Chapter 4 #2
As they began the three-mile trek, Darcy warned his friend about the household they would be entering.
“My Elizabeth and her elder sister, Miss Bennet, have perfectly lovely manners, but their parents and younger sisters are not always…well behaved. But there is a kind of sincerity to their words and expressions that I prefer over perfect manners accompanied by a cold attitude or entirely proper yet wholly stilted conversation.”
Johnson glanced at Georgiana and winked. Darcy noted that she blushed but also smiled, and he said, “Back me up, Sister. Do you not agree with everything I just said?”
She was extremely careful, saying, “I adore Miss Elizabeth, and Miss Bennet is very sweet and understands what it feels like to be shy. Miss Mary is wonderful but sometimes blunt, and both Miss Kitty and Miss Lydia are sometimes silly and loud and even thoughtless, but they are good people and quite enjoyable to visit.”
Darcy nodded. “Well said.”
Johnson said, “I look forward to meeting the people who have inspired such mixed messages.”
Darcy was quite pleased that Mrs Bennet was more cordial than usual and did not once shriek, wring her hands, or call for her salts.
Miss Bennet was of course very hospitable, although she talked privately with Bingley during part of the visit, and Miss Mary was eager to interact with Georgiana and rapidly left the parlour in her company.
Miss Kitty and Miss Lydia seemed thrilled to meet Johnson, and although they said several foolish things that thrust into his notice their fundamental lack of knowledge, Lydia also told some charming anecdotes, and Kitty was an appreciative audience to all who spoke.
Mr Bennet stayed away, but Darcy did stop by his library—alone—to shake his hand and exchange a few words on the books they were currently reading.
Of course Johnson’s major interest was getting to know Elizabeth better, and during the larger part of the visit, Darcy sat next to her, participating with wide-ranging discussions that touched on James Cook’s expeditions, raising horses, J.
M. W. Turner’s artwork, and land reclamation, improvement, and enclosure.
When it was time to return to Netherfield to change for dinner, Darcy collected his sister and followed his friends back to the carriage. He whispered to Elizabeth, “Depending on when Johnson rises, and when he leaves Netherfield, I may not be able to come to Oakham Mount in the morning.”
“Oh, dear, I will so miss my Will.”
“I will try to come, or I will send word at some point in the morning.”
“I will try to be patient—although I suppose it is a lost cause. By now you certainly know of my impatient nature!”
“I happen to love your impatient nature, Lizzy.” He kissed her hand with a fervency he wished he could express in other ways. And as he climbed into the carriage, he saw another frown fleet across Bingley’s face, something that was becoming surprisingly common.
When the group gathered for dinner that evening, Johnson looked far more serious than usual, and Darcy was immediately concerned.
He made his way towards his friend to see what had occurred, and when Johnson said in a low voice, “I need to speak with you in private,” Darcy immediately swung back to Bingley to ask if they could use his study.
“I have no idea what has Johnson perturbed, Bingley, but I feel strongly that you should not hold dinner on our account. We will catch up when we are able.”
Bingley looked at Johnson’s face with disquiet; then he nodded and distracted the others by relating a moment when three of the men shot at a single snipe, which was zigging and zagging through the sky, and all three missed.
Johnson and Darcy strode to the study and locked the door. “What has happened?” Darcy asked.
“When I changed to go to Longbourn, I left some items on the dressing table. Among them was my signet ring, which has a ruby and a gold setting. It has some monetary value, but of course the greater part of its value is that it is a family heirloom, carved with our family crest.”
Darcy asked, “And it is now gone?”
“Yes. I tried to handle the loss quietly, ringing for service and asking the housekeeper who had been in my room during our visit to Longbourn; she said that nobody has been in my room since ten in the morning.”
“And you are certain where you left it?”
“Yes. I am positive that I had the ring in my travel dressing case until after the shooting party; when I was changing, I brought the ring out to wear but then decided it seemed a little too grand for a second son visiting a country squire, so I just put it down on the table.” He hesitated, blushed, and said, “I specifically remember looking back into my room, before I closed and locked the door, thinking, I really ought to put my ring and grooming things away again. But I often have a little voice telling me what I ought to do, and I almost never obey the little voice; I have to say that I have never regretted such laziness until today.”
