Page 46 of The Cherry Trees of Rosings
And then…
—suddenly—
…he released a choking sound and grabbed at his midriff.
Elizabeth gasped in alarm.
“Mr. Darcy!”
He vanishedin thin air.
Elizabeth whipped back when she felt a slight tug on her fingers. Mr. Darcy—the one on the bed—was beginning to stir.His fingers curled around hers weakly. His face twitched in pain.
“Colonel Fitzwilliam!” Elizabeth shouted. Tears continued to streak down her face.
The Colonel rushed into the room. “My God! What has happened?”
Then he stilled once his gaze fell upon Mr. Darcy… and how her fingers were wrapped around his. Something akin to pity flickered in his eyes. He sighed.
“Darcy… he, uh… he does that once or twice a day. It is nothing, Miss Bennet.”
“Oh,” Elizabeth said.
She knew she sounded just as crestfallen as she felt. She turned back to Mr. Darcy.
He was not moving as much as she had believed initially. Just enough to seem as if he would come awake any moment. She let go of his hand… though his fingers clutched at hers right before she pulled them away.
“I think I shall go to bed now.”
She avoided meeting the Colonel’s eyes as more tears rolled down her cheeks. Colonel Fitzwilliam nodded.
“Get some sleep, Miss Bennet. I shall see you in the morning.”
Chapter 30:
Awake
When Elizabeth woke up, the whole house was in an uproar.
She leapt out of the bed and ran out of the room, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
“What is going on?” she asked, catching Mrs. Ronald at the head of the stairs. It was chaos everywhere.
“Oh dear, it is Mr. Darcy! The invalid,” Mrs. Ronald said, stopping for a second. “He has woken up!”
Elizabeth gasped.
The shock dispelled every last vestige of sleep.
…but she only learnt more once she found Charlotte in the breakfast room, where the latter was sitting alone and eating plain toast with a cup of tea.
“Charlotte! Why did you not wake me?”
Elizabeth stormed into the room. Upset.How could she have slept through the pandemonium?
Charlotte sighed and put down the toast in her hand.
“You look so tired, Eliza. I did not have the heart to wake you. Besides, Colonel Fitzwilliam told me about your early morning visit to see Mr. Darcy.”
