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Darcy assured her that the chimney would be seen to. She went with Mrs. Reynolds, leaving Miss Bennet seated beside the empty chair.

He waited for her to rise. She did not.

“Mrs. Bell should not have been obliged to wait so long,” Elizabeth said.

“I intend to discover why she has.”

“I am glad of it.”

The restraint in her voice irritated him more than an open accusation would have done. He had ordered nothing yet that deserved censure.

“You appear to have formed an opinion already.”

“I have seen another cottage upon the estate where repairs were completed very promptly.”

Darcy knew which one she meant before she continued.

“The Hargreaves have a sound roof and newly painted shutters. Mrs. Bell has had to ask repeatedly whether someone will mend her chimney. You must allow that the difference is noticeable.”

“Different work was required.”

“Was it less urgent in Mrs. Bell’s case?”

“I did not say so.”

“No. I should have been sorry to hear you say so.”

Darcy moved behind his desk, then remained standing instead of taking the seat. He had welcomed her request to speak to him. It had been foolish to suppose she had come for any purpose he might find agreeable.

“The Hargreaves’ roof required the carpenter,” he said. “Bell’s chimney requires a mason. The carpenter cannot replace unsound stonework merely because the shutters elsewhere have been painted.”

Color rose in her cheeks.

“I did not know the repairs required different men.”

“Then perhaps you ought to have asked before assuming a preference.”

“I asked what had been done for Mrs. Bell.”

“And implied that more had been done for another household because I chose to favor it.”

Elizabeth did not deny it. Her eyes met his steadily, and he remembered the same look at the cottage when she had spoken of Anna’s good fortune in possessing an attentive protector.

Was she waiting for him to admit what she had discovered? Since the visit to Anna, he had feared that Miss Bennet knew about Georgiana; now her insistence upon that particular cottage seemed to confirm it. He gripped the back of his chair. Whatever she knew, he would not discuss his sister’s disgrace to defend a carpenter’s account. He could explain the repairs without exposing Georgiana to another person’s judgment.

“The Hargreaves did not take a mason away from Mrs. Bell,” he said. “Whatever else you may think of my arrangements, you may be satisfied upon that point.”

“Then I was wrong to suppose that they had received work which might have been done for her. I beg your pardon.”

The apology was prompt and offered without a smile. Darcy had expected resistance and was left with an answer for which he had not prepared.

“But Mrs. Bell still has a leaking kitchen,” Elizabeth continued. “Knowing why the chimney has not been repaired does not explain why nothing was done to keep the rain out while she waited.”

“The work could not be completed without the mason.”

“I understand that. Could no one cover the damaged part?”

Darcy looked at her.