Page 155 of A Debt Inherited

“And leave you?”

“Yes.”

“That is a very convenient instruction for you to give.”

Darcy bowed his head, though she could not see it.

“Your return was the object of my coming.”

The wall held her silence.

“If you remain because I am detained,” he said, “you defeat that object.”

“And if I am discovered in the attempt?”

“Then you will have risked little more than they already intend. But if you succeed, you end their power over you.”

No answer came.

“You are not bound to me, Miss Bennet. You owe me no attendance, no risk, and no sacrifice.”

Darcy lowered his voice.

“If escape offers, take it.”

For several seconds, only the plaster answered him.

“I understand you,” she said at last.

Darcy exhaled slowly.

It was not assent. Neither was it refusal.

Chapter 54

Redbourn Heath, that evening

Kerr rode onto the bare ground behind the cottage without having seen a servant quit Longbourn.

No mounted man had taken the London road. No carriage had been brought round. All day, the house had held its stillness with an obstinacy he did not like.

Fear made noise. Even grief sent doors opening and shutting.

Longbourn had given him nothing.

He dismounted by the pump and stood a moment with the reins in his hand. Bennet had been given time enough to meet the demand. A father did not mistake a summons written in his daughter’s peril.

Unless he had not believed the threat.

Kerr looked towards the shuttered window. The girl remained within. She had value, but not the value he had intended. Bennet remained behind Longbourn’s walls.

Hooves struck the lane at a reckless pace.

Kerr turned.

Wickham rode in on a lathered horse, his coat darkened with sweat and road dust, his mouth set in a line Kerr had seen before and never trusted. He dragged the reins so sharply that the horse threw up its head and sidled against the wall.

Kerr did not move to help him.