[For Elizabeth]

[most_ardent]

Waking once more on the island likely should have been more of a shock to Darcy than it was. Although he had been indoors, it was easy enough to determine the singular quality to the air and architecture, which was fortunate and prevented undue anxiety at waking in an unfamiliar room. By the time he was to his feet and had his wits about him, he

Comments

[bennetsister]

Elizabeth was so absorbed in thinking of everything Jane had related to her upon waking that she did not realise Mr. Darcy was there and quite awake until she heard his voice. "Mr. Darcy," she gasped in startlement, and curtsied, and her face grew quite warm with embarrassment. She was at a loss for what to say, and at a greater loss for where to look, for while it was rude to simply stare at the floor she felt it quite moreso to stare at his dishevelment.

[most_ardent]

Darcy imagined that his appearance must be dire indeed if it were of such a condition as to strike Elizabeth Bennet mute. He scarcely knew what to possibly say in remedy, however, and so the two endured a long, increasingly awkward silence, during which Darcy did his very best to ignore the inconvenient way in which his heart seemed to have lodged itself in his throat.

"I apologize for my appearance," he abruptly declared when he could stand the silence no longer.

[bennetsister]

"No," she said quickly, "no, you've been asleep for days. And so has my sister," she added, gesturing back the way from which she had come. "There were many people so afflicted, and none could be stirred from their sleep."

Mention of her sister brought again to her mind all she had told her, and with the emotion of their last confrontation still so fresh in her mind it left her thoughts in a terrible jumble, which Mr. Darcy's presence did not help in the slightest.

[most_ardent]

"Then Mrs. Redman is here?" Darcy immediately asked, relief clear enough even across his normally stoic features. "Is she well?" It perhaps seemed forward of him to ask so fervently after a married woman, but truly he had grown to think of Jane much like a sister, and was very fond of her company.

[bennetsister]

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, yes she is," she replied, "I think she will be quite well once she is up and about. She said that --" She was about to relate what Jane had told her, what she said he had done, but surely it had only been a dream and therefore something Mr. Darcy would know nothing about. "-- that you had been here some time," she said instead, her face colouring.