Chapter 49
Darcy held as still as he could while he was shaved. Never had it been more important that he appear well turned out than today. This day, when he might have the chance of a conversation with his wife.
His heart bloomed with hope, hope that had been close to being extinguished as time passed.
He had agonised the previous evening whether to write of her to her father and uncle, and was still unsure whether he had done the correct thing in deciding to wait until he had spoken to her today.
He prayed she would talk to him; he yearned for the opportunity to hear how she was.
He smiled slightly as he rode the two miles into Minting.
Elizabeth had walked yesterday. And then back again.
He could recall how she appeared in the breakfast room at Netherfield, windswept, eyes bright and cheeks flushed, to visit her sick sister.
It was when he had just begun to realise her attractions.
He found the house without too much difficulty, having had to stable his horse at the inn further down the road, and knocked at the door.
A middle-aged maid opened the door quietly; the whole house seemed hushed. “Sir?” she murmured.
“I am here to call on Miss Price.” Darcy kept his voice low and extended his card. “Is it a difficult moment?”
She looked at the card. “We believe so, but it may yet be a day or so, Mr Darcy. Please come in and I will tell Miss Lucy you are here.”
He nodded and entered the house as she held the door wider. “Please tell her that I am willing to wait as long as is needed.”
He sat, holding his hat and cane, on the edge of a sofa, in the anonymous small room. It was the old-fashioned home of a hundred old ladies scattered throughout England; faded gentility in the typical way of fifty years ago.
Elizabeth had lived here for a time — he did not know how long she had journeyed before she settled here, yet her presence was unmarked in this room, there was no trace of her. Invisible, as she had felt at Pemberley. He was unutterably saddened for her.
He heard light footsteps on the stairs, not the heavy weight of the maid’s climb, and rose to his feet, heart painfully tight.
Elizabeth turned into the room, her face pale but determined. “Good morning, Mr Darcy.” Her voice was quiet, but he thought he heard a barely-controlled tremble.
He bowed his head. “I thank you for coming downstairs. It seems to be a difficult moment for you.”
She glanced behind her. “She is fading fast, and I am determined she will not pass alone. Mrs Simmonds will sit with her for a few minutes and then I must go back up.” She perched herself on the edge of a chair by the door, almost poised for flight.
“Then I will not stay many minutes. I want to reassure you that I understand and I will never force you back to Pemberley. But I wish to ensure you have all you want or need to make your life as you choose it to be, wherever you wish it.” He could not call her Mrs Darcy — he had seen her wince at Anna’s words the previous day.
He had never called her Elizabeth and she might feel it presumptuous, and he would not go back to the formal madam.
She looked doubtful, and his shoulders slumped. “You have no reason to believe or trust me, I know. But I have learned my lessons and your wishes are, and will remain, my determined course.”
She nodded. “I must go back upstairs.” She rose to her feet, and Darcy stood, too.
He needed to gain her assurances that she would not disappear, they had much to speak of, but it was evident it would not be until after the old woman had passed.
They were both startled when the latch clicked and the door opened to admit a strange man. He looked about fifty years of age, and was dressed simply. His cheerful expression changed to suspicion, and Darcy instinctively stepped protectively between him and Elizabeth.
The man bristled. “Who is this gentleman, Lucy?”
Elizabeth stepped around Darcy. “Mr Price, this is Mr Darcy. He has called for a few moments and discovered it is not a convenient time.”
She looked at Darcy. “Mr Darcy, Mr Price is Nan’s nephew, who is overseeing her care and this house.”
Darcy breathed carefully. What was this man to Elizabeth? He had called her Lucy, with no honorific. His jaw tightened as he bowed slightly.
“Where is Mrs Simmonds? Why are you entertaining a gentleman without being chaperoned?” Price walked further into the room, removed his plain round hat and threw it onto the table by the door, his manner familiar.
“Sir, Nan is in her final hours, and Mrs Simmonds is sitting with her while I speak briefly to Mr Darcy, and then I will return upstairs. I … I do not wish her to die alone.” Elizabeth’s voice cracked and Darcy turned to her, concerned.
But Price’s voice intruded, cold. “I agreed you might remain here with certain understandings. I specifically told you that you could not use this house to entertain gentlemen callers! Then I find you here this morning, alone with him.”
He rounded on Darcy. “How many times have you been here? Who are you, anyway?”
Elizabeth glanced up at Darcy’s face. She smiled, very slightly, and gave an unmistakeable wink that Price could not see. Darcy swallowed as she turned back to Price.
“Mr Darcy is my husband.” Not fearful. Not ashamed. Just … Elizabeth.
Darcy’s fists clenched as the man’s expression changed from shock to barely-controlled anger. “Then you cannot remain here. You knew. You knew and you said nothing.”
Elizabeth bowed her head silently. It seemed there was nothing to say.
Darcy’s thoughts were whirling. What did she know? What makes him so angry to know she is wed to me?
“I am sorry it has come to this. But Nan — I do not want her to die alone. None of this is her doing.” Elizabeth’s voice faltered.
Price’s face didn’t alter a fraction of an inch. “You cannot remain here.”
Darcy thought he ought to remove himself, but he could not, in all conscience, leave her alone with this man.
He noticed the moment she understood. Her posture changed to one of defeat. “Very well.” She turned and went to the door after a single, searing glance at the stairs.
Darcy exchanged a glare with Price, and then, in silence, followed Elizabeth from the house.
They stood for a moment, until she sighed.
“Thank you for protecting me, sir. I am sorry we had not much time to converse, but I will be well.” The sheen of tears in her eyes belied her words.
And he clutched his hands tightly around his cane. He must not force himself upon her.
“What will you do now?” What he really wanted to do was to sweep her into his arms and take her away from all the sorrows of the world. But he could not do that; he had learned his lesson.
“I shall … I shall go to the inn. They have a ladies parlour there for tea.” Her voice was unsteady. “Minting is too small for a teashop.”
She turned for the inn. Darcy stepped towards her. “My horse is there. May I walk with you?”
She nodded silently, and he wondered how to word it. “Do you have sufficient funds?”
She stilled, looking down and bit her lip. This was so difficult.
“You have a considerable amount of pin money. I have some with me. It is your money, enough to do as you wish.”
Her eyes rose to meet his. “Enough for me to book a room here for a few days?”
Darcy bowed his head. “Certainly. May I … may I request one favour of you?”
She looked suspicious, and he shook his head. “For my peace of mind. You have the funds to engage a woman for the days you decide to remain here as a companion or chaperone. To keep you safe.”
He was happy to see her expression soften. “I will. Thank you, Mr Darcy.”
He hesitated. “You would prefer to enter alone?” At her nod, his heart sank. “Please take care. I have put enough money in the purse, but there is much more of yours as soon as you may carry more without risk of being robbed.”
“Well,” she said, “since you will be in the yard waiting for your horse, I am sure you will see that I am safe.”
She might have been right that he could see her enter the building. But Darcy mounted slowly, as slowly as he possibly could, watching to ascertain the respectability of the place, her safety from Price, from strangers. His whole being rose in outrage that he would leave her here alone.
But she had chosen to leave the safety of Pemberley to make a life for herself. He must let her choose, even if the effort broke him in two.
He would be unable to prevent himself riding past again this evening, he knew, and turned reluctantly for Tealing Park, a new idea forming in his mind. That made him smile.