The Darcy Cousins (14 page)

"If you promise me that you will not give in to Lady Catherine if she tries to keep you from doing so."

"I promise," said Georgiana, and hoped that she would be able to keep the promise.

"Very well," said Clarissa.

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They were on the verge of returning when they were hailed, and Mr Channing and Mr Gatley came riding towards them.

"Well met indeed!" said Mr Channing. "We have been wracking our brains to think of a way to call on you. Mama tells me Lady Catherine does not approve of gentlemen callers, especially as we do not usually call on her. And Darcy has been very disobliging, for he has not invited us once since our last card party."

Clarissa chuckled. "He is probably worried that Lady Catherine will take over the game again."

At Channing's approach, Georgiana's mouth went dry. She had imagined his words had cured her of her interest in him. She had resolved that, the next time she saw him, she would feel nothing but dislike towards him. She would be a fool to react in any other way.

Yet the moment he appeared, her resolutions fell by the wayside.

His eyes of intense blue only had to alight on her, and she was doomed. She gravitated towards him like a moth to a candelabra.

She would simply have to prove to him that she was not as dull as she thought. Not today, of course. Today she would have to be content to remain in the background. She needed time. But she would prove it to him.

"I wondered what had kept you away," Clarissa was saying.

"I was afraid we had made no impression at all on anyone in the neighborhood."

Channing responded to her remark by urging his horse forward so that they rode neck to neck. Inevitably, Georgiana and Mr Gatley took their place behind them.

Georgiana resigned herself to talking to Gatley, though her ears strained to hear Channing's exchange with her cousin. "Thank you for your flowers, Mr Gatley."

"Think nothing of them."

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He had used a polite but unfortunate expression. That was precisely it. She thought nothing of them.

Which did not mean she should not be gracious. Gatley had been civil to her, at every point. Certainly it did not mean--just because she found his cousin infinitely more appealing than him--that she could not be pleasant to him as well. She determined to make every effort to sustain a conversation with him.

"Have you always lived in this area, Mr Gatley?" she said, drawing on her training in the arts of drawing-room conversation.

"I was born and raised here. But after attending school, I joined the army and fought in the Peninsula, despite opposition from my parents. I am not an only son, though my brother was still very young, so they could not prevent me. I was discharged two years ago when my father died, and I returned to take over management of the estate."

"Your absence explains why I was not introduced to you before."

"You would have met me before if you had not been estranged from your aunt."

Georgiana was at first startled that he had referred to her brother's quarrel with Lady Catherine so directly. Then she appreciated the directness. It felt more natural than the significant silence she had met with so far from others.

"It is the nature of families to quarrel," she said, smiling a little.

"Lady Catherine cannot be an easy person to have as a relation,"

he remarked.

"True, though I am accustomed to her ways and have learned to accept her restrictions while I am here." She thought of Anne, who lived with those restrictions all her life. "But then, I am only here for a short time. I can imagine it must be more difficult if one had to deal with her all year long."

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Ahead of them, Channing leaned over and whispered something into Clarissa's ear, provoking a peal of laughter.

"Your cousin must find it difficult," said Gatley.

She wondered if he had followed her thoughts about Anne, then realised he was speaking of Clarissa.

"I think Clarissa is quite capable of holding her own against Lady Catherine," she said wryly.

"And you are not?" said Gatley.

Georgiana considered this. "I try to avoid conflict," said Georgiana. "So far, I have not been forced to confront her. She paid me little attention when I was younger--I belonged in the nursery--and it is only now that she has begun to notice me at all. I do not know what I would do if I was forced to go against her wishes."

"Perhaps you are stronger than you think," said Gatley.

The words awoke some hope in her. She intended to be persistent, at least, until she met her objectives. "Perhaps. I hope in any case that such a situation would not occur."

They rode quietly together for a while.

"Is there any sight more agreeable than horse-chestnut trees in bloom?" said Gatley, as they passed by one of the large trees.

