“That is correct,” the man said. “I have been staying there with my friend, Mr. Bingley, who will be most concerned at my unscheduled disappearance.”
“I think I can help you get back there, if you want to come with me now?”
“To Hertfordshire?”
“Sure,” I said. “We just need to stop off somewhere first where there are some people who can help you, and then you can go back.”
I saw relief flash in his eyes. “Thank you, madam. And I apologize, for I have not yet inquired of your name.”
“I’m Zoe Knight.”
“Well, Miss Knight, I am most grateful for your assistance.”
I said goodbye to Enzo and Dana, promising I’d text them when I got home to let them know I was safe, and then led the man outside. As soon as he stepped onto the crowded pavement, his face fell.
“What is this godforsaken place?”
“We’re in Covent Garden.”
He shook his head. “The fruit-and-vegetable market? Nay, you are mistaken, for I have ridden past there, and it is nothing of this foreign land. And what are those diabolical contraptions?” He pointed toward an Audi parked at the curb.
“That’s a car—an automobile. It’s like a carriage, only it doesn’t need a horse to move.”
“Sorcery,” he said with a shudder.
“OK, we should get going,” I said, taking his arm to lead him across the piazza.
I’d planned to catch the Tube from Charing Cross to Warren Street, but given how he jolted every time there was a loud noise, I quickly realized that the Underground would only upset him more. But our progress on foot was slow, with him stopping every few paces to exclaim in surprise or alarm at something he’d seen. Remembering Bianca’s aunt’s advice about playing along to keep him calm, I decided to ask questions about Mr. Darcy’s life in the hope of distracting him from twenty-first-century London.
“Do you have any siblings?”
“I have one sister, Georgiana, who is but sixteen.”
“What’s she like?”
“She is a precious child, sweet natured and shy. Our parents died when she was still in the nursery, and I have been her guardian since.” My plan was working, as I could see some of the anxiety seep out of his face as he talked about his sister.
“And what about the friend you mentioned, Mr. Bingley?” I asked. “Have you known him long?”
“Some five or six years.”
“And you said that you’ve been staying with him?”
“He has taken an estate in Hertfordshire, where I have been residing this past month, along with his sisters, Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst, and Mrs. Hurst’s husband. Though these past few days, we have been joined by some houseguests: two Miss Bennets.”
I swallowed a smile, realizing where inPride and Prejudicethe manbelieved himself to be. They were chapters I knew so well, I could practically recite them by heart.
“How are you finding the Miss Bennets?” I asked.
“The elder seems a charming young woman, though she is at present in ill health and has taken to bed. The second sister, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, is most lively and forthright, and I believe takes great pleasure in vexing me.” There was a slight softening in his tone as he spoke of Elizabeth, and although I knew I was being completely unhinged, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy.
“She was dining with us this past evening and had just turned down my invitation to dance when…” He paused, his face once again creasing. “I do not claim to understand the events that transpired, only that one moment I was in the drawing room, and the next the world went dark, and I came to in what I believe to be an omnibus in this infernal phantasm.”
I stopped walking so suddenly that a woman behind us almost crashed into me, swearing as she swerved past.
“Did you say you woke up on a bus?”
“It was a wheeled contraption, of which I have subsequently seen many. In fact, there is one presently.” He pointed at a London bus as it came thundering past.
