Ablakok / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) via Wikimedia Commons
When I saw the title of the book I’m going to share from today on my list of books that I have not yet shared as a Story Connections post, this painting leapt to mind.
Why?
Well, as you will see in the excerpt below, there is a lady in tears, a gentleman who is concerned about her, and some old history standing between them. However, there is not dog in my story. 🙂
In Discovering Mr. Darcy, Lady Catherine (a very different Lady Catherine than one might expect, but oh so fun!) wishes to see Darcy follow his heart and marry the lady he loves. However, simple meddling does not produce the correct results since Darcy does his Darcy thing and manages to make things worse when he thinks he’s actually doing what he should.
Therefore, a compromise is arranged. The excerpt below is from that part of the story.
Enjoy!
She had practised as required. Neither Lady Catherine nor Mr. Collins had indicated how long she had to play. She pulled on the door to the room, but it did not budge. She pulled harder but without success.
There was yet another door she could try — the one in Miss Darcy’s bedroom. She hurried through the door that adjoined the sitting room and tried Miss Darcy’s door. It, like all the others, would not budge. With a resigned sigh, she returned to the piano and sat on the bench but did not touch the keys. She was trapped — well and truly trapped. There was no way to leave these rooms without someone coming to let her out.
In the other room, Darcy snapped his book closed. He had not heard a door open or close, but she was not playing, so she must have left. He pulled his bell and then went to the sitting room door and peeked in. Elizabeth sat at the instrument, her hands covering her face, and her shoulders rising and falling as she cried. No matter what she had said to him. No matter what she thought of him, he could not allow her to go uncomforted.
“Miss Elizabeth,” he said softly as he approached her, “are you well?” It was a silly thing to say when a lady was weeping, but what else could he ask?
She rubbed the tears from her cheeks with her hands and shrugged. “They are all locked.”
He handed her a handkerchief and took the chair next to the piano where he always sat to turn pages for his sister. “What are all locked?”
“The doors.” Her reply was somewhat muffled by the cloth she was using to dry her face.
“This door?” he asked.
She nodded. “And the one in Miss Darcy’s room. We are trapped.”
The oddness of the situation settled uneasily around Darcy. Three doors locked, and no keys to open them? He knew that the keys for this room and Georgiana’s were kept by the housekeeper and Lady Catherine unless Georgiana was in residence. The fact that the door to this room had not been left unlocked if it was intended to be the room where Elizabeth practiced did not make sense.
“I have rung for my man,” he said. “When he comes, you will be able to escape.”
“From your room?” She blew her nose softly.
“Yes.”
“And if someone sees me exiting your room? What then?”
He sighed. “That would be up to you.” He would marry her, but only if she wished it. He would not force her. The situation might be able to be covered.
“Me?”
He nodded.
“There would be no option. We would have to marry.” The thought did not terrify her as much as she had expected. Mr. Darcy was a sullen, arrogant man, but surely, he would be kind to his wife.
“Only if you wished it. I would not force my disagreeable self on you.” There was a touch of bitterness in his tone.
“You would leave me a ruined woman?”
He shook his head. “No, I would never do anything to harm you. I would see that the story was not spread, and you would be free to choose whomever you wished.”
She tipped her head and looked at him. “Truly?”
His smile was quick and sad. “Though it would break my heart, yes.”
