"I suspected as much."
George looked entirely unrepentant. "I was improving the ship."
"So said every mutineer in history."
Mr Gardiner laughed aloud, whilst even Mrs Gardiner found herself smiling. Within moments the colonel had been drawn quite naturally into the children's game, inspecting the pirate ship with all the seriousness of an admiral reviewing His Majesty's fleet and listening with perfect gravity whilst Lucy explained the strategic importance of her pirate cave.
Throughout it all Darcy scarcely spoke. He offered the Gardiners every proper courtesy, yet his attention returned again and again to Elizabeth, who had risen when they entered but had not moved beyond the customary greetings. Their eyes met only once before she looked quickly away, and the hopeful expression with which he had entered the room faded.
Mrs Gardiner, who missed very little, observed both glances. Catching Colonel Fitzwilliam's eye across the room, she found he too appeared to have reached the same conclusion.
"Miss Lucy," said the colonel, setting down the wooden sword George had insisted upon lending him, "I have been told there is a garden attached to this house. Before I return to Berkeley Square I think it my solemn duty to determine whether your network of pirate caves extends beyond the drawing room."
Lucy gasped as though entrusted with a matter of the greatest national importance. "It does! And there is a pear tree."
"And a wall," added George. "Pirates can hide behind it."
"Then I cannot possibly neglect my inspection."
The children required no further encouragement. George seized one of the colonel's hands, Lucy the other, and together they began towing him determinedly towards the door. Fitzwilliam cast an expression of comic resignation over his shoulder.
"It appears, Mrs Gardiner, that I have been pressed into service."
"You have only yourself to blame," she replied, laughing. "You encouraged them."
"A tactical error, I now perceive."
Mr Gardiner folded his newspaper and rose. "Come, Colonel. If you are to inspect the fortifications, you shall require somebody who knows the ground."
"Excellent. Every military expedition profits from a reliable guide."
Mrs Gardiner gathered up her sewing more slowly. As she passed Elizabeth she rested a hand for a brief moment upon her shoulder. "I believe Cook wished to consult me about supper," she said with studied casualness. "You will excuse me."
Elizabeth looked up uncertainly, but her aunt's expression was so encouraging that she found herself unable to object.
One by one they disappeared into the hall. Lucy's excited chatter drifted back through the open door, accompanied by George's emphatic corrections, Edward’s solemn pronouncements and Fitzwilliam's perfectly serious enquiries as to whether pirates generally preferred pear trees to oak.
For some minutes neither of them spoke. The cheerful noise from the garden drifted faintly through the open window, Lucy's laughter occasionally rising above the others before being swallowed once more by the sounds of Gracechurch Street. It seemed extraordinary that the world should continue so peacefully whilst the two of them stood opposite one another, each uncertain how to bridge the distance that had grown between them.
Darcy had imagined this meeting countless times. He had composed speeches, discarded them, reconsidered every word he intended to say and found fault with each syllable. Now that Elizabeth stood before him, every carefully prepared sentence deserted him. She looked paler than he remembered and there lingered about her a reserve that had not existed at the Golden Goose. It grieved him to think that another man's wickedness had placed it there. And it hurt even more to think that some part of it might always remain if he failed to find the right words.
Elizabeth, unable to endure the silence any longer, attempted the smallest smile. "Your cousin appears a very agreeable gentleman."
"He is," Darcy replied, returning the smile only faintly. "He has always possessed the enviable ability to make himself welcome almost anywhere. It is a talent I have never succeeded in acquiring."
The attempt at ordinary conversation failed almost as soon as it had begun. Elizabeth lowered her eyes once more, smoothing an imaginary crease from her skirt.
"I confess," she said after a moment, "I had not expected to see you again."
Darcy looked up in astonishment. "How could you think such a thing, after… after everything?"
She shook her head, a sad little smile touching her lips. "I thought perhaps, once you had returned to London and reflected upon everything that happened at the inn, you had decided it would be simpler if we simply ended our former acquaintance."
He stared at her for a moment, scarcely believing what he had heard. "Elizabeth, the only reason I did not come to Gracechurch Street the very day I arrived in London was because I was searching for Captain Henderson."
The colour ebbed slowly from her face. She looked up at him with an expression of horror. "Searching for him?"
"Yes." He spoke with deliberate gentleness, as though fearful of causing her fresh pain. "Burke told me what happened after I left you that morning. Had I known it an hour earlier I should never have permitted Henderson to leave the inn, but by the time I knew the truth he was already gone. I came to London immediately, sent for my cousin and we have spent every day since attempting to discover where he was."
