“Yes, but if you fell, the traffic on the street would necessarily draw to a stop, blocking the carriages for hours, perhaps. I am certain that such a fastidious fellow as yourself would take issue with creating such a fuss.”
“You have judged me rightly, Miss Bennet. It seems that fainting off the back of the coach is not an option worth considering. I shall simply have to walk, and pray that starvation does not overtake me before I can re-join my cousin.”
“Where does he live, if I may be so bold?”
“Mayfair, but I dare not show myself again at his residence. He was to meet me at the park on Elm by two o’clock. That is just over an hour, which leaves not enough time to return to Gracechurch before meeting him. I hope he has been able to learn something from Wilson.”
“He is certainly an obliging fellow if he exerts himself so on your behalf.”
“He is, but I do not persuade myself that it is for my sake alone that he does so much.”
She pursed her lips, obviously curious, but unwilling to ask what he meant. “And if he has nothing to report?”
“Then I must find some means of biding my time until your uncle returns home and I am able to produce something to my own defence. Unfortunately,” he glanced around, “I cannot think of any home in which I could seek quiet refuge without being found out and harangued by someone connected to… well, it is nothing I ought to trouble you with.” He finished speaking and looked over her head, toward the street, scarcely suppressing a hiss of frustration. Of all the misbegotten, cursed woes, to be so helpless when the stakes were his very future!
She tilted her head. “Has it occurred to you sir, that not all prospects are so dismal?”
He arched an eyebrow in interest. “How so?”
“Sir, you give the impression of one who has always borne the weight of serious matters. Have you ever been forced to spend your time at idle pursuits?”
“I positively loathe such an imposition.”
“Oh, that will not do! Do you not know how to relax?”
“No.”
Her eyes widened at his blunt response, and she began to chuckle. “Well then, you must learn. No, do not scoff, I tell you this in all seriousness. My uncle Gardiner, industrious man that he is, suffered a health crisis two years ago. He works too much, you see, and I fear he is beginning to do so again. My aunt wisely insisted that he take a holiday to the Lake District, and he returned a different man. They now try to go somewhere every summer. I believe it did wonders for his health, for the simple fact that he was not able to set himself about his appointed tasks as he had been used to and was forced to look about for other amusements. He is now a proficient angler and finds it such an enjoyable means of passing the day that he has even shared his passion with me.”
“With you? You enjoy fishing?”
She flinched. “Oh, dear, I was not to speak that aloud. I hope you do not think me any more a hoyden than you did a moment ago.”
“A good deal less, in fact.”
She lifted a brow. “You intrigue me, sir, but let us not lose the point. Perhaps this crisis which you can do nothing about at present is Providence’s way of setting you down for a moment of perspective.”
“You have the most curious notions, Miss Bennet. You think that I ought to take leave of my troubles for the day? That is the surest way to see them multiply! I tell you, nothing would set my mind at ease so well as seeing this matter resolved.”
“But as you have already told me, there is little you can do, for you must wait on others. Why should you fret yourself into illness? Can you, by one moment’s worry, change what is beyond your control?”
“I can do all that can be done and rest in the knowledge that if I failed, it was not for want of effort,” he insisted.
“That you have already done. We have tried and failed to secure the witness from my uncle. There is nothing to do now but to wait patiently. Unless you are comfortable trusting to your luck without my uncle’s word, my advice to you, sir, is to take the opportunity to enjoy the day, perhaps in some activity you might not have otherwise done.”
“Such as what? You puzzle me exceedingly, Miss Bennet.”
“When was the last time you simply sat under a tree to read a good book? Or admired the rose hedges in the public gardens?”
His brow furrowed. “I was probably twelve.”
“There, do you see? You, sir, are too responsible.”
“This is a bad quality?”
She laughed, a joyful, artless sound he could have listened to for hours without tiring of it. “I am giving you sound advice if you will heed it.”
“You call it sound advice, to tell me that I must neglect my responsibilities?”
