Page 217

Charles accepted the suggestion at once.

Mrs. Reynolds admitted Charles when they reached Jane’s door. Darcy remained in the passage. He heard Jane say her husband’s name, then Charles answer so quietly that he could distinguish nothing beyond the tenderness in his voice. He moved away from the door.

At the window near the turn of the passage, daylight showed the wet branches against a pale sky. Saturday had come. He had scarcely considered what day would follow Friday, only that he must somehow remain useful until it did.

He rested his hand upon the window ledge.

Jane was alive. Her child was alive.

There was nothing in either fact to restore Georgiana, and he was ashamed of the thought as soon as it came. He had not asked for another life to be lost because hers could not be returned. Yet relief had loosened something which he had held so tightly that the old grief came with it.

He looked out until he could hear the voices behind him without fearing that somebody would remark upon his face.

Elizabeth came from Jane’s room a little later.

She closed the door gently and stood beside it for a moment, one hand still upon the handle. Darcy crossed to her.

“Are you ill?”

“No. Only tired.” She looked up at him. “And rather unwilling to discover how far it is to my own room.”

He offered his arm. She took it without argument, which told him more of her exhaustion than the answer had done.

She guided him a few steps toward the window at the turn in the passage, away from Jane’s door. They could speak there without being overheard from the room.

“Your sister?” he asked.

“Mrs. Talbot is satisfied. Jane has scarcely looked away from him since they put him in her arms.”

“And you?”

“I have been looking at them both.”

He covered the hand upon his sleeve. She had a faint red mark across two fingers. He did not ask about it where a servant might pass.

Elizabeth looked back along the empty passage, then drew a little nearer.

“It is gone,” she said quietly.

“The binding?”

“Yes.”

He could not immediately answer.

“I kept the warmth while I let the thread go,” she continued. “It resisted, and then it ceased. I had not taken my hand from Jane. There was nothing left pressing against us.”

“You are certain?”

“Yes.” Her fingers tightened upon his sleeve. “There was still a great deal for Jane to do afterward. Mrs. Talbot stayed with her. It did not make the birth easy.”

“I know.”

Elizabeth leaned against his arm for an instant.

“I thought I should want to tell you everything at once.”

“You may tell me when you have slept.”