Page 37 of To Love And To Cherish (Pride And Prejudice Variation #3)

The following morning brought a deluge of rain. Darcy was already in his study when the butler entered at seven o'clock, brushing rain from his coat.

“Sir,” Walters said, “it’s raining hard. The stable master advises it’s too dangerous to send a carriage out today.”

Darcy crossed to the window and pulled back the heavy drape. “Ah. Yes, I see. A proper storm.” The landscape beyond had vanished beneath a veil of rain. “Miss Bingley will have to remain here another day.” He added silently to himself, What ill chance, to be forced to harbor that harridan .

He turned to Walters. “Assign the footmen to guard her door around the clock. I will not allow her to persecute Jane or Kitty. And I mean to guard myself from her machinations.”

“Yes, sir,” Walters said with a slight bow.

At eight o’clock, Darcy entered the breakfast parlor and had just begun upon his eggs and bacon when Georgiana appeared, her cheeks flushed.

“Fitzwilliam, as it is too wet to ride, may Kitty and I remain in my room all day reading?”

He frowned. “And what of Mrs. Bingley? Is it not rude to leave her alone the entire day?”

Georgiana giggled. “She and Mr. Bingley scarcely know anyone else exists when they are together.”

He raised his brows. “You are right. Very well, I shall spend the day in my study. Send for me if you require anything.”

Bingley entered the breakfast parlor several minutes later and winced. “I’ve been with Caroline. She is furious. I’ve never seen her with such a malevolent expression.”

Darcy shuddered. “I hope she doesn’t have revenge in mind. If looks could kill, I would be lying dead on the floor last evening when she arrived.”

Bingley nodded grimly. “She may very well try something. I think she’s gone half mad over you. She’s always had a temper, but now… I don’t know what’s gotten into her. I think it’s Elizabeth. She sees you slipping from her grasp, and she’s green with jealousy.”

Darcy blinked. “Why would Caroline be jealous of Miss Elizabeth? I’ve never paid her any special attention.”

“You may not think you have,” Bingley said, “but you’re so reserved with women that when you speak even kindly to one, it appears as a declaration. You don’t realize how closely people watch you.”

Darcy frowned. “I don’t recall granting Miss Elizabeth any marked attention. Your sister must be imagining it.”

“She is,” Bingley said, “but women often do. They build castles out of glances and sighs.”

The stable boy returned from Bakewell with the post and the parcels he had been sent to purchase, and handed a packet of letters to Walters. Darcy was in the study, working, when the butler brought the bundle in.

“There’s a letter for Miss Darcy, sir. The rest is yours, several from your solicitor, and one from Colonel Fitzwilliam.”

Darcy nodded and took the lot, turning them in his hands. He recognized his cousin’s bold script, the solicitor’s neat scrawl, and a third, in a more elegant, unmistakable hand. Addressed to Miss Darcy, care of Darcy House, London .

His breath caught.

He carried the letter to Georgiana’s room, where she and Kitty sat reading near the fire.

He placed the missive in her hand and said, “A letter for you, Georgie.”

She stared at it, blinked, then gasped. “Lizzy wrote to me!”

In a rustle of muslin and sudden laughter, she broke the seal, unfolded the page, and began to read aloud.

Dava Moor, May 20, 1811

To Miss Georgiana Darcy

Care of Darcy House, London

My dearest Georgiana,

You cannot imagine my delight at finally writing to you.

I have missed you terribly. The landscape here is astonishing.

We are nestled on a rise above the moorland, and the air is so sharp and clean that I find myself perpetually hungry.

Mr. Allister says it’s the Highland air that does it, and I believe him, for I fear I have gained a pound or two from eating far too many bannocks spread with fresh butter and served beside hearty bowls of stew. My mouth waters even now.

I walk daily, though I must now be accompanied by young Archie, the stable boy, as the bogs here are treacherous. One misplaced step and a person might sink thigh-deep. I stay on the trails, which are well-marked, but it is not like rambling about Longbourn. Still, I persist!

The woodlands here are unlike anything I’ve known: oak and alder, ash, hazel, and rowan grow in tumbled confusion, woven through with hedges.

I have never seen such varied trees in all my life, nor breathed such scented air.

Some days it smells of leaf mold and wood smoke, other days of damp earth and pine.

