Lydia appeared at breakfast the next morning, red eyed and pouting.
"I don't see why I should not get to elope. Lizzie eloped and no one has had a bad word for her."
Her mother warmly remonstrated her.
"Lizzie was not marrying some penniless orphan, Lydia. She was marrying a man of very good fortune, indeed." At this she smiled joyfully at her now-favorite daughter, who lowered her face and blushed. Mrs. Bennet turned her attention back to her youngest.
"You should thank Mr. Darcy, when you see him next, for saving you from such folly. Marry Mr. Wickham! When you could marry a man of nearly as great a wealth as Jane or Lizzie has managed."
Kitty was quiet and sullen, smarting under her elder sister's rebukes for her conspiring in the elopement. Mary was full of her usual moralizations, sprinkled with reminders to her mother that she would not care for a very rich husband.
"I believe that moral character is of much more concern to me."
Elizabeth quietly excused herself from them all, saying only that she felt the need for a long walk. Jane, who suspected that walk would be some three miles long, easily occupied her mother with wedding plans.
When Elizabeth presented herself at Netherfield, face flushed and petticoats again six inches deep in mud, her mind was still whirling. The servant escorted her to the sitting room, where Darcy was seated at a writing desk.
Darcy stared at his wife as she entered.
"Eliz — Mrs. Darcy, I did not know that I was to have the pleasure of your company today. I was planning to call later at Longbourn, but —" His stammering was ceased as Elizabeth crossed the room and laid her hand on his arm.
"Last night you saved my family from embarrassment. Why?" Darcy looked at her in wonder.
"I could see your sister's partiality for Wickham and would wish that miserable man on no woman as a husband. And I know how unhappy such circumstances would make you. How could I, then, refrain from preventing the event?"
She bent quickly and kissed his cheek.
"Thank you," she murmured. "You are very kind."
Darcy, overcome by her touch and nearness, reached up to embrace her, and she moved closer to him.
"So touching," a familiar voice mockingly called. The pair started guiltily and turned to see Miss Bingley, removing her gloves with short gestures, entering the room, followed by the Hursts.