Please do not worry for me—I am well cared for, and in no danger.
I am to be a friend to a young lady in a respectable house. The family has been most kind to me, and I want for nothing. I cannot give you further details at this time, but I promise that all is well.
Please know that I think of you every day. I miss you terribly, but I do not regret my choice. I hope you can forgive me for the worry I have caused.
When I can, I will write again with everything you likely want to know. Until then, please trust that I am exactly where I need to be. Give my love and reassurance to my sisters.
Your loving sister,
Elizabeth
She brought it to Darcy. He read it over, nodded his approval, sealed it sans the Darcy crest, and tucked it into his coat.
“I will see it posted this evening. Your family should receive it shortly.”
“Thank you.” She rose on her toes and pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips. “For everything.”
Darcy caught her hand before she could step away. “You need not thank me for doing what any decent man would do. You are to be my wife, Elizabeth. Your happiness is my happiness.”
As Elizabeth watched him leave for Darcy House, she felt that same sensation that had come the night before. Perhaps, she thought, loving Fitzwilliam Darcy would not be as difficult as she had expected.
6
Darcy stood at the window of his study, watching the square below with more vigilance than usual. It had been a fortnight since Elizabeth had arrived in London, and each day brought new risks of discovery.
The close calls had begun almost immediately.
Three days after her arrival, Darcy had been walking with Elizabeth and Georgiana in the park—carefully choosing an unfashionable hour—when he had spotted the distinctive plumes of Caroline Bingley’s bonnet in the distance. He steered his companions in the opposite direction, his heart pounding with the knowledge of how close they had come to discovery.
Then, only the day before, he and Elizabeth were with Lady Matlock when their carriage pulled alongside another. Darcy froze as Louisa Hurst’s face appeared at the window of an adjacent carriage, her eyes scanning Lady Matlock’s vehicle with idle curiosity. Elizabeth hadbeen facing away, her bonnet obscuring her profile, and then the traffic moved on. Far too close.
A knock at his door interrupted his thoughts. “Mr. Bingley to see you, sir,” his butler announced.
Darcy turned from the window. “Show him in.”
Bingley entered with his usual verve, though Darcy noted that his friend’s countenance was troubled rather than cheerful.
“Darcy! I was hoping you would be home. I have much to tell you.”
“Sit down, Bingley,” Darcy said, pouring them both a drink. “You have something on your mind?”
Bingley threw himself into a chair. “I do. It is about Miss Bennet. Jane Bennet.”
Darcy’s shoulders tightened, but he kept his face neutral. “Is she well?”
“I proposed to her, Darcy. Two days after the Netherfield ball. I could not wait any longer.” Bingley’s face lit up briefly with joy, then clouded again. “She accepted me, and I am the happiest man alive. But there is a complication.”
“What sort of complication?”
“Her sister. Elizabeth. She has disappeared.”
Darcy handed Bingley a glass, forcing his hand not to quaver. “Disappeared?”
“Vanished the very day after the ball. Left a note saying she would not marry Collins—you remember that ridiculous parson who was visiting them?—and by the time the family realized she was gone, she was hours away. No one knows where she went or how she left. Mr. Bennet has searched everywhere.”
Darcy sat down opposite his friend, his mind racing.Bingley was a good man. His one flaw was his inability to keep a secret when pressed. Thus, Darcy could say nothing to bring him relief. “That is…concerning. Has there been any word from her?”
“A single letter, posted from London with no return direction. She wrote to Jane, saying she is a companion to some young lady, that she was safe and well cared for. But she gave no details, no way for the family to contact her.” Bingley took a long drink. “Jane is crushed, Darcy. My dear Jane tries to hide it, to be happy about our engagement, but I can see how much this distresses her.”
