When Darcy went up, he first went to the door of Georgiana's room and listened. This was his normal routine; not that he expected to hear anything unusual, but his protectiveness of his sister made him make this final check every evening. Hearing nothing from her room, he went to the door to Elizabeth's room and again listened. This time, he thought he heard something that sounded like sobbing. This sound tore at his heart as he immediately wanted to comfort her in any way that he could.
Even though he knew that he should not interfere, he could not stop himself from tapping very lightly on her door. He heard no change from the sounds coming from the room; no invitation to enter. Every bit of his background as a gentleman told him that he should not go in, but he could not stop himself. He gently turned the handle and opened the door just a crack. Then it was obvious that it certainly was sobbing that he heard, coming from the prone figure in the bed. He opened the door enough to let himself in and quietly closed it behind him. His approach to the bed was silent because of the thick carpet on the floor. He stood by the bed and realized that she was not aware that he was there as she had not moved. Her sobbing affected him greatly and he knew that he would do whatever he could to alleviate her sadness.
He reached out and gently put his hand on her shoulder. "Elizabeth, what is it? Please tell me and I will do whatever I can to help you."
She did not start at his touch or his words, giving him the impression that she was either having a bad dream or that she was so despondent that nothing else mattered. She turned to him and said, "Oh, Mr. Darcy! I have been such a fool! How could I have misjudged you so badly. You are such a good man and I threw away our chance to be happy." She began to sob harder.
Darcy immediately bent down and put his arms around her, lifting her to press her against his chest. She did not pull away but leaned against him, continuing to sob. He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her even closer to him. She still did not resist but rested her head against him. "It will be all right," he murmured to her. "Together we can overcome anything. Please trust me." He gently kissed her hair that was bound loosely for the night.
He decided that he should not ask her what was troubling her as he first had to try to calm her. He rocked with her in his arms. Her sobs seemed to lessen and she put her arms around him under his coat, nestling in his arms. They stayed like this for some time, with him quietly talking to her, trying to calm her. His rocking of her slowed and stopped, so they were just holding each other. He realized how improper it was for him to be in her bedroom, so he tried to lay her down so he could leave. However, she clung tighter to him and said, "Please do not leave me. Just hold me."
"Elizabeth, I will never leave you. Please trust me." Still holding her, he lowered her and lay down beside her, but on top of the covers, boots and all. He intended to let her go when she fell asleep, but when he tried to let go of her, she held him even tighter. She seemed to be asleep, but he could not get away. He decided to wait for a while, so he just relaxed, trying not to think of how natural it felt to hold her like this, especially as she was wearing only a thin night-dress and her covers were pulled down to her waist. In spite of his best intentions, he also fell asleep on top of the covers.
The next thing that Darcy new, it was morning and he was wakened by the sound of the door opening and a gasp. He was still on top of Elizabeth's bed, holding her in his arms just as they had been when they both fell asleep. He looked up and saw Emma staring at them with wide eyes. He knew that he had to say something, so he said, "Emma, please step out and close the door. Wait there and I will speak to you in a moment."
His words woke Elizabeth, who also gasped at seeing Mr. Darcy holding her in his arms. "Mr. Darcy! What are you doing here? Were you here all night? You are still fully dressed."
Darcy let go of her and got off the bed. Elizabeth pulled the covers up to her chin when she saw that she was wearing only her night-dress. "Elizabeth, do you remember nothing of what happened? When I came up last night, I heard you crying and came in to see what was the matter. I held you only to comfort you. You put your arms around me and would not let go of me. I intended only to hold you until you fell asleep, but I obviously went to sleep as well. I woke up only when Emma opened the door. Of course, she was shocked to see me here. I have to go to talk to her. Will you be agreeable to speaking to me about this later?"
When she nodded, he went to the door and went out to find both Emma and Mrs. Reynolds waiting in the hallway. Mrs. Reynolds had been on staff for many years, so she knew that she could speak to him very bluntly. "Mr. Darcy, what is going on? When I asked Emma why she not was helping Miss Bennet, she said that you were on the bed with her, holding her in your arms." She stood there waiting for him to reply.
"Mrs. Reynolds, Emma, please believe me when I say that nothing improper happened except that I heard Miss Bennet crying last night when I came up and I went in to see what was the matter. I held her to try to get her to sleep, but I fell asleep as well. You can see that I was fully dressed and lay on top of the covers all night. Emma, I expect that you will not mention this to anyone. You may go in to assist Miss Bennet."
