Darcy halted the horse at the gate at Longbourn. "There's one of your servants.

"You there! Call Mr. Bennet and tell him Miss Elizabeth hurt her ankle and cannot walk."

Darcy dismounted, tied the horse and reached for Elizabeth, lifting her and again carrying her, but not as closely as before.

"Lizzy!" yelled her mother, coming out of the door. "Whatever have you done? You'll be the death of me yet. My poor nerves! Oh, Mr. Darcy, please bring her inside. You are very strong to carry her so easily. Please excuse our Lizzy for causing you trouble. How did you come to bring her home like this? Where did you find her? Lizzy, what happened? Why is your ankle wrapped? Is that a scarf? Whose is it? Lizzy, what have you done?"

By now her father and all her sisters were outside watching the spectacle. Lydia poked Kitty in the ribs and giggled on seeing Lizzy in Mr. Darcy's arms, whispering, "Ooh, he could carry me anywhere he wanted! Ooh, Mr. Darcy! My foot hurts too!' Their father glared at them to be silent.

Darcy carried her inside and asked where he should place her and added, "I came upon Miss Elizabeth when I was out riding. She hurt her ankle and cannot walk on it, so I wrapped her ankle in my cravat and brought her home."

"Here on the sofa will be fine. Lizzy, where does it hurt?" Mrs. Bennet asked while Jane carefully removed the cravat and Lizzy's boot, gently touching her ankle.

"Your ankle is swollen," she said, and manipulated it gently, causing Elizabeth to wince. "I believe it is not broken but we have to wrap it tightly. Mr. Darcy, here is your cravat. I hope it is not ruined. Hill, please get something so we can wrap Lizzy's ankle." Jane said this last to their housekeeper.

Mr. Darcy averted his eyes from seeing Elizabeth's ankle, even though he had handled it when he had wrapped it. "Please do not worry about the cravat, Miss Bennet. It is nothing," he said as he accepted this now wrinkled article. Seeing Mr. Bennet watching, he said, "Mr. Bennet, may we have a word?"

"Certainly, we should. Please come into my library." They entered the library and Mr. Bennet waved Mr. Darcy to a seat and asked, "Would you care for a glass of wine or sherry?"

"Thank you, I would appreciate some sherry to settle my nerves. I very much dislike seeing anyone injured, especially a lady."

Mr. Bennet was surprised at this as he had assumed Mr. Darcy to be always imperturbable. He poured two glasses and sat behind his desk. "Well, sir, what do you have to say for yourself? You obviously had very close contact with Elizabeth."

Mr. Darcy was very surprised by this question as he was not aware of Mr. Bennet's wry sense of humour. "I am not sure what you mean by this question, but the situation was precisely as you saw. I found Miss Elizabeth sitting on the ground, unable to walk. She asked me to go for a carriage to bring her home, but I was not about to leave her there. I wrapped her ankle to immobilize it, then picked her up and put her here on my horse, as you saw."

"You were very close together on the horse. Did you put your arms around her?"

"Yes, I did, but only to make sure she did not fall off the horse. I will admit that holding her was not unpleasant. I assure you my intentions are strictly honourable.

"But that does bring me to related point. Miss Elizabeth very plainly brought to my attention that her first impression of me was not all favourable, which I admit was completely my fault. Since I have been in her company on a number of occasions after that unfortunate Assembly when we first met, I have learned to appreciate her many fine qualities. She is one of the most intelligent women I have ever met; that, together with her lively personality and wit—and I believe I see where she gets these from—makes her a very interesting person. So interesting that I would ask your permission to pay court to her."

"Oho! So that is how it is, and after just one short horse ride? You must have had an interesting conversation while holding her. Has Lizzy agreed to this?"

"No, sir. I doubt that she has any idea of how seriously I admire her. I am not sure if she has overcome her first negative impression of me. Please allow me to explain my frame of mind on that evening. I did not want to go to the Assembly, but Bingley insisted. I admit I was not in good humour then and refused to dance with anyone I did not already know. But I believe that Miss Elizabeth will think better of me if she has more opportunity to learn how I actually am when I am in familiar surroundings amid people I know. When I am among people that I do not know, I tend not to be very congenial and likely give the impression that I cannot tolerate being with those people. That is not how I actually feel."

"If Lizzy agrees with your suit, I will have no objection. Your request leads me to believe there is more that you are not telling me, but lovers are entitled to have some secrets. I warn you that she has a very strong will of her own and has no hesitation in speaking her mind. If she still has a negative impression of you, she will never accept you, no matter what you can offer her. I know she is like other idealist young women who want to marry only for love. I suggest you give her a chance to get to know you better before you ask her for a courtship; otherwise, she will say no."

