Chapter 33
After a week or so of beautiful sunny days the weather turned and for a few days, the occupants of the house had to find entertainment indoors.
Colonel Fitzwilliam arrived, bringing with him a cheerful attitude for he spent the bulk of his days with the ladies, playing the pianoforte, reading poetry aloud, taking turns about the room while making them laugh with anecdotes of the war.
Stories which Elizabeth was convinced he embellished to mask the horror of it.
After five days of solid rain, one morning dawned bright and clear, so, the young people were ready to spend the day riding and enjoying the fresh air.
But just before they left for the day Mr Darcy’s steward arrived with the news that a bridge linking Mr Fletcher and Mr Tanner’s farms to Lambton had collapsed after the flooding.
The two families were stranded and could not take their wares to market.
Darcy and the colonel immediately left to organise a team to fix the bridge.
Then Mrs Reynolds, their trusted housekeeper, requested a meeting with Lady Anne, while Georgiana’s old nurse, a Mrs Annesley came to visit her; which left Elizabeth all alone and frustrated.
She had to get out of the house or go mad, so she asked the butler to inform the others that she would go for a short ride and return a little later.
Aurora was saddled and she set off towards the west border, an area she suspected would be less muddy from the recent rain.
She had hoped to surprise Mr Darcy and the colonel but she got a little lost and after trying to find them with no success, she gave up.
Elizabeth lost track of time, enjoying the ride and the wind on her face. The freedom to ride and cover significant distances was unequal to walking, she now understood.
She remembered a conversation she had had with Mr Darcy when he first started instructing her in horse-riding back in Hertfordshire, when they were still enemies.
He had said that by learning how to ride she would be afforded more freedom, while she argued that she had freedom enough as she walked everywhere.
But he defended his position stating that she would cover more distances and see more sights atop a horse.
How right had he been!
In fact she realised now that she would not change horse riding for walking unless she had no other option.
As Elizabeth mused and trotted gently, she noticed dark clouds approaching. “Of course it was too much to expect the rain to stay away.” She said annoyed.
She decided it was high time to return home and as she turned the horse she saw Miss Julia Buchanan approaching, the young woman glaring at her from atop of her own horse.
“What are you doing here, Miss Bennet? You are the one trespassing today.”
“I beg your pardon,” Elizabeth said coldly, “I lost my way, but I will be going now.”
“Where is your guardian angel, that little mousy Georgiana?” She said manoeuvring her horse to block Elizabeth’s way.
“Miss Buchanan, I must say I am astonished to hear you speak so dismissively of those people who until very recently loved and considered you almost family.”
“I should have been family... William was mine...but instead, you are there ingratiating your way into William's life and stealing him from me.”
Elizabeth gasped in disbelief, “And whose fault is that?” Elizabeth was equally piqued. “You are mistaken, Madam, if you believe that I am the cause of your fall from grace; that I am the reason Mr Darcy turned away from you. The person you should be blaming, first and foremost, is yourself.”
Miss Buchanan went crimson in the face, “What do you know of my suffering, you impertinent chit?”
“I know that if I had the love of Mr Darcy, I would not bestow a second glance on any other man, least of all, a man like Mr Wickham.” Elizabeth spat back.
Julia gasped in undisguised rage and looked as if she might expire, “How dare you?” She screamed.
Then, as fast as lightening she lifted her riding crop and whipped it across Elizabeth’s face with all her strength.
Elizabeth yelped with pain and fell backwards as the horse reared nervously with the sound of the whip so close to her ear.
Julia then turned her whip on Aurora who started a mad dash back home.
***
The day had been long, muddy and frustrating.
Darcy and his cousin returned home dirty and hungry. They bathed, and then they stopped in the study and took some time to revise the work that had been done for the first day of reconstructions. One more day at the riverbank and the bridge would be ready to open for traffic once again.
It would be a sturdier and wider bridge, one, Darcy hoped, that would never collapse under the weight of the water ever again.
After a good hour of brandy and banter they decided it was time to join the ladies. The rain had been coming down consistently for the last two hours so they imagined the ladies would be frustrated, frantic with the lack of outdoor activity.
