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“Or help her move what the water could spoil? She has been shifting flour and pans with a little boy. There must be something between repairing a chimney and leaving her to manage until a man is free.”

A reply came readily to him and was useless. He could tell her that the estate employed competent men, that Hammond had served his father, that a gentleman could not stand in every cottage during a shower. None of it would answer the question she had asked.

He sat down at last.

“Mr. Hammond will tell us what has been attempted.”

Elizabeth looked toward the window. Beyond it the gravel was drying in patches beneath a weak afternoon sun. The rain had ceased, which made it disagreeably easy to suppose that the inconvenience had ceased with it.

Darcy took up a clean sheet of paper.

“You need not remain, Miss Bennet.”

“I should like to know what Mrs. Bell may expect.”

“I will tell her.”

“I did not mean to suggest you would not.”

He looked up. She appeared to hear her own words as he had heard them; a little of the confidence left her face.

“I am sorry,” she said. “I have spoken too warmly.”

“You have spoken very plainly.”

“Not always. I am attempting to improve that.”

He could not determine whether she intended an allusion to something else. Before he could ask, Hammond arrived, carrying the small book in which he noted the estate’s immediate business.

The steward had left his Sunday coat on. Darcy was conscious of having summoned him from his own household and would have preferred a better reason than an omission which should already have been noticed.

“Mrs. Bell’s chimney,” Darcy said. “When did you last see it?”

“Thursday, sir. The joint beside the stack has opened further. The mason examined the upper stonework last week and said it must be made sound before he finishes the joint. I have spoken to him twice since then.”

“When will he come?”

“He expects to leave the mill tomorrow. I told Mrs. Bell I should send word as soon as I knew.”

“The water put out her fire last night.”

Hammond’s expression changed. “There was a damp mark beneath the joint when I called. Nothing like that. I thought we should have it finished before the next heavy rain.”

“What protection has been put over the damaged place?”

“None, sir. While it was only staining the plaster, I thought we might wait for the stonework. I ought to have reconsidered when the joint worsened.”

Darcy laid down the pen.

“We cannot continue to wait upon his work at the mill.”

“Yes, sir.”

Miss Bennet remained quiet. Darcy was grateful that she did not add anything to make the admission more uncomfortable.

“Send the carpenter to look at it this afternoon,” he told Hammond. “Let him determine what can be covered safely until the stonework is repaired. I do not want men climbing upon a wet roof without examining it first, or any covering laid across an open flue.”

“I understand, sir.”