“Did Mrs Nicholls say she would investigate further? Or inform Bingley?”
“Mrs Nicholls assured me that she would investigate and ask if anyone saw anything odd. And she asked me to alert you, saying that you, more than ‘the master,’ knew how to handle such a thing.”
Nodding, Darcy said, “Although I have been very impressed with Mrs Nicholls and the servants here at Netherfield, I understand the irreplaceable nature of this ring, and I promise you I will work to discover what has happened.”
“You should know that I stood there watching while Mrs Nicholls and her two most trusted maids went through the entire room, searching it, and they did not find the ring. I promise you that they did a very thorough job. Of course I had searched the room myself, as well. It seems positive that the ring could not be merely lost, say, by a tremor shaking it onto the floor, and it rolling away. Given the thoroughness of the two searches, I am truly sceptical that there could be any explanation other than a theft.”
Darcy promised, “I will investigate and get the ring back to you if it is humanly possible. Go on in to dinner, and make my excuses to Bingley, please.”
Darcy hurried to speak with his valet first. After he relayed all the pertinent facts to Hopkins, he said, “When you reported that my door had been opened, you and I both assumed that Miss Bingley was behind the illicit entry. But now….”
“My thoughts exactly, sir. You guarded against an attempt to invade your privacy, or perhaps your sister’s, or to engineer a compromise. But theft….”
“If Miss Bingley did not steal Johnson’s ring, it is perhaps ridiculous to assume that she somehow contrived to open the door to my sitting room. Please investigate discreetly…both incidents.”
When he left Hopkins, Darcy felt hopeful that all would soon be explained, for if anyone was capable of finding out what was going on downstairs, among the servants, it was his multi-talented valet.
Then Darcy went to see Mrs Nicholls, as she had requested.
He trusted the woman completely. He felt in his bones that she was trustworthy, and Elizabeth had known the housekeeper and her entire family all her life, and she swore to the woman’s integrity as well.
So, when Darcy asked if anything more had been discovered about the missing ring, and Mrs Nicholls burst into tears, he rocked back on his heels in shock.
Recovering enough to reassure the woman with soothing words, Darcy waited until she stopped sobbing. She was completely silent for a few seconds, and he decided to ask what had upset her, but she began talking before he had a chance.
“It is probably all my fault,” she said.
“The missing ring—I presume its theft—is somehow your fault?”
Mrs Nicholls haltingly told him of her nephew, who was ill, and the family was attempting to decide if they should use the funds they had been saving for school to take the nephew to the seashore for healthier air.
She said, “I have not slept well for two nights straight, and I ended up falling asleep in my office.”
“First, I am happy to fund your nephew’s trip to the seashore. I have a cottage in Brighton, if that suits. We may speak of that later; for now, I do not wish you to lose any more sleep over such a matter. However, I do wish to know when it was that you fell asleep.”
“This morning. I slept for an hour and a quarter. I have never done anything like that before, even when I have had other worries that made me lose sleep. And I am so sorry, sir, but I believe that it might have been long enough for someone to steal the key to Mr Johnson’s room.
So it is all my fault! I do not see that I could ever pay for a replacement ring, but I would certainly wish to try. ”
Darcy supposed that the key could have been stolen in the morning, and then used when Johnson had joined with the call to Longbourn in the early afternoon. He asked, “Is the key to Mr Johnson’s guest room back on your chatelaine now?”
Mrs Nicholls nodded, and Darcy said, “Were you separated from your chatelaine long enough for someone to put the key back in the afternoon? Or did you fall asleep again between luncheon and dinner?”
Mrs Nicholls looked shocked—and then relieved. She just shook her head in response, and he said, “The theft occurred after luncheon, during the time that Mr Johnson, Mr Bingley, Miss Darcy, and I all went to Longbourn. So you falling asleep had nothing to do with it.”
“Oh, sir, thank you so much for explaining that. I was so angry with myself for my carelessness. I will ask everybody about the window of time of the theft, and I will personally report to you the results.”
“Thank you, Mrs Nicholls. But do not forget that we wish to avoid any sort of gossip about this, so please ask your questions in a way that people will not be whispering about thievery and missing jewellery.”
“You can count on me, sir.”
Darcy hoped that Mrs Nicholls or Hopkins would come up with some information that might help explain things.