She guided the younger girl away toward the music room, Mrs. Hurst and her husband following in uneasy silence.
Richard and Bingley remained.
“We will be here,” Richard said quietly.
Darcy gave a brief nod before following Charlotte into the parlor, leaving the door standing open for propriety’s sake—although the notion of thinking of such things in such a dire moment nearly made him chuckle.
I must be losing my mind.
The moment they were alone he turned to her. “What has happened? Is Elizabeth safe?”
Charlotte looked at him steadily. “Eliza sent me a note asking me to bring it to you.”
Darcy took a step forward and reached out his hand. “Then give it to me.”
She did not move.
“I will,” she said slowly. “But first you must promise me something.”
Darcy stared at her.“What?”
“When you leave here,” Charlotte said, “you must take me with you.”
Darcy blinked in astonishment. “Miss Lucas—I do not understand.”
“I am seven-and-twenty years old,” she continued plainly. “I have no dowry, no prospects, and nothing awaiting me in Hertfordshire except a lifetime of dependence.”
Darcy said nothing.
“You need not take me immediately,” she went on. “But when you are settled in Derbyshire, have Elizabeth send for me. Allow me to come. I will find some position—perhaps as a companion or governess. Or even a husband in a place where I do not have to compete with the five beautiful Bennet daughters.”
Her voice remained composed, but something in her eyes betrayed a deeper desperation. “I only wish the chance to make a life somewhere beyond here.”
Darcy hesitated. “Of course I would help you—”
“No.” Charlotte lifted her chin. “I require your word.”
Darcy frowned. “My word?”
“As a gentleman,” she said firmly. “Promise me that you will help me leave Hertfordshire.” For a moment irritation flared inhim. Elizabeth might be in danger, and here Miss Lucas stood bargaining.
But then he looked more closely at her.
Beneath her calm manner lay something raw—something urgent and pleading.
Darcy understood suddenly that this request had not been lightly made.
“Very well,” he said quietly. “You have my word.”
Charlotte exhaled slowly, relief softening her shoulders. “Thank you.”
She reached into her cloak and withdrew a folded paper. “Here it is.”
Darcy snatched it from her hands.
The moment his eyes fell upon the hurried lines of Elizabeth’s writing, the color drained from his face.
He read it once.
