Page 6 of The Secret Diary of Anne de Bourgh

“Darcy. Mrs Darcy. Pray allow me to congratulate you on your marriage. I am sorry that my mother refused to allow us to attend,” I said a little stiffly, intimidated by all the people in the room. Darcy exchanged a glance with Elizabeth, and then she disengaged her arm from his and crossed the room to me, taking the seat Richard had just vacated.

“Well, you must not call me Mrs Darcy, we are family now. Call me Elizabeth, or Lizzy if you prefer, that is what my sisters and Georgiana call me.”

“And I beg you will call me Anne.” She smiled at hearing her name from me.

“I understand you are ill, Anne? The Colonel’s express bade us bring Doctor Barnes with us...”

Richard had stood when the Darcys entered the room, and as Elizabeth came to me he drew Darcy and the two doctors aside, speaking rapidly in low, harsh tones.

I am ashamed to confess that even with both Elizabeth and Charlotte present, I panicked when the doctors wanted to examine me and I screamed out for Richard. He came in at once, still holding his sword.

“Don’t leave me!” was all I could get out, through the short, panicky breaths I could not stop, and he was at my side at once, sheathing the sword and taking my hand.

“Anne needs me here,” he said to Elizabeth, “I’ll turn my back, but I cannot leave her. I think she does not trust anyone but me.”

Elizabeth by now had seen my wrists, and she nodded in understanding. “Colonel, it is fine. I do not think anyone need fear for Anne’s reputation, with Mrs Collins and myself present. If Anne needs you then you must stay at her side.”

With Richard’s huge, warm hand holding mine, even though he sat beside the bed with his back turned to me, I felt strong enough to let the doctors look at me. Dr Barnes put a knotted piece of string around my waist, my arms and various spots on my body, counting knots and writing in his notebook. He consulted Dr Spears over the figures he had written.

“Am I going to die?” I asked. I had only just admitted to myself that I wanted to live.

“Certainly not!” It was Dr Spears who spoke, and he came to my other side and took my hand in his. “Miss de Bourgh, I see no reason why you cannot make a full recovery, with nothing more than proper diet and exercise. Dr Barnes and I are only distressed that this has been done to you at all. You must be a strong young lady, despite your apparent frailty; a lesser woman would have died years ago.”

“Sometimes I wish I had,” I said. Elizabeth put her arm around me.

Richard’s hand tightened over mine. “Are you finished? May I turn around?”

“Yes, Colonel, we’re finished,” Spears said, and Richard turned and drew me against him. For a moment I could not say anything.

Charlotte quietly led the two doctors from the room.

“What now, Colonel?” Elizabeth sat down on the edge of the bed, and Richard let go of me, laying me gently down against the pillows.

“We must wait for my father. Legally he is Anne’s co-guardian with Lady Catherine, and we will need his consent to remove Anne from Rosings because she is still under age.”

Hooves and wheels outside announced a carriage, and Elizabeth went to the window. “Not your father, Colonel,” she said. “A little gig – oh – I think that perhaps it is the local doctor.”

I could not help a little cry of terror, and at once Richard was on his feet, looming over me. “He won’t be coming anywhere near you!” Gathering his sword from where he had laid it on the floor by the bed, he looked sharply at Elizabeth. “Do not leave her alone!”

“I should not dare,” Elizabeth said, sitting beside me. “Charlotte is here too. We shall stay until he has gone.”

“I have never seen Richard look so angry,” I said. “He frightened me.”

“He is angry with Thornely,” she said. “William is angry too. They have both heard what the doctor did to you.”

“Darcy could not have known,” I said. “He was careful to avoid any visit Mother might use to force a marriage.”

Elizabeth glanced towards the door. “He wishes he had asked more questions. Richard does too.”

“They need not reproach themselves,” I said. “I never found the courage to tell them.”

“That is no fault of yours,” she said. “You told Richard yesterday, and he listened.”

I wanted to answer, but Charlotte came back into the room. She left the door ajar, and Elizabeth and I went to stand beside her.

“If you could have heard her, Darce, saying she wished she had died – she quite broke my heart,” Richard was saying.

“The poor girl! If only we had seen... wait, here they come!”