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Perhaps tomorrow she would manage a fourth.

CHAPTER 12

Bingley entered the drawing room. “Caroline may travel home today,” he proclaimed.

Darcy lowered the newspaper he had been reading. Miss Bennet glanced up from her work, while Miss Elizabeth paused in the act of sorting a small pile of correspondence for her aunt.

“Today?” Miss Bennet asked. “That is excellent news.”

Miss Elizabeth looked towards the passage. “My aunt is with them?”

“Yes. Caroline asked her to remain while Hinshaw gives his final instructions.” Bingley leaned back against the settee. “I expect she will wish to leave immediately.”

Darcy ought to have been pleased by the news. Miss Bingley had been confined to the Gardiners’ house for a fortnight, and her presence had been a great burden on the family and servants, Miss Elizabeth and Mrs. Gardiner in particular.

Her departure would restore the household to normal. But it also meant that the daily routine of picking Bingley up from his apartments and ferrying him across London would no longer be required of him. His leisurely days spent in the Gardiners’ home were ending, and he was not certain how he felt about that.

Miss Bingley’s recovery was excellent news. However, Darcy wished it had taken another week.

His aunt’s letter had arrived that morning. It was in his coat pocket.

Lady Matlock had written that Georgiana was well and was delighted with the new pianoforte. His cousin Richard had come home thinner than she liked. The earl and countess would remain in Derbyshire until after the new year, and Darcy was welcome to come north and join them.

She had a great deal more to say about the season, including that an old friend of hers would be bringing her daughter to London in March. She was a handsome young woman with an improved mind and forty thousand pounds, and Lady Matlock had promised that Darcy would dance with her.

She had also heard, from a friend of a friend who had it from Mrs. Hurst, that his carriage could be found most days at a house in Cheapside. The countess did not ask for an explanation. She only wrote that she was sure he knew what was owed to his name, and to his sister.

Georgiana had added a few lines at the end to say that Richard was teaching her whist and she was already winning all his money.

Darcy was not certain this was a good use of his sister’s time.

He had read the letter twice before this visit and tried to picture his aunt in Mrs. Gardiner’s home with Master Henry beneath her chair, but he could not.

No matter how well he thought of the Gardiners, no sensible man in his position could ignore the hazards of Miss Elizabeth’s relations and her lack of fortune. This was not any less true because he admired her. Richard knew about Ramsgate because he was Georgiana’s guardian too—but otherwise, the only other person who knew was Miss Elizabeth.

He had told her because he could trust her. And that made all the other difficulties rather less important to him.

The door opened. Mrs. Gardiner came in, and Bingley stood at once.

“Shall I help my sister to the carriage?” he asked.

Mrs. Gardiner set the surgeon’s folded instructions upon the table. “Not today.”

Bingley stared at her. “She told me Mr. Hinshaw had agreed she could travel.”

“I believe,” Mrs. Gardiner said, “Miss Bingley heard the first half of what he said with rather greater attention than the second. She is sufficiently recovered that travelling will no longer endanger her recovery.”

“That sounds very much like permission to travel.”

“It is, provided she does not sit while doing so.”

Bingley blinked.

Mrs. Gardiner continued, perfectly composed. “Mr. Hinshaw believes she might manage the journey lying upon her stomach in a large carriage, with sufficient cushions and bedding.”

There was a brief silence.

Bingley said, “Ah.”