"Chloe," she says, and smiles, an actual smile, beautiful and almost radiant when he mentions his pet cat. "I like cats," she tells him, laughing.
After another moment of fidgets she decides that it's okay. "Mr. Darcy is a hedgehog," she says, still smiling. She would have been severely depressed, thinking of him without her, stuck with Christina, who despite being lovely isn't exactly his owner. Mr. Darcy is very sensitive to that sort of thing.