Page 81 of The Crown’s Gift

Charlotte's mouth curved.

Mr and Mrs Collins returned to Hunsford the following morning, the renewed lease settled.

That evening Sir Thomas stood alone in Longbourn's empty library. Bingley's books had been moved temporarily from the damp western room, leaving disorder on every surface. He placed one volume upright and remembered how many years he had sat there believing provision meant merely keeping the estate intact.

Elizabeth found him.

"Do you miss it?"

"The room? Sometimes. The man in it? No."

She came beside him.

"Mr Darcy asked to walk with me tomorrow."

"I know."

"Of course you do."

"He asked my consent last night."

Elizabeth turned. "Before asking me?"

"He asked whether I would consent if you did."

"And you consented?"

Sir Thomas looked at her. "I told him your answer was yours."

She slipped her arm through his. "Ten years ago, you might have forgotten that."

He looked around the library one final time before they left.

"At considerable expense."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

A Different Answer

The roof remained attached.

Elizabeth came down before eight in a pale green walking dress. She found Darcy already in the morning room, standing beside the unopened doors to the terrace.

"You are early," she said.

"I was advised that Bennet family emergencies begin at breakfast."

"Then you are just in time."

Sir Thomas entered carrying a letter marked with the royal seal.

Lady Bennet, behind him, had abandoned cap ribbons in her haste. "It is from the Queen. Hill says the messenger came from Windsor. Open it, Mr Bennet."

"The seal has survived a hundred miles. It may survive another chair."

He sat and broke it.

The letter was in Queen Charlotte's hand. The King's health had deteriorated. He would withdraw from public life, and the Prince of Wales was expected to assume duties as Regent. In a lucid interval, His Majesty had spoken of Hertfordshire and asked whether the gentleman who saved him still made good use of Netherfield.