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would so enjoy your company.”
    “As would we all,” seconded colonel Fitzwilliam warmly. “surely you could stay another fortnight, could you not?”
    “you are all kindness; but I believe we must abide by our original plan.”
    There is at least one person in the room who will not object to my departure, she thought wryly.
    “Why not stay, Miss Bennet? It would mean a great deal to Georgiana. I am sure that we could arrange your transportation.” elizabeth looked up in shock at the dark eyes of the speaker. He met her gaze with a level, serious look.
    “I am expected in town on saturday,” she repeated her earlier assertion, her voice less strong in her confusion than she would have wished. What could be his purpose? she thought frantically.
    “surely another week could not make so great a difference,” he insisted, his tone neutral.
    she was bewildered by his words. His expression did not speak of any desire for her company, and certainly he could hardly wish for her presence after all that had passed between them. Perhaps it was for his sister’s benefit, 30

    By FoRce oF InstInct
    that she could have an escape from her aunt in elizabeth’s company. yes, that must be the explanation, she thought.
    His steady gaze disconcerted her. she tried to find the words to form an objection, and found herself uncomfortably close to tears. In a moment of sheer cowardice, in fear that further discourse would cause her to lose her composure completely, she said quietly, “Very well, then, if Mrs. collins will have me, I will stay another week.”
    she could not look at Mr. Darcy as she spoke, and fortunately Georgiana’s exclamations of delight covered what could otherwise have been a difficult moment. elizabeth gratefully seized the distraction.
    Darcy’s gaze rested on her flushed cheeks as he wondered what mad impulse had caused him to encourage her to remain in Kent. Was he such a glutton for punishment that he needed further reminders of her scorn and dislike for him? tonight had been the first time that he had not felt pain and hostility radiating from her—was he so desperate as to take that as a positive sign? Good God! What am I thinking? She has shown herself to be everything I could have feared; prejudiced, lacking in basic courtesy, self-control, and decorum—I will not regret her, I will not! An image came to him of elizabeth sitting with Georgiana at the piano-forte, cajoling a smile out of her despite her own apparent lack of spirits, and he closed his eyes in pain for a moment. When he opened them, it was to find Lady Derby’s quizzical gaze upon him, and he rolled his eyes in frustration at his brief loss of equanimity.
    He wondered what elizabeth was thinking, what she had made of his request, and above all why she had acquiesced to it when she had refused all the others. Her expression provided no clue; although warm colour continued to reign in her cheeks, she appeared to be purposefully avoiding his gaze, turning her attention only to Georgiana and as required to Lady catherine.
    Georgiana, delighted to have succeeded in her venture to obtain the continued presence of elizabeth in Kent, was nonetheless determined to avoid a repetition of her humiliation on the occasion of the previous visit of the Hunsford party. she asked of Lady catherine her permission to retire early, pleading a great fatigue. she thought to cast a reassuring glance at her brother, knowing his often irritating tendency to fret over her every move, but she found him gazing absently across the room, her request clearly not 31

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    even entering his awareness. she felt a twinge of annoyance at his apparent disinterest.
    Lady catherine allowed her to excuse herself, although not before a stern lecture on the dangers of overexerting herself during the day, with a quelling glare at Darcy as if he were somehow responsible for his sister’s fatigue.
    shortly after Georgiana’s departure, colonel Fitzwilliam, in