Tomorrow we travel to Carrbridge, where we are to reside at Castle Roy with Laird Adam Frazier, who is nine-and-twenty, and his mother, Lady Caitrìona.

Mr. Allister has informed us that Lady Caitrìona is anxious for her son to marry and begin his family, as her health is not good.

Why a man with three younger brothers should feel pressed to marry is not apparent to me.

Laird Adam breeds horses and, it seems, intends to teach us all to ride.

Now I must confess I fear horses. I fell from one at the age of five and broke my arm, and ever since, I have viewed them with suspicion. Yet if the Frazier brothers are willing to teach me, I am determined to learn. I rather like the idea of being a bold horsewoman.

Castle Roy, I’m told, is surrounded by an ancient Caledonian pinewood forest. I may at last take long walks again, perhaps even at dawn, as I did at home. At Dava Moor, I was not permitted to walk alone, again, because of the bog, but perhaps in the forest, I shall have more freedom.

Please give your brother my regards. Tell him I am grateful for the services he rendered the Bennet family, and I consider his amends a full settlement of all debts. I shall say no more.

Take care of yourself, Georgiana. Write soon. I miss your sweet presence more than you know.

Yours ever,

Elizabeth

Georgiana folded the letter with shining eyes. Kitty said softly, “Lizzy is well and happy. Perhaps one of the Frazier gentlemen will make her an offer. My dear Lizzy deserves to be happily settled.”

Darcy stood silent, watching them. He did not know whether to feel joy or despair.

She had written to Georgiana and had thanked him, formally, briefly, with the tone of one closing a chapter.

Of course, she could extend no invitation for further correspondence, nor speak of any sentiment she might feel for him, though, in all likelihood, she felt none.

He had given her no cause to hope, no reason to form an attachment.

She was free to bestow her affection elsewhere, and the thought made his gut burn with jealousy.

Yet still, he imagined her walking through that ancient forest in the cold light of dawn, head uncovered, curls whipping in the Highland wind, and some tall, horse-breeding laird catching sight of her across the dew-covered heather.

His heart lurched. Again.

That night, when the household had gone to bed and all was still, Kitty and Georgiana slipped down the servants’ stairs with a single candle between them in search of the first volume of The Mysteries of Udolpho . It would be in the library.

Book in hand, they climbed back toward Kitty’s bedchamber when she suddenly pressed a hand to Georgiana’s arm and stopped.

“Wait,” she whispered.

Then, with one swift breath, she blew out the candle. Darkness swallowed them.

They stood in silence in the family wing, letting their eyes adjust. Then Kitty gestured toward the far end of the corridor.

At first, Georgiana could see nothing. Then a shadow moved, cloaked and slow, a figure gliding past Kitty’s door.

Georgiana’s heart dropped. “Is that?”

“I think it’s Miss Bingley,” Kitty whispered. “Is your brother’s room in that direction?”

“Yes,” Georgiana whispered. “Oh no. She may be attempting to entangle him in a compromise.”

“She may fail, but the scandal would be disastrous, particularly for your prospects,” Kitty murmured. “We mustn’t let that happen. Come.”

Georgiana set the book down silently on the floor and gathered her skirts. The two crept after the cloaked figure, moving swiftly but with care, slippered feet gliding over the floorboards in near silence, breath held as they passed down the hall, careful not to wake the household.

They were soon close enough for Miss Bingley to hear their approach. She turned sharply.

Georgiana stepped forward. “Miss Bingley, are you lost? May I escort you to your room?”

The woman blinked at her, then said, “Yes, I misplaced my reticule when I arrived and lost my way after returning upstairs.”

Kitty offered brightly, “Did you find it? We could help, I’ve a candlestick.”

Miss Bingley waved her off. “No, it is well. I shall search again in the morning.”

“Then allow us to walk you back,” Georgiana said firmly. “It is quite late, and Kitty and I were just on our way to retrieve our book.”

“That is not necessary. I can manage,” Miss Bingley replied.

But Georgiana would not be deterred. “It is no trouble. We dropped a book we were searching for, so we must return to the head of the stairs in any case. Come, let us go before it grows later still.”

Cornered by civility, Miss Bingley acquiesced. When they reached her bedchamber, they found the footman slumped in a chair, fast asleep.

Georgiana shook him. “Samuel, wake up. Miss Bingley needs to enter her room.”

