“But surely your brother has travelled and may do quite as well,” the Colonel replied tersely.

“Poor Henry, regrettably, came of age when it was not safe for the English to travel abroad. I am sure he would own himself as enthusiastic an interloper as myself. Pray, when do you leave?”

Whilst the Colonel was instinctively reluctant to share such a detail—for reasons he could not immediately elucidate—he could not help reply, “I must leave on Tuesday to be in Geneva at our appointed time.”

“But Colonel Fitzwilliam, where exactly do you go? I am most eager for the particulars for, as I am not permitted to join you, I insist on travelling at this very moment through the description of the route you are to take, and your most knowledgeable understanding and excellent discernment in diversion.”

“I am unlikely to merit such commendation; the Darcys are gone to Paris, as Mrs. Darcy and Miss Darcy have never travelled abroad. They will make some stay in Paris, before I am to meet them. We will spend some little time in Switzerland, but Italy is our main destination, and there we mean to make the greatest stay of our travels.”

Miss Crawford was animated, indeed. “How delightful! I often amuse myself with planning where I should go, and what I should see, and what beautiful things I would buy. What will you buy?” She paused at this point, and looked up at Colonel Fitzwilliam through her fine, dark eyelashes. The Colonel, now lost in those eyes and, feeling his resolve waning apace in the familiar beauty of her face, began to look and sound much more like Colonel Fitzwilliam of Norfolk, all those months ago.

“I like the activity not,” he rejoined with a defeated smile. “It has been labour enough to purchase a few trinkets for my family in the shops here.” Certainly, the Colonel reasoned, it was a pleasure to speak with her again—Miss Crawford’s conversation was invariably agreeable—besides, there were so few days remaining that all her charms could not surmount his resolution to keep his heart safe. He was not to be supposed in danger a second time; therefore, what harm could accrue from a little conversation between friends?