Page 61 of Darcy's Guarded Heart
Mrs Bennet clutched at her kerchief. “Oh, my dear Jane. You are too good! Of course you forgave him!”
Jane smiled, her eyes full. “I did. But not just him.”
She glanced at Elizabeth. “Mr Darcy also spoke. He admitted his part in it, plainly. He said it was not from malice, but out of… something unresolved in himself. That he acted without thinking.”
Elizabeth looked down at her hands. Her heart had started to stir before she realised it. She thought of Thomas’s words weeks ago, spoken with quiet certainty—that Mr Darcy had acted out of jealousy, that he had been shaped by old wounds and rivalries.
And yet, he had come forward. He had helped make things right.
That sympathy Elizabeth had once fought to suppress—the very feeling she had buried when the hurt had been toofresh—now crept back in. Not fully formed, but there. Steady, undeniable.
But now was not the time.
Thomas was missing. Georgiana too. And while her feelings threatened to rise, she pressed them back with effort. There would be time for such thoughts later.
Just then, the door to the study opened.
Mr Bennet emerged first, his mouth drawn in a tight line. Mr Darcy followed, his face unreadable, and Mr Bingley last, adjusting his coat as though preparing for immediate travel.
“Well,” Mr Bennet said, addressing the room. “There is no help for it. Mr Darcy and I shall go after them at once. It may yet be possible to reach them before the matter is… formalised.”
Elizabeth stood at once. “I am coming.”
Mrs Bennet gasped. “Elizabeth! A journey to Gretna Green? With men?”
“I must go. Thomas and I are closer than anyone there and I can talk sense into him. Besides, Georgiana shall need a female influence near her, not be surrounded by all these men.”
Mr Darcy glanced at Elizabeth. For a brief moment, something passed between them—acknowledgement, perhaps even gratitude—but no words were exchanged.
“She admires you,” he said, his eyes piercing through the last of her barriers.
“She is my friend,” Elizabeth said firmly. “And Thomas and I are as close as brother and sister. If this is to be stopped, I must be there.”
Mr Bennet gave a single nod. “Then we shall leave at once.”
Elizabeth turned without delay, already preparing herself for the long road ahead.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Elizabeth
The carriage rocked steadily as it made its way north, the early morning light filtering through the narrow windows. Inside, the atmosphere was subdued—not heavy with anger or displeasure, but rather the quiet strain that settles between people who have too much to say and too little courage to say it.
Elizabeth sat opposite her father and Mr Darcy, her gloved hands folded in her lap, her eyes fixed on the view beyond the glass. Fields rolled past in streaks of frost and pale green, but she barely registered them. Her thoughts were elsewhere.
Every so often, her gaze drifted to Mr Darcy. He sat straight-backed beside her father, his expression composed, but there was a stiffness about him that betrayed unease. It was not the same guarded pride she had once known. No, there was something else now—something quieter. He looked more worn than she remembered. Not unwell, but troubled. She could not decide whether it was the worry for his sister, or the weight of everything he had confessed to Jane and Mr Bingley.
Whatever it was, it unsettled her.
He had changed.
They had barely spoken since the journey began, save for the initial greeting. Now and then, their eyes met, and each time Elizabeth felt a curious twist in her chest. She could not say what it meant and now was not the time to dwell on it.
Her father cleared his throat. “If they left in the night, they would have had a decent start by now. With luck, they will stop to rest before reaching the border. The question is—where?”
Darcy nodded; his tone measured. “They’ll likely keep to the main coaching roads until Yorkshire. After that, they may take the westward route towards Carlisle. It’s the quieter way.”
Mr Bennet considered this, frowning slightly. “A bold move for two young people without much in the way of protection. Though I expect Thomas took great care in planning this.”