The young man startled awake with a snort and leapt to his feet. “Beg pardon, miss.” He stepped aside, moved the chair that was blocking the doorway, and Miss Bingley swept into the room, closing the door behind her with a definitive snap.

Georgiana turned to Samuel. “How do you suppose that woman escaped her bedchamber?”

He grinned. “Several of the bedchambers have secret passages, Miss. The maids have been told they don’t need to keep them swept or dusted.”

She glanced at Kitty. “I had no idea there were secret passages at Pemberley.”

“I think we ought to tell your brother,” Kitty said. “If there’s a secret exit, he’ll need to block it before she tries again.”

The two girls walked down the corridor toward Mr. Darcy’s chambers. Kitty lingered a short distance behind to preserve their privacy.

Georgiana knocked. Her brother answered the door in shirtsleeves and breeches, his cravat and coat discarded. He looked instantly alert.

“Georgiana? Are you well?”

She explained the situation and ended, “Could her bedchamber have a hidden passage?”

He considered. “If so, it likely leads to the music room. Possibly behind the tapestry of the hunting party, the one with the Arabian horses you love.”

He glanced toward Kitty, then back. “I believe you’ve both earned the right to see this through. Let me fetch my banyan.”

Darcy returned, wrapped in a dark silk robe, and led them downstairs. In the music room, he lifted the tapestry. Behind it, there was a narrow, low-pitched door.

As they stood examining it, the door creaked open, and Miss Bingley stepped through.

She froze, surprised to see the handsome man standing before her, wearing a banyan, then smiled and purred, “Mr. Darcy... were you coming up to visit me?”

Georgiana coughed. Kitty giggled.

Miss Bingley turned, only to find the two girls staring back at her.

“No, Miss Bingley,” Darcy said coolly. “We came to ensure this door was locked so that you could not use it again to wander unescorted through the house.”

Kitty lifted her candlestick higher, illuminating the scene like a gleeful ghost-hunter.

“I will not be held captive in your house, sir,” Miss Bingley snapped.

“You are welcome to leave,” Darcy replied mildly. “It stopped raining three hours ago. If you prefer, I shall have the stable hands bring around your carriage.”

She huffed.

“Or you may return to your very comfortable bedchamber and depart in the morning. But you will not roam the halls. Nor come to my bedchamber.”

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him. “You leave me no choice,” she said frostily. “I shall remain in my room.”

She vanished once more through the hidden door, like a figure from a Gothic novel, ghostlike in her translucent white nightgown and wrap.

Darcy examined the narrow passage. “It will need to be locked,” he said. Lacking a key, he looked around and settled on a solution. “We’ll block it for now.”

Between the three of them, they managed to drag a heavy settee across the opening.

As they made their way upstairs, Georgiana retrieved the novel, dropped earlier in the excitement, and the girls retired to Kitty’s room. Ostensibly, they went to read.

In truth, they intended to discuss the evening’s events in exquisite detail.

And Miss Bingley had, unfortunately for her, given them quite a bit to work with.

The next morning, Darcy recounted the night’s adventures to Bingley.

“She’s had six London seasons already. No man in England will have her,” Bingley declared. “Perhaps India, or Canada?”

He mulled over the predicament throughout breakfast. By the end of the meal, he had a plan.

Bingley excused himself to prepare for travel.

“Darcy, I believe it best that I escort Caroline back to my family. May I leave Jane here at Pemberley? I fear it would only worsen matters to confine the two of them in a carriage for hours on end. I’m sorry to break up our visit in this way, but under the circumstances, I trust you understand. ”

“You plan to return Caroline to Yorkshire?” Darcy asked.

Bingley nodded. “Yes. And while there, I shall speak with my second cousin, Jack Campbell. He’s been planning to emigrate to America.

I’ll provide funds from Caroline’s dowry, enough for two passages and three thousand pounds, to see her settled abroad.

And if he decided to marry her himself, he would have her dowry. ”

Jack Campbell had long wished to cross the Atlantic. Strong, sensible, and well over six feet tall, he was just the sort of man who could manage both Caroline and her dowry, and perhaps even be happy with her.

Darcy looked both astonished and impressed. “That’s… ingenious.”

Bingley smirked. “It’s that, or exile her to Scotland, and I doubt they deserve such a punishment. Jack will keep her in line.”

“I wish both you and the hapless suitor luck,” Darcy said, clapping him on the shoulder. “And Godspeed.”