“Oh.” There was disappointment in the word, but Elizabeth’s mother soon rallied and waved a letter at Elizabeth. “Jane has decided to remain to help your father with the girls. Hopefully,there will be no snow, and they will all be able to join us for Christmas.”
Elizabeth sighed inwardly. She longed to see Jane.
“It will give him a chance to speak with you more, though, will it not?”
She had missed the first part of the sentence. “I beg your pardon?”
“Mr. Darcy. He will be here regularly.”
“He will. In fact, Miss Darcy has returned home from school, and they will be staying with us for a visit. They will arrive tomorrow.”
Mamma’s eyes grew alarmingly wide, and her words were panicked. “Tomorrow? But we are not ready for visitors. The house, Elizabeth, the house!”
“Mamma,” Elizabeth said, taking her mother’s hands to reassure her. “They both already know how the house looks, as they were friendly with Mr. Ellis. Do not fret. Mr. Darcy will be here to assist me on some estate matters, but he and his sister will only see that improvements continue to be made.” She did not know for certain that Miss Darcy would approve, but she hoped so.
Her mother did not look convinced, but she tried to calm. “Very well, if you think it will turn out right.” She paused before asking, “Do you like Mr. Darcy, Lizzy?”
“Of course I do, Mamma. He is a nice man.”
“Just nice?”
“Mamma,” Elizabeth said with fond exasperation. “Please promise me you will not make him feel uncomfortable when he comes. He has written of us to his sister, and she would like to meet us, so I invited them to stay. They are our nearest neighbours, and I should like to know Miss Darcy better.”
Mamma nodded knowingly. “I see how it is. You may rely on me.”
Elizabeth could have groaned. Her mother saw all the wrong things, but Elizabeth was not willing to frighten her with an explanation of what was really happening, and so she remained quiet. Better Mamma focus her attention on matchmaking than on a vagrant.
Or whatever this was.
It was nearing the middle of the day, and Darcy was anxious for his sister to arrive so he could take her to Hollydale. He admired Miss Bennet’s determination to remain in her home—he would not allow himself to be driven from Pemberley were there a vagrant on his property—but it bothered him immensely that her courage had left her there without him. He was not interested in analysing his worry. The Bennet ladies were not alone. Thompson and the other men would patrol the grounds outside, and Thatcher and Freedman were inside the house. All would be well.
At last he had word from the gatekeeper that his sister’s carriage was headed to the house, and he stepped out the front door to greet her. He straightened, his eyes fixed on the coach as it rolled to a stop at the bottom of the steps. The door opened, and Georgiana stepped out, her travelling cloak wrapped about her.
“Georgiana,” he called as he moved to meet her, “it is good to have you home.”
His sister managed a small smile, though Darcy thought there was a hint of melancholy in her eyes. “It is good to be home, Brother.”
Darcy’s own smile faltered a bit as he noted her subdued demeanour. He ought to have expected this, for she had asked tocome home a month early, but he had convinced himself there was nothing untoward about wishing to be at Pemberley.
Of course, he was not going to allow her to remain at Pemberley, was he?
“Is something troubling you?” he inquired. “Was school not as pleasant as you expected?”
Georgiana shook her head as they made their way indoors to the drawing room. Mrs. Reynolds had made certain tea was prepared when the carriage’s arrival was announced, and Georgiana moved to serve it.
He was proud of the woman his sister was becoming. Before she had been to school, she would have been too nervous to serve the tea, even when it was only the two of them. She was always afraid of making a mistake.
“Georgie,” he said kindly, “I have some news that will either lift your spirits or make you wish to throw something at me.”
She blinked, no doubt astonished by the very notion. “What is it?”
“We will not be staying at Pemberley. In fact, we are leaving today for a visit to Hollydale.”
His sister’s brow furrowed in mild confusion, and he noted for the first time it was much like the furrow he saw in the glass when he was concentrating on something. “There is a situation at Hollydale that requires my attention, and I thought you would be a source of comfort to the ladies. The Bennet family—I wrote to you about them, do you recall?”
“Of course,” she said, a little more interested now. She glanced about the room to be certain they were alone. They were, but she lowered her voice anyway. “Particularly aboutMissBennet.”
Darcy had not thought himself so transparent. “Mr. Bennet has returned to his other estate in Hertfordshire, where the rest of the Bennet family is currently in residence, but Mrs. and Miss Bennet have remained here. Unfortunately, not long before Mr.Bennet left, many small items from the outbuildings began to disappear. When we searched, we found a hidden cache in the woods that contained the missing items.”
