Chapter 11
Night Visitor, Deux
Elizabeth was prepared when she saw Mr. Darcy next.
Unfortunately, it was not where she had hoped to meet him again. She sighed.
“Mr. Darcy.”
His outline was less distinct in the darkness of her room. The moon had begun to wane and there were clouds in the night sky.
“I truly did not intend to importune you this way…” he said. She could hear the strain in his voice.
“It is no matter,” Elizabeth said, moving the covers aside and getting out of her bed. She was still dressed in her dinner clothes. “As you can see, I anticipated something like this would happen.”
An embarrassed silence stretched between them. Elizabeth bit her lip as a stray thought came to her.
“I was wondering if you have ever manifested… in this state…” she gestured at him. “When I was not aware.”
The silence seemed to thicken, growing more uncomfortable. She could feel the back of her neck heating. But she persisted.
“Mr. Darcy, if your appearances are somewhat like clockwork, I believe it is something we must consider,” she said, growing exasperated at his continued silence. “Perhaps your cousin can shed some light on it if I were to mention it in the letter.”
“I… had not considered that,” Mr. Darcy said at last. He shifted where he stood.
Elizabeth lit the candle on the table beside her bed. Dull warm light suffused the area around them. She looked at Mr. Darcy. He still looked embarrassed.
“Let me arrange the writing desk, then we may begin.”
“You wish to write the letter now?” he asked as she moved past him with the candle.
“Well, to be honest,” she glanced at him. “I would prefer to sleep. But since you are here, I do not see why not.”
“I apologize–”
“It is no matter,” Elizabeth said again, quickly, before matters got any more awkward.
She pointed to the other chair in her room that she had set up beside the writing desk just for this. “You may sit here if you please.”
Mr. Darcy shifted uncomfortably once more. He did not seem to know what to do with his hands. Elizabeth looked away, settling herself in her own chair.
Moments later, once Mr. Darcy was in the chair she had offered him, and she was arranging paper and ink, he spoke unexpectedly.
“I usually find myself here—in Hunsford, I mean—in the mornings or afternoons.”
Elizabeth paused.
“I cannot discern a pattern in that regard.”
Their eyes met.
“I try to look for a stray post, or a newspaper, to get my bearings,” he added.
Elizabeth settled back in her chair, letting go of the papers in her hand.
“...but I am always here in the evenings,” Mr. Darcy said. He seemed to go red at that.
“I try to wander about the house. I can walk through doors… as you know.”
He trailed off. The silence grew awkward between them once more.
Elizabeth shifted in her seat even as her cheeks flamed. She was not certain what perturbed her more. The thought of Mr. Darcy watching her while she was asleep. Or sharing such an unexpected—and frankly disconcerting—intimacy with the last man she would wish to share such a thing with.
She bit her lip. “Well… should we begin?”
“Yes,” Mr. Darcy said, hurriedly.
But Elizabeth paused once more.
“Mr. Darcy…?” She looked at him. “I wonder how you change colour.” She grew a tad red in the face. “I meant, when you are embarrassed. Should not ghostly presences have… er, a fixed visage?”
His eyebrows climbed up his forehead.
“I did not know I did that.”
“Oh.”
Then Elizabeth glanced at the mirror in the room.
“Have you, perchance, tried to glimpse at your reflection?”
“Yes…” he said, looking embarrassed once more. “I… could not see one.”
Elizabeth looked at him, shocked. “Truly?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm…”
“What are you thinking?” he asked when Elizabeth was silent for a while, glancing between him and the mirror.
“Well, it is only a curiosity…” she said. “Would you care to stand beside me in front of the mirror? I was wondering if I might see you.”
A relieved smile flashed across Mr. Darcy’s face. He stood up. But Elizabeth found herself staring at him. The man was truly was handsome when he did not look sour, or vexed at the world.
“Miss Bennet?”
She blinked and looked away. Then got to her feet.