Undone Business by Rose Fairbanks

Author:Rose Fairbanks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Rose Fairbanks
Published: 2016-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

The next morning Jane took the Gardiner children on a walk in a park with their governess. They wished to see some of the flowers in one of Elizabeth’s books. Elizabeth herself pleaded a headache and sat in the drawing room. She had no desire to see foreign flowers. Only the comfort of those at home could appeal to her. Instead, she attempted to read a book but stared longingly at her letter. Mrs. Gardiner had been speaking with the housekeeper when she suddenly came in the room.

“Elizabeth, there is a caller here to see you.”

Worried it was Mr. Johnson she tried to beg off. “Oh, please, Aunt. My head truly does ache.”

“Elizabeth Bennet, if you think I am going to turn away Mr. Darcy of Pemberley simply because you took a dislike to him then I can see why your mother bemoans her nerves!”

She stood at her aunt’s words and soon Darcy was shown in and after the necessary civilities, they all sat. He was quite attentive to Mrs. Gardiner, which Elizabeth truly appreciated.

“My purpose for calling today was to see if it would meet with Miss Elizabeth and Miss Bennet’s agreement to be introduced to my sister before they are to leave town.”

Mrs. Gardiner looked to Elizabeth with raised eyebrows. She blushed but replied, “I can speak for Jane when I say we would like that. I enjoyed hearing about your sister when we were in Kent. I hope you found her well.”

“Very, thank you.”

“Elizabeth, you did not mention you had seen Mr. Darcy again while in Kent,” said Mrs. Gardiner.

“Oh? I did not mean to exclude it. Yes, his aunt is Mr. Collins’s patroness. He and his cousin visited, and we met many times.” She gave a weak smile.

Mrs. Gardiner looked between the two and, with tact only slightly better than Mrs. Bennet, recalled that she had been meeting with the housekeeper on a serious matter and if they would please excuse her for just a moment.

Elizabeth closed her eyes and blushed again.

Darcy cleared his throat. “What were you reading?”

“A report of the latest news from the African Association.” She admired the society not only for the quest of natural knowledge, such as the source of the Niger River, but also for its stance against slavery.

She was unsurprised when he asked to see it; they really were quite alike. Without thought, she handed the book to him to peruse but at the last moment remembered her letter was in it. Attempting to pull it back, the book fell to the ground, and the letter fluttered out. Elizabeth jumped out of her chair, and Darcy immediately stooped to collect the book and letter, but when he saw his handwriting on the paper he snatched his fingers away as though burned.

Elizabeth saw it all with mortified resignation. She looked away entirely uncertain what to do. In the eternity that passed between two heartbeats, she heard him step toward her.

“Elizabeth?” he said it so reverently, and she had been so certain she would only ever hear harshness from him that a tear slid down her cheek.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.