Chapter 6
Elizabeth
Elizabeth knew better than to hope that William would be able to meet her at Oakham Mount—given the planned departure of his friend, Mr Johnson—but there he was!
She ought to have been elated, but William looked worried, putting a damper on some of her joy. Instead, she rushed to reach him and find out what had happened. As they walked the familiar trail, he informed her about the missing signet ring and his efforts to find it and the thief.
“Oh, no!” Elizabeth said. “Poor Mr Johnson!”
He sighed heavily before adding, “I assume that someone broke into the guest room by using a tool to unlock the door without the key. I believe breaking into a room with lock-picking tools, a turnscrew, or a jemmy takes longer than using a key, so I did have some hope that someone might have seen something suspicious. However, Mrs Nicholls’s interviews of the servants bore no results.
Nobody admitted to being in that wing, or even on that floor, at any time during the hours the theft must have occurred.
If someone was there, nobody else was there to report it. ”
“Did she question Georgiana’s companion, the ladies’ maids, and the valets? Or just the house servants?”
“She did interview Mrs Green, the three ladies’ maids, and the three valets.
Mrs Nicholls was impressed by the fact that none of the people she spoke with seemed anxious about the questions.
Actually, she reported that Smith, who is Miss Bingley’s maid, was extremely nervous, but she was with Georgiana’s maid, Madison, the entire time, sitting in Mrs Nicholls’s office working on some lace while Madison worked on embroidery.
Not only was Madison with her the whole time, but Mrs Hurst’s maid was with the two of them for around half an hour, and Mrs Nicholls herself was there during the last twenty minutes.
All three were interviewed by Mrs Nicholls separately, but their responses perfectly lined up with those of the others and Mrs Nicholls herself. ”
“That is very convincing.” Elizabeth said softly, “I do hope Mr Johnson gets his heirloom back, but I hope just as fervently that nobody is falsely accused or let go for something they did not do.”
“At any rate, Mrs Nicholls was quite positive that none of the people she spoke to were involved.”
“Do you suspect that Mrs Nicholls was fooled by someone because she is responsible for all the house servants?”
Darcy hesitated but then said, “I feel strongly that she is a superior judge of character. But either we are not thinking of someone, or Mrs Nicholls is wrong about someone, or Miss Bingley or one of the Hursts is guilty.”
“If we are considering all the remote possibilities, William, we cannot exclude the unlikely ideas that Mr Johnson is lying, or that Mrs Nicholls is lying, or that someone from outside of Netherfield arrived unseen and knew exactly where to go and which door to tinker with to attain a valuable piece of jewellery.”
Having reached the top of Oakham Mount, they just stared at one another, aware that all of it seemed unlikely.
“I did so much preparation so that Miss Bingley would not be able to engineer a compromise,” Darcy said, “but instead of something like that, a family heirloom has been stolen. It is not what I would suspect from Miss Bingley, but nor would I suspect it from anyone else.”
“So, if you woke up to find Miss Bingley attempting to climb through your window, that would be less surprising than this…theft?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think Miss Bingley is capable of a theft?”
“I would not think so. She has quite a fortune: a large dowry, an overly generous allowance, and a brother who does not hold her to account when she spends more than her allowance. Would she have the skills to pick a lock? Would she risk her reputation to search a stranger’s room and steal something that she could easily purchase instead?
I cannot believe it, but I may be wrong. ”
“I wonder if you should inform the entire household of the theft, and then keep everyone in one big group while a team from outside the estate and family searches the entire house.”
“I may just do that, but I believe I will wait for my valet’s report and Richard’s advice before I take such a step. It would cause more gossip than any other action.”
“William, I feel so sorry that you have yet another concern laid squarely on your shoulders. It is too much!”
He pulled her close and kissed her. The moment his lips touched hers, Elizabeth felt a flood of emotions: a need to comfort him, a desire to show him her love, admiration that he was always the one to whom people turned.
She felt fiercely protective as she held him, and as she responded to his kiss, she stopped thinking altogether. There was only love and touch, love and sensation.
“Oh, Lizzy, love, what you do to me,” William moaned, and his words made her wish to be even closer to him.
