“Whereismyniece?” thundered Lady Catherine de Bourgh. She had given up waiting in the drawing-room and now roved each of the downstairs rooms like a pirate searching out booty. The library! No. The sunroom, the breakfast room, the gallery, the green parlour… no, no, no, no! “What do you mean, her maid is not available? Unconscionable! Let me tosomeonewho knows where your mistress is to be found!”
A goodly number of Darcy’s staff trailed along behind her, each offering cheerful suggestions as to Miss Darcy’s favourite haunts about the large London house. None proved fruitful. Outraged, she charged the stairwell to begin pillaging the family’s private quarters.
“Miss Darcy allus slept down theh, m’lady,” a rather cockney young cook’s assistant gestured to the third room in the western wing. “She’uhd hev me bring her cuppa in tha moarnin’s.”
Lady Catherine glared at the audacious little snippet. “Howdareyou presume to directme!Go back to your kitchen, you insolent wench! I think I know my way around my own nephew’s house!”
“Jest as yer laydeyship pleases,” the girl’s face glimmered with insubordinate merriment as she bobbed her curtsey and withdrew.
“Of all the cheek!” the fine lady shouted at the retreating figure. “You will never work in service again! Heaven and earth, that you should evendareto come above stairs, and in the presence of nobility! I shall have personal words with my nephew!” It did little good to shout further, as the young scullery maid had vanished without further sass.
The three other maids, their heads tipped reverently, immediately touched their fingers to their mouths. Lady Catherine eyed them cynically, assuming they, at least, were offering her wordless assertion thattheywould not presume to talk back to nobility. Glowering, she flung open the door to the room indicated. Not only was it devoid of the presence of any young lady, but the furniture was shrouded and looked as though it had not been in use for some time.
Irate, she spun around to face the staff assembled behind her. The eldest of them, standing somewhat at the front of her peers, perked in a little inspiration.
“I just remembered, your ladyship, Ma’am,” she dipped a curtsey. “Miss Darcy was moved to another room last summer when she returned from Ramsgate. It was near the master’s. If you would follow me, Ma’...”
“I know where the master’s chambers are!” the great lady fumed and stalked toward the other wing. She proceeded to examine every room, asserting her rights as family to search out her disobedient young niece. How dare that girl presume to hide from her! Boiling in anger, the great lady, at last, approached the master’s chambers. She reached for the door to cast it aside, but Darcy’s butler materialized out of thin air.
“I have my orders, my lady.” Drake bowed respectfully. “No one is ever granted access to the master’s private quarters, nor to his private study. I regret I cannot allow you to enter.”
“I override your orders! Stand aside. You cannot dare deny access to a peeress!”
“I regret that I must if I wish to keep my place, my lady. It is Mr Darcy to whom I answer and none other. I apologize to your ladyship, but my master’s orders are quite inflexible on this point.” He clasped his hands behind his back so that it might never be said he had laid a hand on a noblewoman, but his towering figure froze as an immovable statue.
“Yousaid you would find my niece!” she roared. “Where is Georgiana Darcy?”
The man’s face clouded. “Miss Darcy is not here, my lady. I believe I promised your ladyship that we wouldsendfor her at your ladyship’s command. It will be at least a full day before I receive any word back.”
“Sendfor her? Why then did your staff send me on this wild goose chase if she is not here?”
“I beg your ladyship’s pardon.” The butler dipped his head apologetically. “I believed they understood your ladyship wished to know of Miss Darcy’s most frequented rooms so that your ladyship could ascertain all was properly in order for a young lady of her station.”
“In order!” she snarled indelicately. “I want to see my niece! Where is she?”
“In point of fact, my lady, I cannot say precisely where Miss Darcy is. She is with her guardian, Colonel Fitzwilliam.”
Lady Catherine screwed her mouth tightly in outrage. “Well, then! I shall know how to act. I am mostseriouslydispleased with the performance of this household. Shameful, scandalous that the halls of George Darcy should fall into such disgrace!”
She spun about on her heel, and the elegant noblewoman swooped down the stairs where her pale daughter rested. “Anne! We are leaving at once and without Miss Darcy! I shall speak to my nephew most severely regarding theabominablelack of decorum displayed by his staff! Anne! Attend me at once!”
Anne, who had been reclining with a cool cloth over her eyes and Mrs Jenkinson carefully dabbing her forehead, groaned lowly. She moved to sit up, faltered dramatically, and was caught by Mrs Jenkinson.
“Anne! Exert your willpower, girl!” Lady Catherine swept to the front door. With a glare at the footman, she floated gracefully through to her waiting….
“Where is my carriage!” Her driver was loitering in some embarrassment upon the curb, his hands clasped behind his back, but the horses and carriage were nowhere to be seen. Vitriol and savagery radiating from her, she pounced upon the poor reddening man. “Masterson!What have you done with my carriage?”
“Begging your ladyship’s pardon,” he faltered, his eyes returning to Drake, who had followed her. “Mr Darcy’s coachman, he noticed a cracked leaf spring. We cannot possibly go on. It would mean certain disaster….”
“A cracked leaf spring!My carriage is perfect! It is of the most expensive make available, and my man assures me there is no finer in all of Kent!”
The man panted a little, still darting his gaze nervously to the butler, hoping for his support. “Y-yes, my lady, only… well, we did hit that rut on the road...”
“That was your fault!”
“...and it has been a good six or seven years since your ladyship authorized a full restoration….”
“Unnecessary! Bring the carriage at once! Cracked leaf spring, indeed! I’ll have no more of this nonsense, Masterson! I am leaving for Hertfordshire this minute!”
