Once the tea was on the table, Elizabeth managed to persuade Elinor to eat something after her two days of uninterrupted crying (as relayed to them by a very agitated Mrs White who clearly held great fondness for the girl).
Colin then cleared his throat.
“May I slightly overstep my place, and ask you a few questions, Miss Woodhouse?”
Elinor stared at him blankly, but then nodded. Elizabeth frowned, not knowing what he would say, but suspecting it would be the wrong thing.
“If I understood correctly from what my wife has told me, you are being coerced into this match, yes?”
Elinor nodded.
“I assume your father is pressuring you by citing your duty towards your family or even direct threats to the well-being of his younger children?”
Elinor started blinking and nodded more eagerly.
“You do not think you could, in time, accept this man and this new life?”
A decisive shake of the head.
Colin leaned back in his armchair and looked up at the ceiling. He seemed to be considering something.
“Some time ago, I considered what I could and should do to atone for my sins against the most important person in my life,” he said, and Elizabeth’s skin seemed to know something her mind didn’t, for she was suddenly covered in goose-flesh. “And while I realised I could never give her back what I had taken from her, I so desperately wanted to give hersomething.”
Elinor leaned forward in her seat, listening as intently as Lizzie.
“If you know my wife, and I dare say that you know her very well,” he said with a smile, “you are aware that she cares very little for jewellery and horses, or this,” he waved his hand around the room. “But I remembered that she used to have a dream a long time ago, a dream of a new beginning, somewhere far away, where no one knew her.”
Lizzie gasped. She couldn’t help herself. Colin nodded.
“Right before my duel, I made arrangements to secure a passage for her and another guest,” he said, the implication clear, “toAmerica. After the duel was behind me, I decided I would be the one to accompany her. And today, I’ve managed to secure one more cabin on the ship, if you’d like to join us. You don’t have to decide right now,” he said when Elinor opened her mouth. “Take a few days, think about what you would be leaving and what you would be gaining. The ship will be leaving in six weeks. I also need to have a conversation with my wife, and we need to think about how to help your father’s other children.”
He stood and looked at Elizabeth, “I shall wait for you in the carriage.”
As he bowed to Elinor, she spoke for the first time since she’d entered the room.
“Thank you,” she said in a hoarse voice.
*
“How is she?” Colin asked Elizabeth when she joined him in the carriage around twenty minutes later.
“You’ve given her a reason to live, Colin,” Elizabeth said tearfully, and he was clearly made uncomfortable by the idea.
“I did it because she matters to you,” he admitted. “Although it also feels nice to, as Cooper says, influence the scales a bit.”
“Would the German fellow approve?” Lizzie asked impishly, and Colin smiled so widely that she could see the gap between his front teeth.
“Not fully, I’m afraid.”
“Thank you, regardless of the reason.”
“You’re most welcome, wife,” Colin said as he took her gloveless hand and kissed it.
“When were you going to tell me about our voyage?” She asked after a while.
He never looked away from the window. “I don’t know. I was hoping a situation would arise that would allow me to bring it up more… spontaneously.”
“Well, you got your wish,” Lizzie said with a shake of her head.
