The Darcys of Pemberley (32 page)

What Elizabeth said made not the slightest
bit of difference. Mrs. Wickham went away muttering more words of
doom, and leaving her sister sadly shaken.

As her senior by more than five years,
Elizabeth had always felt a maternal responsibility toward Lydia,
especially since their parents had been so lax with her. When she
was young, Lydia allowed herself sometimes to be guided by her two
eldest sisters. But, with her headstrong temperament, she had soon
slipped beyond their influence. Motherhood might provide her a
compelling reason to amend her ways, Elizabeth reasoned, but Lydia
seemed determined to avoid the office at any cost.

When Darcy returned to the house, Elizabeth
shared with him the substance of her conversation with Lydia and
her uneasiness on her sister’s account. “I would hardly have
thought that any woman, let alone my own sister, could be so
heartless. She truly seemed to feel nothing at all for the child
she is carrying. All she can think of is how best to escape this
‘disaster’.”

Darcy frowned, drawing in his brow. “Do you
think she would go so far as to do herself or the child an
injury?”

“Yesterday, I could not have imagined it. Yet
after seeing the coldness in her eyes today, I am persuaded that
anything is possible.”

Georgiana’s Return

The following day, Lydia’s worrisome
situation stepped aside in favor of the happier prospect of Miss
Darcy’s homecoming. The morning hours crept by despite all efforts
to hurry them along with active employment. Mr. Darcy set about
ordering his business affairs so as to be free of that obligation
when his sister arrived. Elizabeth did the same. She consulted with
Mrs. Reynolds about a problem with one of the chambermaids, and
performed her weekly review of the household accounts. Husband and
wife then joined forces to dispatch another three quarters of an
hour taking the air in a tour of the gardens to the side of the
house.

As the time approached that their friends’
arrival could reasonably be looked for, Elizabeth found herself
consulting the clock in the hall with increasing frequency. By two
in the afternoon, the carriage was every minute expected. By four,
it still had not come. With the continuing hope that the travelers
might soon arrive, dinner was put off first one hour, then another,
before ultimately having to be served without them. Elizabeth sent
the heaping platters, planned as a celebratory banquet, back to the
kitchen barely touched.

Afterward, she and her husband adjourned to
the drawing room at the front of the house with the mutual, though
unspoken, desire to keep watch over the gravel sweep approaching
the house. Their appetite for conversation proved as meager as for
feasting whilst they deferred discussion of the only subject that
occupied them both: the welfare of the travelers. Neither could
settle to any occupation as they waited. Two more hours came and
went. Finally, Elizabeth could suppress her uneasiness no longer.
She laid aside her neglected needlework and crossed to the window
once more.

“I pray they have not met with some sort of
accident … or fallen into the hands of highwaymen,” she said,
staring out into the gathering gloom. “These things do happen; one
hears such dreadful stories.”

“Now, Lizzy, you mustn’t give way to such
exaggerated fears,” said Darcy, coming to her side. “We have no
reason to believe anything of the kind has befallen them.”

“I know, I know. I just wish we could be
certain that they are safe.”

“Most likely there is some difficulty with
the carriage, or one of the horses has come up lame. In either
case, they could easily be delayed long enough to prevent their
reaching Pemberley before nightfall. There is no moon tonight. So,
rather than risk forging ahead after dark, I would wager they have
done the sensible thing – put up at the nearest inn. They will set
off again at first light and arrive by noon tomorrow, safe and
sound. You shall see.”

With this reasonable explanation in mind and
the knowledge that nothing more could be done or expected until
daylight, they retired to bed. Elizabeth did not rest easy,
however, despite Darcy’s apparent security that all would be well.
For a long while she lay awake beside her slumbering husband,
thinking of their absent friends and praying for their safe return.
More than once she fancied that she heard carriage wheels in the
distance, only to be disappointed when it came to naught. Even when
sleep finally overtook her, she found no peace; her dreams were not
friendly callers that night. The longer and more deeply she slept,
the more menacing they became, culminating in an encore performance
of the ghastly nightmare that had so thoroughly terrorized her
before.

