“I assure you I will answer your questions in a moment.”
Jane nodded, while Ellen looked from one to the other. She was only slightly intimidated by the man, for he certainly appeared a true gentleman, one whose word could be trusted. Any man who lent her his greatcoat to climb under a coach and examine it was either a true gentleman or, a man obsessed with equipage.
She waited calmly to see what happened. He would either answer, or he would not. She would either keep her position, or she would lose it and find another. Little Mr Darcy did could affect her life beyond the next few hours, and he was entertaining if nothing else.
The gentleman regarded her more directly than she was accustomed to. “Miss Taylor? I am already in your debt, but if you are willing to accumulate a bit more, I would ask why you think it is not only acceptable but desirable for a man to cry like a green boy?”
She had not expected such language from a gentleman—certainly not one of his stature—but he had asked nicely so she might as well answer.
“Seems to me a man who can cry’s a man who feels things. A man who feels is generally not one who beats a woman, or disrespects her, or is otherwise not a true man. Mayhap there’smen as can both cry and do evil, but I think most men can do one or t’ other.”
Darcy nodded. “Miss Bennet, would you concur?”
Jane was not one to indulge in wild flights of fancy or answer a question without due consideration. “I think Ellen may have the right of it. At least I suspect she is more right than wrong, but since I have never seen a grown man cry, it is all supposition. For all I know, you might beat your dogs and then cry over their pain; but I do believe Ellen is mostly correct.”
Darcy paused. “Miss Bennet, would you object terribly if I yet again delay answering your questions, as I have another matter that might prove helpful?”
“As I said, I am quite at my leisure. So long as Ellen is comfortable, you may take all day if you like.”
The slight impertinence, said with a soft smile, recalled Elizabeth. It seemed the two sisters shared more than his prior acquaintance suggested.
“This is my easiest day of the month,” Ellen said. “I’ll hear what you have to say.”
“Miss Taylor, would you consider it rude if I asked if you are married?”
Ellen started. “Well, sir—”
She gazed at him in consternation.
“I am on your side,” he added gently. “You need not fear me, and you need not answer if it makes you uncomfortable. I would however appreciate it, as I have a purpose in asking.”
The question surprised her; she had no idea what to do. Gentlemen usually assumed servants would trust them simply because they were gentlemen, whether they earned it or not. There were exceptions, such as Mr Gardiner, but on the whole, she expected little from the gentry. Therefore, ignoring the impropriety—a matter gentlemen rarely knew or cared for—she chose to answer.
“No, sir, I am unwed. I would expect a man like you to know most servants my age aren’t.”
“Would you like to be?” Darcy pressed on. “Forgive the forwardness, but if you are interested in matrimony, would you be willing to tell me what attributes you seek? Of course, if you are not, I beg you to pardon my impertinence.”
“’Course I would like to be… once I can afford it. There’s not many women, servant or gentry as wants different.”
“And in this husband, what do you seek?”
Ellen’s confusion grew, but she saw no harm in answering.
"Well, sir. I'd like a man as treats me well, as I'd treat him. He ought to have steady work, a clean dry place to live, and a good temper about him. He should be in a house where the gentlefolk behave proper-like, not like savages. And it'd be a blessing if we could afford a bit of help with the house or the little ones, when they come. Give me that, sir, and I'll count myself fortunate."
“Is that all you wish for? Nothing more?”
She laughed. "There ain't no more! Some of them starry-eyed young ladies as read too many novels like to rattle on about love and romance and such nonsense. I never set much store by all that. No amount of courtin'll tell you much, 'cept how a man acts when he wants something and he's on his best behaviour. No, sir! I reckon you should wish to know as little as possible his defects; I’ll learn ‘em soon enough. Give me a good man with steady work, and I'll count myself fortunate."
Darcy rubbed his chin and said the most surprising thing yet.
“Interesting. Perhaps the hand of fate is at work. Let me ask you this: would you be interested in a stablemaster who shed tears off and on for a week when his favourite hound, that he raised from a pup, died?”
Ellen looked confounded by the line of questioning, and perhaps a little frightened, but then remembered his promise;she straightened—lifting the hem of the greatcoat a half inch off the ground—and replied.
“Sir, my father—rest his soul—is dead. I got no need’ve a new one.”
“I do not understand—” he mumbled perplexedly, then made both ladies jump when he smacked his forehead.
