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Darcy went into the passage. Sally was coming from the servants’ stairs with a key in her hand. The older maid explained what was wanted, and Sally turned at once toward the reserve cupboard.

“Do you know where they are?” Darcy asked.

“Yes, sir. Mrs. Reynolds showed me which things were to be kept ready.”

She opened the cupboard, took out the folded linen, and laid it in the basket the other maid held. Sally checked that the key had turned properly, then went upstairs with the basket.

Charles had followed Darcy to the doorway. He watched the two women disappear above them.

“They seem to know precisely what to do.”

“They have been preparing.”

“So have I.”

The words were quiet. Darcy turned toward his friend.

“I know.”

“I have asked about rooms and fires and carriages. I have been told when to send for Mrs. Talbot. I have examined a cradle as though its joints were something I understood. Now she requires linen, and I must stand aside while somebody else knows which linen it is.”

“Come back to the fire,” Darcy said. “They will tell us when there is something for us to do.”

“And until then?”

“Until then I shall keep you company.”

Charles looked at him for a moment, then went back into the room.

Mr. Bennet had set his book upon the table. He made space for Charles beside the fire without asking what the maid had wanted. He had heard enough through the open door.

The next time footsteps approached, Darcy remained seated. Charles turned, but did not rise until Sally appeared.

“Mrs. Bingley asks whether you have eaten, sir.”

For a moment Charles could not answer.

“Did she say that?”

“Yes, sir. Miss Bennet asked me to make certain you did.”

Charles gave a small, unsteady laugh. “She ought to have something else to think about.”

“She has always thought of other people,” Mr. Bennet said.

Darcy asked Sally to have a tray brought for the three of them. She nodded and went downstairs, leaving Charles with an actual instruction from his wife which he could obey.

When the tray came, he ate a little bread and cheese. Mr. Bennet accepted a cup of tea, and Darcy took food because he had said he was tired and now discovered that he was hungry as well.

Charles looked at Darcy over his cup.

“I asked you to be patient.”

“You did.”

“I did not mean to make it so difficult.”

“I have known you more troublesome over a horse.”