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Elizabeth obeyed. The ivy fell in a coil beside the bowl. Its newest leaves were astonishingly bright. In any other circumstances she should have thought it beautiful.

Mrs. Reynolds brought a large basket to the table and took the scissors lying beside the baskets.

“What were you attempting?”

“To arrange flowers.”

The housekeeper glanced at her.

“Truly. One leaf was drooping. I only wished it a little less so.”

Mrs. Reynolds cut the spray below the rim of the bowl. The severed length remained upon the cloth. Elizabeth watched it while the housekeeper drew the remaining ivy from between the flowers and put it in the basket.

It did not move.

“I think it has stopped,” Elizabeth whispered.

“Then we shall not encourage it.”

There were now two asters leaning in opposite directions, a bowl nearly emptied of water, and more ivy upon the dining table than Elizabeth had selected from all the baskets together. She reached for a trailing end to help Mrs. Reynolds clear it away.

“Not with your hands, miss.”

Elizabeth snatched them back.

Mrs. Reynolds gathered the stems herself. She was lowering the last of them into the basket when the door opened and Caroline returned.

For a moment Caroline said nothing. Her eyes moved from the table to the basket and then to Elizabeth.

“I understood that Jane wished for two small arrangements.”

“So did I,” Elizabeth said.

Caroline crossed the room. “Where is the other bowl?”

Elizabeth indicated the one she had completed before touching the ivy.

“That will do very well. Mrs. Reynolds, have it placed upon the sideboard. We can use the small flower glasses from the drawing room upon the table instead. Three will be sufficient.”

The housekeeper looked toward Elizabeth.

“An excellent idea,” Elizabeth said, though she would have preferred almost any other person to propose it.

Caroline examined the wet patch upon the tablecloth. “And this must be changed before the silver is laid.”

“I shall see to it, Miss Bingley.”

“Thank you. If the footmen have brought any more greenery, they may take it back.”

“They brought precisely what was requested,” Elizabeth said.

Caroline raised her brows. “Then somebody was very ambitious.”

Mrs. Reynolds lifted the basket. Elizabeth longed to go with her, to see whether the ivy remained still and whether its leaves were as large as she remembered. She could not follow the housekeeper out while Caroline stood examining the wreck of Jane’s flowers. Nor could she explain that Caroline’s very sensible arrangements had spared them a much more difficult discovery.

“I am sorry for the additional trouble,” Elizabeth told Mrs. Reynolds.

“It will soon be put right, miss.”