Page 21 of The Servants’ Matchmaking

Sarah's colour rose, a quick, telltale flood up her neck. "Mr. McKeever told me his master meant to speak honestly. That is all."

"And how did you come to discuss his master's honesty?"

"We met in the stillroom passage."

"By accident?"

"The first time."

Jane covered a cough that sounded like laughter. She did a very poor job of hiding it. Elizabeth waited. She had learned that Sarah, given enough silence, would fill it.

Sarah lowered her eyes. "Mr. McKeever observed that Mr. Darcy watched you. I observed that you noticed him back. We thought neither of you understood the other very well. We meant no harm by it, miss, truly."

"The pavilion was harm."

"The rain was harm, miss. We only marked a book and mentioned a dry terrace." She said it so reasonably that for a moment it almost sounded like an excuse worth having. It was the same defence McKeever had offered his master, word for word, near enough, as though they had rehearsed it together over the boot-blacking. It had the singular merit of being true, which made it very hard to argue with.

"No more arranging walks."

"No, miss."

"No messages in my name."

Sarah looked startled, genuinely so. "Never."

"No lies of any kind."

"That was our rule already."

Elizabeth stared at her. Sarah realised, a half-second too late, that the phrase had betrayed a prior agreement. She closed her mouth with an audible click of teeth.

"There are rules."

"Only those three."

"What is the third?"

"Do not risk a position for a romance that may not exist." Sarah said it like a catechism, something learned by rote and repeated at bedtime.

Jane's expression softened. Against her own better judgment, Elizabeth felt her irritation lose its grip.

"That is a sensible rule."

"Mr. McKeever made it."

"Then he is wasted on Mr. Darcy."

Sarah's smile slipped out, quick and unguarded. "I do not believe so, miss."

The door opened before Elizabeth could answer. Caroline entered without a knock, as she always did, as though knocking were a courtesy reserved for people she liked.

"Jane, you look much improved. Charles will be delighted. He has paced the lower hall into a new carpet."

"He has been very kind," Jane said.

"My brother is kindness itself." Caroline sat, smoothing her skirt with two precise strokes. "He is sometimes too ready to befriend people without considering how they may be received elsewhere."

Elizabeth heard the warning tucked beneath the compliment, sharp as a pin in a cushion. Jane either did not hear it or chose, with her usual grace, not to notice.