“I’ll get help.” Elizabeth promised and ran.
Chapter 25
Mr. Darcy’s fury was immediate and brutal. He only needed to hear Elizabeth’s babbled story once before marching down to the servants quarters. His face was white with fury, his hands clenched into fists.
The staff who were there stared at their master in horror. They had never seen him so outraged before. There was a clatter of metal and iron as pots and pans were put hastily onto tables. As one, the servants were too scared to move a muscle.
“Where is Miss Crocker?” Darcy growled.
“She is with Miss Darcy, sir!” one of the kitchen maids piped up nervously. Darcy turned a savage look her way.
“That is the one place I am sure she isnot!Bring her to me at once.”
Elizabeth followed her husband down the stairs, but like the servants was too frightened to move any further. She had not thought any further ahead than running to the driveway and telling Darcy what she had seen. Lizzie had thought that perhaps he would send for Mrs. Reynolds or go and see his sister himself. Instead, he had stared at his wife in silence, given her a look that was both furious and horrified, and then strode away.
Miss Crocker was not found quickly. It exonerated most of the servants from her wickedness, since many of them genuinely believed that the woman was with her charge. The fact that she had been neglecting Miss Darcy horrified them. They looked past Darcy at Elizabeth with wide, wondering eyes. The story was already out: Mrs. Darcy had spied on Miss Crocker, and had seen her doing terrible things to poor, sweet Miss Darcy. They cared for Georgiana too much to cling to their dislike of the new mistress. Some of them gave Elizabeth shaky nods when their eyes met.
Nobody could meet Darcy’s eyes.
After five minutes had passed with no success, a pair of footmen suggested that the woman might be in the stables, as she had a particular fondness for one of the hostlers. Besides, she might well have worked out what the uproar was about and was attempting to hide. The footmen hurried away, and for a few minutes Darcy and Elizabeth were alone.
“This was not the first time you were with my sister.” Darcy said abruptly. His voice was like ice, and Lizzie shivered. Brutal honesty guided her tongue. Lying to him now would be indescribably terrible.
“No, sir. I have been going there since… since Monday, four weeks past.”
“The day I left.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I see.”
Elizabeth waited in suspense for him to say more. She wanted him to ask more questions and give her a chance to explain, or even to shout at her. But Darcy did not deign to look at her again.It was as if she had ceased to exist. He stood aloof and cold, waiting for the footmen to return. Lizzie swallowed down the lump in her throat and hesitantly reached out for his arm. She could not do it. Her hand would not obey. Her breath shuddered and she clenched her hands into fists, fighting back tears.
There was a hubbub by the back door, and then it swung open. The footmen came first, and then the complaining form of Miss Crocker. Within seconds nearly every servant of the household crowded into the hallway and peered out from the rooms around them, watching the show. Elizabeth suddenly realised that they would have heard the way Darcy had spoken to her. Blushing bright red, she stared at the floor.
Miss Crocker tried to argue, briefly. It did not serve her well at all. It was the last defiant gesture of a woman who had risked everything for the sake of her pathetic vanity. She was completely unrepentant. Although she glared at Elizabeth and even made a snide comment about the mistress ‘crawling around on the floor like a worm’, she did not argue. She listened to Elizabeth’s ‘lies’ in silence, then shrugged. The master’s mind was already made up. An honest woman like herself could do nothing to defend herself against a sly mistress and a stupid master.
Mrs. Reynolds had been listening in stunned silence for most of Crocker’s disgusting diatribe, but now she could not contain herself.
“You were sent to us by Doctor Slant - a good, honest man! How could he have been so deceived by a creature like you?”
Crocker gave her a cheerful smile, “You were deceived too, ma’am. Don’t act like you’re so clever.”
“I had no choice.” Mrs. Reynolds retorted, “You were under the doctor’s protection. He swore that you were the perfect person for the post.”
“And she knew it.” Elizabeth’s voice cracked, “Only the doctor or my husband could challenge you - isn’t that right, Miss Crocker? But my husband has been away, and I am sure that you told the doctor that Miss Darcy needed no further visits. You were the only one allowed to see her, after all. Even Mrs. Reynolds was forbidden inside the music room.Youforbade her, just like you did everyone else. Once you were alone with Georgiana you could do whatever you wanted.”
“I did look after the girl.” Crocker shrugged, “That was my job, and I did it.”
“By hitting her and letting the fire go out?” Mrs. Reynolds exploded, “You rotten little…”
Darcy stopped her with a sharp gesture. His face had gone from red to pinched, livid white. In a dangerously calm voice, he told Miss Crocker to leave at once. She would have no reference and no pay. She could take the clothes she was wearing but nothing else. All of her belongings would be sold to make back her wages. Every family in the country would know her name and her face. She would never work in a fine household again.
Miss Crocker’s bravado splintered but did not break. Raising her chin into the air, she stomped to the exit and reached up to take her cloak from its peg.
“No.” Darcy growled, “I said only the clothes you are wearing.”
“She’ll freeze.” Elizabeth said weakly. The look Darcy turned on her made her recoil.
