Elizabeth Bennet's Excellent Adventure: A Pride and Prejudice Vagary Read Online Free PDF

I have witnessed my father scratching out a rant only to toss his efforts into the nearest grate.”
    “The letter where I offered what I hoped was a logical explanation for my involvement in Bingley’s affairs and a recitation of my connection to Mr. Wickham and my turning from my former associate remains in my travel case. It grieves me that my lack of forethought exposed you to my baser side. Please forgive me.”
    Elizabeth looked upon him for Mr. Darcy spoke of his earnest contrition.
    “I am not a wilting flower, Sir,” she declared. “And although I knew shock at the familiarity with which you spoke, your words provided me a mirror to your person.”
    Mr. Darcy grimaced in remorse.
    “Pray say the letter softened your heart on my behalf, rather than making you detest me further,” he whispered.
    Elizabeth was not certain she could admit the emotional turmoil his letter elicited.
    “I remain uncertain, Sir. I would appreciate a more thorough explanation in the near future of our sticking points. More importantly, a giving of my heart is not the reason I summoned you to Gracechurch Street.”
    “Then pray tell what did,” Mr. Darcy said testily.
    “Whether my heart is engaged or not is irrelevant,” Elizabeth declared.
    She wished her words held the truth, but she suspected Mr. Darcy’s passion invaded her soul.
    “Miss Lucas discovered the letter where I secreted it away when I returned to Hunsford Cottage. Mrs. Collins’ sister read part of the letter.”
    Mr. Darcy groaned in disapproval.
    “Miss Lucas assumed you meant the letter for Jane and the unworthy gentleman of which you spoke was Mr. Bingley. I immediately claimed the letter as mine. I could not…”
    Elizabeth broke off, but Mr. Darcy finished her thought. 
    “You could not bear to see your sister forced into a marriage with an ogre such as I,” he said in sadness.
    Elizabeth protested, “Jane could not thrive with a man of your disposition. That fact is more than obvious. My dearest Jane accepts the foibles of others more kindly than I.”
    Since accepting Mr. Darcy’s devotion as a reality, Elizabeth did not think she could bear to observe another at the gentleman’s side, but she could not give voice to those feelings. They would make her too vulnerable, and they were too new.
    His lips twisted in irony.
    “Yours is an understatement of the extreme.”
    “My temperament is not to your liking, Mr. Darcy?” Elizabeth taunted.
    “Not so much your temperament, but I do not find your shrewish tongue brings me much pleasure,” he admitted.
    “No, I suppose not,” Elizabeth agreed.
    Mr. Darcy replied with a silent shrug, which left Elizabeth feeling a bit off kilter. She would prefer the gentleman would counter her assertions with words of praise. The Mr. Darcy of the letter and the one sitting beside her on the garden bench were quite in opposition.
    “I am assuming,” he said cautiously, “that Miss Lucas will spread news of our lack of propriety to your Longbourn neighbors.”
    Elizabeth surrendered to the pressing demand for a response, a response she considered for the last four days, but now that it became her time to agree, she held second thoughts.
    Even so, Elizabeth kept her unwavering focus on Mr. Darcy: He was truly a handsome man in the classical sense of the word. She could imagine him as a centurion of the Roman army. Swallowing hard against the panic claiming her voice, Elizabeth inclined her head in affirmation.
    “I thought…I thought since you previously proposed…”
    She could not say the words. What if Mr. Darcy changed his mind? What if the gentleman refused to see the necessity in their joining? Mayhap it would be better for Uncle Gardiner to speak to Mr. Darcy’s honor. Elizabeth did not tell her aunt and uncle of her dilemma for fear they would demand to read the letter and then think poorly of her.
    “You thought since I previously proposed,” Mr. Darcy said in kinder tones than Elizabeth expect,