Read Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: The Last Man in the World for Free Online

should someone report we were together. That you should
be subject to such demands! If only I had the living I had been promised, I
could have ... But no matter. I would never have met you then. I have that, at
least, to thank him for."
    Elizabeth's
lips turned into a slight smile, though her eyes were still downcast. Mr.
Wickham was moving into the realm of outrageous flattery and flirtation, and
owing to her prohibition on speech, she had no recourse to stop him. It was a
fitting retribution for Mr. Darcy.
    "I
will ask only one thing of you before I go," he said. "When you are
at Pemberley, when you walk along the edge of the stream and through the woods,
will you remember me sometimes? It would be a comfort to know I would cross
your mind from time to time. I know you cannot answer, so I must imagine your
response and hope it would be the one I wish for."
    When
he said no more, Elizabeth finally looked up at him again. He had apparently
been waiting for that, since he leaned close to her and said in a low voice.
"But I promised I would be brief, and I have already said too much.
Remember me ... Elizabeth." With a last caressing glance, he stood and
left for the corner of the room where some of the younger people had collected
for a dance.
    Elizabeth
watched him offer his hand to Lydia. She should be relieved he had left her
side, since he had crossed the boundary into impudence.
    But
she could not blame Wickham, given the provocation Darcy had given him by
exacting her promise not to speak to him. She knew all too well where the true
blame belonged.
    "I
had thought Mr. Bingley might return to Netherfield for the wedding,"
Elizabeth said to Darcy the following day. It had been her dearest hope,
perhaps her only hope, for the occasion: to have Jane and Bingley meet again.
    "I
thought it best not to suggest it to him."
    Elizabeth
wondered what that meant. "Is he aware of our wedding?"
    "No,
I plan to write him once we reach Pemberley. He is often a visitor there, so it
is likely you will see him soon enough."
    But
Jane would not. She could not imagine what excuse Darcy might manufacture for
failing to invite his friend to their wedding. "It is of no matter. I was
merely surprised."
    Darcy
turned to her and took her hand, a look of concern in his eyes.
    "Had
you hoped for a larger wedding? Have I, in my haste to call you my own,
deprived you of this?"
    Somehow
it was worse when he was kind. It would be easier in a way if he were always
disagreeable. Why did he exempt her from his scorn for her family?
    "No,
not at all. I have no objection to the wedding plans." Apart from their
very existence, she thought.
    He
did not seem reassured. "I hope you would tell me if something were not to
your liking. I wish to make you happy, not to impose upon you."
    It
was too late for that. At least he meant well, even if his actions did not
match his intent. Unfortunately, it did not begin to outweigh Elizabeth's anger
over his interference with Mr. Bingley and Jane.
    "I
assure you, I am not in any way displeased," she said.
    He
looked at her with perplexity, as if she were a conundrum he could not make
out.
    Elizabeth
was out of spirits the evening before her wedding. She did not know which would
be worse, to deprive herself of this last night in the company of her family or
to be forced to listen to their raptures about the morrow's events. Lydia and
Kitty were delighted with their new gowns, and even Jane looked forward to the
general society.
    Mr.
Darcy had elected not to join them for supper, preferring instead to remain at
Netherfield with his sister. It was a relief to Elizabeth, who was having
trouble enough maintaining a happy countenance on her last evening with her
family. To her disappointment, her father had retired early to his library,
unwilling to tolerate his wife's endless discourse on the finery that would be
Elizabeth's once she was Mrs. Darcy.
    Listening
to her sisters speculate on which officers might attend the wedding,