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Georgiana bit her lip, wondering what to say to Mr and Mrs Bingley. She could not reveal, not before Lady Catherine, that Lizzy had gone in the carriage, unaccompanied, with an ill Fitzwilliam. Neither could she allow Lizzy’s relations to believe her to be wandering the streets alone in London. But saying anything at all proved unnecessary—at least in the moment.
“Why, Miss Bennet has gone home—somewhere in Hertfordshire, I believe. Mr Frost, our coachman, put her on the post himself,” Mrs Taylor interjected.
“The post!” Mrs Bingley cried with obvious alarm. “Alone?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Mrs Taylor added with decided bravery, “Upon her ladyship’s orders.”
Though Lady Catherine squawked at this revelation, Georgiana knew it to be kinder than the truth. The colonel was furious.
“How could you? Without even sending a maid to accompany her?”
“One could not be spared,” Lady Catherine replied with a condescending lift of her chin.
“My father will wish to know why you have subjected our guest to such treatment. Are you lost to every feeling of propriety and delicacy?”
“I do not answer to you or your father!” She spun on her heel, giving him her back.
“But, my lady, what about—” the doctor began.
“Shut it,” she snapped and flounced from the room.
“Your services are obviously no longer required at Darcy House, Donavan,” Colonel Fitzwilliam declared once she was gone. “You may take up your bill with the one who hired you.”
The doctor looked as though he dearly wished to argue, but though her cousin’s tone had been even, there was warning in it.
“I will collect my things. I do not take my leave of you,” he sniffed, stalking out.
An awkward silence descended. Colonel Fitzwilliam scrubbed his hands through his hair. “Apologies are weak, Bingley. I only just arrived to find the house in an uproar. Please, let us sit. Perhaps Miss Darcy can apprise us of what has happened here.”
Although Mr and Mrs Bingley sat, there was an obvious restlessness to the one and the large blue eyes of the other were tear filled.
“A report of the most alarming nature reached us from Miss Darcy,” Mr Bingley said. “Louisa forwarded it along with an earlier letter from Miss Bennet, and we came at once upon receiving them.”
Richard’s brow furrowed, and he directed a glare at Georgiana. Instead of wilting, as she usually did at every sign of her family’s disapproval, she only felt a deep measure of aggravation.
“You departed Ramsgate without leaving me the least idea how to reach you,” she said, answering his look.
“I thought you with my parents,” he grumbled.
“Yes, well, they thought it best to leave me in Ramsgate with my companion, where I met Miss Bennet quite by chance. Her visit to my neighbour there was concluding, and I persuaded her to come to me instead, as she is the dearest girl in the world. Then Lady Catherine came and took us here, with my brother, who she proceeded to torture with her awful doctor’s vicious treatments. I was desperate to reach someone who might help, and Mr Bingley has always been a friend to him. I did direct Mrs Taylor to try to find you, too, although you made yourself so scarce.”
Her cousin’s glare did not recede. “I received her message after a bit of delay, and it was the only action required. No offence intended, Bingley, but this is a family matter.”
Mr Bingley spoke with some annoyance. “No offence taken. However, you have, or had, a member of my family here, in a situation I could not like. Whilst I meant to see Darcy if I could, my first objective was to ensure my sister’s wellbeing and bring her away with us.”
Georgiana was disappointed in his response, even while understanding it. All his concern was for his new family, plainly wanting no part in protecting her brother from his relations. But Elizabeth had suspected he could not stand against the earl, whether he wished to or not.
At Mr Bingley’s words, however, the colonel seemed to deflate, scrubbing his hands through his hair again and sighing. “Yes, yes, you are correct, of course. My father—” He hesitated, as if weighing his words. “It is a delicate time. Not all the earl’s plans are, perhaps, in everyone’s best interests. Specifically, he desires a match between Georgiana and myself to take place immediately, a match to which Miss Darcy and I are both opposed.”
Not that he has asked me one way or the other,she thought. But she was most definitely opposed now.
“I rejoined my regiment to put some distance between us, giving Darcy time to recover, but the earl has been hounding me from afar. Thus, I recently accepted an assignment that takes me out of England for a few months.” He met her eyes, then Mr Bingley’s. “I sail within the week.”
* * *
The hours passed slowly, Lizzy’s anxiety growing stronger with every mile. At the journey’s beginning, and as worried as she was about Mr Darcy’s painful wounds, the threat of pursuit by the colonel seemed the greatest danger. It could not be difficult for a high army officer to recruit men to ride after them, especially since it seemed to take forever to navigate through London traffic at their snail’s pace, in a carriage which must be well known to Colonel Fitzwilliam.
But once beyond town, travelling as quickly as possible, only stopping as needed for the horses, the journey still seemed far too slow. Mr Darcy worsened as the day dragged, ever more feverish, ever less aware…and finally, out of his head. After a particularly vicious bump nearly threw him off the seat, which required her to clutch against his poor back, he lashed out a glancing blow to Lizzy’s jaw that nevertheless hurt dreadfully. When Frost and James discovered what had happened at the next stop, James joined them within, attempting to hang onto and quiet Mr Darcy by turns while she watched his sufferings from the facing seat.