"I believe you suggested that lemon trees were more agreeable,"

said Georgiana with a little smile.

"I spoke of the aroma of lemons," he said with a twitch of his mouth, "not of the view."

"I am glad to hear that you are at least constant in what you like," remarked Georgiana.

He cast her a sidelong glance but did not reply.

By now Rosings had come into view. It was time for the gentlemen to turn back.

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"I wil be looking out for you every day from now on," said Channing to Clarissa, as he took his leave. "I know now where you like to ride."

"You will be doomed to disappointment then," said Clarissa,

"for we hardly ever ride in this direction."

"I shall live in hope," he replied.

Clarissa laughed.

"Until we meet again then," said Gatley in a friendly manner, smiling widely.

The smile illuminated his face. If he would only smile more often, he would be almost handsome, for his features were well-proportioned. For a few seconds, Georgiana wondered at the difference a smile could make to someone's appearance.

But then his cousin laughed, and Georgiana made the mistake of looking at him. Azure eyes captured and held her, and Gatley was nothing beside him.

Something was wrong. Even from a distance, Georgiana was sure of it. Figures milled about Rosings like blue ants--the colour of Lady Catherine's livery. Georgiana could discern no order in the chaos, though as she approached, she could make out Lady Catherine at the entrance, issuing commands.

"I wonder who could have arrived?" said Clarissa, squinting a little as she tried to make out what was going on.

"No one. Something bad has happened," said Georgiana, her heart clenching. "Let us make haste."

They spurred their mounts onwards. As they approached, Lady Catherine came hurrying towards them.

"Where have you been?" she said. "We have searched everywhere for you."

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Clarissa began to answer. "As you can see, Lady Catherine..."

"Silence!" said Lady Catherine, taking hold of the horse's reigns.

"I have no patience for your impertinence right now. I have one concern only. Tell me at once. Where is Anne?"

Clarissa's expression suggested that Lady Catherine had taken leave of her senses. But Georgiana knew her aunt better. Despite her penchant for drama, she did not remember ever seeing Lady Catherine so distraught.

Not waiting for a footman to help her down, Georgiana slid to the ground and went to her aunt, partly to prevent Clarissa's horse from reacting to Lady Catherine's harsh grip and partly to draw her attention away from Clarissa.

"Anne did not ride out with us, Lady Catherine. She does not ride."

"None of your impudence, young lady! This is hardly the time to make light of things. She does indeed ride, though she has not done so for years. No doubt you have browbeaten her into going riding, and she has suffered a fall. I can think of no other explanation."

Georgiana looked to her brother, who was just now emerging from the house, accompanied by Robert and Colonel Fitzwilliam.

They were clearly going riding.

"Can you tell me...?"

"Anne is missing," interrupted Darcy. "She is nowhere to be found. We can only hope it is nothing, but she has been missing for hours."

Horses were brought forward by the groom, and the gentlemen mounted swiftly.

"You will look everywhere, will you not?" said Lady Catherine.

"She may have fallen and sprained an ankle or hurt herself somewhere on the grounds and be unable to return to the house."

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"Rest assured that we will search every corner of the park," said Darcy. "Do not worry, Aunt," he added, gently. "We will find her."

And with that, the gentlemen set off.

Clarissa meanwhile had dismounted. "Is there a horse missing from the stables?" said Clarissa, as if only now responding to Lady Catherine's question.

Lady Catherine threw Clarissa a look of utter contempt.

"If she had taken a horse, she would have taken a groom. She is not as lost as all that to propriety," replied her ladyship, unaware that she was contradicting her earlier assertion that Anne had gone riding.

"She usually walks with us in the morning, but she did not join us today," said Georgiana, wanting to be as helpful as possible.

Clarissa gave her a reproachful look. Georgiana's admission was a betrayal of Anne's trust.

