Page 69 of To Love And To Cherish
“That is not necessary. I can manage,” Miss Bingley replied.
But Georgiana would not be deterred. “It is no trouble. We dropped a book we were searching for, so we must return to the head of the stairs in any case. Come, let us go before it grows later still.”
Cornered by civility, Miss Bingley acquiesced. When they reached her bedchamber, they found the footman slumped in a chair, fast asleep.
Georgiana shook him. “Samuel, wake up. Miss Bingley needs to enter her room.”
The young man startled awake with a snort and leapt to his feet. “Beg pardon, miss.” He stepped aside, moved the chair that was blocking the doorway, and Miss Bingley swept into the room, closing the door behind her with a definitive snap.
Georgiana turned to Samuel. “How do you suppose that woman escaped her bedchamber?”
He grinned. “Several of the bedchambers have secret passages, Miss. The maids have been told they don’t need to keep them swept or dusted.”
She glanced at Kitty. “I had no idea there were secret passages at Pemberley.”
“I think we ought to tell your brother,” Kitty said. “If there’s a secret exit, he’ll need to block it before she tries again.”
The two girls walked down the corridor toward Mr. Darcy’s chambers. Kitty lingered a short distance behind to preserve their privacy.
Georgiana knocked. Her brother answered the door in shirtsleeves and breeches, his cravat and coat discarded. He looked instantly alert.
“Georgiana? Are you well?”
She explained the situation and ended, “Could her bedchamber have a hidden passage?”
He considered. “If so, it likely leads to the music room. Possibly behind the tapestry of the hunting party, the one with the Arabian horses you love.”
He glanced toward Kitty, then back. “I believe you’ve both earned the right to see this through. Let me fetch my banyan.”
Darcy returned, wrapped in a dark silk robe, and led them downstairs. In the music room, he lifted the tapestry. Behind it, there was a narrow, low-pitched door.
As they stood examining it, the door creaked open, and Miss Bingley stepped through.
She froze, surprised to see the handsome man standing before her, wearing a banyan, then smiled and purred, “Mr. Darcy... were you coming up to visit me?”
Georgiana coughed. Kitty giggled.
Miss Bingley turned, only to find the two girls staring back at her.
“No, Miss Bingley,” Darcy said coolly. “We came to ensure this door was locked so that you could not use it again to wander unescorted through the house.”
Kitty lifted her candlestick higher, illuminating the scene like a gleeful ghost-hunter.
“I will not be held captive in your house, sir,” Miss Bingley snapped.
“You are welcome to leave,” Darcy replied mildly. “It stopped raining three hours ago. If you prefer, I shall have the stable hands bring around your carriage.”
She huffed.
“Or you may return to your very comfortable bedchamber and depart in the morning. But you will not roam the halls. Nor come to my bedchamber.”
Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him. “You leave me no choice,” she said frostily. “I shall remain in my room.”
She vanished once more through the hidden door, like a figure from a Gothic novel, ghostlike in her translucent white nightgown and wrap.
Darcy examined the narrow passage. “It will need to be locked,” he said. Lacking a key, he looked around and settled on a solution. “We’ll block it for now.”
Between the three of them, they managed to drag a heavy settee across the opening.
