Chapter Two
Elizabeth woke a little later than usual the next morning, but was still resolved to take a walk before breaking her fast. As she finished dressing, Catherine Morland knocked on the door that led to their shared parlor, scarcely waiting for admittance before she came skipping into the room.
“Are you walking out this morning? Do let us ramble through the meadow to the east, for I saw Mr. Tilney and Mr. Darcy walking that way from my window.”
Elizabeth scrunched her nose, having no wish to encounter Mr. Darcy. If he was keeping company with Mr. Tilney, so much the better. Perhaps he would not remain determined to attach himself to her. “Does it not seem a bit too obvious?”
Miss Morland gave a ponderous pose for a moment. “Well, perhaps, but I have nothing to conceal. Crumbs, I ought not to have mentioned Mr. Darcy, since you dislike him.”
“You face an unhappy decision now, my friend, for you must choose whether you shall seek Mr. Tilney, or walk with me.”
“I should hate to wound you in choosing his company, but if I choose to walk with you, Mr. Tilney need never know,” Miss Morland replied with a teasing smile.
“Your practicality does you credit, I am sure,” Elizabeth said drily. She retrieved her favorite bonnet, another new purchase, and the two ladies made their way out of the castle.
They crossed the open drawbridge and stopped on the wide stone kemp. Miss Morland approached the railing and leaned over for a better look; Elizabeth moved to do the same, but froze with panic a few feet from the railing. Miss Morland turned to look at her with concern.
“Are you frightened of heights?”
Elizabeth nodded. “Especially when there is cold, deep water involved. But my courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me. I am sure it is a fine view.”
She forced herself to take the final few steps and placed her hands atop the railing at once.
She was a little shorter than Miss Morland, and was obliged to stand up on her toes to peer over.
Twenty feet below, the dark water sparkled in the morning sun, and a duck swam out from below the kelp, followed by a trail of ducklings.
Elizabeth tipped her face forward a few cautious inches, and smiled down at the sight.
“Lovely,” she said briskly. “Shall we?”
They linked arms and walked on together.
The castle was surrounded by hilly meadows for at least a quarter mile in every direction, but beyond that, a dense forest encircled the property, evergreens blending with barren branches and the last golden leaves of autumn.
Cool mist seemed to cling to the snarled foliage at the edge of the tree line; the countryside was far wilder here than the sunny forests in Hertfordshire.
They strolled a comfortable distance from the ominous perimeter, chatting idly about the landscape and how it compared to their native homes.
Elizabeth belatedly realized that she had been distracted, and Miss Morland had guided their course to the east, the direction she had observed the gentlemen heading.
Unfortunately, this realization came only moments before the gentlemen themselves came into view, and then it was too late for Elizabeth to divert their path.
Indeed, she was struck dumb by the spectacle, and quite incapable of doing anything but gaping as she beheld Mr. Darcy chopping wood at the edge of the forest.
He had taken off his coat and rolled up his shirtsleeves, and even in the cool air he was perspiring enough for his loose white shirt to cling to his muscular chest. He swung the axe high before bringing it down on a fallen cedar, severing a thick branch from the trunk.
He wiped some sweat from his brow before taking another swing, cutting loose a thick piece of the branch.
He tossed it to Mr. Tilney, who was similarly attired.
Mr. Tilney placed the log atop the tree stump and began to raise his own axe to chop the wood, when he looked up and saw the ladies. His axe thudded to the ground, and he gave a sheepish laugh as he waved at them. “Have you come to help us cut wood?”
“Why, no, but I should like to try it,” Miss Morland said. When they came to join Mr. Tilney, she picked up the axe and tested the weight of it in her hand. She took a reckless swing, lodging the axe a few inches into the wood, and gave up with a self-deprecating laugh. “Well, so much for that.”
“A valiant first attempt,” Mr. Tilney said with a crooked grin. “Miss Bennet, would you like a try?”
“What a morning of frights this is proving to be,” Elizabeth said with a laugh.
Mr. Darcy retrieved his coat from where he had draped it over the side of a cart, which he and Mr. Tilney had already piled high with wood. “Mr. Tilney found himself short of an extra hand to chop firewood, and I was in some want of an occupation this morning,” he said as he joined them.
Elizabeth could not help feeling a little pity for his evident mortification, and yet she managed to enjoy it a little.