"I am well aware that she did not," said her ladyship. "I am also aware that you and this insolent upstart here have done everything possible to encourage her to escape the protection of Mrs Jenkinson."

Clarissa's eyes blazed. However, with an enormous effort at self-control, she bit back an angry retort, then turned and stalked away.

"Allow me to inform you, Miss Clarissa Darcy," said Lady Catherine to her retreating back, "that if anything befalls my daughter, I will hold you to blame."

Lady Catherine, having given vent to her spleen, drew herself up and marched into the house with her maid Dawson close at hand.

Mrs Jenkinson, for once, was nowhere to be found.

Georgiana entered the house slowly. She skirted around the drawing room and headed upstairs to the small parlour, where she hoped she 127

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would not encounter Lady Catherine. She found Elizabeth there, trying to soothe little William, who was teething, while Caroline was busy writing a letter.

"I see Lady Catherine has given Clarissa a set-down," said Elizabeth, who was standing near the window and must have heard the exchange.

Clarissa stormed into the room at that moment. Georgiana guessed that she had been sitting at the top of the stairs, waiting for her to come in.

"What on earth happened?" said Clarissa. "Has the bird flown?

Has Anne escaped her prison? Heaven forbid!" She gave a hard, angry laugh.

"I can perfectly understand why Lady Catherine is distraught,"

said Caroline, putting down her quill and blotting the ink before folding the letter. "But I do not understand why you are so bitter about it. The most likely situation is that Anne is very upset by her mother's high handed management of her marriage and needed time alone to reflect on things. It is all a fuss about nothing."

"I cannot agree," said Elizabeth, gently rubbing William's back and walking him up and down. "If that was the case, she would have taken refuge with Georgiana and Clarissa, where she would have found a ready ear and a great deal of sympathy. I think there is something worrying in her absence."

"Can someone tell me what has happened exactly?" said Clarissa.

"If we must be accused of aiding and abetting Anne in her crime, then at least we should know the details. Then perhaps we would stand a chance of defending ourselves."

"You must make allowances for Lady Catherine's anxiety, Clarissa. I am sure she did not mean what she said," said Elizabeth.

Clarissa snorted.

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"In any case," said Caroline with a sigh, "there is really hardly anything to recount. Last night Anne retired very early, almost immediately after she left the drawing room. She told Mrs Jenkinson that she was developing a fever and asked for a sleeping concoction to be brought up, which she drank. That, at least, was what the maid who gave her the concoction informed Lady Catherine yesterday."

"You see," said Clarissa, breaking into the narrative and looking significantly at Georgiana, "I told you every move of hers was reported."

"Do you want me to answer your question or not?" said Caroline.

"I do. I am sorry I interrupted."

"Apparently, her usual practise in the morning is to rise very early and to ring for tea, but this morning she did not," said Caroline. "Mrs Jenkinson ordered the maid not to wake her, thinking that since she had taken the sleeping infusion, she would still be drowsing. However, around eleven o'clock, when Anne had not yet made an appearance, she began to worry that her mistress was seriously ill. When she entered her chamber, however, she found the bed was already made and Anne was not in her room.

"She thought nothing of it at first. Perhaps Anne had given her the slip, as she had apparently been doing for some time. So she assumed Anne was with you. But later, when none of the servants could tell her where Anne was, she grew puzzled. She then enquired about you, and discovered that you had gone riding and that only two horses had been taken, so she could not have gone with you.

She raised the alarm with Dawson, hoping she at least had seen the young mistress, but when Dawson could not account for her, they both went to Lady Catherine."

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Caroline spread her hands on the table before her and raised her eyebrow. "That is as much as we know, and I do not think there is any point in speculating until we know more about the matter. Let us play a game of whist to pass the time until the gentlemen return."

No one wanted to play whist, however, and Caroline soon returned to her letter writing. Elizabeth, who had succeeded in putting Lewis to sleep, went upstairs to take him to the nursery.