Chapter 32
THE INVITATION FROM Netherfield arrived before breakfast ended.
Georgiana’s note asked Jane and Elizabeth to walk with her and Anne that morning, adding that Sarah was welcome if Elizabeth chose to bring her. Mrs. Bennet approved the visit before Elizabeth finished reading aloud.
“You must both go. Miss Darcy will speak of nothing else afterward, and Mr. Bingley will certainly be there. Wear the blue, Jane. No, the other blue. The one with the better sleeves.”
Jane folded her napkin. “We are walking across the fields, Mama.”
“Then you will not harm the sleeves.”
Elizabeth glanced toward Kitty, who had spoken little since Wickham’s conduct had begun to emerge. “Do you want to come?”
Kitty looked at the note, then shook her head. “Miss Darcy did not invite me.”
“She would not object.”
“I would.”
The answer held no anger, only a wish to avoid a house where every conversation might remind her of what she had believed. Elizabeth did not press her.
An hour later, she and Jane crossed the fields with Sarah ranging ahead and returning whenever the path narrowed between the hedges. The morning had cleared after an early mist, and the remaining damp darkened the grass without softening the ground beneath it.
Jane walked with unusual quiet.
“You have not mentioned Mr. Bingley once,” Elizabeth said.
“I did not know I needed to keep count.”
“You manage without instruction.”
Jane smiled but kept her eyes on the path. “I am pleased to see Miss Darcy and Miss de Bourgh.”
“And if Mr. Bingley happens to be present?”
“I shall try to bare it.”
Sarah stopped near the stile and looked back.
“Yes, we are coming,” Elizabeth said.
The dog crossed first and waited on the other side while Jane gathered her skirt.
Netherfield appeared beyond the last field, its windows bright in the morning sun.
Movement showed at several of them, evidence of a household enlarged without preparation.
A maid crossed the upper gallery carrying folded linen, and two footmen passed through the front hall before the sisters reached the steps.
Bingley came out before the servant could announce them.
“You walked. I hoped you would.”
“You invited us to,” Elizabeth said.
“Yes, but people often resist excellent advice.”
Jane accepted his hand as she climbed the last step. “Then you are fortunate we recognized it.”
Bingley kept looking at Jane after she entered.
Georgiana and Anne waited in the morning room with Mrs. Jenkinson. Georgiana greeted Elizabeth with warmth, then looked past her toward the hall.
“Did Sarah remain outside?”
“She is near the east steps.”
“She may come in if she wishes.”
“She does not wish. Your carpets are missing their sheep.”
Anne laughed, and Georgiana smiled with less reserve than Elizabeth had seen from her before Lady Catherine’s departure.
Louisa sat beside the fire with embroidery resting in her lap. Hurst occupied the end of the sofa and appeared to have been placed there by accident. Caroline stood near the window.
Her greeting was faultless.
“Miss Bennet. Miss Elizabeth. How kind of you to come so soon after receiving the note.”
Elizabeth looked toward Georgiana. “It was a difficult invitation to resist.”
Caroline’s expression did not alter, but her fingers tightened around the curtain before she released it.
“Mr. Darcy is not with you?” Jane asked.
Georgiana glanced toward the door. “I thought he was with Mr. Bingley.”
Bingley had followed the sisters into the room. “Not since breakfast. He left the library before I went to the stables.”
“He promised to ride with me after luncheon,” Georgiana said. “Perhaps he has gone to speak with your steward.”
“Most likely.”
The uncertainty concerned no one. Darcy moved through Netherfield without accounting for each hour, and the addition of Georgiana and Anne had given him several reasons to speak with servants, order horses, or arrange rooms.
Caroline crossed to the tea table.
“You must take something before we walk. The ground remains damp, and Miss de Bourgh should not be kept outside long.”
“I am capable of deciding when I am tired,” Anne said.
Mrs. Jenkinson shifted beside her but did not contradict.
Caroline poured tea for Jane without asking whether she wanted it. Jane accepted the cup but Elizabeth declined, though Caroline had reached for another.
“We need not delay,” Georgiana said. “Anne wished to see the east lawn.”
“The south path will be drier,” Caroline replied.
Bingley looked toward the windows. “The east lawn receives more sun.”
“It also bears the marks of the work carts.”
“They have not crossed it since yesterday.”
Caroline set down the teapot. “Then the servants may not have cleared the path.”
Louisa raised her eyes from the embroidery. “The path was clear when I looked from my window.”
A silence followed, small enough to escape notice if Elizabeth had not been watching Caroline. There was no open disagreement in Louisa’s face, but neither was there the usual indulgence.
