A muddy three-mile walk. A gentleman who called her merely tolerable. And a houseful of servants who have decided their betters are making a mess of things.
Elizabeth Bennet has walked three miles through the rain to nurse her sister at Netherfield — armed with a borrowed gown, a ruined shawl, and a settled opinion of Mr Darcy, the man who declared her not handsome enough to tempt him.
But while she keeps her vigil upstairs, the household below stairs reaches a verdict of its own: the proud gentleman and the quick-witted guest belong together.
Soon poetry arrives marked with blue silk thread, dry paths come recommended with no recommendation implied, and every chance meeting is nothing of the kind.
Mr Darcy makes no speeches and attempts no grand gestures. He simply keeps coming back.
But when another guest bends the servants’ quiet handiwork to her own ambitions, Elizabeth must decide what unsettles her more: being managed into love — or discovering that what the servants began, her own heart means to finish.
