"Mr. Darcy."
As she took her afternoon break Elizabeth knew that the prospective purchaser, and his people, were present at the estate, as they had been expected to arrive shortly after noon. Elizabeth had not known that Mr. Darcy was the prospective purchaser yet here he was, standing on the terrace in front of her. She had blurted out his name when she saw him but he had not responded. He just stood there, staring at her, his head slightly tilted, like he did not recognize her.
"Hello" Elizabeth said "It's me".
Mr. Darcy chewed on his lips, put up his right hand, covered his mouth and then turned away from her. He was cutting her. No, he turned back, wearing the stone face she knew so well, his lips tight in a straight line, then he broke into a big smile. He bowed and said "Miss Bennet." Elizabeth was sure she heard him chuckle as he was facing the ground. Mr. Darcy was laughing at her, but why?
Elizabeth could feel her colour rising. Mr. Darcy had angered her in the past but never by laughing at her. "Perhaps you would share the joke, sir" she spit out.
"Pardon me, Miss Bennet. It is just that our gardener at Pemberley grew a type of pumpkin … "he paused at her glare, but in for a penny, in for a pound, he continued on, "striped orange and white it was, long and slender and then it was round at the bottom". He did not help his cause by gesturing down with his hands, shoulders' width apart at the start and then in a circle at the bottom. Throughout his explanation, he held his smile.
Without conscious intention Elizabeth mirrored the bottom part of Mr. Darcy's gesture and her hands came to rest on her panniers. Her remembrance that she wearing her ridiculous outfit, confirmed when she raised her right hand up to her mob cap; and the brilliance of his smile, saved Mr. Darcy from her reflexive wrath. Then she realized he was like a dream come true. He could save her; before this moment she had thought her companionship was the end, that she'd drowned, and could only dream of this moment. She resolved that she would not let this opportunity pass.
Elizabeth gave Mr. Darcy her most flirtatious smile. "And do you like pumpkin pie?" she asked.
"Very much so; I enjoy that it is both sweet and spicy" he replied.
Mr. Darcy did not have a practiced flirtatious smile, but the flirtatious smile he improvised did very well indeed. It made Elizabeth feel weak.
Elizabeth tried to steer the track of the conversation to something approaching propriety. She said "Mr. Darcy, I hope that you're well."
Mr. Darcy flushed. "It would be polite and the expected thing to say that I am well but I find that I am strangely unsettled." He vaguely waved his hand. "I apologize for comparing you a pumpkin …
"As opposed to a summer's day?" said Elizabeth.
"More like a summer's storm." Mr. Darcy sighed. "To see you, here, now, after …" His voice faded away.
"Nobody told me that you'd be here" said Elizabeth.
"I hate to turn up out of the blue, but here I am." Mr. Darcy sighed, again; he seemed to be doing that a lot. "I was wondering if after all these months you'd like to meet, to go over everything."
"Everything?" asked Elizabeth.
"Why, in particular. Why you … we could have had it all."
"I'd like to tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done but there is not enough time for that now. I have to resume my duties. Could I meet you here at eight this evening?"
"Your duties?"
"I'm companion to the Earl of Jeltotford's mother" Elizabeth looked down at her dress. "Hence my costume. And I should introduce myself, I am Miss Carruthers."
Mr. Darcy tilted his head. "You have adopted a pseudonym? To hide your …"
"Disgrace" Elizabeth finished Mr. Darcy's sentence for him. "There is that, but in this particular situation every companion bears the name 'Miss Carruthers', without even a Christian name."
"Every companion?"
"I am the forty-seventh Miss Carruthers; the position is not as easy as it may appear on paper. Now I really must go, please say you'll meet me."
Mr. Darcy bowed to Elizabeth. "I will be there."
In turn, Elizabeth curtsied. "I look forward to seeing you."
Elizabeth walked away, not looking back until she was about to go through the door. Mr. Darcy was still standing in the same place, staring at her.
