.
“Lizzy, whatever possessed you to leave the library and go into the billiards room?” Jane asked on the ride to Longbourn. “My heart was in my mouth at the thought of everyone finding Mr. Darcy and you alone.”
“It wasn’t but a minute or two after Mr. Darcy and I had started talking that we heard Mr. Collins approaching. We hid between two bookshelves for what seemed like an eternity,” a very pleasant eternity, Lizzy thought. “We were afraid he might come back, so we hurried across the foyer. We were talking when Mr. Darcy practically pushed me out of the room, and it was a good thing he did. I had barely circled around to the foyer when I could hear Mr. Bingley knocking on the door.”
“From Mr. Darcy’s sour look all through supper, I suspect you did not have ample opportunity to talk. He is not very good at hiding his feelings.”
“That is because he does not try. He is a man who is used to having his own way and scowls or pouts when he does not get it. It did not help that Mrs. Crenshaw never stopped talking, and of course, there is Mr. Collins, who requires no further comment. But the reason Mr. Darcy excused himself after our meal is in my pocket.” Lizzy showed Jane a note Mr. Darcy had written to her.
