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“Shall I put you through the whole of a housekeeper’s complaints?”

“I fear that would be a very severe trial.”

“We may begin with the linen.”

Elizabeth took the offered hand in her left and held her own clean thread in her right. She had learned to make the small open turn against two fingers of that hand, leaving her left hand free. Since Thursday she had been persuading her fingers to work without the assistance they expected from her left thumb.

Warmth gathered where she touched Mrs. Reynolds.

The housekeeper nodded. “I can feel it.”

Elizabeth kept the feeling steady and looked at the cupboard. The tape remained knotted through the fastening. She moved the thread in her right hand, giving her fingers the familiar task while she attended to the separate loop she meant to release.

“Loose the binding.”

One end of the tape lifted.

“Mrs. Bingley’s mother has asked for another blanket,” Mrs. Reynolds said.

Elizabeth turned toward her. “Does Jane want it?”

The tape fell. The warmth vanished.

Mrs. Reynolds raised her eyebrows.

“That was unfair,” Elizabeth said.

“It was a very ordinary question.”

“Yes. And I shall be surrounded by them.”

They began again. This time Elizabeth answered without turning her whole attention from her hands.

“Then we shall ask Jane whether she is cold.”

The knot loosened a little.

“And Mr. Bingley wishes to know whether he ought to send somebody to the village.”

“He ought to ask Mrs. Talbot what she requires.”

The free end passed through the opening. The tape dropped against the cupboard door, leaving the latch clear.

Mrs. Reynolds closed her fingers gently about Elizabeth’s hand.

“It is still warm.”

Elizabeth breathed out. She had been holding herself too stiffly, and her shoulders ached when she let them fall.

“Once,” she said. “I have done it once.”

“Then we shall see whether you can do it again after you have rested.”

They did. Not upon every attempt, and not when Elizabeth hurried the movement because she expected failure. But before they stopped, she had completed it three times with the warmth continuing through the release.

Mrs. Reynolds put the cupboard in order while Elizabeth wound the remaining thread. They agreed that she would make fresh lengths ready, short enough to fit among Jane’s sewing things without tangling with them.

“And you will sleep tonight,” the housekeeper said.