“The young lady who was Lady Catherine’s guest may have need of your?—”
I had my coat halfway on and leapt out the coachwithout waiting for the step to be lowered, taking no more than ten long strides before making the door. What I then saw arrested my headlong rush, and I stood aghast. There before me was a wall of persons and a great clamouring of voices, demands to be attended to, and every manner of curses shouted to punctuate many voiced objections. Against the wall, pressed close by this vulgar crowd, stood Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
I tossed persons from side to side as I made my way to her.
“Miss Elizabeth,” I said, still panting from the effort and almost shouting to be heard over the noise. “Might I be of service?”
She looked up at me in bewilderment, pale and daunted, until the light of recognition reached her eyes. I did not know if I had ever heard her sound so small.
“Mr Darcy?”
“Might I be of service? Where are your people? Come, let us at least step out of this din.” I took her hand and pulled her behind me as we struggled towards the door.
We made our way outside, and though it was still afternoon, the light of the sun had been so obscured, torches had been lit, making halos in the misting fog in which we stood. I asked again, “Might I be of service, ma’am?”
“I believe I am in need of assistance, Mr Darcy, but I do not know what it is I should ask of you.”
“Where are your people?”
“I do not rightly know. I took a hired coach from the Inn at Hunsford…” She paused to search the yard for them before raising her troubled eyes to me.
“And your maid? Has she deserted you as well?”
She then lowered her gaze and quietly confessed to me she had no maid. “Charlotte intended to send a girl from the parsonage, sir, but Mr Collins declared they have too few to spare.”
By her sudden refusal to lift her eyes from the ground, I knew then that he blamedherfor my argument with Lady Catherine. Had I not been acutely aware of the escalating shouts from within, I would have apologised for being the cause of this slight. Instead, I thought only of what to do for her in that moment.
“Did you have two or four horses?”
“Just the two, with two men. I went inside and have not seen them for—oh, I do not know how long. I do not understand where they could be.”
“The roads are savage, and there has been a rush to find stabling until morning,” I said. “Unfortunately, this place cannot have more than a dozen hacks free at any given time and can likely only care for a dozen more.”
Ever ready, Carsten had been hovering on the periphery of this conversation. I turned to him and said, “See if you can locate Miss Bennet’s coach and her luggage, will you?” I turned back to perform an abbreviated introduction. “My valet, Mr Carsten. While we discover what can be done, it would be best if you sheltered in my coach. Is there aught you need just now?”
She shyly shook her head, and I led her between horses, carts, drays, and shouting grooms to my waiting coach.
“I am so muddied,” she said apologetically, as she eyed the step.
“I do not know of anyone who is not,” I said, gesturing to my own state. “Come, this is an uncomfortable business, but you must try, at least, to make yourself comfortable. There is a rug just there and a man on the box. You will suffer no mischief while I step away.”
A quarter of an hour later I returned to her, muddied to my knees and very likely filthy elsewhere, though I did not examine the state of my cuffs.
I stepped into my coach, took the seat across from her, and spoke succinctly, for this was not the time for ambiguous language.
“I am afraid we have few options, Miss Elizabeth. There are no rooms to be had, no horses either, and the crowd is becoming…uglier.”
“Oh,” she said quietly.
“I suggest we send your coach back to Hunsford, for the men have no will to press on, their horses are strained, and moreover, they are unprepared to protect you should they become mired. I cannot recommend you turn back with them, but if that is your wish, we shall follow behind until such time as I see you safely at the parsonage.”
“I have no wish to go back and even less so, if doing so would force you to change your plans. Is there any hope of going forwards?”
“My coachman suggests we make the attempt. The roads will be less travelled at this time of day, and now, after so many have become stuck here with horses that can pull no longer, we may find the going slightly easier. My team is still yet fresh enough to try for Bromley.”
“Let us do that, sir,” she said earnestly.
“Very well. I shall have my horse saddled.”
