Page 142 of The Crown’s Gift

Mr Jones's son, who had succeeded his father as local physician, examined the child and declared him unharmed. Lydia cleared the room around Matthew. Kitty removed the stained display cloth. Mary took the frightened younger children to the pianoforte and played until conversation returned.

Anne came to her grandfather.

Her hands shook now that action had ended.

"I hurt him."

"You saved him."

"The first time did not work."

"Nor did mine."

"What if the second had failed?"

"You would have tried a third."

Anne sat on the floor beside his chair, heedless of her gown. "I was afraid."

"That is the lesson. Courage came with you anyway."

Darcy knelt on her other side. He looked as shaken as she felt.

"You did exactly right," he said.

Anne reached for him, and he embraced her. Elizabeth joined them, one hand on her daughter's hair.

Lady Bennet stood over all four.

"That tart should have been cut smaller," she said, voice breaking. "I said the apples were too firm."

Sir Thomas held out a hand to his wife. She took it and cried without attempting disguise.

The harvest supper resumed because Matthew wished it to. He sat beside his mother eating custard without fruit and accepting attention with solemn importance.

Lydia cancelled the running games. Matthew objected.

"Very well," she said. "But no prizes involving food."

At the end of the evening, the head teacher asked Sir Thomas to speak.

He refused the platform and spoke from his chair.

"You have heard the story of King George and the sugar plum more often than good sense requires. Some of you may believe I knew what I was doing because courage arrived complete. I did not. I remembered a stable boy and a groom. Anne remembered a lesson. One person acts because another person taught, demonstrated, or refused to freeze."

He looked around the schoolhouse.

"Knowledge is a form of inheritance not limited by entail. Pass it. Teach another person what you know. Ask when you do not know. The life saved may belong to a king, a tenant's son, or someone not yet born. Its value does not change."

The room remained quiet after he finished.

Then Matthew raised his hand.

"May I still eat tart next year?"

Laughter broke the solemnity.

"Yes," Sir Thomas said. "Slowly."