This second visitation burst on Elizabeth
with the same force and intensity as the first. Horrific images
assaulted her mind without mercy – a carriage turned upside down,
horses flailing wildly, a woman in violent distress. The chaotic
jumble passed inexorably before her eyes with the accompanying
cacophony of shrieking animals, splintering timbers, and cries of
mortal pain.

Elizabeth fought to free herself from the
suffocating hold of sleep, clawing her way back to consciousness
with a strangled scream. She bolted upright, her heart pounding and
her nightdress drenched in a cold sweat. There was no question of
whether or not to wake her husband; her struggle had already roused
him.

“It was the same awful nightmare as before!”
Elizabeth wailed in response to Darcy’s anxious inquiries.

“The tangle of horses and carriages and
such?”

“Yes, but now I know what it signifies. Oh,
Darcy, I am convinced it is a vision of Georgiana’s carriage. They
have surely met with some terrible accident or violence. We must do
something!”

“Try to calm yourself, Lizzy, and let me
think,” Darcy said, holding her.

Elizabeth had little success in doing as he
asked. She clung to him and buried her face against his chest,
gleaning from the strength of his embrace what solace she
could.

After a pensive pause, Darcy began gently,
“Now, my dear, when you came to bed last night, I know you were
quite anxious for Georgiana’s safety. That in itself could have
brought on this dream. I think it most likely a product your uneasy
mind, rather than a true premonition.”

Elizabeth started to protest, but he went
on.

“
However
, this is what I propose.
First, let us remain calm. Giving way to an irrational state of
panic will benefit no one. After we dress and awaken some of the
servants, I shall give orders to have a chaise and four prepared,
as well as saddle horses, for a search party. It is just now dawn.
If there is no sign of Georgiana’s carriage by nine o’clock, I
shall lead the search myself. We know what roads they would have
taken, so I can simply backtrack until I find them. I anticipate
discovering them perfectly safe after all, yet I would rather err
on the side of caution.”

The plan was both sensible and well
considered, but Elizabeth trusted neither logic nor reason at that
moment. She could not shake the conviction, however irrational it
seemed, that her dream had its basis in truth, and that their
friends were out there somewhere in trouble. Thus, as she suffered
over every passing minute, the hour set for the departure of the
search party was painfully slow in coming.

Mr. Darcy and a few other men were to lead
the way on horseback. Mr. Adams would follow with the coach, which
could then be employed to transport anyone needing assistance once
they had been found. Everything was ready, and the group was about
to set forth, when one of the men drew the attention of the others
to what was unmistakably the dust of an approaching carriage.

From her vantage point at the window,
Elizabeth followed the direction of their gaze and saw it too. Her
heart swelled with joy and relief. Her fears had been unfounded
after all, and she was never so happy to be wrong about anything in
her life.

All eyes were fixed on the carriage as it
steadily grew larger on the horizon. They could soon make out that
it was the same style as the one in which they had been expecting
Georgiana and her companions to arrive, giving further confirmation
of their hopes. Yet, when it finally drew abreast to the front of
the house, it was discovered to have only one occupant: Colonel
Fitzwilliam.

Elizabeth rushed to the door to meet the
colonel just as he and Darcy converged at the top of the steps.

“Where is Georgiana?” Darcy demanded.

The poor colonel appeared totally mystified
and somewhat offended to have been greeted so ungraciously. “In
London, where I left her, I should imagine.”

“You were not traveling together as planned,
then?” Darcy continued.

“No. I came alone on this trip. But have no
fear. I will return to London shortly and escort her home as I
promised to do. Why do you look so grim, Darcy? What on earth is
the matter?”

“Come inside, both of you, and let us sort
this out,” Elizabeth urged. “There has been some misunderstanding,
Fitzwilliam. We had an express from Georgiana on Thursday telling
us that she was leaving London immediately – with you and Mrs.
Collins we presumed – and that we were to expect her on Friday. She
still has not arrived, so you can appreciate our concern.”