Emma tapped on the door and went in. Mrs. Reynolds was not finished. "Mr. Darcy, I have known you since you were a mere lad and have never witnessed anything but the most gentlemanly behaviour on your part. I have seen how you look at Miss Bennet and expect that there is a history between you two. Sir, what are your intentions to the lady?"
"Mrs. Reynolds, yes, there is a history between us. I want nothing less than to make her the next Mistress of Pemberley. I had intended to let our relationship develop slowly before I asked her, but it is obvious that now I have to do something very quickly. I promise you that I will talk to her today. Please believe me when I say that my intentions to her are strictly honourable. I love her and have loved her for a long time."
"I hope that you do sort this out with her and that she replies favourably. From what I have seen of the lady, I will welcome her as Mistress. I am sure that Emma will not say anything, but you have to move quickly before things develop into something improper. Think of Miss Darcy."
He went to his room and his valet was waiting for him. Even though he did not say anything about Darcy's absence from his bed all night, his formal manner betrayed his displeasure. When Darcy was changed and ready, he went down to the breakfast room, where he found that Elizabeth was there, but not Georgiana.
"Good morning, Miss Bennet; we have to talk, but not here. Will you come to walk with me after we eat? I will say that my staff is not pleased with me as they believe that I acted in a way that was not gentlemanly. You and I know that nothing seriously improper happened, but they are assuming the worst."
Elizabeth looked at him and blushed, knowing how it must have looked to the staff to find him on her bed with her. "Good morning, again, Mr. Darcy. Yes, we need to talk. I will walk with you as long as we stay in sight of the house. We do not want any further suggestions of indiscretions that would make the staff doubt your or my good behaviour. We would not want them to think of you as anything less than a gentleman."
They could say no more as Georgiana and Mrs. Annesley came in then. They were followed by Bingley and Jane The discussion at breakfast centered around what plans they each had for the day.
When Darcy and Elizabeth finished eating, he said, "Miss Bennet, it is a beautiful day, so will you take a turn in the gardens with me?" He looked pointedly at Georgiana and Bingley so they knew they were not invited. Elizabeth agreed and she went out with him. After they had left, those remaining looked at each other expectantly. Georgiana looked directly at Jane and said, "Jane, do you think he is going to ask for her hand? I hope so. I like her and know that she could make him happy."
Jane replied, "Georgiana, from the way they were this morning, something is going on. I hope that they come to an understanding as Lizzy has finally realized what a good man your brother is. I agree that they are perfect for each other." She went to the window to see if she could see them in the gardens. She was immediately joined by her husband and Georgiana.
As soon as they were outside, Elizabeth began, "Mr. Darcy, I do not remember exactly what happened when you first came in to my room. You said that you heard me crying and came in to comfort me. I cannot believe that you would have done that as it was so inappropriate for you to be in my room. Please tell me if I invited you to come in."
"No, you did not. I know how improper my entering your room was, but it tore my heart to hear you crying. I intended only to find out what was the matter, then leave. However, I put my arms around you to comfort you and you put your head against my chest. When I went to let go of you, you put your arms around me and would not let me go. Perhaps I did not try hard enough, but it felt so right to hold you against me like that, that I just lay down with you. I did nothing else, except to kiss your hair. I did not get under the covers or touch you inappropriately. I meant to go back to my room, but I must have fallen asleep as the next thing I knew was when Emma opened the door and I saw that it was morning."
"Mr. Darcy, I thank you for trying to comfort me, but I believe that you will agree that this should not have happened and we must not allow it to happen again. Obviously neither of us is blameless, but I feel that the main fault is mine. I should not have prevented you from leaving. I do not know why I held you."
"Elizabeth, you were so upset that I do not blame you. The main fault was my own as I should not have entered your room. Will you tell me why you were so distraught? Was it something that I did?"
"No; you are entirely blameless. I admit that I have not been my normal cheerful self all winter; ever since my Father's death. I believe that it is just that so many serious events happened that they affected me more than I would have expected. I had always thought that I had a better outlook on life, but recently that seems to have changed."
"Please tell me which events affected you so much."