She ran her hands through his hair, across his shoulders, and down his back.
Without conscious forethought, she squeezed his muscular posterior.
He gasped and moved his hips to grind his rigid member against her, and then—as he had done so often before—he shuddered and let her go, backing away, saying, “Apologies, but I am afraid that I will lose control.”
Elizabeth hung her head. “I am sorry. I did not mean to cause you more problems. I—I—just need you to know how dear you are to me. How much I wish I could comfort you and support you.”
Remaining a step away, still, William said, “Believe me, Elizabeth, you do provide so much comfort and joy. Even when neither of us has any idea how to proceed, I feel your support, and that is everything.”
“Thank you.” Elizabeth breathed deeply, allowing herself to calm down.
As William and Elizabeth walked down the hill, she asked if Mr Johnson had decided to stay an extra day because of the missing ring.
“No. I told him I would send word to him by express if I recovered his ring. He set out this morning just as I set out for you. Mrs Nicholls made the most extravagant luncheon that saddle bags have ever carried, I am certain—she still feels guilty for falling asleep even though she now knows she cannot blame herself for his loss. Still, I feel that she is far too confident that I will somehow produce a miracle and find the ring.”
“Maybe Hopkins has found something out.”
“That is my hope.”
“And I will see you this afternoon? My mother’s wedding planning energy is starting to flag, and she has taken an afternoon nap the past two days.”
“I plan to come.” He took off her glove to kiss her hand, and then he carefully helped her put the glove back on, smoothing it and then squeezing her fingers.
They parted reluctantly, and as Elizabeth returned to her rather loud family and quite noisy home, she vowed to herself that she would come up with a way to help solve the theft.
When William, Georgiana, and Mr Bingley called that afternoon, Elizabeth looked eagerly at her intended, hoping he had good news.
Although, come to think of it, there would not be much to celebrate if they discovered that this housemaid or that footman had stolen something precious from a Netherfield guest.
Still, she hoped he could restore the heirloom to his friend.
He had been smiling as he greeted everyone, but when she raised her eyebrows to emphasise her silent question, he just shook his head.
She noticed that Georgiana looked troubled. “How are you today, almost-sister?” she asked the younger girl with a big smile.
Georgiana’s subdued smile merely flashed onto her face for a moment. “I am well,” she said softly. “My brother has been busy and a little bit unhappy; I do not know what is wrong, but I hope you can cheer him up.”
“I hope so, too,” Elizabeth said. But she noticed, as Georgiana moved to be with Mary, Kitty, and Lydia, that the younger Darcy looked at least a little bit unhappy, as well.
Before long the young people took a walk to Longbourn’s pond.
Once they were far ahead of everyone else, William burst into speech.
“Hopkins agrees with Mrs Nicholls. He does not think that any of the servants could be the thief. Instead, he is almost positive my friend made a mistake or that the ring became lost. From his own experience and others,’ as well, he feels that there are none of the signs of a thief at Netherfield.
None of the servants looks uneasy, none of them have asked for time off, no one has left without notice.
And it is not as if someone stole a guinea or a couple of crowns—if one was caught with stolen coins, it would be easy enough to claim they were a gift from some family member.
But this signet ring is very specific and identifiable; a servant who stole something like that would likely go away to hide it or to take it to a pawnbroker.
Possibly the thief would take it to a goldsmith to remove the ruby and melt down the gold.
At any rate, the calm demeanour of the entire household leads Hopkins to believe that none of the servants had anything to do with it. ”
“Well, that is somewhat comforting, I suppose.”
“I did send an express to my investigator, who will unleash a team of helpers to look into every known pawnbroker and goldsmith in London and Hertfordshire, with authorisation to buy back the ring if it appears. Johnson left a sketch that I carefully copied, and it is possible that my investigator could discover the ring without ever solving who stole it.”
“That is hopeful. But…getting back to Hopkins, do you think that Mr Johnson could be wrong? Or do you think it more likely that Miss Bingley or the Hursts stole it?”
“I am not certain what to think. I cannot believe such an act even from Miss Bingley. She has so much to lose, and precious little to gain. But that is true of the Hursts, as well.”