Better this than relishing the sight of him less formally attired.
She supposed that whatever secret the general held over him must be causing him no little frustration, and he had been in want of an outlet.
She rather felt the same way herself, vexed as she was at her uncle’s avoidance.
“We wanted to get out in the sunshine for a while, before we must be confined to our rooms when your father arrives,” Miss Morland said.
Mr. Tilney nodded gravely. “I must do what I must,” he sighed.
And then he seemed to shake off his dread, and beamed at them.
“I know! You ought to invite some of the other ladies to your private parlor, make an entertainment of it. You can play cards or whatever it is ladies do – gossip about how handsome your host is, I should hope. I will have some refreshments sent up, discreetly. Miss Smith, perhaps, and Miss Woodhouse. Her aunt Lady Susan seems agreeable, too, and is about Lady Allen’s age. ”
Miss Morland clapped her hands and gave a little bounce of excitement. “Oh, what fun! Miss Smith did seem very nice, and I am sure the others are, if you say so.”
“And you ought to know, I suppose,” Elizabeth mused. “You know the secrets of your guests, and must have your reasons for your particular recommendations.”
Mr. Tilney gave a wry laugh and shook his head.
“Not all of them, I assure you. I found a dozen dossiers in my father’s study, and I had not read half when I could go no further.
I did not intend for my omission to speak so loudly, but I intend to be more circumspect.
My intention has ever been to restore the privacy of everybody whose secrets have been wielded against them…
save for perhaps one who ought to be given over to the magistrate along with my father. ”
Miss Morland gasped, and Elizabeth raised her brows. She wondered if this might explain why he had not recommended the company of Mrs. Rushworth or Miss Denham. What sordid secrets might he have discovered, to be too disgusted to read any further?
Again Mr. Tilney swiftly roused himself from this unpleasant reverie. “I say, perhaps you ought to do the same, Darcy, for the other gentlemen, have a little soirée in your apartments. I think you are in the Green Suite, it is large and one of the most modern.”
Mr. Darcy looked as though he would rather sink into the earth than entertain strangers.
Elizabeth laughed. “My uncle may wish that distinction himself, for he is always fond of company.” She bit back a barb about how he was avoiding her company, and then caught Mr. Darcy’s eye. He smiled gratefully at her.
“Well, I believe we have chopped more than enough wood, Darcy,” Mr. Tilney said. “Shall we beguile the ladies a while longer, and then make our way to breakfast?”
Mr. Darcy again looked uncomfortable, as if aware that he was no more likely to beguile anybody than to sprout wings and take flight.
Elizabeth hardly knew why she felt compelled to ease his embarrassment, and convinced herself that she only took his arm to allow Miss Morland the company of Mr. Tilney.
They walked in silence for a few minutes as Mr. Tilney guided Miss Morland alongside the slow-moving cart of wood, the pair a fair distance ahead of their companions, and then Mr. Darcy observed, “I hope your family is in good health.”
“They are,” Elizabeth replied. Her natural inclination might have led her to elaborate, but she had been merciful enough already.
“And the Bingleys are quite content at Netherfield?”
“Since Miss Bingley’s departure for London with the Hursts, they have no complaints about the house, nor the neighborhood,” she said archly, surveying his face for any trace of censure.
“I should be astonished if Bingley ever complained of anything,” Mr. Darcy mused, his lips curving upward on one side.
“Then my sister has found an ideal husband, since not every gentleman might wed into such a family without any qualms at all.” She stared up at him, daring him to give voice to the disdain she knew he held for her relations.
“Your sister’s disposition seems well suited to my determinedly cheerful friend; I daresay you should not be half so content with a husband so naturally disposed to agree with everything and everyone.”
“Oh, yes, anything but an agreeable man for me,” Elizabeth said with a burst of startled laughter. “I see you mean to take Mr. Tilney’s advice, and beguile me most assiduously.”
The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled fully thisadvice andthe glow of morning sun rendered his countenance softer somehow. “I ought to have made a better start of it by apologizing for being such poor company at dinner last evening.”
“You gave me no particular offense last night,” Elizabeth said.
“I sought you out to ease my discomfort amongst strangers; you are open and gregarious amongst new acquaintance, and seemed eager to know our companions. I ought to have delighted you as any of them might have done.”