"Obviously I was not as strong as I had always thought, as never before had my mood been affected so drastically. First of all, my horrible cousin's disgusting proposal to me. He actually said that if I did not accept him, I would never receive another offer from anyone else. At first, I thought it was just an insult, but then I began to wonder if it might be true. Then Charlotte completely surprised me by accepting Mr. Collins, even though she knew what he was like. Then Jane was so happy to receive Mr. Bingley's attentions, only to have him desert her with not one word of explanation." When Darcy seemed to want to say something here, she stopped him. "Then Hunsford and my unreasonable and baseless anger at you. I was so wrong about you! Mr. Darcy, I am truly sorry for the things that I said to you, so please forgive me if you can. Then Lydia's thoughtless elopement with Mr. Wickham and her disappearance, which resulted in our family's disgrace in Meryton. Finally, my Father's death and our destitution when we lost our home and income. So much happened in so short a time! The only happy event was Mr. Bingley's return to Netherfield and marriage to Jane. I believe that I have you to thank for that?"
"I wanted only to correct my mistake about her regard for him. Now I can see how right you were as they both seemed to be so happy with each other when I saw them in London. I know that Bingley is completely besotted with your sister. They are obviously perfect for each other. I can only say that I sincerely hope that their happiness never ends. I must add that I felt that I was also in the wrong not to warn the good people of Meryton about Wickham's vicious tendencies. After you told me about the elopement last fall, I searched for them in town all winter. I found that they had gone there from Brighton, but then disappeared without a trace."
Elizabeth was very surprised to hear that he had searched for them. "Mr. Darcy! Why did you look for them? They were nothing to you."
"Elizabeth, I was so wrong to have upset you with my disparagement of your family when I made my disgusting proposal to you that I wanted to do whatever I could to alleviate your distress, no matter what caused it. As I may have showed you last night, I will do anything to work towards your happiness. I will not stop looking for them until we hear something about them."
"Mr. Darcy, speaking of last night; we cannot let anything like that happen again. The easiest solution is for me to leave here as soon as possible."
"No! Elizabeth, no! Do you not realize how much I want you here? Please do not go. I was hoping that your being here might soften your attitude toward me enough that you might welcome my attentions at some point in time. I still love you, even more than a year ago."
"Mr. Darcy! How can that be after I was so harsh with you? I am not worthy of you."
"Elizabeth, you must know, surely you must know, that everything I did was all for you. You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever. If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you, you have bewitched me body and soul and I love you and I always will love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on."
"Oh, Mr. Darcy, for a long time I have realized how much I misread your character then. You are a good man; likely the best I will ever know."
"Does that mean there is hope for us? Do you think you could come to love me, or even to feel something for me, anything at all? I love you so much that I will be content if you will come only to honor me as your husband and accept my love, even if you do not return my love. For many months I have dreamt of having you here with me at Pemberley, just being with me. I dream of hearing the sounds of laughter and happiness in the halls, of hearing the sounds of children, our children. I dream of seeing you and Georgiana together, with your helping her overcome her shyness. I dream of waking every morning to see your beautiful face as the first thing that I see. I dream of seeing you smile at me; you have such a wonderful smile!
"Elizabeth, please tell me if I might speak now, or should I wait? I will do whatever you want."
"Fitzwilliam, for a long time I have known that I was very wrong about you, that we could be happy together. When you held me last night, it felt so natural, so right. I do not know if what I feel for you is love, but I do have very tender feelings for you. If you will be patient with me, I believe that my feelings will become stronger. It will be easy to learn to love you."
"Elizabeth, that is the best news I could ever hear." He dropped down on his knee right on the garden path and took her hand. "Elizabeth, I love you will all my being and want nothing more than to spend our lives together. Will you agree to become my wife?"
"Yes, I will, with all my heart."
Darcy stood and took her into his arms. "May I kiss you to seal our agreement?"
Elizabeth smiled and nodded, tilting her face toward him. He took her into his arms and kissed her very gently, not wanting to rush her, even though he wanted more, much more. He soon disengaged his lips and held her tightly against him.
"We should go in to tell the others. We have to decide how we will go about marrying. I hope that you do not want a long engagement."
"No, I do not. My mind is made up, so we can marry as soon as possible. I passed my 21st birthday, so no consent is needed. I will marry you whenever and wherever you want. I had always thought that I would marry at our parish church in Meryton, but my family's disgrace and our treatment there means that I no longer want that. I will be very happy to marry you here in Lambton."
"If we have banns read, that will mean an extra three weeks. Would you agree if I went to Derby for a common license? Then we could marry right away. If you agree, I will invite my Fitzwilliam relatives to come, but I am not sure if they will."