Darcy entered the drawing room and smiled at Georgiana and his mother. He kissed them and took a chair near the fireplace.
He looked around, frowned but did not say anything.
However, Richard had no reason to demure, so he asked immediately, “Where is Miss Bennet?”
“I assume she arrived from her ride,” Lady Anne said, her nose in a book, “looking a little worse for wear with all the mud after so many days of rain. I believe she will rest a little and then come down soon.”
Confused, Darcy looked at his mother, “did Miss Bennet ride?”
“Yes, she went out soon after you left.”
“Did you not go with her, Georgiana?”
“No. I wanted to, but Mrs Annesley came for a visit and I could not leave without causing offence.”
“Did anybody accompany her? A footman? Anybody?”
“Not as far as I know. Should somebody have gone with her?” His mother asked slightly distracted.
Darcy flattened his lips and looked a little disgruntled.
Lady Anne asked Richard about the bridge and they started a lengthy conversation about the state of the old bridges in the area and the dangers they often hid.
“When did Miss Bennet return?” Darcy blurted out, making his mother jump.
“I am not certain,” his mother said, “as I have mentioned already, I did not see her leaving or returning. What seems to be the trouble, William?”
“Nothing.” Darcy's irritation played upon his features.
They settled into an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes until Georgiana got up and said, “I will go and check on her.”
Darcy looked at his sister and breathed a sigh of relief.
Within less than ten minutes Georgiana returned looking alarmed.
“Elizabeth is not in her room.”
“What?” Her mother asked, “where else could she be at this time?’
“Who saw Miss Bennet leaving?” Darcy got up and walked to the bell pull and yanked at it hard.
“Mr Carter,” his mother answered promptly.
After a few nervous moments of waiting, in which nobody knew what to say nor even what to think, the butler entered.
“Yes sir, did you call?”
“Mr Carter,” Darcy said firmly, not caring that he sounded slightly anxious, “what time did Miss Bennet return from her ride? Did you see her come back?”
Mr Carter looked confused, “I did not see when she returned, sir.”
“What do you mean? Who saw her returning?”
The butler looked apprehensive, “I am not certain, sir.”
Lady Anne got up and took matters into her hands, “Mr Carter, please send for Mandy immediately. She will know where Miss Bennet is, if she returned to the house or not.”
When the butler left, Lady Anne turned to her son, “I am sure she must be reading quietly somewhere William, maybe in the library.” She turned to her daughter, “did you look for her elsewhere other than her rooms, Georgiana?”
“No, Mama, I forgot to... of course...that is where she is.” Georgiana said, relieved.
Mandy, the chambermaid arrived accompanied by Mrs Reynolds, both looking nervous.
“Mandy,” Lady Anne asked, “have you seen Miss Bennet this afternoon? What time did she arrive back from her ride?”
Mandy shook her head, “I have not seen Miss Bennet, my lady; she has not called me to bring hot water for her bath nor to dress her for dinner neither.”
Darcy's mother gasped, “Oh good Lord!”
Darcy darted from the room, yanking the door open and running to take the stairs two at a time. Richard was hot upon his heels with Georgiana giving chase.
When he reached the guest wing, he shouted, “What room is Miss Bennet’s bedchamber?” Darcy opened one door after another in a frenzy.
Georgiana overtook him and getting to Elizabeth’s door, she threw it open. “As I said, she is not here,” she turned to her brother and cousin, already starting to cry.
“Miss Bennet,” Richard entered the room and yelled.
Then he turned to his cousins waiting at the door, “I do not believe we have any time to lose.”
At that moment Mr Carter appeared at the top of the stairs, “Mr Darcy sir, the stable master is downstairs and he is saying that Aurora has come back alone.”
Darcy felt the floor shift underneath him. “Oh good God,” he stumbled towards his butler as if he was intoxicated.
Richard reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders, “Darcy, please sit down before you fall down.”
He looked at Richard as if he had never seen his cousin before. His eyes were unfocused as he said, “Oh dear Lord, Richard, I cannot lose her.”
