Page 77 of An Accidental Meeting
“Yes,” Elizabeth said. “Are these for me?”
“And your uncle. They came from the inn this morning with apologies for the tardy delivery. Summer is a very busy time for them.”
“It appears as though one of them was misdirected at first,” Elizabeth said, examining them. “Jane’s hand is usually very neat, but this is . . .” She opened the letter and began to read it, then broke the seal on the second.
When she glanced at Mr. Darcy, he frowned. “What is it?” he asked.
“Lydia has left Brighton.”
He chuckled. “I am aware.”
“That is what these letters tell me. Poor Jane, fearing Lydia lost and then not to have heard from us at all!”
Mr. Darcy stood and held out his arms in invitation. Elizabeth stepped forward to accept his embrace. “Your uncle sent an express to Longbourn when your sister arrived yesterday,” he informed her as he held her out at arm’s length. “If the messenger rode the mail coach, your family should soon have the news that she is safe, and then her letters and your own will quickly follow.”
Elizabeth held a hand to her heart. “Oh, Jane, what she must have suffered. Mamma will have been of no use at all. I hope Papa did not travel to London in search of the pair of them.”
“I admit that with all that has been happening I did not think to send anyone to inquire about your correspondence. I am sorry for that.”
Elizabeth considered this. Jane’s letters would have arrived a few days into their stay at Pemberley. She and the Gardiners would have all decamped immediately to Longbourn. “If we had read these letters earlier, if we had left, you would never have . . .” Although all had worked out for the best, the very notion of missing Mr. Darcy’s second, much improved proposal of marriage—she felt as stricken as if it had actually come to pass.
“Elizabeth,” Mr. Darcy said softly, “you did not leave, and your sister is safe. All is well.”
She took a deep breath and released it slowly. “My philosophy has always been to think of the past only as it gives me pleasure,” she said, “but . . .”
“Excellent advice, in its own way,” Mr. Darcy said with a touch of amusement. “But in this case we might as easily say that we ought not dwell on what never happened at all.”
She shuddered, leaned her head against his shoulder and nodded. “You are right, of course.”
He rubbed her back soothingly. “I often am.”
Elizabeth stood up straight and rolled her eyes. “Insufferable man.”
“Your insufferable man.”
Elizabeth assessed his weary posture. The men had all still been awake when she rose this morning. Uncle Gardiner and Mr. Bingley had returned to their chambers after breakfast. Judge Darcy’s rest had not been disturbed at all, so he had taken one of Mr. Darcy’s smaller carriages to Lambton to seeto Mr. Wickham’s incarceration. But Mr. Darcy was seeing to some final details, such as arranging for their letters to arrive at Longbourn as soon as possible.
“You ought to return to your rest,” she said gently as she gathered up the letters and handed them over.
“I have tried,” he told her.
“What is it that keeps you awake, then?” Elizabeth asked sympathetically. “Is it Lydia, Wickham, or . . .” She motioned to the bag filled with bags of coins that was propped up in the corner.
“I am trying to determine how to secure everything of particular value, now that everyone in the country seems to know that the D’Arcy goods are here.”
“Not the entire country,” she chided him. “County, perhaps . . .”
He chuckled. “It is a problem, though, securing so many items all at once. I cannot liquidate what does not belong to me and simply deposit the cash in a bank. I might be able to invest the coins, but as for the rest . . .” He rubbed the back of his head.
“Most of the items came in trunks?”
“Yes. As you know, I have the valuables we discovered in my largest safe, but I cannot remove all of Pemberley’s valuables to make room for more of the D’Arcys'.”
“Are the trunks in the attic?”
“Yes. I shall have to count them, but there are probably fifty of them.”
“And you cannot simply lock the attic?”
