When Mrs Annesley was admiring the rising hills, Elizabeth said to Hester, “You could be more thancontent, you know.”
Hester simply bowed her head. She was swift to listen, but cautious with her tongue. Elizabeth felt that Hester loved Colonel Fitzwilliam, but she held too firmly to the edict that a widow who had happily married once did not deserve a second love match.I hope she does not hold out against what her heart wants, if her longing glances are any indication.
Miss Darcy was enjoying her brother’s undivided attention without any guests around to make her nervous, and Elizabeth was certain that Hester would soon settle the point as to what manner of relationship she wanted with Darcy’s cousin. Even amidst trials, even amidst the possibility that one’s friend might have committed a horrible crime, there were moments of joy. That gave her hope that perhaps soon she might command enough of Darcy’s attention to remind him that he had asked for a private conversation with her.
I would be nearly as happy to just feel his arms around me and his lips on mine.
“I was thinking that we might join Lewis and Mr Utterson on our return,” Hester said. “Tissington and Lord Poole’s house are only a few miles from Dovedale. Why do we not meet Lewis and Mr Utterson and ride back together? Lewis would be proud to let some of us ride in his new carriage.”
A sickening feeling settled in Elizabeth’s stomach. This must be how Darcy felt every moment. Her emotions were now deeply oppressed at the thought of looking at either Mr Utterson or Mr Balfour. There was no true escape from the anxious sensations, and it was little wonder that Darcy had been reluctant to go to Dovedale. Even a few hours of rural pleasure would be interrupted by thoughts about which one of them had possibly killed Carew and taken a ring off her body.
Hester was still looking at her. “Certainly,” Elizabeth said, and then left Mrs Annesley to say all the necessary things about being eager to see the absent gentlemen.
Who was likely to have committed the crime?Was it Mr Balfour, who bought his new carriage for the sake of impressing his friends, or Mr Utterson, who envied it even with its imperfections because he had no carriage of his own?
The road through the small village of Thorpe was along open pastures winding around the base of a mount that seemed to guard the entrance to Dovedale. Elizabeth raised her eyes to the perpendicular rocks across its summit.That would give a fine view of the Dove through the dale below.
“I was in hopes the road would be passable, but they tell me we cannot ford the river near Bunster Hill,” Darcy said by way of apology when they alighted. “The late flood carried away the bridge over which we were to drive and left a great hole in the bank in its place.”
Everyone declared that they had nothing to say against walking the last mile. They fell into pairs to walk along the margin of the river, with the Darcys insisting that she and Hester take the lead. The valley left room for little more than a channel of the river with a footpath along its banks. The wet season had caused the water to rise, flooding the Staffordshire side and leaving only a small space to walk on the Derbyshire side.
The character of Elizabeth’s first view of Dovedale was pure grandeur. The hills swelled boldly from both sides of the river, and their majestic summits seemed to be amongst the clouds. The river was still high, and they walked past a few intrepid anglers. It was a splendid scene, with water breaking over fragments of stone and trees framing the river.
Near the same high hill she had seen from the carriage, they found themselves enclosed in a narrow and deep dale where the river bent sharply. Elizabeth and Hester stopped and raised their eyes to observe on one side many craggy rocks above one another to a vast height, and on the other an almost perpendicular ascent covered with grass and a few sheep.
“What do you think?” Miss Darcy asked her and Hester. “The area is celebrated for its wild and fantastic appearance.”
“Derbyshire is beautiful,” Hester said, breathlessly, turning to look to the other side of the Dove.
Elizabeth saw Darcy hiding a smile. Colonel Fitzwilliam laughed and stepped nearer to Hester. “It certainly is—but that is Staffordshire.” He took her by the shoulders and turned her to face the other side. “Thisis the Derbyshire side of the river.”
They all laughed, even Hester, and Elizabeth noticed that she did not shrug off Colonel Fitzwilliam’s hands or step away after he removed them.
The others talked of the rock formations farther upstream that they must see, but Elizabeth’s attention returned to the grand limestone hill.
“That is Thorpe Cloud,” Darcy said, coming away from the river to stand near her.
“Is it so named because it seems high enough to touch the clouds?”
He smiled. “No, sadly. Your reason would be more fitting for such a location. ‘Cloud’ is simply a corruption of ‘clud,’ an Anglo-Saxon word for a large rock or hill.”
“That is dull,” she said, turning to face him, “but we cannot blame it for its name.” She craned her neck to take it in again. “How high is it?”
“’Tis a moderate-sized hill.” He shrugged, looking at it with her. “Nearly a thousand feet?”
“Those of us from Hertfordshire would call that a mountain,” she cried.
Darcy laughed. “Then it is a shame you do not live in Derbyshire.”
He turned from looking at Thorpe Cloud to look at her, still with a smile on his face. Elizabeth thought of the unintended meaning behind his words. “Yes,” she said, looking into his eyes, “it is.” Comprehension seemed to strike him, and his amused expression turned tender. “I think,” she added softly so no one else could hear, “I could enjoy living here very much.”
Elizabeth dearly wished everyone away whilst Darcy looked at her with such dark eyes, hopefully full of the meaning she thought they held, but she was not to be so lucky. Hester and Miss Darcy called their attention, and they rejoined the others near the riverbank.
“Mr Darcy,” Hester said, “I was earlier suggesting to Miss Bennet that since Dovedale is so near Lord Poole’s that we meet up with Lewis and Mr Utterson and ride back together.”
Elizabeth saw the flicker of unease in Darcy’s eyes and was sorry that he was reminded of his cares when they had only just arrived.He is deeply distressed.
“Certainly,” he said with a curt bow. “I can send one of the servants ahead with a note for Poole when we are ready to leave.”
