“But I am only uncertain what it was that I said that upset you!”
Abruptly, she veered off the path and dove directly between two fir trees and off into the wilderness.
I plunged after her. “Miss Bennet, be reasonable!” I cried.
She was off and running ahead of me.
I gave pursuit.
Now, we were running through the wooded area behind Netherfield. I was not entirely familiar with the grounds out here, but I was fairly capable of keeping a compass in my head. I was not frightened of getting lost, but it was alarming to be out here, off the path, I had to admit.
I caught up to her fairly quickly. My legs were longer than hers and they were not encumbered by long skirts. She was a robust woman, who was obviously given to walking quite abit, however, so while I may have caught up with her, I am embarrassed to say that I was already a bit winded, whereas she was not.
“Go away, Mr. Darcy,” she cried.
I caught her by the arm and stopped her movement.
She was furious and began to struggle against me.
I held fast. “Miss Bennet, please, calm down, see reason.”
“Let go of me or I shall kick you in the shins,” she said, her chest heaving, her eyes flashing.
I let go of her, less because I was frightened of her kicking and more because I was affected by the sight of her like that. She was something to behold, I have to say, like an angry goddess or the queen of the faeries. She took off again.
This time, I did not run after her, but simply kept her in sight as she rushed away from me into the woods. I followed her, but only so closely as to make sure I did not lose sight of her.
By and by, an old house came into view. It was smallish, though it had two stories. However, it was in a state of disrepair. There had once been a porch on the front of the house, but there was now a great hole in the midst of it, for the wood had rotted. The ceiling over the porch had collapsed and was falling down, and there was no door to the place, just a gaping hole. The windows on the top floor still had glass in them except for one, and that one was boarded up.
Elizabeth ducked into the house.
I cried out, “Madam, that structure does not look safe! Come out of there immediately.”
She ducked her head out. “You are still following me?”
“I have said to you that I am unwilling to leave you alone in a strange wood.”
She let out a roar of frustration. “You are the worst man I know, Mr. Darcy,” she said and disappeared into the house.
I debated. Now that I knew where she was, perhaps I should go back to the main house and enlist the help of others to get her to come inside.
Of course, what would be proper would be to bring along the other ladies, and I thought that Caroline would never set foot in this dirty, dilapidated house out here, and it would be pointless to even bring her along.
So, I could simply get Bingley, I supposed. Elizabeth liked Bingley more than she liked me, really.
Or did she?
What amount that little comment about his humility earlier? Why had she said that? Perhaps it had simply been a little joke, something meaningless, but I think it spoke to an idea that she did not entirely think of Bingley as a serious man. If I came back out here with him and he tried to get her out of the house, she might not listen to him either.
And, after all, there was a good chance that the minute that I left her here she went elsewhere.
I trudged forward and climbed gingerly over the broken porch before I ducked into the house myself.
“Miss Bennet?” I called.
She didn’t answer.
The house was in horrible shape. It looked as if some bandits had slept here at some point, and they’d made a fire right in what used to be the front room and left behind all the bones of whatever they’d cooked on the fire in addition to some jars and tins from the food they’d brought with them. Animals had gotten into all of that and strewn it about the place. It was not a pleasant smell.
