“If I have my way, I will be married by next year. Now, if I can only follow your example and provoke a situation where I must marry her at once, I shall be well pleased!”
“That would only come after a long delay, if you recall.”
“Then I shall instead proceed with whatever haste I can muster.”
Then Bingley regarded him with an expression knowing and curious at once. “Enough of that, my friend. Though you can be inscrutable when you put your mind to it, I did not miss your general distraction when I was speaking of Miss Bennet. Is something amiss?”
Thoughts flying back to the previous evening, Darcy shook his head. “We had an intruder in the house last night.”
Whatever Bingley had expected, it was not this. “That is quite unusual, my friend. Did you apprehend him?”
“He escaped, but the entire affair is troubling.”
At Bingley’s insistence, Darcy shared the events of the previous evening, their investigation, and conjecture about the affair. Showing no sign of the frivolous man others sometimes branded him as, Bingley listened, his concentration displayed in the questions he asked. When Darcy fell silent, Bingley sat back in his chair and considered what Darcy had told him.
“Most curious, indeed,” mused Bingley. “You say your man found the intruder in the family wing above stairs?”
“That is the most perplexing part of this,” said Darcy. “The study would be the logical place for a burglar to find valuables.”
“Did you not have some trouble with Miss Darcy’s companion of late? Could the intrusion have something to do with that situation?”
Like a bucket of cold water being poured over his head, Darcy realized what he had been missing. “I think it might, my friend. Please wait a moment.”
Darcy exited the room and slipped into the hallway, asking a nearby footman to speak to the butler and summon Lord Matlock and Colonel Fitzwilliam to the house, while instructing the housekeeper to attend him at once. The woman arrived in the study almost the moment he reentered, her expression curious.
“Mrs. Mayfield,” said Darcy, “do you recall anything peculiar about Mrs. Younge’s habits while she was here? Did she often go out or receive letters, or did she have visitors?”
“There were no visitors, Mr. Darcy,” said Mrs. Mayfield, seeming to understand the reason for his questions. “There were several letters from various senders, friends, I supposed. She also sent letters from time to time. As for her comings and goings, she sometimes went out, but that is not unusual for a companion during her free time.”
That she was sending letters was interesting, for Darcy had heard nothing of family with whom she would correspond. That did not prevent having friends with whom she would wish to keep contact, of course. When Darcy commented to this effect, Mrs. Mayfield demurred.
“From what I recall, the letters she sent were sparse, and I have no notion of the recipient.”
“No, I did not suppose you would,” said Darcy, reflecting that she would have no reason to pry. “When she departed from the house, what happened to her effects?”
“The room is undisturbed except for the regular cleaning.”
Darcy nodded. “It may be time to search her possessions, Mrs. Mayfield.”
“You suppose last night’s excitement was connected to Mrs. Younge?”
“Though I had not considered it before, it seems like an interpretation we cannot ignore; I cannot say what the invader meant to accomplish.”
“Perhaps she has incriminating letters in her possession that he wished to retrieve,” suggested Bingley.
“That is my thought, too,” agreed Darcy, “though I wonder if there was not some more nefarious purpose. Georgiana was asleep not far from where Barnes discovered him.”
Mrs. Mayfield gasped. “Do you suppose he meant to enter her bedchamber?”
“I do not know, but I will also rule nothing out.”
“I shall see to it at once, Mr. Darcy.”
The search discovered nothing, for there was little more than clothes and other personal items among Mrs. Younge’s possessions. There were no letters, such that Darcy suspected she had disposed of any letters she had received from any sources outside of the house. Mrs. Mayfield reported there were few items at all among her possessions, a circumstance that further heightened Darcy’s suspicions. Though she had never appeared a sentimental woman, anyone must accumulate keepsakes, items of little value to anyone but the owner, but there were few such articles in her possession. It was as if the woman had not existed before coming to work for the Darcy family, for there was nothing among her effects that pointed to a previous life.
“Do you know anything about her past?” asked Bingley when the housekeeper reported the failure of their search.
“Nothing more than what Lord Matlock uncovered in his investigation,” was Darcy’s absent reply. “Fitzwilliam knows nothing more, for he was not involved in her hiring.”
