Page 196

Darcy inclined his head. An elaborate answer would have embarrassed them both.

They went upstairs together. At Jane’s door Charles listened, heard nothing, and lifted the latch carefully.

“I shall be quiet,” he said.

Darcy watched him enter without waking the room with an inquiry. Farther along the passage he could hear Ruth moving in Anna’s nursery, then the low sound of the air he had sung to the child himself. Anna did not cry.

He went to his own room and left the door a little open while he prepared for bed. If Charles came out again, he meant to hear him.

Chapter Forty-Nine

ELIZABETH HAD BROUGHT the shawl sent from Longbourn upon their walk and was trying to prevent it from catching in a holly bush. She had come straight from Jane’s room, with her workbag still upon her wrist.

Darcy stopped beside her and held the bag while she lifted the fringe clear. She took it back and looked at him.

“You see, I can occasionally free something without troubling the whole history of the estate.”

“I had not meant to suggest otherwise.”

“You were looking very attentive.”

“I have learned that offering help may be mistaken for doubting your ability to do without it.”

“Only when you offer before I have attempted anything myself.”

“Then I waited the proper interval.”

“Perfectly. You may consider yourself rewarded by my gratitude.”

She took his arm again, and he found the reward satisfactory.

They had walked only as far as the sheltered path beyond the terrace. The November air was cold, and neither wished to be far from the house should Jane require her sister. Tuesday had passed without any summons. Mrs. Talbot had called, Mrs. Bennet had offered opinions, and Jane had thanked both with a composure which Darcy admired more after his conversation with Charles the night before.

Elizabeth glanced toward the windows.

“Papa thinks the view will suffer when every leaf has gone.”

“He must remain to discover whether he is right.”

“Mama may make certain that he does. She has scarcely begun arranging Jane’s comfort.”

“Mrs. Bingley appears able to defend herself.”

“She is very good at appearing to agree until one discovers that she intends to do precisely as she wished in the first place.”

“A family characteristic?”

“I seldom take the trouble to appear to agree.”

Darcy laughed. She looked up at him with the pleasure which still surprised him whenever he was the cause of it.

They reached the turn where a bench stood against the wall. Elizabeth would not sit because the stone was cold, but she stopped to look back across the lawn. Beyond it lay the path toward the Hargreaves cottage.

“Martha came this morning,” she said.

“I saw her in the nursery.”

“Anna was very pleased.”