“I was about to set out in search of her,”
said Darcy.

“I do not at all comprehend this,” said the
colonel. “When I left Georgiana in London, I told her that I must
be gone for a few days on urgent business that could not be
delayed. She and Mrs. Collins were to use the time to pack, take
leave of their friends, and close up the house. Then, when I
returned, we would set off for Pemberley just as soon as they
liked. That was the plan. It was all agreed.”

“Stay a minute, Fitzwilliam. If your absence
from London was necessitated by urgent business, what are you doing
here?” Darcy asked.

“A visit to you, old friend, was part of my
urgent business, but there is no time to go into that now. From
what you tell me, Georgiana must have changed her mind for some
reason and decided not to wait. When did you say that you expected
them?”

“They should have arrived by yesterday
afternoon, barring complications,” said Elizabeth.

“And you fear some kind of accident?”

“Anything is possible,” said Darcy.
“Elizabeth had a very compelling premonition that the carriage met
with serious trouble, and I am persuaded that we should go and look
for them. My apprehension is magnified now that I know the ladies
are traveling without your protection, Fitzwilliam.”

“I cannot imagine why Georgiana would take it
into her head to leave so abruptly,” said the colonel. “You
entrusted her to my care, Darcy, and I would not have left her for
the world if I had any idea she would set off without me. But,
surely it is only some problem with the carriage or horses that
delays them. There is no reason to suspect anything more serious,
is there?”

“Good God!” Darcy exclaimed.

“What is it?” asked Elizabeth, growing more
alarmed herself at his stricken look.

“Wickham!” Darcy spat out the name as if it
were poison. “I have just remembered his implied threat about
harming my family. We have to consider that he could be involved in
this somehow.”

“Come now, Darcy, surely not,” said Colonel
Fitzwilliam. “I know not what threats he may have made, but even if
his design was to lay in wait somewhere for Georgiana’s carriage,
he could hardly carry out such a plot without prior knowledge of
when it would pass by. I trust he could not have had that kind of
information at his disposal.”

“You are quite right, Fitzwilliam, thank
heaven. There is no way he could have known her travel plans,” said
Darcy with relief. “Perhaps I
am
letting my imagination, and
my contempt for that man, overrule my reason.”

Elizabeth felt ill. She groaned as fear
tightened its grip on her heart.

“What is the matter, Elizabeth?” asked Darcy
with renewed concern.

“I am so sorry.”

“Whatever for?”

“Wickham! He may very well have known
exactly
when to expect Georgiana’s carriage, and it is
entirely my fault! God forgive me, but when Lydia was here on
Thursday, I mentioned that we were expecting your sister’s return
the next day. I did not think…”

“Oh, Lizzy… But you mustn’t blame yourself,”
said Darcy. “It was a perfectly innocent remark. You could not
possibly have foreseen the danger. Now, however, I think we really
must go straight away.”

“Yes, do, do,” she urged. “There is not a
minute to lose. Go, and may God be with you!”

“Fitzwilliam, are you coming?” asked
Darcy.

“Absolutely!”

Darcy pressed Elizabeth’s hand for a moment
and kissed her forehead. “Try not to worry. We will find them,” he
said. And then they were off.

Elizabeth watched from the front porch as the
procession set off down the drive. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam
cantered away in the lead with the other riders and the carriage
following in their wake. As she always did when her husband went
away, regardless of the reason or for what duration, she blew him a
kiss as he disappeared from view, and offered a prayer for his safe
return. In this case, she added the rest of the party and the
mission’s success to her fervent supplication.

A Summons

Under normal circumstances, Elizabeth was
more than satisfied with her situation in life. However, at times
like this, she lamented the limitations placed upon her solely by
virtue of her sex. She longed to be doing something more active in
the current crisis. Had she been a man, she would have mounted a
fast horse and instantly set off with the rest of them. Instead, as
a woman heavy with child, she was consigned once again to the
tedious task of waiting – waiting for men to do what needed to be
done, and waiting for them to bring her information.