Page 53 of The Countess and Her Sister

Jane considered this. “It must have been a ruse, so that I would hear of it, and believe Lady Catherine was no longer a danger to me.” She chewed her lip, her thoughts still spinning too quickly in her head for her to make any sense of the situation.

“Hannah, do you really love me?”

“Of course, Johnny! I begged Miss Lydia to bring me to Matlock with her so I could be near you.”

“Hush, I am thinking,” Jane snapped at them, and then murmured an apology for her uncivil tone. They were strangely sweet, the pair of them, but she was in far too much peril at present.

She closed her eyes, trying to still her erratic breathing, and finally she slapped herself across the face, flinching at the sting as she had done that day with Lady Susan. I am a countess. I will be a countess.

She opened her eyes and looked around the carriage for anything, any clue, any piece of salvation.

There was a blanket and a pillow on the bench beside her, and a chamber pot on the floorboard.

“Captain Tilney means to drive straight on to Scotland, only stopping to change horses,” she mused aloud.

“I suppose it is better than travelling with him. He will not wish to stop, and risk me asking for help or escaping him, or allowing time for my relations to catch us.”

“That’s clever, that,” Johnny said. Then he glanced down at the chamber pot, and tested one of the blackened windows, but it was sealed shut. “Oh, no. It’s twelve hours’ journey to Scotland.”

“Sixteen,” Jane corrected him. “Likely more, for we shall have to stop and change horses every hour or two. The captain must have slept all day if he means to face such a long journey without resting.”

“Aye, but he’s a soldier,” Hannah reminded her.

Jane frowned. Perhaps it was for the best that he meant to drive without stopping to rest, if it spared her from harm.

“But when we stop to change horses, surely you will be rescued,” Johnny said. “That Mr. Darcy is serious as anything, he will come for you like she said.”

“He may be several hours behind us; it could take him nearly the entire journey to gain that much ground. And though we will stop along the way, there is no certainty that they will stop in all the same towns along the turnpike.”

"We could still get free when we stop,” Johnny said.

This time her companions afforded her a lapse of silence to consider.

She had begun to feel a little drowsy, though the laudanum-drenched handkerchief had been removed from her mouth after a few moments; its noxious fumes still hung in the air, and the hour was so late.

She stared out the tiny rear window, into the darkness, and fear wound its way through her body.

“It is such a late hour, I fear what sort of people may be about in these villages. Anybody respectable may be reasonably presumed to be abed. There will be the men who change our horses….”

Hannah sucked in a sharp breath. She had corrected her clothing, and moved to perch on the bench beside Jane. “I think I see – my sister Harriet that works at the inn, she’s told me some stories.”

Jane nodded sadly. “We might pound the walls of this carriage or break the windows and cry out for help, but we may just as likely make our circumstances worse. We risk putting ourselves at the mercy of whomever is about. There are a hundred ways it may go awry. For starters, though Captain Tilney has his reasons for wanting me, but he has no need of you; you are extra weight for the horses to pull, and a liability he might easily dispense with.” She shuddered.

“Lady Catherine said she would empty his pistol of bullets,” Hannah said.

“My brother is a military man, and so is our captor – there would be a noticeable difference in the weight of the weapon, for a man of his training. And even if he cannot shoot us, we might all end up bound and gagged together.”

“Oh.” Hannah gave a heavy sigh, and patted Jane soothingly on the back. “Are you frightened?”

“I am afraid of miscalculating our circumstances,” Jane said in a hollow voice.

“Even if we manage to make enough noise in the carriage to arouse suspicion, there is no guarantee of falling into safer hands. We cannot be certain that strangers at coaching inns would face a trained soldier with a weapon that they will surely presume is loaded – those that would take such a risk may be the sort to work some mischief of their own on two young women travelling alone, with only an unarmed lad. If they were to discover my station, I could be held for ransom or… worse.”

Hannah began to weep, and Jane gently nudged the girl to return to her lover’s embrace.

She sighed, desperate for that same comfort.

Poor Mr. Bingley, he was probably now discovering her disappearance and falling prey to her mother’s machinations.

She realized she would give anything to be in his arms, with him stroking her hair as Johnny did for Hannah.

She was resolved to save herself and get back to him, and then she would dither no longer in their courtship.

