Here Be Dragons #2
“He does that,” Lady Selbourne said. “He decides where he wants to be and stays there until someone moves him. He is very like his cousin in that respect.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam had already fallen into step behind Anthony, who was advancing towards the house with the stick held at what he clearly considered the correct angle for a general approaching luncheon.
“Miss Bennet,” Lady Selbourne said as they followed. “You must come in.”
“I would not wish to intrude on a family.”
“You are not intruding. My mother has already told Cook.” She lowered her voice. “Besides, I should like to talk to you.”
“My mother says you know a great deal about my cousin’s situation.”
“Lady Selbourne.”
“I am not asking you to tell me anything. I have been told enough. I only wanted to say that I am glad someone outside the family knows. It has been,” she added carefully, “a very long time for him to have managed it alone.”
A few paces ahead, Mr Darcy walked with Lewis asleep against his shoulder.
“He did not tell me everything,” Elizabeth said.
“No. He would not.”
“But I know enough to understand that he has been very careful for a very long time.”
“Yes,” Lady Selbourne said. “That is one word for it.”
Anthony turned at the terrace steps. “Are dragons allowed inside?”
“No,” Lady Selbourne said.
“They are if they are tired,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said.
Anthony considered this seriously. “Lewis is tired. Not me.”
“Then Lewis may bring his dragon inside. You must leave yours at the door.”
Anthony looked at the stick. “It is not a dragon. It is a mapping tool.”
“Then it may certainly come in.”
Anthony appeared satisfied and went up the steps. Colonel Fitzwilliam followed him.
Lady Selbourne paused at the foot of the steps. “Miss Bennet. Whatever happens in the next few weeks, and I have been told only the shape of it, not the substance, I am glad you are here.”
“So am I,” Elizabeth said. “As it turns out.”
Lady Selbourne smiled, brief and unexpectedly warm.
Mr Darcy had reached the top of the steps. Lewis, still asleep, had one fist curled in his cravat.
“The dragon,” Anthony informed him very seriously, “is waiting.”
“Then we had better go in,” Elizabeth said.
Inside, luncheon had already arranged itself around the invasion of children. Lady Catherine stood by the table, taking in Lewis asleep against Mr Darcy and Anthony’s stick.
“That is not coming to luncheon.”
“It is a mapping tool,” Anthony said.
“It is bark and dirt.”
“It is useful.”
“So is a boot brush. It does not dine.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam took the stick from Anthony with great solemnity. “I shall see it quartered safely in the hall.”
“Where I can see it.”
“Naturally.”
At the door, the nurse appeared. “My lady?”
Lady Selbourne indicated Lewis. “Take him up. He will wake badly if he is kept too long.”
Mr Darcy gave Lewis over with care. Lewis stirred only enough to object in a small, indignant murmur, then settled again against the nurse.
Anthony watched him go, then took his place at the table.
Lady Catherine surveyed the company. “The grounds have been surveyed, and Colonel Fitzwilliam has been corrected by a four-year-old with a stick. I consider the morning productive.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam concentrated on his soup.
“Where is the map?” Lady Catherine asked Anthony.
“There is no map yet.”
“Then what have you been doing all morning?”
“Finding things.”
“That is not the same as mapping.”
“It comes first.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam pointed his spoon at him. “Excellent. Reconnaissance before map-making.”
“You are not helping,” Lady Catherine said.
A footman entered. “Sir Alexander Selbourne, my lady.”
Anthony’s spoon stopped. “Papa.”
He was out of his chair before anyone could assist him. Lady Selbourne rose, as did Mr Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam. Lady Catherine remained seated.
Sir Alexander Selbourne came in with the journey still upon him, his coat and boots bearing evidence of haste. He was perhaps forty, broad-faced and calm, with the sort of stillness that made hurry seem temporary.
He had barely taken in the room before Anthony came towards him at speed. Sir Alexander caught him before the final three steps became a run.
“I found a dragon,” Anthony said. “Near the south wood. Colonel Fitzwilliam denied it.”
“Did you.” Sir Alexander glanced over his son’s head at his wife. “I have missed a great deal.”
“He was wrong,” Anthony added.
Sir Alexander regarded Colonel Fitzwilliam. “He generally is.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam looked at his soup.
Lady Catherine took up her spoon. “You are early.”
“So I am.”
“You wrote tomorrow.”
“I wrote that I would come as soon as I could.”
Lady Catherine turned to her daughter. “You translated that as tomorrow.”
“I translated it as convenient for Mama,” Lady Selbourne said.
Sir Alexander kissed her hand before she could offer it, then addressed Lady Catherine. “I find convenience overrated.”
Miss Stourton lowered her eyes to her plate.
