Chapter Sixteen #2
Darcy's thoughts flew immediately to Elizabeth's last three letters.
Mr. Sotherton had first appeared as an unwanted admirer whose perseverance she found more tiresome than flattering.
By the next, her irritation with his continued attentions had become considerably more pronounced.
In the letter which reached Willowbrook only the day before Darcy's departure, however, irritation had given way to uneasiness.
Elizabeth feared that even ordinary civility might be mistaken for encouragement, particularly if she accepted his request for a dance, and she had no wish to encourage hopes she could never return.
“You are very kind, Mr. Sotherton, but I...” Elizabeth stammered, her gaze straying past him as though searching the room for some means of escape.
Darcy required nothing more.
He moved before prudence could remind him that Elizabeth had no notion he knew any of this. By the time good sense caught up with him, he had already crossed the distance between them and extended his hand.
“Miss Bennet, shall we join the dancers for the first set?”
The words were spoken.
Only then did Darcy realise that, in rescuing Elizabeth from one difficulty, he had placed himself directly into another.
For the briefest moment, Elizabeth stared at Darcy as though she did not know what answer to make. Then understanding appeared in those remarkably expressive eyes, followed by something very like relief.
“Yes,” she said, placing her hand in his. “I am engaged.”
Sotherton bowed and soon withdrew, leaving Darcy with the sudden awareness that Elizabeth’s hand now rested in his and that he had secured a dance with the very woman he had spent the evening debating whether to approach or avoid.
Until that moment, he had not been certain which impulse would prevail.
“Thank you, sir.” Elizabeth said quietly as they moved towards the forming set. “You have rescued me from a difficulty I had not yet discovered how to escape.”
“I thought you appeared to require assistance,” Darcy said, though his mind was still questioning the wisdom of his intervention. “I wished to offer it, though I confess I was not certain you would forgive me for claiming a dance I had never asked you for.”
Her eyes came quickly to his. “You perceived all that from across the room?”
Darcy realised his error too late. “The gentleman appeared determined. You appeared rather less so.”
A smile touched her mouth. “Then I am fortunate you are observant, Mr. Darcy. I should have hated to refuse him outright when I had no previous engagement. It would have appeared uncivil, and yet accepting would have encouraged precisely what I have been attempting to discourage.”
The music began before Darcy was required to answer.
They moved instantly to the ball floor and for a time the figures separated them.
He discovered almost immediately that dancing with Elizabeth was considerably more dangerous to his composure than watching her from across the room had been.
There was an animation about her which altered continually with her thoughts, and when they came together again, the amusement still lingering in her eyes made him understand why no imagined face had ever seemed sufficient for her.
The set concluded sooner than Darcy would have wished.
He offered Elizabeth his arm as they left the floor, intending to return her to her family, when he caught sight of Mr. Sotherton some distance away.
The gentleman had plainly been waiting for the dance to end, for his attention was once again fixed upon Elizabeth.
Darcy felt her hand tighten slightly upon his arm.
“I believe,” she murmured, following his gaze, “that my difficulty has not been so thoroughly resolved as I hoped.”
“No.”
Elizabeth gave a quiet sigh. “I cannot allow you to rescue me a second time. Once may be attributed to good fortune. Twice would begin to look like cowardice on my part.”
Darcy glanced towards Sotherton, who had already begun moving in their direction. “Then perhaps I need not rescue you again.”
She looked up at him.
“If you permit me to remain with you for the next two dances, he will have no opportunity to trouble you.”
Elizabeth's surprise was immediate. “You would sacrifice two dances merely to preserve me from one?”
“I do not consider it a sacrifice.”
The answer came too readily. Darcy saw her brows rise and became conscious, rather belatedly, of what he had said.
Elizabeth's mouth curved. “You are very generous, Mr. Darcy, particularly when we have been acquainted for scarcely half an hour.”
“I understood you wished to discourage him.”
“I do.” Her amusement faded into something more sincere. “And I am grateful for what you are offering. Mr. Sotherton has an unfortunate talent for finding encouragement where none was intended.”
Darcy knew that already, though he could hardly say so.
“Then allow me to remain until he finds some other occupation.”
Elizabeth glanced towards Sotherton, then back at Darcy. “Very well. But I shall accept your protection only until the next two dances are concluded. After that, Mr. Sotherton and I must learn to manage one another without requiring your continued supervision.”
“I shall consider myself dismissed at the proper hour.”
That earned him another smile.
“Then we understand one another perfectly.”
Darcy doubted it.
He knew far too much about Elizabeth Bennet for a man she had met less than half an hour ago, while she knew almost nothing of him at all.
Yet as she kept her hand upon his arm and allowed him to remain beside her, Darcy found himself thinking that, for the first time since he had opened her letter at Willowbrook, she might now have the opportunity to remedy that inequality.