“We will not be losing anybody, Darcy, but I need you focused. Miss Bennet needs you, can you compose yourself?”
His cousin’s words worked like a charm; Darcy shook his head as if waking up from a slumber, “yes, we need to act immediately.” Then he turned to his butler, “what time did the horse arrive back in the stables?” Darcy sounded like the master of Pemberley once again.
They returned downstairs and Darcy met with Sanders, the stable master,
“Sir,” the servant crushed his hat in his large hands, “Aurora returned about a quarter of an hour ago, I came immediately to tell you.”
“Was the saddle loose? Does she seem injured?”
“No sir, but she seems nervous with flared nostrils and wide eyes.”
“Please get my horse and a searching party, Sanders,” Darcy told his stable master urgently “we are going to look for Miss Bennet. We leave in five minutes.”
Mr Sanders ran out of the house while Darcy turned to Georgiana, “Georgie, please go and get one of Miss Bennet's bonnets or scarves or any other piece of clothing. Quick please.”
Darcy ordered a footman to go and get Hamlet, his trusted Great Dane; the hound who had met Elizabeth at Netherfield and fallen in love with her immediately... just like his master, Darcy thought.
Georgiana returned with a nightgown and handed it to him.
Hamlet was brought to him as well as two bloodhounds, and he stuck the nightgown under their noses. The dogs took a good sniff of the garment and bounced out through the door barking nervously, wanting to set off even while the men were assembling outside.
Darcy raised his voice so the wide-eyed men would be able to hear him above the din of anxious voices,
“Miss Bennet has been missing for at least six hours, we have no idea where she is nor whether she is injured or even alive.” His voice cracked.
Richard took over when he saw his cousin struggling to maintain some semblance of composure, “The rain will return at any moment, make the most of the break in the clouds. Fan out, lads, cover every inch of ground, and look behind every tree, every bush. Miss Bennet must be found before nightfall. We have two hours of daylight left, at the most; do not waste it. If you find her, use a pistol and send two shots into the air.”
The men fanned out in pairs. Richard and Darcy had Hamlet with them who was soon busy sniffing the ground and the air as he continued at a gruelling pace. Even the dog seemed to understand the urgency of the situation.
At one point, the dog came back to them and Darcy allowed him to sniff the nightgown again.
They arrived at a fork in the path. They stopped and waited for the dog to decide which way to go, but Hamlet seemed undecided, he seemed to wish to go both ways.
“Richard,” said Darcy deciding the way to go himself, “she may have come through here and turned from one path to the other, we do not know which one she took last, so please go west and I will go south.”
“Very well, let us split up,” Richard said angling his horse, “and Darcy, please be calm and use your pistol, do not forget?”
Darcy nodded and continued following Hamlet who had decided on the south route himself.
He spent the whole time between chastising himself for wasting precious time with the stupid fear of connecting himself with Elizabeth and praying for her safety:
She is the best thing that has ever happened to me and all this time, I have been talking myself out of wanting her.
I have fallen in love with the best woman I have ever met and instead of courting and wooing her, as she deserves, I spent the whole time trying to convince myself that she is beneath me, that she is wrong for Pemberley, that she is not high enough, or rich enough, or even beautiful enough.
You are the most stupid man who has ever lived.
Both Duncan and Richard and even Colonel Darnley recognised her worth within a few minutes after meeting her, while you, idiot that you are have taken eight months.
And now she may be lying dead on the forest floor with a broken neck.
Oh Lord, have mercy, keep her safe... Oh God...
He started to cry and his tears mixed with the thin mist that started to roll up from the damp ground. He dried his tears with her nightgown and the scent of Elizabeth filled his nostrils which precipitated his self-berating and prayers all over again.
Meanwhile, Hamlet picked up the pace and ran ahead.
“Elizabeth! Elizabeth, where are you?” he cried into the forest, though whether his appeal was directed to Elizabeth or to Heaven itself, even he could not have said.
As he turned a bend on the path, the valley belonging to the Buchanans opened up ahead and he saw Hamlet crouching on the ground, crying, beside a body.