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Darcy removed the cloth. Anna looked at the empty shelf, then at him, and made a sound of unmistakable complaint.

“I am afraid your argument cannot prevail.”

She extended both hands toward him.

“That is another matter.”

He took her from Martha, sat in the chair she vacated, and settled Anna against his shoulder. Her hand closed upon his ear. He submitted to the first examination, but drew his head back when she attempted to improve her hold.

“You may have this instead.”

Martha put the silver rattle into his free hand. Anna seized it with a force which made him grateful he had not allowed her to keep his ear.

Elizabeth laughed from the other side of the table.

She had come with Sally to return a little sewing pattern Jane had borrowed. Darcy had found them already seated when he arrived. Sally was now at the open door, admiring a late flower which Thomas had brought from the garden, while Elizabeth held the paper flat for Martha to examine a mark beside the sleeve.

“You have made a poor bargain, Mr. Darcy. She will expect something handsome whenever she relinquishes what she ought not to have.”

“I hoped the rattle might distract her.”

“It has distracted you. She still has your ear.”

Anna’s other hand had returned to its former occupation.

“Do you mean to offer no assistance?”

“I was waiting to discover whether you would notice.”

Martha smiled as Darcy freed himself. Elizabeth’s amusement was easy, with none of the sudden withdrawal which had so often followed it before Saturday. He ought to have been content merely to understand that difference. Instead, he found himself wanting to make her laugh again.

Anna prevented the attempt by dropping the rattle.

Darcy recovered it from his knee and offered it once more. She accepted it, waved it, and dropped it deliberately upon the floor.

“Now you have taught her a second amusement,” Elizabeth said.

“I had not expected to be judged so severely for giving a child her toy.”

“Then I shall leave you to her judgment.”

She rose to retrieve the rattle before he could attempt it with Anna in his arms. Martha took it to wipe, and Darcy watched his niece follow Elizabeth’s movement with great attention as she returned to her chair.

“She likes to see people coming and going,” Martha said. “There is more for her to watch now.”

“And more to move out of her way,” Thomas added. He put his hand upon the little shelf. “I meant to raise this. Or make another higher up. We shall require the lower space when she begins to move about.”

Darcy looked at the narrow stretch of wall beside the hearth. Thomas had already moved a stool away from it. Nothing in the cottage had been arranged without consideration for Anna, yet each change made the next necessary. A cradle had fitted there in March. It would not contain her forever.

“Tell the carpenter what you require,” he said.

“I can do the shelf myself, sir.”

“Then let him supply the wood.”

Thomas thanked him. Martha returned the rattle and sat beside Elizabeth. They spoke of the pattern, which would serve Jane’s baby later, and of an alteration Martha meant to make before using it for Anna.

Darcy listened with one hand beneath his niece’s feet. She pressed against it, straightening her legs, and seemed delighted when he allowed her to rise a little upon his knee. He must have done the same for Georgiana. He could not recall it. There were so many ordinary things he had forgotten because nobody had told him he would one day wish to remember them.