"I certainly know that much about her! I do have a problem in that I will be leaving for Darcy House in London in two days to take my sister home to Pemberley for the summer. I do not like to leave my sister alone for too long. She does not have many friends of her own age.

"Miss Elizabeth will not have time to get to know me any time soon. If she had met me first in Derbyshire, she would have had a much different impression of me. But of course, it would not be appropriate even to suggest she come to Pemberley."

Mr. Bennet was surprised at how serious Mr. Darcy appeared to be about Elizabeth. "Would it not cause you great difficulty with your family and friends if they knew your intentions? We are in much different social circles; I understand that Pemberley is a fine estate while Longbourn is very small and insignificant compared to yours. We rarely ever go to town to mingle or to meet people; certainly, never people in your own circle."

"Mr. Bennet, I have wanted to marry for some time, but all the women I meet who are in my social circle seem only to be interested in my position and income. I want more than just a lady who will look good on my arm. I want someone I can respect and love and who will help me with managing my estate. I have just about given up finding the perfect partner among the ladies in the highest circles. I do not want to settle for someone shallow just so I can assure the future of Pemberley. I believe that Miss Elizabeth might be the ideal partner for me, but I want to get to know her better before I make any commitment. So, you think I should wait before I talk to her about my courting her; does that mean that the position of mistress of Pemberley does not mean much to her unless she begins to have feelings for me? I agree that would appear be the best plan."

"That is a very sensible plan that you should really get to know what your wife is like before committing to her. If you do not know her very well, it could lead to an unhappy marriage, as I know. I admit I do not know you very well, but from what I see, you may be capable of dealing with Lizzy. She will be quite a handful, but will make a wonderful wife for the man who suits her and earns her love. I do believe you should not talk to her yet about courting her at the moment. Wait until she gets to know you better. What can I do to help you?"

Mr. Darcy had been sitting there considering Mr. Bennet's library while they spoke. "Mr. Bennet, just sitting here looking at how well you have organized your library, it makes me realize how disorganized my library at Pemberley is. I keep buying books, but I have so many that I can rarely find what I am looking for. What my library needs is someone like you to organize it and tell me in what areas it is deficient. It is the work of several generations, and I want to make it even better for my children and future generations."

Mr. Bennet considered this opening carefully and followed up on Darcy's lead. "What if I were to visit Pemberley to spend some time getting to know your library and help you get it organized? I suppose I could use this visit to bring Lizzy, and perhaps one of her sisters with me? But I am not sure she would agree to go if she suspects what we are discussing. She is very perceptive and not easy to deceive. She would not take well to our planning her future without her agreement. In any case, you have not yet talked to her about a courtship. I know that would surprise her."

"Mr. Bennet, that is a great idea! If you would come, you could certainly bring two of your daughters as a sort of vacation for them, and to be company for my sister while we are busy in the library. My sister Georgiana is about their age, but she is very shy. Just being around Miss Elizabeth will help her overcome this. They should get along very well and the ladies would find plenty of fun things to do together in and around Pemberley.

"If they will agree to come, I will send my carriage here to bring you to Pemberley to make your trip more comfortable. Of course, I will take you back home whenever you want. I suppose you could not be absent from home for too long?"

"Longbourn can get along without me for some weeks, but I could not be away much longer. With Lizzy gone, I can rely on Jane to help Mrs. Bennet as Jane is also very reliable, but not nearly as forceful as Lizzy. Lizzy will stand up to anybody and is never frightened in any situation. However, she would not be pleased if she suspected we are plotting about her future."

"A possible problem is that I am leaving in two days. Do you think you will know if Miss Elizabeth will agree to come by tomorrow? We will need several weeks to get ready and send my carriage here. She will also need some time for her ankle to heal."

"I will talk to Lizzy today. If you come back tomorrow, I will let you know what she says."

"Thank you, I will come tomorrow. Good day, sir." Mr. Darcy took his leave without stopping to say goodbye to the Bennet ladies.

Mr. Bennet sat thinking how he could talk to Lizzy. He worried that she might not agree with their plans, especially if she suspected what they had discussed. He knew it would not be an easy discussion because he would never lie to her and she would detect even the slightest falsehood. He was also completely unaware of what Lizzy's feelings were towards Darcy. If she still disliked him, she would never agree to go.