She gave a heavy sigh of resignation. “I believe that our best chance is to wait for rescue. Mr. Darcy will come, and he need not come alone. My brother and Mr. Bingley may be drugged, but surely they can clamber into a carriage before they succumb to the effects, and sleep until they catch us – in that aspect they will have an advantage over the captain. Lizzy will come with Mr. Darcy, and perhaps Rebecca or Mamma. Even Lady Susan is a woman of high courage. They will come for me, but if we break free along the way, they will not know where to look for me, and I will not risk all our lives among strangers, nor gamble that we could get away.”

“So we just… stay in the carriage? Cor, no! I’ll hit him right in the head, knock him dead, and drive the carriage home myself,” Johnny cried.

Jane chuckled softly, remembering her affection for the servant who was so kind to her son. “I appreciate your willingness, Johnny, but have you ever driven a carriage?”

“Can’t be hard, your man Spencer manages it regular, and he’s dumber than a box of rocks.”

She laughed again, shaking her head at his enthusiasm. “And if we are set upon by bandits?”

Hannah suddenly sat up straighter. “You’re saying’ he’s our captor but also our protection, as it were.

The devil you know. For now, any brigands or unsavory folk at the inns would have to go through him to get to us.

Better than being alone, God knows where, with your friends maybe stopping at the last village or the next. ”

“Exactly,” Jane said. She was so relieved that her reasoning was sound, and not the work of her own high anxiety, that she took the maid’s hand in hers and squeezed it.

“That’s a grim view,” Johnny said. “Have you no faith in the kindness of strangers?”

“Not at present, nor for many years,” Jane muttered.

Hannah gave a breathy laugh. “She’s right, Johnny. It’s safest if we just stay like this. He thinks you’re tied up and drugged, ma’am, no bother to him like that. I can see you’d rather not actually be tied up, and if he knew you’d gotten free….”

Jane nodded. “He may check in on me, but then he is at risk of someone seeing a woman tied up in the carriage, and perhaps roused from her stupor and raising a clamor.”

“But we should make a plan – if he does look in.”

“I can see the wisdom of that. Johnny, Hannah, if you get through this safely with me, I promise you shall both have a place at Matlock for as long as you choose. I will tolerate no further betrayal, Hannah, and you will give none of the other servants to believe me so forgiving, for you might have secured your place with me simply by warning me of Lady Catherine’s scheme before it came to pass. ”

“Lord, I never thought of that,” Hannah sighed. “I’m horrible sorry, your ladyship, truly – and forever in your debt. I’ll be the best maid Matlock has ever seen. Oh, and Johnny, we can be together!”

Again, he asked, “You really love me, Hannah?”

“Of course, Johnny, you’re fearful handsome, and your ma’s the best cook in the county!”

“You’re the prettiest girl I ever saw. Oh – meaning no offense, m’lady.”

“Your ladyship’s twice as pretty as me, so I’m glad you’re a hundred times too grand for Johnny,” Hannah said with a giggle.

For the first time since finding Thomas’s bed empty, Jane smiled. “You said your sister works at the inn, and has encountered unsavory guests?”

“Harriet, your ladyship, she’s two years older than me, started in the kitchen there when she was thirteen. She’s a hard worker, but Mrs. Bennet wouldn’t have her at Montrose on account of when she first came to Derbyshire, she heard a runout about Harriet and Jeremiah Colfax, but it weren’t true.”

“Well, I am glad to hear it – and that she is a hard worker, for I will have her. A third maid for five sisters seems reasonable, and we cannot allow any mischief to befall her at the inn. Are any of your other sisters working?”

“After Papa died, my sister Honora went to be a companion to your aunt, the one in Brighton. Sir Edward arranged it when he brought my mistress to Montrose. She’s very happy, and they treat her well. She sends me postcards of the seaside when she sends Ma money.”

“I will ensure that her compensation is increased,” Jane said with an air of authority she rather enjoyed. “And how many sisters have you?”

“I’m the second of five – the other two are too young to do anything useful.”

Jane smiled again. “So that is why you are the clever one.”

“Not clever enough, droppin’ eaves – I’ll not be doing that again.”

“I trust you have learned your lesson. I may see about a tenant cottage form your mother, so that she can be closer to you and your sister, with reduced rent.”

“You’d do all that when I did your wicked ma’s bidding and gave you a fright? Lady Catherine had you all wrong.”