“Sit down, Alexander,” Lady Catherine said. “You are making the room untidy.”
Sir Alexander sat. A place was set at once; the household was accustomed to unexpected instructions.
Lady Catherine said, “Alexander, allow me to present Miss Bennet, of Hertfordshire, who is staying with Mrs Collins at Hunsford. Miss Bennet, Sir Alexander Selbourne.”
Elizabeth inclined her head. “Sir Alexander.”
He bowed. “Miss Bennet. I understand you have been assisting with the campaign.”
“I provided a theory. The enterprise was already underway.”
“He has been planning this expedition since Christmas,” Sir Alexander said.
“Since Christmas?”
“Rosings was represented to me as deficient in monsters.”
“Rosings is deficient in nothing,” Lady Catherine said.
“Then I was misinformed.”
“There is uneven ground,” Lady Catherine continued, “and a stream, neither of which will be approached without proper supervision.”
Sir Alexander turned to Anthony. “Then we must provide it.”
“You have only just arrived,” Lady Selbourne said.
“And have therefore missed the first expedition.” He took up his spoon. “I cannot neglect the second.”
Miss Stourton said very quietly, “Especially with Colonel Fitzwilliam’s record.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam set down his spoon. “I am beginning to feel persecuted.”
The nurse returned before he could defend himself.
“Already?” Lady Selbourne said.
“He heard Sir Alexander, my lady.”
Lewis, carried against the nurse’s shoulder and looking only partly awake, lifted his head.
“Papa.”
Sir Alexander rose at once. “There you are.”
Lewis leaned towards him with the complete certainty of a child who expected to be received. Sir Alexander took him, settled him against his coat, and sat down again as though this had been the purpose of his arrival all along.
Anthony watched with approval. “Now we can go.”
“He must eat first.”
Lewis frowned.
“You abandoned luncheon,” Lady Selbourne said.
Lady Catherine rang the bell. “Bring bread and butter. And no one is going anywhere until he has eaten it.”
Lewis looked at his father’s plate. “That.”
Sir Alexander examined the venison before him. “An ambitious choice.”
Bread and butter arrived with impressive speed. Lewis accepted one piece, rejected another, reconsidered the first, and then leaned against Sir Alexander’s coat while eating with slow solemnity.
Anthony watched every bite. “Lewis is taking too long.”
“It is strengthening the forces,” Sir Alexander said.
Lewis held out the remaining crust. Sir Alexander accepted it gravely.
“You need not eat that,” Lady Catherine said.
“I have been given provisions.”
Lady Catherine looked around the table. “I will say this once. No one approaches the stream without Sir Alexander or Colonel Fitzwilliam. No one enters the south wood. No one loses Anthony.”
“I am not lost,” Anthony said.
“You have not yet been given the opportunity.”
Sir Alexander rose with Lewis in one arm and the rejected bread in the other. “A comprehensive instruction.”
“It should not need to be.”
“It rarely does. And yet here we are.”
Lady Selbourne stood. “Come, Anthony. Show your father what you found.”
Lady Catherine remained seated. “I shall observe from the terrace.”
“You cannot see it from the terrace,” Anthony said.
“I do not need to see it. I have been assured it is a branch.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam looked injured. “I said that.”
“Yes,” Lady Catherine said. “Which is why I remain unconvinced.”
Sir Alexander passed Anthony’s stick back to him. “Lead on.”
Anthony accepted it with great satisfaction and marched towards the doors. The party reassembled itself behind him, Sir Alexander carrying Lewis, Lady Selbourne beside them, and Colonel Fitzwilliam reaching for his hat.
“I see I am required as witness for the defence,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said.
“You are required,” Lady Catherine replied, “because your judgement has already been shown to need supervision.”
They had scarcely reached the terrace when Lady Catherine called after them.
“Alexander.”
Sir Alexander stopped. “Yes, ma’am.”
“If that child goes within six feet of the stream, I shall hold you responsible.”
“I expected nothing less.”
“And if Colonel Fitzwilliam falls into it, I shall not have him brought into the drawing-room.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam turned. “I am still present.”
“That is why I said it.”
Anthony, already on the gravel path, lifted his stick. “The dragon is this way.”
Lewis pointed with one hand, still clutching his father’s coat with the other. “Dragon.”
Lady Selbourne looked at Elizabeth. “You see how peaceable family visits are with us.”
“I had begun to suspect it,” Elizabeth said.
Lady Selbourne’s smile was brief and dry. “We are considered very improving.”
Mr Darcy offered Elizabeth his arm. “Miss Bennet?”
She accepted it. “I begin to think dragons are less dangerous than relations.”
His mouth moved. “That,” he said, “has long been my opinion.”