“You do not disturb me. I should like to know. Your friend, Nancy, has she some trouble?”
She was clearly reluctant to speak. He was fairly certain there was a Nancy who was still in Bingley’s employ—was that the girl who had been helping tend to Georgiana? Of course, any shame attached to her would naturally result in her immediate dismissal. Little wonder Sarah was afraid to speak.
“Sarah, please trust me. Has someone disgraced your friend Nancy? I would like to try to right any wrong done to her.” He spoke gently, hoping to encourage her to confide fully in him.
A tear began to tremble at the corner of the girl’s eye. When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. “There’s a bairn, sir, born last year. Nancy has to pay a woman in the village to watch him and to stay quiet.”
Darcy pressed his lips together. “Thank you, Sarah. I will see to it that Nancy has the provision she requires. You need have no fear for her.” The girl stared wide-eyed at him in shock. In sudden inspiration, he thought to ask, “Are there any others who have suffered under your old master?”
Beginning to relax somewhat, she nodded, hesitantly. “T’is not in that way… my brother. My father was one o’the farmers, but he took sick a couple of years ago. Mr Benson ‘victed us when my father could not pay the rent. My brother tried to pay him back, rent the farm again, but then Papa died, and Mr Benson would not heed.…”
“So, your family is without an income? How many are there?”
“Mama died just after Papa. John—my brother, Sir—he works some odd jobs for other farmers to keep my two sisters fed, but they’re not old ‘nough for work. I were lucky to be handsome enough for Mr Benson to take me on here, though I were young. I’ve been able to help a little.” The girl bit her lip, her embarrassment at her circumstances painfully apparent.
Darcy was filled with disgust. He had heard little of Bingley’s lessor, but the more he knew, the more revolted he was. He had always been ashamed of masters, members of his own class, who dallied with their servants; little more than girls, mostly, bullied into compliance. Hearing a first-hand account of one man’s ignominious ways made him feel a new contempt. Was this how the landed gentry were perceived in much of the kingdom? Heartless, profligate libertines who used and discarded people for their pleasure? The French gentry had been accused of such offences, and the result had been brutally cataclysmic. He wondered suddenly if Elizabeth lumped him in with that lot as well.
Gulping down his sudden ire, he forced his fingers to unclench. “Sarah, I am sorry to hear of your family’s distress. I will look into the matter. Please, have no fear that any harm will befall them because of your revelation. I have kept you long enough. Please excuse me.”
She nodded, surprise and doubt still written across her features. She picked up the snuffer that she had dropped when he nearly collided with her and scrambled away. Darcy sighed and resumed his trek down the hall, missing the creak of the nearest bedroom door as it closed softly.
CarolineBingleycrossedherarms and huffed in amazement. Always a light sleeper, she had been awakened by the voices outside her door. What she overheard made her head spin. What would cause Mr Darcy to take such a burden upon himself, to attend the cares of the servant class? It was far below his notice, shameful even that he should dabble in such concerns.
She feared the same influences she found alarming upon her brother were now swaying her own Mr Darcy.It’s those Bennet sisters! They flutter their lovely eyes, and the men swarm to them!What was it about Jane and Elizabeth that made men forget their place?
Caroline began to worry the notion about in her head. They were fair; it was true, but so coarse and vulgar! Had they been brought up in good society, they may have made passable ladies, but they could claim no elegance or refinement that she could discern. Then there was the insipid mother! And the younger girls, so insufferably wild! Caroline wondered at the father who had not troubled himself to control his family.
She sneered a little, remembering how at the ball, the haughty Miss Elizabeth had tried to champion that knave Wickham. She knew little of the man herself, only that Darcy disdained him. That was enough to satisfy her. It was proof enough of Elizabeth’s ill-guided notions that she would concern herself with a soldier of no account and no good family. She did not doubt that Miss Elizabeth would even associate among the farmers and tradesmen, as the girl obviously had no taste or discretion. To think that Darcy would be brought to such lowness should he marry her!
A pit of yawning dismay gnawed at her stomach. Elizabeth’s influence may already be too strong! Only moments ago, Darcy appeared concerned that someone would mistreat a servant girl… aservant girl!Why should he care what happened to a mere chit of a servant? And had she heard properly that Nancy had a child? Well! She must be dismissed immediately! To think such a girl should be tending Miss Darcy of Pemberley, right under her own roof, was shocking. What if word got out among their friends?
Caroline glided back to her bed; even in the privacy of her own rooms, she always practised the correct poise and comportment that should be expected of the future Mistress of Pemberley. It was surely only a matter of time, she comforted herself. Only one obstacle stood in her way, and she was confident that with a very little more effort, she could puncture the veil of Eliza Bennet’s allure.
Chapter 14
Darcydidnotevenbother knocking when he barged into Colonel Fitzwilliam’s bedchamber in the frosty gloom of morning. It was only fair, he thought in justification. It was no more than Richard had done to him the day before—though, perhaps, a bit earlier in the morning.
Grousing, Richard rolled over and tugged the pillow over his head. “Have a care, Foster! I had watch last night! Out, and do not wake me before seven hundred!”
Darcy snatched the pillow. “I’m not Foster, and you’re not with the Regiment. Wake up, Richard. I need to talk to you.”
Richard groaned, sat up, and stretched. “Cannot this wait? I am barely human before two stiff cups of coffee. You know that.”
“That matters little. I don’t need a human. I am accustomed to dealing with an orangutan. Richard—do you think me arrogant?”
Richard smirked wryly. “You march in here at an unholy hour and proceed to insult me? No, Darcy, you haven’t an arrogant bone in your body,” he growled sarcastically. “Now, can I get back to sleep?”
Darcy forestalled his cousin from flopping back on the pillow by sitting down on the bed beside him. “I am serious, Richard! Elizabeth told me I was arrogant and conceited. Is she right?”
“Of course, she is. Did you not know? Now, get off my bed.” Richard sleepily gave an ineffectual shove on Darcy’s shoulder. When it didn’t budge his cousin, he resigned himself to the lost sleep and sat up fully, rubbing his eyes.
Darcy felt as though he had been stabbed. “How?” he demanded. “I am fair and generous. I treat others honourably. I have never disgraced a woman, and I am indebted to no one! How can she claim I am arrogant?”
Richard rolled his eyes dramatically, slumping forward with comic flare. “Oh, Darcy, you cannot really think that is all there is to it? When was the last time you willingly conversed with someone beneath your station—someone who didnotpossess an enchanting wit and lovely dark brown eyes?”
Darcy looked pensive. “Only a moment ago, as a matter of fact. That is neither here nor there, though. What has it to do with my question?”
“Everything,” Richard sighed, peering back in his memory. “I remember Uncle George used to worry that you would be taken in by gold-diggers and flatterers. You were younger than I, you may not have been aware of it, but I remember him speaking to my father more than once about his concerns for you. I think,” he supplied softly, “he knew you would be master at a very young age.”
