“Like I said to you once before, I am not ungrateful and it shall all end well enough. I will be called to the bar next year, and I suspect myfather will supplement my income so I can live as a son of a baronet ought.” Mr Utterson bowed slightly before stalking away.
Other conversations resumed, and now that everyone had been served tea or coffee, she and Hester left the table to join the three men.
“You will wear yourself down unless you take a small break from all of this,” Mr Balfour said gently to Darcy.
“Under my present scarcity of cash, I shall find it difficult to collect rent to answer this emergency, let alone travel.”
Mr Utterson shook his head. “We shall miss you if you do not come to Scarborough.”
“Complying with my previous engagements is now impossible. And as I said, I shall even sublet the house in town next season.”
“You are a dead bore,” Mr Balfour said, with a smile.
His friends could not see that any decadence would contrast with his tenants’ suffering, and Darcy could never tolerate that. Luxurious life at a house party or resort would give Darcy infinitely more pain than pleasure now. “His tenants might fear he has not their best interests at heart if Mr Darcy is gone for long and so soon after the storm on any matter other than business,”Elizabeth said.
Mr Balfour shook his head. “We must disagree, Miss Bennet, because I think Darcy’s tenants and servants think so well of him no matter where he is that they would storm hell for him if he made the plans.”
“I think I had better try rebuilding the mill first,” Darcy answered. He shared a look with her, and she wondered if he was remembering the near riot in Lambton.
“Still, our visit has been a pleasant one, has it not?” Mr Balfour asked the party in a tone of cheer. “We all seem disposed to be pleased and are endeavouring to be agreeable, and I hope we succeed, for your sake,” Mr Balfour said to Darcy. “I know you have had a difficult time, but difficult times pass.”
“He still ought to come to Scarborough,” Mr Utterson said. “It would show his friends, society as well, that he can manage the disaster with his fortune intact.”
“I may instead tell my friends that I am engaged in raising houses,” Darcy said, “which, I think, goes on better whilst I am present.”
Mr Utterson and Mr Balfour went on about the importance of maintaining a gentleman’s reputation and the good opinion of society, and that there was no shame in borrowing a little if the need arose. Darcy frowned and stalked away to return his coffee cup to the tea table; Elizabeth rose to stand near to him.
“You must keep your forbearance and command of countenance for a little while longer, Fitzwilliam,” she whispered when they both had their backs to the others.
He set his saucer down with a clatter. “The thief and the killer are likely the same, and I must bring the guilty man before Mr Birch. I am near to demanding one of them confess now.”
Elizabeth stroked the back of his hand, which rested on the table. “It will be finding Carew’s stolen ring in a pawnshop—that is how we will solve the puzzle.”
Darcy turned his hand over to squeeze hers. She knew that pretending to be at ease, that not knowing the truth, was driving him to distraction.
“I cannot rely on that,” he whispered, looking at their joined hands. “They shall leave any day, and the ring might never be found. And once they leave the parish, it shall be harder to get a warrant if we ever do find proof.” He gave her a look she could not comprehend. “I am very sorry you and Mrs Lanyon must hear this.”
Before she could ask what he meant, he returned to the others.
“At least I do not need a night watch in Lambton any longer,” Darcy said as he joined them. “It is just as well, since if I were to take my turn, I would be asleep within an hour.”
“Aye, that does sound like you,” Mr Balfour said. “If you did not have coffee, you would be asleep within an hour of candlelight.”
“Your cousin organised a watch, did he not?” Mr Utterson asked.
“Yes, but it is not needed now since the streets are cleared and any valuables that survived are secured.” He gave a thoughtful pause. “It is only the deadhouse that might have anything of value now, but Fitzwilliam did not organise men to protect that. Perhaps it is of no consequence,” he added with a shrug.
“Why do you even need the deadhouse a week after the storm?”Mr Balfour asked. “Were not the flood victims identified and returned to their homes to be buried?”
“A few did not have homes left to be buried from, but most who remain are the disinterred bodies from the second storm that pushed the coffins out of the soaked earth.”
Elizabeth’s stomach turned over as she watched Hester cringe and set down her plate.
Darcy looked at both Mr Balfour and Mr Utterson. “Is it worth it to keep watch over the possible desecration of the dead, especially those long dead? The ground is dry enough to reinter them soon, now that they all have new coffins.”
“It is hardly worth it to have anyone lose sleep keeping watch over a few waterlogged bodies,” Mr Utterson agreed, nodding his head. Both Hester and Mr Balfour looked rather ill.
Elizabeth watched their conversation, thinking how unlike Darcy it was to mention such harsh truths in mixed company.
