“You can see redcaps?” Darcy was stunned.
She smiled ruefully. “I suppose I gave myself away. He was about to bite you. You see the fay as well, then?”
“Guilty as charged, although I have never spoken to one. What did you do to him?”
She held up her hand, showing a few iron filings clinging to her palm. “I put iron shavings under his shirt. He will not forget that quickly.”
“Do you always carry iron shavings?” he asked. Few people worried that much about encountering the fay.
She gave him an impudent smile. “Only when I think they might be useful.”
The little girl quavered, “Is it gone?”
“He is gone, Meggy, and he did not bite anyone.” Elizabethlooked up at Darcy. “Her brother was bitten by a redcap and is still very ill from the poison, so she is frightened of them now.”
Darcy frowned. Usually redcaps avoided people unless they were attacked. “Was your brother teasing the redcap?”
Meggy wiped away her tears, her grubby hand leaving a dirty streak across her cheek. “He wasn’t doing anything, just sitting by the hearth. He’s too old to see the fay, but I saw it.”
Darcy recoiled. “In your house? Do you not have wards to keep out malicious fay?”
Elizabeth made a face. “Lady Catherine has deemed it unnecessary to have the old wards renewed, except at Rosings itself, of course. She says fay folk will not come near a good Christian. Therefore, if anyone is troubled by the fay, it means they are not good Christians and unworthy of her protection.”
Darcy snorted. “That is ridiculous.”
“I know.” Elizabeth dusted the last of the iron filings from her hands. “Unfortunately, Meggy’s brother and the two other townsfolk who have been bitten are paying the price.”
“Three people have been attacked by redcaps?” asked Darcy in disbelief. “I have heard of recent fay attacks elsewhere, but here they always left people alone unless they were threatened.”
“No doubt that was true once. Something has changed, but I do not know what.” She wiped Meggy’s face clean with her handkerchief.
“Lady Catherine has said nothing about fay attacks,” he said, half to himself.
“I cannot think why. Even if no one has told her about the redcap bites, a man was killed by elfshot last month.” She sounded irritated.
“Meggy, I will make certain the wards on your house are renewed so you can be safe inside it.” What was Lady Catherine thinking to let the wards lapse?
“What do you say, Meggy?” prompted Elizabeth.
“Thank you, sir,” the girl whispered.
Elizabeth said, “I would appreciate it, too, especially as there is no wisewoman here to treat illnesses caused by the fay. The poisoned bites would not have become so serious if there were one, but Lady Catherine forced the last wisewoman to leave. Charlotte and I gave the boy some herbal simples, but it is not the same.”
Darcy’s mouth twisted. “A wisewoman? You mean a hedge witch?”
Elizabeth stiffened. “You may call them that if you choose,” she said coolly. “Meggy, perhaps we should go on instead of bothering Mr. Darcy.”
He did not want her to leave, especially not when she was unhappy with him again. “Wait! I did not mean to offend you.”
She thawed a bit. “Wisewomen are insulted by that term. Most of them have spent a lifetime learning their craft, and if they do live in the hedges, it is because mages have left them no other choice,” she said defiantly. “The wisewoman near Longbourn is very knowledgeable about healing and she has saved lives.”
“You are perhaps under misapprehension. I have no objection to hedge – to wisewomen as long as they do no sorcery.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “That is very generous of you.” This time there was definitely irony in her voice.
He did not want to be in conflict with her. Perhaps it would please her if he talked to the girl again. “Meggy, have you seen anything interesting here in the grove?”
The girl shook her head and buried her face in Elizabeth’s skirt again. Why was she frightened now?
