Page 82 of The Crown’s Gift

The Queen wrote that she had assured him Sir Thomas did.

Sir Thomas stopped reading.

Lady Bennet took the page when his hand lowered. Her voice softened as she finished aloud.

His Majesty remembers not only the life preserved that day, but the family whose fear he witnessed afterward. He hopes your daughters prosper. I was pleased to tell him they do.

Silence filled the room.

The King had not died, but the man who had laughed over a sugar plum in Meryton and later placed a sword upon Thomas Bennet's shoulder at his knighting was slipping beyond the reach of gratitude.

Sir Thomas went to the window.

Elizabeth laid a hand on his arm. "Papa."

"I delayed answering his last letter for two months because Morris and I disputed a grain account. I thought there would be time."

"There may still be."

"Yes."

He did not use hope to deny the fear.

Darcy remained near the door, giving the family space. Sir Thomas looked toward him.

"You came to walk with Elizabeth. Do not allow an old man's sentiment to consume the morning."

"The morning is yours, sir."

"No. Help us answer before you go, if you will. Elizabeth has waited long enough for her morning."

Lady Bennet crossed to her husband and took his hand. "We shall answer together. I remember everything the Queen wore."

"That will comfort the King."

"Do not laugh. He liked my peacock ribbon."

Sir Thomas laughed anyway, but he raised her hand to his lips.

Darcy and Elizabeth left through the terrace doors.

For a while they walked without speaking. The park was fresh after rain. Oakham Mount rose beyond the southern fields, its path curving through beech and oak.

"I am sorry for the King," Darcy said.

"Papa has known his illness worsened, but knowledge at a distance is tidy. A letter makes it real."

"My father's final illness was the opposite. I saw every decline and still believed the end impossible."

Elizabeth looked at him. "How old were you?"

"Two-and-twenty. Georgiana was eleven."

"You became master and parent at once."

"I tried. I mistook not failing for knowing how."

They reached the lower slope.