Page 9 of Mr. Darcy Comes to Town

“Gerty, get down,” Miss Elizabeth said sternly. Gerty maa-ed. “You heard me.”

The goat jumped down—on the outside of the wall. She marched up to Miss Elizabeth and butted her front. Miss Elizabeth crouched and opened her apron. The goat nuzzled the lamb, who bleated.

To Darcy’s surprise, Harry sat next to him and leaned against his leg. Darcy scratched the top of his head while they looked on.

“He needs your help,” she was saying to the goat. “Will you look after him?”

The goat maa-ed again.

“Excellent. You must keep the others from bullying him.”

Miss Elizabeth carried the lamb to the gate. She opened it carefully, let herself and Gerty inside, and walked a little way into the paddock before she put the lamb down. Gerty called to the lamb, and he followed the nanny goat away.

“Will you look at that,” Bingley breathed from where they stood next to the wall.

“She knows her animals, it seems,” Darcy said, impressed.

Lizzy watched Gerty and the lamb for a moment until he started to eat the grass, then she turned and left the paddock, satisfied. Mr. Bingley held the gate open for her and swiftly closed it afterward.

“Will he be all right here?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she promised. “When shearing time comes in the spring, your shepherd can come and take his fleece. By that time, they may be willing to be separated. Gerty should have a new kid by then, which will help.”

“Why would he not eat?” Mr. Darcy asked.

Lizzy met his gaze, discovering it to be piercing and intelligent. My, but he has a presence about him. She ordered her thoughts to answer his question.

“Lambs separate from their mothers at different times,” she said, indicating that they should return to the house. “Some lambs are confident and some are not. When his mother died, he lost her support. This little guy needs more support until he can become confident.” Elizabeth glanced down at his feet. “My dear sir, I should not have brought you out here when you were not suitably shod. Hill will attend to your boots while we have some refreshment.”

“You wish us to sit down in your drawing room in our stocking feet?” Mr. Darcy asked, one of his eyebrows lifted.

“Whyever not? Do you have holes in your stockings?” she asked, surprised. “If you do, it is time for you to get a new valet.”

Mr. Bingley chuckled. “Perhaps we should simply leave without refreshment. I have some errands this morning, and I must change before I pick up your sister later.” He looked around him as though he might see her nearby. “Is…is Miss Bennet at home?”

“I do not know. She may have gone out while I accompanied Harry on his walk. If you wish to leave without tea, that is your right,” Lizzy said, hearing the smile in her voice. “Come, let us go around the house so you can reach your carriage without tracking mud inside.”

“I noticed your fox, Miss Elizabeth,” Mr. Darcy remarked.

“Clive? Yes, he is a red fox, though I expect you know that already, if you are landowner.”

Lizzy felt a weight she had not noticed in one of her pockets. She covered the rather large lump with one hand. Since Squeaky was small, and this lump was not, it must be another friend from her menagerie. But who? I put no one in here before my walk.

“I am a landowner,” Mr. Darcy supplied. “My family seat, Pemberley House, is in Derbyshire, near Chesterfield. Did…er…Clive, become injured by a farmer?”

“His foot was caught in a trap,” Elizabeth said coldly. “If traps are set, they should be checked regularly.”

“Perhaps it was a poacher?” Mr. Bingley suggested.

In a tart voice, Elizabeth said, “That does not excuse him from humanely dispatching the animal.”

“Oh, of course,” Mr. Bingley said, nodding vigorously.

“How did you find him?” Mr. Darcy asked.

“He was caught in the stretch of riverwood that line the river Mery,” Lizzy said. She heaved a breath and calmed her racing, angry heart. “Children play along there. Any one of them could have been caught by the trap. One of them found Clive and told me about him.”

“Who owns that stretch?” Mr. Bingley asked.