“Darcy, what is the cause of your smile?”
“I was recalling that disastrous dinner your mother contrived for us to attend.”
Richard laughed. “You were most diverting, cousin. I have not enjoyed an evening so well in a long while.”
Darcy cast a dark look at his irreverent cousin. “You are fortunate you were not the one under attack.”
“Tell me, has Mother set a date for the second dinner you agreed to attend?”
“That is entirely out of the question. I have already informed Aunt Helen that I shall be out of town. Lady Catherine has sent for me.”
“But we were only just there at Easter. What can she want now?”
“She writes the house is haunted.”
Richard cackled.
“Haunted? Has she finally lost her wits? Am I to accompany you in order to secure her a keeper? What is to become of Anne, unwell as she is, with Lady Catherine in such a state?”
“Her letter was perfectly coherent, Richard. I cannot imagine what is amiss, but I have been summoned. Will you come with me?”
Richard grinned wryly. “Gladly. It will spare me from any more of my mother’s designs.”
Both men laughed.
Chapter 6: A Distant Shore
Elizabeth stood apart from the scene, as if removed from it, watching the rector, Lydia, and Mr. Adams from a distance. Only a week had passed since Lydia eloped, and now she stood in church speaking her vows.
Elizabeth stood next to her father in the front pew of the church. Mr. Adams appeared scarcely older than a boy. How were such a young pair to succeed in a distant land? Had Lydia escaped ruin only to face a country where so many fell to cholera or malaria? Her sister was strong and full of vigor, but her slight husband appeared ill-fitted to withstand such trials, should illness overtake him.
Yet they were happy, looking forward to the future, and it was not her place to counsel them otherwise.
After the service concluded, her aunt and uncle, who had stood as witnesses, followed the couple to the register. When the names were entered, there were congratulations, embraces, and kisses.
Lydia was beside herself with delight. She skipped up to Elizabeth and said, “What do you think of my husband, Lizzy? Is he not a charming man?”
Elizabeth drew her sister into a close embrace. “Yes, he is, my dear sister. Mr. Adams is a fine-looking man, and he has a promising career.”
“And I am now Mrs. Adams,” Lydia said with a giggle. “Oh, how droll that sounds.” Then, still laughing, she added, “I am sure all my sisters will envy me, especially Jane, for now I take her place and she must go lower, for I am a married woman. I only hope you may all have half my good fortune.”
“I hope so, too, Liddie.”
“Jane surely will,” Lydia chirped. “She is five times prettier than every other woman in the neighborhood.”
Lydia clung to her sister. “Oh, Lizzy, I shall miss you all. I shall miss hearing Mamma declare that Jane cannot be so beautiful for nothing, or lament that we shall all end in the hedgerows.”
“You will carry your memories of us, and when you sail and begin your grand adventure, it will provide such constant delight that you will soon forget your sisters, seated in the drawing room, mending stockings and replacing cuffs and collars.”
One week later, on the fourteenth of April, Lydia’s family stood upon the East India Docks, in a throng of strangers. Elizabeth watched as her fifteen-year-old sister boarded the ship with her young husband. She forced down the thought she might never see Lydia again and kept her fears to herself as she held fast to her father’s arm.
She raised her eyes to him. He was in tears, but she could not weep. Her distress was too deep for tears.
When the ship drew away from the quay, they all waved. Lydia leaped and waved in return, radiant with expectation. She stood upon the brink of adventure, while Elizabeth foresaw only misfortune ahead. She clung to her father’s arm, silent and filled with dread.
That evening, it was a quiet company that assembled for dinner. A melancholy had settled upon them all. When the meal was concluded, the four retired together to the drawing room, and Elizabeth at last broke the silence.
“Papa, I am weighed down with foreboding. I cannot shake the feeling I shall never see Lydia again.”
