Page 68 of Mr. Darcy’s Diamonds

The cousins took all available footmen and widened their search.

Two hours later, a boy who looked to be about ten trudged toward him through snow nearly up to his waist.

“Mr. Darcy, sir! Be you looking for Miss Darcy, sir?”

“Yes! Have you seen her?” Darcy recognized this as one of the Turner boys, one of his tenant families.

“She be at our cottage, sir.”

“Is she well?”

“Yessir. She be caught in the storm, but Papa saw her and brought her home.”

Darcy sent up a quick prayer of thanksgiving.

“Thank you, young Mr. Turner. Would you like to hop up on my horse for the return to your cottage?”

The boy’s eyes lit up. “Thank ye, sir!”

Before helping the boy up, Darcy fired two shots into the air, the signal that his sister had been found.

When Darcy entered the Turner cottage, he found Georgiana and Mrs. Turner chattering away without a care in the world. They both stood in the small room, and he went to his sister to embrace her with relief.

“Are you well?”

“Very well, Brother. Mr. Turner found me attempting to make my way home yesterday, but I could not see where I was going. And Mrs. Turner has been so kind to me. She made the most delicious stew, and she gave me the warmest bed. She talked to me so I would not be afraid.” Shyly she added, “It felt like…what I imagine it would be like to have a mother.”

As Darcy shared another embrace with his sister, he looked to Mrs. Turner, who watched them fondly.

“Thank you, Mrs. Turner. Thank you for saving my sister’s life. Is Mr. Turner here?”

“He be out checkin’ on the animals, sir.”

“Well, I thank you both most heartily. Consider your next rent forgiven.”

“We need no such reward sir. We only did what was right.”

“Again, I thank you.” Darcy would speak with his steward about arranging some recompense. They deserved it all the more for not having expected it.

Once he had Georgiana settled on his horse in front of him, she told him all about her adventure with frequent praise for the Turners.

As soon as everyone was returned and warmed after searching for Georgiana and she had gone to her sitting room to read, Darcy paced his study and thought more about her experience.

The Turners and the Halls were two excellent families. Most of his tenants were people of good character. Would high-society gentlemen and ladies leave their homes in a snowstorm if they saw a glimmer of what might have been a person walking by? That was apparently what Mr. Turner had done. He was not even sure anyone was in danger, but he had been good enough to investigate and had found a shivering Georgiana, lost.

Did it matter where people were born or who their parents were? Society said yes, but why? What difference did it make?

For the distribution of wealth? Aunt Catherine had wanted him to marry her daughter to consolidate a vast fortune. He had refused because money had not been important enough to him to accept an unhappy alliance.

Did birth matter for the distribution of power? Viscounts and earls married the daughters of earls when they could. Fathers could then exert influence on their sons-by-marriage. Or sons could gain the support of their fathers-by-marriage. What a flawed plan. Whatever happened to voting one’s conscience?

If he were to marry Elizabeth, he would retain his freedom. He would not gain any power or wealth, but he would not lose any, either.

Darcy stopped before the window and let his gaze travel toward the snowy woods in the distance.

Why else did his family care who he married? He could understand it would be ill-advised for him to make an alliance with an uneducated dairymaid or peasant off the streets. Those girls could possibly have decent morals but would have no education and no refinement to pass on to future generations of Darcys. Elizabeth was not like that at all. She was a gentlewoman in every way, or at least she had been since she was an infant. Her own mother had been a gentlewoman and surely gave her a good start, as well.

Perhaps birth was not so important. Richard had lost out on inheriting his father’s earldom only because he had been born second. Was he any less valuable than Blakely? Of course not. He had less wealth and power, but he had always been Darcy’s closest friend and staunchest supporter in everything.