“No thank you, Mr. Hamilton. I will play from memory.”
When she began the song, Darcy knew it was meant for him.This is her farewell to the life we could never have together.
“The pale moon was rising above the green mountain,
The sun was declining beneath the blue sea;
When I strayed with my love to the pure crystal fountain,
That stands in the beautiful Vale of Tralee…”
* * *
“Wouldyou care to join me for some fresh air. I would like to check on my horses and that all is right for tomorrow’s travel?” Hamilton asked Mr. Bennet as the ladies had gone up to bed. He looked at Darcy and Fitzwilliam and shrugged. “It’s a habit of mine. I like to check on my own.”
Mr. Bennet nodded, then said, “I think I would prefer to get these old bones to bed. Gentleman.” He bowed to the men and left for his bed.
Hamilton bowed as well and accepted his coat from a footman. Entering the great barn, he noticed a young man around his age organizing the tack and realized if it had not been for the kindness and condescension of his great aunt, that might had been his lot. As he checked his own horses, he was roused back to the present by a conversation of the two men mucking out a stall.
“No, he’s a good man, our Mr. Darcy. I’ll never say a word against him.”
“Aye, nor will I. They are a-talkin’, though, ain’t they? Lord Donnelley would have their hide and send them out with no wages if he heard what they were saying in his stables.”
“Aye. He’s an honorable man, Lord Donnelley. But…you do have to admit it is curious. Mr. Darcy left in the snowstorm and told our people he stayed in his grandfather’s old hunting lodge…”
“I was a lad when his grandfather was the master. I remember him coming into town and giving all us children candy for Christmas and a farthing for the new year.”
“He was a good man, and his grandson is just the same. But that young lady who was lost in the woods… Missing since early the morning before. She’d be dead if she’d been out in that ditch all night—would froze solid through!”
“Now, Joe. We don’t rightly know the facts of the matter. That’s all just gossip from the scullery maids. Watch what you’re saying,” the older man sputtered. “You’re accusing Mr. Darcy of taking advantage of a lady, then leaving her out in the woods? No, I don’t believe it, and you’d better hold your tongue ‘afore someone hears you!”
“That’s not what I was saying at all. I was just saying it was right curious how she wasn’t dead, then the master come flying in on his horse like he was being chased by the devil, ran right up them steps, and was stopped at the stairs by the colonel.”
“Well, I think the ways of the rich are things we don’t understand. Mr. Darcy is an honorable man, and I don’t care what you are thinking in that pea brain of yours. I tell ya’, he’d never do anything to harm a fly. Now, if I were you, I’d not bring this up again. That young girl is going home to be married, and according to what I heard, Mr. Darcy is leaving to go get married too, and you and I…? Well, we’ll still be mucking stalls when they have children and grandchildren. So, it’s none of our concern.”
Hamilton had not moved from where he stood. The men walked to the other end of the stables, never realizing the damage their simple conversation wrought upon the life of an unsuspecting woman and her betrothed.
* * *
“IthoughtI would find you here.” Fitzwilliam had walked into the billiard room and discovered Darcy in the middle of a game. “Playing yourself again, Cousin? Your own nemesis, I see.”
In billiards or all things pertaining to my life?Darcy scowled and sent the cue ball flying into the pocket.
“A scratch, Darce? I am unaccustomed to you not winning. Let us play a new game, shall we?”
“I am not in the mood, Richard.”
“You have yet to hear what I am proposing.”
“There is no need, as I can see the glint in your eye. She is leaving on the morrow, and I am following to Rosings to prepare for my wedding with Anne.” He looked at his cousin’s forlorn face. “I know that pains you, and I am sorry, but take solace in knowing Anne will be provided for and taken care of…”
“And loved? Do you promise to love her? Or will she be just another business acquisition to you?” His voice was harsh but a moment later, he said, “Forgive me, I spoke out of turn.”
“No. No, you did not. I am the one who should apologize, yet I cannot.” He set his cue stick down and walked the length of the room before turning around. “I saw my mother’s letter.”
“The one Mrs. Smith wrote?”
“No. I am afraid that one most likely does not exist. The one Aunt Catherine has been holding me hostage with for the last thirteen years.” He lowered his head. “Every time I see it I cannot believe that my mother signed it. But it was signed by her own hand.”
