Chapter 4 #3
Lieutenant Grace was a weather-beaten gentleman, rather older than the captain, with a pleasant face and a somewhat old-fashioned way of dressing, the cuffs of his coat falling well over his hands.
As they all sat once more, Elizabeth realised that he was missing some fingers from his left hand.
“I had no idea Grace was living in Hatfield,” said the captain.
“One loses touch with shipmates far too easily.”
“I only wish I had known earlier,” said the lieutenant in a deep Yorkshire burr.
“Mrs Grace and I would have been so happy to have you to dinner.” He glanced at the clock on the mantel.
“And talking of Mrs Grace, I had best be getting home; she will be wondering whatever has happened to me. Miss Darcy, Miss Bennet, your servant.”
The two men shook hands. “You have my direction now, sir. I shall expect to hear from you.”
“My hand on it, Grace, and my compliments to Mrs Grace.”
It was now quite late, and the roads would be dark, save for a half moon and the stars.
After a brief, hot meal, they all, including the captain, climbed back into the carriage, and were wrapped in shawls, given hot bricks for their feet, and were then packed in clean straw, a process that reminded Elizabeth more than a little of storing apples for the winter.
Exhausted by the excitement, Georgiana soon fell asleep with her head on her brother’s arm.
Tentatively, almost shyly, he put his arm about her and held her against his chest. He was sitting opposite Elizabeth, and the tenderness on his face as he drew the rugs about his sister’s shoulders was both affecting and curiously charming.
He looked up and saw that Elizabeth had seen him and coloured.
“I am beginning to wish I told the ostler not to bother with the lamp,” he whispered.
She smiled back at him. “Your secret is safe with me, Captain.” The coach rumbled on through the night, and the snores of the maid in the corner soon joined the noise of the wheels.
They said nothing more until they were approaching Meryton, when Elizabeth saw him struggling to remove something from his coat pocket.
Eventually he managed to extricate a small box, which he passed over to her. “It is her birthday on Sunday. The jeweller assured me this was suitable. Was he right?”
She opened it to find a beautiful little pearl necklace. Elizabeth closed it and handed it back. “You could not have chosen better,” she whispered back and then had to smile at the contortions he had to perform to get the box back into its hiding place.
They were passing Longbourn now, and she turned her head to look out of the window. To her horror, the door was open, light spilling onto the carriage sweep, and a figure in black was descending from a gig.
“Oh, stop the coach, please, stop the coach!”
No sooner had the captain rapped on the roof and the carriage halted than she was out and running towards the house, not waiting for the step to be lowered or the groom to accompany her up the dark road. She lost her footing and almost fell, but righted herself and ran on.
She could see Mrs Hill start to close the door, but she called out and the housekeeper lifted the lamp to see who it was. “Miss Elizabeth?”
“Is it the doctor? Is it my father?” she called as she reached the front door.
A stranger turned in the hall; he was a tall, portly young man with an oddly shining face, dressed in clerical black with a shovel hat in his hand.
“Have I the honour of addressing one of my young cousins?” he intoned, and as breathless and concerned as she was, Elizabeth heard the almost liturgical pomposity in his voice, and her heart sank.
She hurriedly dropped a curtsey and did her best to explain and introduce herself.
Unable to wait and see who had called, Mrs Bennet came into the hall, and for once, Elizabeth was glad of her mother’s ability to make five words do the work of one.
“Lizzy, what are you doing here? You ought to be at Netherfield with Jane. Oh, I do hope nothing is wrong. She is not worse, is she? Do I need to come at once? Though how I am to get there with the horses at the farm, though of course you must have come by carriage, for surely you did not walk at this time of night!”
All this time, Mr Collins was standing there, hat in hand, an uneasy social smirk on his face, trying to get a word in.
Elizabeth glanced out of the front door, and to her horror, she saw the captain walking up the drive, one of the coach lamps in his hand.
For some reason, she could not bear him to hear this commotion.
“No, Mama,” she broke in, wincing at the rudeness.
“I have been to Hatfield with Captain Darcy’s sister, and I just called in to see how Papa is doing.
” Then gesturing towards her perspiring cousin, she added, “And this is Mr Collins, who has just arrived.”
As she had hoped, the introduction served to distract her mother, and she managed to bundle Mrs Bennet and her cousin into the drawing room just as the captain arrived on the doorstep, looking concerned.
From the room behind her, she could hear Mr Collins intoning his concern for Mr Bennet, and she turned to Hill, who was still waiting at the door.
“Now, don’t you go fretting, Miss Elizabeth,” said Hill comfortably. “Your father is no worse and maybe even a little better. He’s missing you, o’ course, but he’s all right for the time being. Now you’d best get back into the carriage before your mother comes looking for you.”
Impulsively, Elizabeth leaned forward and kissed the older woman on the cheek. “I shall be home tomorrow, I promise,” she said and stepped back out into the night, taking the captain’s proffered arm.
“I hope nothing is wrong,” he said as they slipped their way up the muddy road towards the coach.
“I really must apologise for dashing out like a madwoman.” she replied. “I thought that gentleman was a doctor, and instead it is only my cousin Mr Collins. I am afraid I rather lost my head.”
“Do I take it you and Miss Bennet will be leaving us tomorrow?” he asked as he helped her back into her seat in the carriage. Miss Darcy and the maid were both now awake and hurried to wrap Elizabeth back up in the shawls and rugs.
“It is time we were getting home. My father is missing me, and my mother will need all the help we can give. I fear I have rather forgotten where my duty lies.”
As the coach started up again, Miss Darcy hurried to express her thanks and apologies for having kept her from her home, but the captain merely nodded. “I shall ask Bingley to have the carriage ready for you tomorrow,” he said.
They sat in companionable silence as the carriage trundled heavily over the road to Netherfield.
Elizabeth was very tired, and however hard she tried, she could not bring her thoughts under good regulation.
It was most unfair to judge a man from such a brief meeting, but she could not help suspecting that the new arrival at Longbourn would add little to their family circle.
This was the man her father believed she ought to marry; she shivered and drew the shawls more tightly around her shoulders.