Chapter 9
Mrs Nichols directed some maids to dry the entrance hall and place cloths for the men to stand on, while her husband sent some of his footmen to retrieve towels for the gentlemen.
“I sent my coach back to Meryton so the horses may be cared for in the stables at the inn,” Bingley informed his butler as he towelled himself off. “The bridge near the gatehouse is under water. I would not chance it giving way with the weight of the team and conveyance. We used the footbridge which was still just above the level of what used to be a stream. Unfortunately, we got drenched as we walked back to the manor house.” Bingley remembered his sisters’ guests. “Did the Miss Bennets depart before the bridge was covered?”
“No, Mr Bingley, the ladies are still here, Miss Bennet was taken ill and your sister had her placed in one bedchamber of a suite with Miss Elizabeth in the other,” Nichols reported.
“Miss Bennet ill? Nothing serious I pray,” Bingley averred alarmedly.
“Miss Elizabeth will watch her sister through the night and if needs be, she will send a note to Mr Jones in the morning,” Nichols explained.
Darcy was not pleased Miss Bennet had taken ill, but he was not sorry Miss Elizabeth would be resident at Netherfield Park, if only for a day or two. He would endeavour to speak to her and deliver his apology.
Mrs Hurst, who had been alerted to the men’s presence by the housekeeper, and had been informed of the state theywere in, entered the hall as the three men were completing the task of drying most of the extraneous water from themselves. She relaxed when her husband nodded that they were well.
“Lulu, I heard Miss Bennet is ill. Is it serious. Do we need to summon Mr Jones now?” Bingley enquired.
“She has come down with a cold which has worsened and now has a fever as well,” Mrs Hurst revealed. She saw the concern etched on her brother’s countenance. “It was not a very high fever when I last was with her. Unless Lizzy…Miss Elizabeth tells us he is needed, we may wait until the morning to call for Mr. Jones’s services.”
Darcy felt a pang of jealousy that Mrs Hurst was allowed to address Miss Elizabeth informally. As it was, she was Elizabeth to him in his dreams.
“How did Caroline behave?” Bingley questioned.
“We will discuss our sister and her behaviour later, but for now the baths are being filled for each of you. Once you remove your soaked boots, you are welcome to warm up in the steaming water,” Mrs Hurst instructed the three men.
As he was neither the lady’s brother nor her husband, under normal circumstances Darcy would not have removed his boots in her company. Thankfully, when he began to unlace them, she turned and left and was replaced by his valet, who Darcy had not noticed in the entrance hall until then. Carstens took his soaked boots, jacket, and cravat with a look of distaste when he noted how, in addition to them being waterlogged, they were also covered in mud.
“The bath is ready for you in your bathing room, Mr Darcy,” Carstens said with as much dignity as he could muster since his hands and arms were full with his master’s filthy clothing.
Once Bingley’s and Hurst’s valets took similar items from each of them, the three men made their way up the main staircase, holding onto the banister to make sure they did notslip.
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Elizabeth had just exited the sitting room which was between Jane’s and her bedchambers to ask Louisa for some nightrails when she almost collided with a decidedly wet and underdressed Mr Darcy. If she did not hate the very sight of him, she would have felt rather attracted to him. His hair was wet and plastered to his head, some curls stuck to his forehead. He was in his stockings, his shirtsleeves were rolled up, his cravat was missing, and he wore no jacket. His vest was in place, except it was unbuttoned, as were the top three buttons of his lawn shirt, which in the places it was exposed, the fabric was transparent and clung to his body beneath it. Thanks to the top few buttons of the shirt being open, not only his neck, but the top of his dark haired chest were exposed.
There was no denying he was an extremely handsome specimen. Had she not felt the antipathy she did for the man; she may have permitted herself to admire him. Butof course, she did no such thing.
“Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy bowed in greeting.
“Mr Darcy,” Elizabeth gave a quick curtsy and carried on towards Louisa’s suite. If it had not been for her dislike of the man, she may have found his attempt at greeting her, when he looked like he had almost drowned, rather endearing.
‘So much for the men remaining at the Red Lion Inn!’ Elizabeth harumphed to herself. ‘We need to get home as soon as may be. It will be insupportable to be stuck in the same house as that insufferable man for too many days!’ Elizabeth could not admit to herself her vitriol against him was driven by her self-disgust at her reaction to seeing him in a state of undress.
Darcy grinned as he watched Miss Elizabeth scurry away from him without ever looking back. She had seemed frozen to the spot for some moments instead of her habit of moving away from him with all possible speed. Could it be her attitudetowards him was thawing? He certainly hoped that was the case. Would his quest to speak to her and beg her pardon finally be successful?
With one last look in the direction she had disappeared, Darcy opened the door to his bedchamber. As soon as he entered Carstens looked behind him to make sure a certainladywas not following his master. As Mr Darcy was alone, the valet locked the door securely behind his employer. Darcy made directly for the bathing room and stripped off the remainder of his dripping items of clothing. He climbed into the brass bath tub, full of steaming water and was soon relaxing as the heat worked its magic on his muscles. Of course his thoughts conjured the image of the beautiful, infuriating, fine eyed woman. Darcy stopped his musings before they became decidedly ungentlemanly. This time he had not the excuse he was asleep and dreaming.
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By the time Elizabeth returned to Jane’s bedchamber with the night gowns, Jane was awake. “Water,” Jane croaked.
Knowing the cold water soothed Jane’s throat, rather than ask the maid who was seated near the foot of the bed to do so, Elizabeth poured Jane a quarter glass full. She helped her sister sit up and then held the glass to her lips and allowed the soothing liquid to leak into Jane’s mouth slowly.
Jane drained the glass. “More?” Elizabeth enquired. Jane shook her head.
“I am so…sorry Lizzy. I know…you did not want to…remain here,” Jane managed with stops to regain her breath.
“All I care about is that you get well,” Elizabeth insisted. “If I have to be in the same house as Mr Darcy so I may remain close to you, then so be it. I would endure far more to nurse you back to health, Janey.”
