"I had hoped to win," he said. "But I cannot object to being beaten fairly." His gaze moved briefly towards Harriet, who wasrecounting the final yards to an increasingly large audience, then returned to Elizabeth. "Your team deserved it."
The simplicity of the admission pleased her, and she smiled up at him. "Thank you."
He made no reply, but reached for her hands. Elizabeth had grown accustomed to the gesture during their days at Chaffley Hall, yet there was something in the way he held them now that made her forget the noise around them and the many people who might observe. Darcy enclosed her hands between his own and looked at her with an intensity that caught her breath. His expression was not troubled exactly, but thoughtful, as though he had reached some private decision and was considering what must follow from it.
For several long seconds, he said nothing.
"Fitzwilliam?"
His fingers tightened briefly around hers. Then he seemed to recall where they were. He released her hands and stepped back.
"Forgive me. There is something I must attend to."
Before Elizabeth could ask what he meant, he bowed and turned towards the house. She watched him cross the lawn and disappear through the open doors of Chaffley Hall. A moment before, he had looked as though he intended to say something ofgreat importance. Now he was gone, and she could not imagine what had drawn him away.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The hours following the final challenge passed in a whirl of celebration. Luncheon was served upon the terrace, where every account of Harriet's victory made the distance between herself and James Blackwood a little greater. By the third telling, she had outrun him by several yards. By the fifth, she had overcome an obstacle involving a fallen branch which nobody else remembered seeing.
The gentlemen bore their defeat with tolerable grace. Thomas Hadley proposed a toast to the ladies, while Colonel Fitzwilliam insisted that the final score proved the general superiority of the fairer sex. Even Sir Geoffrey managed to congratulate Harriet without suggesting that the result required investigation.
Mr Ashcombe had withdrawn from the first burst of celebration, but his ill humour did not survive the afternoon. Elizabeth later saw him beside the drawing-room windows in conversation with Lady Frances. Whatever had passed between them appeared unusually civil. Lady Frances was listening with an expression of grave attention, while Ashcombe, for once,seemed more interested in amusing a lady than displaying his own attributes.
The Challenge Cup was carried into the drawing room and placed upon a table adorned by purple flowers. Lady Hortensia presented it with great dignity to Elizabeth, while whispering to her, "Hold it tightly, my dear. The gentlemen are bearing defeat very well, but I should not trust them entirely."
Elizabeth watched Colonel Fitzwilliam draw Mr Bennet into conversation beside the library doors, with Jane seated nearby pretending to attend to Amelia's happy chatter. Henry Blackwood had been introduced formally to Mrs Harrington and was surviving the interview rather better than Elizabeth had expected. Mrs Cartwright had allowed Thomas Hadley to fetch her a second glass of lemonade. Across the room, Lady Frances said something which made Mr Ashcombe laugh at himself, a sight Elizabeth would not have believed possible at the beginning of the week.
There was laughter everywhere, yet Elizabeth found herself unable to enter fully into it. Fitzwilliam had not returned. At first she had thought little of his departure. He had said there was something he must attend to, and she had assumed he would reappear before luncheon. When his place remained empty, she told herself he had been delayed by some business matter. Bythe middle of the afternoon she had begun looking towards the doors whenever they opened.
At last she found Colonel Fitzwilliam alone near the terrace steps and crossed to him before she could think better of it.
"Colonel, do you know where your cousin has gone?"
Richard looked at her with mild surprise, then glanced towards the house. "Not precisely, no. He was perfectly well when he left, if that is what concerns you."
"It does not entirely answer the question."
"No, I suppose it does not." His expression softened. "He gave me no explanation, but I expect him back before the ball."
Elizabeth looked towards the drive. "You sound very certain."
"I know Darcy. He would not leave today without a good reason, and he would not stay away longer than he must."
"And you truly have no idea what that reason might be?"
Richard hesitated just long enough to betray himself. "I have an idea, but I think he would prefer to tell you himself."
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. "That is remarkably unhelpful." She gave him what she hoped was a suitably severe look.
Richard relented enough to add, "He will return." He then patted her arm genially and moved off into the crowd.
It was not quite the reassurance she had wanted, but his composure made it difficult to imagine any genuine misfortune. Elizabeth returned to Jane, who listened to the exchange with an expression of suspicious serenity.
"You are not worried," Elizabeth said.
"I think Colonel Fitzwilliam would tell us if we ought to be."
Elizabeth looked at her sister. "You know something."
