Elizabeth winced contritely. “You have been very patient with everything that has gone wrong. I am not sure I would have been so complacent had my house been invaded by seagulls, or had I fallen through the floor, or had a wall almost fallen on top of me.”
“Vexing happenings to be sure, but I was talking about the fact that the house is haunted.”
“Haunted?” Mr Hartham repeated sceptically, which made Elizabeth laugh.
“I had completely forgotten about all that.” Her laughter died on her lips when both gentlemen turned to look askance at her.
Lord Saye’s eyes were narrowed. “Forgotten about all what?”
Oh lord!Her cheeks warmed, and she bit her lips together. “Perhaps you might ask Miss Hawkridge to explain on your journey to London. Mr Hartham and I really must be going. Good day, my lord.” She took Mr Hartham’s arm, ready to pull him away, but paused briefly, gathering her courage to say, “And please, if you do see Mr Darcy, give him my warmest regards.”
31
Darcy did not return to Longbourn, and neither did he wait for Bingley at Netherfield. He waited no longer, in fact, than the time it took his coachman to arrange for the hire of two fresh pairs of horses from the nearest inn, before heading directly back to London. He left a note of apology for Bingley. It was bad form, and he would need to explain himself more fully when he next saw him, but he could not sit and listen to his friend waxing lyrical about his evident success with one Bennet sister, while he himself battled with feelings of such moment for another.
He did not speak to Georgiana before turning in for the night, either. It was late, and after a day of reproofs from Fitzwilliam, he doubted she would wish to see him anyway. Instead, he went straight to his room, taking a late supper tray there and reading and re-reading Elizabeth’s letter while he ate, and then again,and again, while he ought to have been sleeping.
Upon first reading it, he had all but leapt for joy at her admission of love. Surely, nobody wrote such aletter or risked their reputation delivering it via such untrustworthy hands if they did not hope for something to come of it?She is too generous to trifle with me. She would not put such sentiments to paper if she had any doubt in her mind as to feeling them.
Yet, the journey from Longbourn to London had been long enough for doubts to encroach upon his happiness. Nowhere in the letter was there any mention of a break with Hartham, or a change of mind on Elizabeth’s part, despite her admission that she now understood what marriage to him would be. That she loved him, Darcy was more than willing—desperate, even—to believe, but he could not rejoice in that knowledge while he remained uncertain that she could ever be his, and her family’s celebrations were anathema to any such hopes. He knew not what to make of it all, and his head and his heart were hurting from trying to guess.
He nevertheless refused to relinquish hope. Long before dawn, he had resolved to see whether he might persuade Elizabeth away from Hartham and to blazes with the consequences. He was unsure of many things, but hedidknow that a life spent wondering what might have been had he shown courage enough to fight for her would be insufferable.
He rose early, unrested yet sick of tossing and turning in his bed. Arrangements were already in place for Fitzwilliam and him to return to Brighton the following day; thus, his early return from Hertfordshire meant he had a day at his disposal. Impatient though he was to return to Elizabeth, he was grateful for the delay when he read the note Fitzwilliam had left. His cousin had found Georgiana remorseful but without any real understanding of the extent of her folly beyond the distress of being caught and punished. Inhis opinion, it did not seem beyond the realm of possibility that she would do exactly the same again given the opportunity or temptation.
Darcy set the note aside with a heavy sigh.‘It is only the ladies like Lizzy and Jane who make any of it bearable,’Mr Bennet had said. How much more easily Darcy might bear it all were Elizabeth at his side! What he would not give to see her, by example, mould Georgiana into a woman of equal sense and disposition. Ignoring the ache that always accompanied the thought, he attended to his correspondence until it got to a more reasonable hour, at which point he summoned his sister’s companion to his study.
Mrs Annesley had been profuse in her apologies for having allowed her charge to engage in such scandalous activities under her nose. More than once, she had offered to resign. Yet, while Darcy and Fitzwilliam were vexed, they could hardly blame the woman, for they too had been under the same roof as Georgiana, and neither of them had been wise to her antics, sneaking out after she was meant to be in bed and apparently bribing one of the footmen with her pin money for assistance and borrowed clothes. All that besides, she was hardly another Mrs Younge, who had actively schemed to put Georgiana into Wickham’s power. All Mrs Annesley was guilty of was being a heavy sleeper. He assured her again that they did not think her responsible for the mishap and decisively moved on to discussing his sister’s more stringent edification.
More direct discussion of the dangers of society, closer supervision, an increase in calls to women from respected families were all agreed upon. ‘Find yourself a wife and let her help you do this,’ was not suggested by either of them, though the weight of it, sittingunsaid in the air, made the whole meeting feel twice as onerous. He was almost relieved, if wholly taken aback, when the door was thrown open and Saye appeared in the aperture, a finger pointed directly at him.
“For such a wealthy man, you are the very picture of intellectual poverty!”
Mrs Annesley, a consummate professional, acted as though nobody had spoken, though her colour was high as Darcy dismissed her and she hastily left the room. When she was gone, he turned to his cousin.
“What are you doing here?”
Saye sauntered in. “I am here to tell you that you are an idiot.”
“You hardly needed to bring yourself back from Brighton to say that much. You might have waited until I returned.”
“Eh, Brighton.” Saye went to Darcy’s sideboard and poured a drink. “I could not very well stay there forever. The lease was always going to come to an end at some point.”
“The lease is at an end?” Darcy said in alarm. “Why did you not tell me that before I left?”
Saye slurped his drink. “How is it your concern?”
“Half of my belongings are still there!”
Saye dropped into a chair and waved a hand to dismiss the notion. “Send a man to fetch them.”
“No, I will not send a man. I must go myself.”
Saye looked up from swirling the contents of his glass. “Youmust? Why is that?”
“I simply must. No matter. I shall stay in a hotel if necessary. Quite strange if you ask me, to end a lease before Michaelmas.” Why had Elizabeth not mentioned that the lease was soon expired? Had sheassumed, perhaps hoped, he had no intention of returning to Brighton?
“You will travel for two days and spend a night in a hotel all for the privilege of seeing to your own small clothes?” Saye narrowed his eyes, but Darcy gave nothing up.
