∞∞∞
“Please be calm, be concise, and impart to him no particulars that may appear perplexing at the beginning of the conversation,” Mr Darcy said, as the carriage drew near Eastbourne.
They had already resolved that Mr Gardiner should accompany her. The colonel was not to be informed at the outset that Darcy too had come. It must appear, at first, that she had arrived attended only by her uncle. And though the presence of his uncle might seem no more than a matter of decorum, Darcy secretly considered that it was far more; it was likewise a question of the safety of his future wife. Never would he have left her unprotected in such a situation, which, though it might seem but a conversation between two civilised persons, could conceal dangers not yet discerned. Miss Henry had too much atstake if her design were malevolent and exposed by Elizabeth’s intervention.
Elizabeth turned her gaze through the window, her eyes fixed with wonder upon the sea.
“Look at me, Elizabeth. Forget the sea. I pledge you shall behold it as often as you desire, but now—”
Mr Gardiner concealed a smile at these words. Elizabeth was indeed like a child living her dream. In some measure, it was well for her to be diverted from the encounter soon to begin.
It was not difficult to find the Devonshire mansion at Eastbourne. In the distance rose a stately edifice, more resembling a royal palace than a dwelling by the shore.
To the astonishment of Elizabeth and Mr Gardiner, the carriage halted long before the house, and Mr Darcy himself opened the door to admit a gentleman.
“Miss Elizabeth, Mr Gardiner, permit me to present my butler, Mr Watson.”
The man appeared somewhat abashed, yet Darcy commanded, “Pray be seated, Watson. This is no time for ceremony.”
Elizabeth regarded him with curiosity; she had already met his other butler at Pemberley, but Mr Watson was different. Attired with elegance, his tall hat in his hand, he presented the very image of a gentleman.
“She is here, sir,” he said, and Elizabeth felt her courage tremble. “She is likewise a guest of the Duke. I delivered the message you gave me yesterday evening, and half an hour later I have seen him return from Eastbourne Redoubt.”
Elizabeth comprehended that the letter she had written in London was now in the colonel’s possession.
“Has he seen you?”
“No, sir, assuredly not.
“They are not married,” added the butler. A sigh of relief, issuing from three breasts at once, was heard within the carriage.
“Are you sure?” Darcy asked even if he had confidence in the man.
“Yes, sir, I am assured. John befriended as soon as he arrived with the colonel’s orderly, and after a few mugs of ale, he discovered all that was to be known—”
“John is our footman, who accompanied Watson.”
Darcy paused for a moment, but then he continued with determination, “Watson brought another man…an old soldier, tried in many hardships. I thought it important to have with us one so brave, who has served England with honour. John and this man would be all the time, not far from you, hidden in the garden. The colonel does not know them,” explained Mr Darcy; then he turned towards the butler and gave him silent thanks with a slight inclination of the head, and again addressed Elizabeth and Mr Gardiner.
“We must now alight. I would not be seen here…not yet. Pray, my dears, proceed to the mansion. I am persuaded that orders have been given for you to be taken to the colonel. Please do not tell him we are together. I shall present myself a little later. I still have some things to attend to. The excellent news is that they are not married.”
“But they live…under the same roof,” Mr Gardiner said with much contempt.
“This is not new to me,” Darcy said. “The lady made every effort to bewitch Richard, to entangle him in her snares.”
Darcy and his butler descended and vanished from sight, while Mr Gardiner turned to his niece. “Are you prepared, my dear?”
Elizabeth nodded, though her eyes told him all he required. She was prepared.
Never before had she experienced such a state: a strange firmness of purpose arose within her, mingled with an excitement that quickened every sense. The colonel’s future hung in the balance of her power of persuasion, and, in the end, the fate of an entire family rested in her hands.
As they drew near the house, her uncle leaned closer. “Lizzy,” he said, in the gentlest tone, “it is essential that you understand something. You may bring your mission to a successful end, yet your intervention may not result in a positive consequence…as we all wish. And if it be so, you must not blame yourself.”
“Uncle, I do not understand.” Elizabeth’s countenance bore once more the marks of her inward conflict.
I am so sorry for her, Mr Gardiner thought, but he had decided to let her see the wholeness of the matter.
“He may refuse to abandon that woman, or—”