Caroline smiled. “Then we have no obstacle.”
Sarah appeared beyond the terrace door when the party entered the hall. She rose at Elizabeth’s approach, shook the damp from her paws, and waited.
Georgiana came down the steps first. “May I call her?”
“She may not come.”
“I should like to try.”
Elizabeth showed her the slight movement of two fingers she used when Sarah’s attention was already fixed. Georgiana repeated it. Sarah looked at her, then at Elizabeth.
“You may,” Elizabeth said.
Sarah crossed the short distance and stopped beside Georgiana.
Anne watched them. “She asked permission.”
“She always does when another person gives the signal.”
“Lady Catherine would say an animal ought not to require negotiation.”
“Lady Catherine requires a surprising amount of it from people.”
Anne’s laugh came more readily this time.
They set out across the lawn, Bingley and Jane several paces ahead. Georgiana walked between Elizabeth and Anne, asking about Sarah’s work at Longbourn. Mrs. Jenkinson kept near Anne but no longer interrupted each answer with concern about the air or the damp.
Hurst joined them as they reached the first turn.
Louisa looked at him. “I thought you meant to remain inside.”
“I feared that staying behind would require me to hear an account of the walk later.”
“That is your objection?”
“It is my experience.”
Caroline walked beside Louisa, though twice she looked back toward the house.
Elizabeth noticed because Louisa did.
“Have you forgotten something?”
“No.”
Caroline looked ahead again.
The lawn sloped toward a belt of yews that divided the open ground from the older part of the garden.
Beyond them, the path curved toward the stable road.
Elizabeth had walked there once before with Jane and Bingley, though she remembered little beyond Caroline’s complaints about the original planting.
Bingley slowed until the others caught them. “The path divides ahead. We may take the longer way by the woods or return along the terrace.”
“Anne should not be tired,” Caroline said.
Anne looked at her. “I am not.”
“I did not say you were.”
“You continue to answer for me.”
Caroline’s mouth tightened. “I meant only to consider your comfort.”
Anne gave no reply.
They walked on.
Caroline looked back toward the house. “I must speak with Mrs. Nicholls before luncheon.”
Louisa watched her. “Now?”
“It will take a moment.”
She turned toward the service path before Louisa could answer.
Sarah had remained near Georgiana, accepting her signals when Elizabeth approved them and ignoring the ones given too late. As they approached the yews, the dog lifted her head.
Elizabeth watched her ears turn forward.
“What does that mean?” Georgiana asked.
A muffled voice came from beyond the trees. Sarah moved ahead several paces and stopped.
A second voice followed, sharper than the first.
“Move aside.”
Sarah ran.
Elizabeth gathered her skirt and followed.
“Elizabeth?” Jane called.
The path narrowed between the yews, shutting out the lawn behind her. Sarah disappeared around the bend, and a single bark broke through the trees.
Not excitement. Warning.
Elizabeth quickened her pace.
The summerhouse stood at the end of the path, partly hidden beneath the branches. Its door was closed.
Sarah stopped two paces from it and barked again.
“Sarah.”
The dog looked at Elizabeth, then returned her attention to the door.
Footsteps sounded behind them. Georgiana reached the bend first, with Anne and Mrs. Jenkinson close behind. Bingley and Jane followed, while Louisa, Hurst, and Caroline had not yet appeared.
Georgiana stared at the summerhouse. “William?”
Movement sounded inside.
The door opened.
Darcy stood in the entrance with one hand still on the latch. Surprise crossed his face when he saw the group, followed by something harder as he looked back into the room.
Caroline caught his sleeve.
She had approached without Elizabeth hearing her. Whether she had come by another path or followed them through the yews, Elizabeth could not tell.
“Mr. Darcy, wait.”
Darcy looked down at her hand. “Release me.”
Caroline did not.
A pale ribbon hung loose from her shoulder. She pulled it free and stumbled toward him.
Darcy stepped aside and Caroline’s hands closed on empty air.
She twisted toward the small table and caught its edge, but it skidded beneath her weight.
One leg snapped. The table tipped and carried her down with it, leaving her on the floor clutching the broken frame while the ribbon settled beside her.
For one suspended moment, no one spoke.
Then Hurst came around the bend behind Louisa and looked through the open door.
“It seems the furniture also declined to support her,” he said. “A treacherous room.”
Caroline released the broken frame and pushed herself upright, one hand braced against the floor. By the time she reached her feet, color had risen on her face.
“Sarah frightened me.”
The dog stood beside Elizabeth without moving.