Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
On account of the riders being hungry after their long excursion, they sat to dinner at five, but it was a dull affair.
Elizabeth thought that Miss Darcy had already exerted her social energies for the day, Hester looked often at the empty seat that Colonel Fitzwilliam had previously occupied, and that gentleman was still in search of a coral ring in a pawnshop somewhere in the Peak.
And Darcy is looking between Mr Utterson and Mr Balfour, as though trying to guess by their outward appearance which one might be a murderer.
Elizabeth was not surprised when the men did not linger at the table after dinner, Miss Darcy pleaded to be excused, and Mrs Annesley went with her.
“It shall be a quiet evening,” Hester said as she made the tea. “I can make myself scarce as well . . . unless Mr Darcy put his time to good use after I left the library?”
Elizabeth could not keep the secret from her any longer, even if it was not time to make it a general concern. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Darcy made me an offer when we were at Dovedale. We wanted to wait to tell everyone, until we both wrote to my father, but I cannot keep it from you.”
To her pleasant surprise, Hester pulled her into her arms and said everything about her happiness for them both and wishing them all the joy they deserved. Elizabeth looked over her shoulder and caught Darcy’s eye. He gave a little smile—the first she had seen this evening.
“I will keep the news to myself,” Hester said into Elizabeth’s ear, “but you must know how happy Miss Darcy and Fitzwilliam will be. And Lewis is always one to enjoy another’s good fortune.” She laughed. “Even Mr Utterson might force out a smile on your behalf.”
Elizabeth politely agreed, and Hester gave her another congratulations before the gentlemen joined them at the tea table.
“Well, upon the whole we have had a very good frisk at Pemberley,” Mr Balfour said to Darcy as they settled themselves with their coffee. “But a few more days shall see your guests go on to Scarborough. I hope you and Miss Darcy decide to come for at least part of September.”
This was an obvious invitation to conversation about travelling, about having guests, about friendship and visiting, about nearly anything, but Darcy only bowed.
When the silence stretched too long, Hester said, “Lewis, I am returning to town and will join you in Haddingtonshire this winter instead.”
“Hester!” Mr Balfour cried. “What about our friends in Scarborough?”
She shook her head. “Most of them are your friends. My friends are in town, near St James’s Street, you know.”
“Aye, you have liked the wives of the army men since you were on the Married Roll.” He gave a fond smile. “If you marry again, I daresay it would be to a military man, and you would hope to travel with him. Unless,” he said slowly, “he was in a fashionable regiment and likely to remain in London.”
Mr Balfour gave her a wink and turned to Darcy. Elizabeth and Hester shared an amazed look at his comprehending more about Hester and her wishes than they realised.
“I heard in the stable yard that whilst we were riding,” Mr Balfour said to Darcy, “you raised a new house today. Did your tenants applaud you?”
Darcy gave a wry smile. “They are happy with the progress, but in fact they had criticisms on where the new building will stand.”
“Why do you tolerate any criticism?” Mr Utterson asked him. “You are the master.”
“A man who wishes to stand well in the opinion of others must accept fair criticism, because he is thereby able to correct his faults or remove the prejudices against him.”
Darcy had answered his friend, but he gave Elizabeth a serious look as he did so. She immediately wished them all away so she could show him how proud she was of him, for what improvements he had made since Hunsford and for what he had accomplished in Pemberley’s recovery so far.
“I do not believe there was a single criticism,” Mr Balfour teased, clapping Darcy on the shoulder. “The dignity of Darcy’s presence produces reverence in his grateful tenants.”
“If they did revere Darcy, it is because of his great fortune,” Mr Utterson quipped as he rose to return his coffee cup.
“No, it is because he is a complete gentleman: sensible, amiable, virtuous, generous,” Elizabeth said.
Darcy’s cheeks actually turned pink. Elizabeth knew she had spoken too warmly, but the truth about their engagement would come out soon. She added in a calmer tone, “It is because they trust Mr Darcy to help them.”
Mr Utterson shrugged. “Darcy was left a great fortune to start his life with, and his tenants can at least trust in that.”
The desire to defend Darcy rose before she could sensibly silence it. “Do you not feel that your father gave you enough to start with in life? Your education and career have been well-provided for.”
“And in return I promised my father to become an impressive lawyer, to do him credit. Whilst my foolish brother inherits everything and earns nothing.”
