Chapter 22

Elizabeth sat with Caroline in the parlor at Longbourn embarrassed by the attention her grandfather paid Mrs. de Bourgh. Certainly there was the concern for her missing daughter, but the two sat entirely too close on the small sofa across from Caroline.

“Mrs. de Bourgh,” her grandfather said, his voice filled with care, “surely your nephews will find Miss de Bourgh before any harm is done to her reputation.”

“You must call me Catherine, your lordship. I feel as though we know one another well enough,” Mrs. de Bourgh placed a hand to her hair and smiled sweetly at the earl.

Elizabeth coughed to cover the impolite noise that rose in her throat at the woman’s manipulation. Her daughter’s reputation was in certain danger in spite of her grandfather’s wish to lessen the severity of the situation and she sat there behaving as though the earl was paying a call out of admiration rather than one of Christian charity.

They had been at Longbourn for nigh on an hour and Elizabeth rose from her seat beside Caroline as her grandfather and Mrs. de Bourgh continued their copious flirtation. There was little she might do to intervene and her grandfather was quite old enough to do as he pleased.

“I must step outside for a moment,” she said and Caroline hurried to accompany her. Neither the earl nor Mrs. de Bourgh seemed to notice.

When Elizabeth was outside the front door of Longbourn, Caroline pushed past her and exclaimed over the earl’s behavior. “Lizzy, I do not recall your grandfather ever fawning over any woman before. Is his mind declining with age?”

“I hardly think so, Caro! What a thing to say! Though it is unsettling to see him so taken with Mrs. de Bourgh when he spoke of how handsome you were only a week ago,” Elizabeth looked up and down the lane, her mind on Miss de Bourgh.

“What do you mean he spoke of me? I am only a year older than you. He could not have been serious.” Caroline seemed horrified at the notion.

Elizabeth sighed. “I should not have mentioned it in any case, but I am distracted with worry over Miss de Bourgh. You do not know how terrible Mr. Wickham can be in his treachery.”

Caroline sniffed and lifted her chin. “Be that as it may, the girl was foolish to go with him.”

“Perhaps she did not go willingly, Caro. She never seemed the passionate kind to me. On the contrary, she might have enjoyed Wickham’s attentions but Mr. Darcy said that she called for him when Mr. Wickham behaved in an ardent manner with her right there in their parlor.”

“Well, she is gone. What might we do about it?” Caroline dusted off her pristine skirts and Elizabeth turned and dashed off towards the small stable behind the home.

“Lizzy! Lizzy!” Caroline called as she followed her friend.

Elizabeth rode back to Netherfield, her mind working over the places Lieutenant Wickham might have taken Miss de Bourgh.

She had borrowed one of Mr. Darcy’s horses and ignored Caroline’s objections in order to gain time to consider what might have happened with Miss de Bourgh.

When she had walked around the garden and the area Hill had last seen Miss de Bourgh after tying the horse to a post beside the garden gate, Elizabeth was certain of her thoughts on Miss de Bourgh’s disappearance. Caroline had followed behind her with all sorts of questions and adamant censure, but Elizabeth could not be swayed from her sleuthing.

The sun had set, as they were well past the dinner hour, and darkness was falling quickly. Elizabeth dismounted and gave the reins to a stable boy who came out to meet her in Netherfield’s drive.

She went inside and to the writing desk in the parlor. Elizabeth took a piece of the cream stationary from the drawer and uncapped the ink bottle.

As the hour ticked by on the clock over the mantel, she had written all the places she could think of in the area where Wickham might have gone with Miss de Bourgh. It would not have been easy for them to escape notice in the small neighborhood.

Elizabeth rose at last and called for tea. Her stomach had objected since she sat to write and would no longer be ignored. Before she might sit by the fire and wait for her repast, Caroline entered the parlor with the earl and Mrs. de Bourgh.

Elizabeth had forgotten about her friend and grandfather at Longbourn. Caroline’s face showed that she did not appreciate the fact.

“Catherine will have dinner here and spend the night. I could not leave her alone at Longbourn for fear that Wickham might return and harm her. Have we any word on whether Miss de Bourgh is safely found?” the earl asked and escorted the missing lady’s mother to a seat on the sofa.

Elizabeth looked to Caroline and saw that she was as befuddled as ever by the pair and the earl’s use of Mrs. de Bourgh’s Christian name.

Caroline stared at the two lovebirds with her lashes lowered and whispered her irritation. “I have endured quite enough this evening, Eliza. While I would love to stay and witness this budding romance, I will eat in my rooms.”

Finding she could not argue her friend’s point, and hoping to escape after tea with her list that remained atop the writing desk, Elizabeth mouthed a sincere word of apology as her friend quit the parlor.

Turning to her grandfather and Mrs. de Bourgh, Elizabeth took a seat across from them and blew out a breath of relief as tea was brought in. “I am sorry but Miss Bingley wished to retire to her rooms.”

“Why, certainly she must be tired after traveling from Town. Poor thing,” Mrs. de Bourgh said as she surveyed the cold meats and cheese on the cart.

Elizabeth watched as her grandfather took a small plate and filled it with whatever Mrs. de Bourgh wanted. It was tedious to watch him point to each thing as though she were a child.

How on earth had the woman gone from wishing to push her daughter before the man to promoting herself in such a manner? Elizabeth could not countenance it another moment in the end.

“Grandfather, Mrs. de Bourgh,” she said as she stood and excused herself, “I think I may join Caroline upstairs. Please send for me if the colonel and Mr. Darcy return.”

Neither attempted to object and before Elizabeth had crossed the parlor to retrieve her list from the desk, the two were sitting closer with heads bent in a conspiratorial fashion.

Their mingled laughter caught Elizabeth at the parlor door as she made her escape. She turned round in apprehension that she was the source of their laughter. When she saw they were not even glancing in her direction, she left them to their seeming courtship.

As she climbed the stairs of Netherfield, she shook off thoughts of the unlikely pair for she could not begrudge her grandfather his preference. He was the family member she was most akin to in manner and thought. His obstinance was legendary where hers was only an irritation to her mother.

Once upstairs, she passed Caroline’s room and went quickly to her own. She had never meant to sit and dine with her friend, it was only an excuse to escape notice and don her riding habit to set off in the night with a footman in search of Miss de Bourgh.

She could not sit idly taking tea and thinking of her list while awaiting the return of Mr. Darcy and the colonel. Her grandfather would not approve of her riding off into the night so the distraction of Mrs. de Bourgh proved useful even in its annoyance.

A quarter of an hour later, Elizabeth slipped quietly down the stairs and found a footman on his way upstairs to retire for the evening. She stopped him and whispered her desire that he come with her on an errand.

The servant nodded his agreement and disappeared inside the ballroom with her. Their steps echoed in the large room but Elizabeth went confidently to the terrace doors and out into the night with the footman only a shadow behind her.

Rushing down the steps, she went to the stable where the groom was still minding his post. The stable boy was roused from his sleep in the hayloft and made to saddle two horses for Netherfield’s guest and the footman.

Soon, the pair had left the drive and rode down the lane toward Longbourn with purpose. Elizabeth was determined to check the first place on her list. While the horses were saddled, she inquired of the groom whether Bingley had any pistols on the premises and when the man questioned her, she sent him to retrieve one.

It was a small one, unlikely to cause any serious wounds if she used it on Wickham, but the presence of the cold metal against her leg gave her some comfort. The footman had been similarly armed, but with a larger model than her own.

As they passed Longbourn, Elizabeth nudged her horse to the right and left the lane for the field beyond the home. If her theory was correct, Mr. Wickham was hiding in plain sight with Miss de Bourgh.