Chapter 66
Darcy was proud to enter the inn at Northampton with Elizabeth on his arm. When the shorter days of winter extended his journeys to two nights he used this inn, so they knew him well.
Dusk was drawing in, it was nearly five o’clock, and he had reserved dinner in the private parlour awaiting them as soon as Elizabeth suggested a time. But for now, he led her into the parlour. “I hope the journey was not too fatiguing, Elizabeth.”
“Not at all,” she smiled at him. “A journey of that length with my sisters would undoubtedly have led to several of us pulling caps. You are to be commended as a better travelling companion than that.” Her eyes were sparkling with mischief, despite some fatigue she tried, not entirely successfully, to hide.
“None the less, I believe you are very ready to retire before dinner,” he said.
“The maid you have for the journey is in the second coach with my staff and will be ready for you soon.” He had brought Belinda from Darcy House to act as lady’s maid to Elizabeth for the journey. “I believe you will suit.”
“Oh, yes, for two nights she will do very well.” She squeezed his arm. “I thank you for thinking of it and arranging I meet her first. And I am sure she appreciates that she will return to town with the extra footman you have brought for the purpose.”
“I would not have any member of my staff travel alone,” he replied, with an involuntary shudder that Elizabeth had travelled alone due to his cruelty.
She tapped him smartly on the arm. “You have amended your ways, sir. I am sure I have already told you of a maxim I attempt to live by, to remember the past only as it gives you pleasure.”
“You have indeed mentioned it — several times.” He could smile, now. “But some things are hard to forget.”
“If you do not take care with such thoughts, you might find I become quite a scold!” Her teasing delighted him, but the moment was interrupted by the arrival of the landlady.
“Might I see you to your chamber, Mrs Darcy? Your maid has arrived with your travel case, and awaits you there.” She glanced between them. “And what time would you wish to dine?”
Darcy glanced at Elizabeth, as she nodded. “I think half an hour would suffice.” She raised a questioning brow at Darcy, who nodded. She really was the perfect wife for him. Why had he not seen it in time?
Over dinner, she asked him about the situation at Pemberley. The tenants occupied her for a time, and he was pleased to tell her that Mrs Snell was rather happier, having delivered a healthy boy only weeks ago.
Elizabeth sighed. “I suppose little Sammy will be one of those forgotten infants, replaced by a healthy baby. What has she called this child?”
Darcy frowned. She seemed affected by this. And to remember the name of the lost infant of eighteen months ago, too? “I am sorry the news seems to have affected you, Elizabeth. How may I help?”
“It is nothing.” She shrugged, seemingly helplessly. “It is only … well. Never mind.”
“I do not wish you to be unhappy. Perhaps you might be willing to talk of it when we are in more comfortable chairs for our refreshments?”
“Perhaps.”
The conversation moved on to the staff of Pemberley House, and Elizabeth grimaced slightly. “I am imagining that Mrs Reynolds passed soon after I left.” She smiled slightly. “She loved reminiscing to me about you and your sister when you were children. I think she felt very motherly to you both.”
He smiled; he could surprise her. “Mrs Reynolds still lives. Mrs Kerr, Mr Reed and myself decided that she would me more comfortable living out her days in the rooms she knows best. And Jenny is very dedicated in her care for her.” He met his wife’s gaze.
“Some days she even recognises people. I am sure when she sees you on one of those days she will recall you.”
Her hand was over her mouth. “Why did you not tell me before this? I might be too late.”
He stretched out his hand to touch hers. “I did not in any sense want to allow there to be any pressure upon you to choose this way, other than your own inclinations, Elizabeth.”
Later that evening, as they sat over a hot drink before retiring, he with a coffee, and Elizabeth with hot chocolate, he carefully raised the topic again. “I wonder if you might explain to me why the thought of the lost Snell baby troubled you so?”
There was a sheen of tears in her eyes. “He was a person. A living soul. He might only have lived on this earth a few days, but even he deserves to be remembered by somebody!”
… I would rather lie in an unmarked grave … Her words in her letter came back to him now. If a baby deserved to be remembered, then so did his wife. And yet, she had felt so forgotten that she had left Pemberley.
“I am sorry.” Elizabeth drained her cup and rose to her feet. “I did not wish to affect the evening so. Perhaps we might determine in the morning to be more cheerful?”
He rose with her. “Of course, Elizabeth. But ought we to speak of other matters first, or you might not rest fully?”
“I will be well, sir. At what time ought I to ask for breakfast to be served?”
Later, as he sat in his nightshirt and banyan before his fire, Darcy held one of his own fine crystal tumblers, containing his own blend of fine smooth whisky, hidden in his trunks for such journeys. He preferred it to brandy, but certainly not the rougher sorts, not so carefully blended.
He thought of his wife, in her own set of rooms along the corridor, and hoped she was not thinking unhappy thoughts.
He smiled wryly, it was not easy to think only of the past as it gives pleasure.
Tomorrow, he must ensure there was only pleasant conversation and companionable silences.
They might take a little longer at their lunch stop at Enderby, near Leicester.
There was a pretty little river walk along by the mill, and she would enjoy that, perhaps.