“Thank you, Mr Darcy.” Kirby solemnly held out a hand, and Darcy, knowing once again that he could not smile, took it.
“Ready to begin your new life?” Darcy asked as the other children and adults went past them and out the door.
Chapter Nineteen
It was with a strange mixture of fear and contentment that Elizabeth began her day. She felt absolute dread that she was going to be abducted by a murderer, but she could not stifle the satisfaction that came in knowing everything was settled with Darcy. She supposed it boded well for their future, that any misunderstanding or disagreement could be settled if the two of them just spent enough time in the same room.
She just had to be certain she survived her encounter with Markle so she could enjoy that future.
Whatever she would suffer at Markle’s hands, she felt that Darcy would suffer more. He had hated watching her be threatened and hit and provoked, and it would be worse when he did not know where she was or what was happening. He was not the sort to sit and wait, but her plan forced him to be passive while she took all the risk.
Elizabeth checked the window again. Colonel Fitzwilliam was still walking up and down Gracechurch Street.Darcy has not been entirely passive.But he would hate the silence, the waiting, the not knowing.
She opened a box from her toilette table and pulled out the diamond and sapphire ring Darcy had in Kent. She oughtto leave it behind because the symbolism was horrid, inspired by a dictator who ultimately divorced his wife, intended as an engagement gift for another woman. But Elizabeth had worn it when Darcy saw her in the bath in Dartford, when she ran her fingers through his hair before falling into bed together.
Elizabeth put it on her right hand. Darcy would rather she not wear it, she knew, but she wanted something of his with her other than a pocket knife.
The door opened and Elizabeth managed not to cry out in surprise this time as Jane entered. Her heart still raced whenever someone entered the room unexpectedly.
“Are you ready to visit a few of the shops?” Jane asked. “I am so pleased you are feeling better. My aunt says we can take her man; she would rather stay with her children this morning.”
Elizabeth had placed Darcy’s knife down in her stocking and tied it with a ribbon. She let out a slow breath and nodded. She had to go outside alone and allow herself to be taken without Jane being harmed. Now to proceed as she had rehearsed in her mind.
“I am not certain what to wear. Do you think I should change into my blue pelisse, or will I be warm enough with this yellow spencer?”
Elizabeth looked out the window to pretend to guess the weather and saw Colton on horseback a few houses down the street. Colonel Fitzwilliam was by a shop window, farther away. Someone must have followed her home last night. Colton could not carry her off unnoticed atop a horse, but perhaps Markle did not care about being subtle at this point.
“Open the window and see how it feels,” Jane said, tying her bonnet ribbon.
She had not considered that. “Hmm, I would rather step outside to decide.” Elizabeth went for the door, but on passingJane, she could not help but pull her into a tight hug. “I will be back.”
“Lizzy!” Jane cried, laughing. “What is all this?”
There was nothing she could say. Elizabeth smiled and went down the stairs. She nodded to the servant in the hall and said she was checking the weather. She clutched the door handle, but her shaking fingers struggled with it and he came back to help her.
“I can do this,” she whispered as she walked onto the pavement. She could be brave to save Kirby’s future, to protect Miss Darcy, and to help arrest a violent criminal determined to torment them.
No one came running up to her, and no carriage came alongside her like what had happened at Rosings. Perhaps she had judged wrongly, and Colton would only follow her and abduct her later. After walking a few townhouse lengths, Elizabeth could not pretend she was feeling the air any longer. She was about to turn when a hand wrapped tightly around her arm.
She gave a genuine shout of surprise. “None of that now, Nan,” Markle said in a low voice. “Come along with me.”
Although this was according to plan, her instinct was to pull away. Markle tightened his grip, turned his cold eye on her, and pulled aside his frock coat to reveal a pistol. “Remember, when I say to do something…”
She did not say, “I do it,” but she stopped fighting.
“There’s a good girl. You would not want something to happen to that other pretty girl in that house. No, no, don’t turn round. I think she came out looking for you, but Colton will put a bullet in her head if you don’t get in.”
A hackney coach was waiting, and Elizabeth wondered if Jane could see this far or if Colonel Fitzwilliam was near enough to note the number on the coach. She climbed in, andMarkle pressed in next to her as the hackney rumbled down Gracechurch Street.
“Who was that lady?” Markle asked. His pleasant tone was an affront. “A sister? Another friend like that Mrs Collins in Hunsford?”
Elizabeth refused to answer. The thought that harm could come to Jane because of what she was doing wrenched her heart. Jane would be so frightened when she realised she had been abducted again. Then she thought of Darcy. He must be slowly dying inside from fear for her.
If anything truly horrible happened to her, would she tell Darcy or stay silent to spare him the anger and regret he would feel? As much as it was her own choice, he would feel responsible. Part of her wanted to keep whatever happened a secret, but she supposed a lie like that, an omission, would ruin something between them. Besides, whatever Darcy imagined might be worse than what would actually happen.
“No answer?” Markle asked again. “’Tis rude to sit in silence when spoken to.”
“You know I am not Miss de Bourgh, so why abduct me again?”
