Page 195 of The Long Road Back to Yesterday

Bingley smiled. “So, you may think. Shortly after midnight, the household heard horses upon the drive. The sound grew louder until the coach appeared to stop directly before the house.”

He glanced around his audience.

“The gentleman went upstairs to a window overlooking the entrance. His friends remained below and called up to ask whether he could see anything.”

“And could he?” Kitty asked.

“He could. There was a black coach standing before the house.”

Georgiana looked at her brother, then returned her attention to Bingley.

“Someone asked whether there was a coachman. The gentleman answered that the box was empty.”

Kitty and Georgiana held hands.

“Then he stopped speaking. His friends called to him, but he did not answer. One of them finally went upstairs and found him still standing at the window, staring down at the coach.”

Bingley lowered his voice.

“The coach door had opened.”

Kitty waited.

“And then?”

“Every sound ceased.”

Bingley spread his hands. “When they finally opened the front door, there was no coach, no horses, and no visitor. There was only the empty drive.”

Kitty looked disappointed. “Mr. Darcy's was better.”

The room broke into laughter.

“I have been treated very badly,” Bingley said. “I provide a ghostly coach and am insulted for my trouble.”

“You should have put a coat on the doorstep,” Elizabeth said.

“Next time I shall.”

Kitty looked toward her father. “Papa, it is your turn.”

Mr. Bennet regarded the expectant faces around him. “I fear I cannot improve upon a dead woman returning a gentleman's coat.”

“You promised,” Kitty reminded him.

“Mr. Bingley promised for me, which is not quite the same thing.”

“But you did not refuse.”

Mr. Bennet conceded the point. “Very well. Mine has one advantage over the others. It concerns a gentleman who actually lived, and the story was being told throughout England within months of his death.”

That immediately silenced Kitty.

“His name was Thomas, Lord Lyttelton.”

Even Caroline looked up from her embroidery.

“One morning Lord Lyttelton told his companions that he had received a most unwelcome visitor during the night. A bird had entered his room and changed before his eyes into a woman dressed in white. She warned him to prepare for death because he had only three days to live.”