His resentful tone made her angry. “Unfortunately for your father, you appear to prefer a lively evening in town, being seen, and spending to excess to making him proud.”
“Like I said to you once before, I am not ungrateful and it shall all end well enough. I will be called to the bar next year, and I suspect my father will supplement my income so I can live as a son of a baronet ought.” Mr Utterson bowed slightly before stalking away.
Other conversations resumed, and now that everyone had been served tea or coffee, she and Hester left the table to join the three men.
“You will wear yourself down unless you take a small break from all of this,” Mr Balfour said gently to Darcy.
“Under my present scarcity of cash, I shall find it difficult to collect rent to answer this emergency, let alone travel.”
Mr Utterson shook his head. “We shall miss you if you do not come to Scarborough.”
“Complying with my previous engagements is now impossible. And as I said, I shall even sublet the house in town next season.”
“You are a dead bore,” Mr Balfour said, with a smile.
His friends could not see that any decadence would contrast with his tenants’ suffering, and Darcy could never tolerate that.
Luxurious life at a house party or resort would give Darcy infinitely more pain than pleasure now.
“His tenants might fear he has not their best interests at heart if Mr Darcy is gone for long and so soon after the storm on any matter other than business,” Elizabeth said.
Mr Balfour shook his head. “We must disagree, Miss Bennet, because I think Darcy’s tenants and servants think so well of him no matter where he is that they would storm hell for him if he made the plans.”
“I think I had better try rebuilding the mill first,” Darcy answered. He shared a look with her, and she wondered if he was remembering the near riot in Lambton.
“Still, our visit has been a pleasant one, has it not?” Mr Balfour asked the party in a tone of cheer.
“We all seem disposed to be pleased and are endeavouring to be agreeable, and I hope we succeed, for your sake,” Mr Balfour said to Darcy.
“I know you have had a difficult time, but difficult times pass.”
“He still ought to come to Scarborough,” Mr Utterson said. “It would show his friends, society as well, that he can manage the disaster with his fortune intact.”
“I may instead tell my friends that I am engaged in raising houses,” Darcy said, “which, I think, goes on better whilst I am present.”
Mr Utterson and Mr Balfour went on about the importance of maintaining a gentleman’s reputation and the good opinion of society, and that there was no shame in borrowing a little if the need arose.
Darcy frowned and stalked away to return his coffee cup to the tea table; Elizabeth rose to stand near to him.
“You must keep your forbearance and command of countenance for a little while longer, Fitzwilliam,” she whispered when they both had their backs to the others.
He set his saucer down with a clatter. “The thief and the killer are likely the same, and I must bring the guilty man before Mr Birch. I am near to demanding one of them confess now.”
Elizabeth stroked the back of his hand, which rested on the table. “It will be finding Carew’s stolen ring in a pawnshop—that is how we will solve the puzzle.”
Darcy turned his hand over to squeeze hers. She knew that pretending to be at ease, that not knowing the truth, was driving him to distraction.
“I cannot rely on that,” he whispered, looking at their joined hands.
“They shall leave any day, and the ring might never be found. And once they leave the parish, it shall be harder to get a warrant if we ever do find proof.” He gave her a look she could not comprehend.
“I am very sorry you and Mrs Lanyon must hear this.”
Before she could ask what he meant, he returned to the others.
“At least I do not need a night watch in Lambton any longer,” Darcy said as he joined them. “It is just as well, since if I were to take my turn, I would be asleep within an hour.”
“Aye, that does sound like you,” Mr Balfour said. “If you did not have coffee, you would be asleep within an hour of candlelight.”
“Your cousin organised a watch, did he not?” Mr Utterson asked.
“Yes, but it is not needed now since the streets are cleared and any valuables that survived are secured.” He gave a thoughtful pause.
“It is only the deadhouse that might have anything of value now, but Fitzwilliam did not organise men to protect that. Perhaps it is of no consequence,” he added with a shrug.
“Why do you even need the deadhouse a week after the storm?” Mr Balfour asked. “Were not the flood victims identified and returned to their homes to be buried?”
“A few did not have homes left to be buried from, but most who remain are the disinterred bodies from the second storm that pushed the coffins out of the soaked earth.”
Elizabeth’s stomach turned over as she watched Hester cringe and set down her plate.