Page 47 of Till Death Us Do Part: Book 2
“Imagine the worst thing your aunt has ever said and double it, then further imagine her hurling it at someone who gives as good as she gets. It was… brutal, if I am honest. Lady Catherine is lucky she left with her hair intact.”
Darcy groaned. “Good Lord, between myself and my relatives, she must have felt trapped.”
Knight spoke up. “She did, sir. I spoke to her not long after that and offered her my sincerest apology, as I had come to my senses by then.”
“What did she do?”
Knight looked thoroughly abashed. “She stared at me for a moment as if she were measuring the worthiness of my soul and finding it wanting. After a good deal of that, she finally said, ‘I accept your apology,’ then turned and walked away.”
Darcy could see that Knight had expected more from the mistress, but whether the steward expected a tongue-lashing or a slightly higher level of forgiveness was anybody’s guess. He was a good steward, but between the two of them, they had the sense of a donkey and the temper of a badger.
Knight continued, “She spent the last month at the bookshop. She rode Omega out early every morning and came back late at night, much to Longman’s consternation. Then she was just… gone… like a puff of smoke.”
Darcy leaned forward in his chair and regretted that his pride would not let him wallow in his sorrow and weep. It might have been a fitting end to the discussion.
Instead, he rubbed his temples. “Have you looked for any clues in her room?”
“No sir. When we got the note, I did not want to violate her privacy and had no idea what to do if we did learn something. We discussed it and decided to just lock the doors and wait for your return.”
Darcy thought the action was probably as good as any other. “Well then, I suppose we should go take a look.”
17.Mistress’ Suite
Jennings opened the door to the mistress’ suite, and all four walked in to look around.
Darcy gasped in horror. “This looks just as hideous as my mother left it! It is worse than Rosings. I thought Mrs Darcy would redecorate it—not justmyMrs Darcy—but anyone with taste. I cannot imagine someone sleeping in it without nightmares.”
Jennings chuckled grimly. “I believe this is a message for us, and not a particularly subtle one.”
“Explain, if you would,” Darcy asked, feeling he was missing an important piece of the puzzle, or more likely several.
Mrs Reynolds replied, “Shedidhate the room on first sight. She had us swap all the furniture from the one down the hall that your sister redecorated into here. I asked her when she planned to redecorate in earnest, but she said she was perfectly satisfied. I tried not to read too much into it, but assumed it just meant she wanted to get her bearings before choosing how she wanted it to look permanently, or possibly she wanted to wait for your return, so she knew what her limits were—or—”
When she trailed off, Darcy looked carefully at her. “Or what, Mrs Reynolds?”
The housekeeper let out a great sigh, and mumbled, “Or if she would even live here. I am not convinced she considered it a foregone conclusion,” while staring at the floor.
Darcy ducked his head even further in shame and embarrassment, while truly feeling the crushing weight of humiliation for his own actions. He tried to imagine what his wife had felt but was not about to pretend he could understand. Was it ten times what he was feeling? A hundred? A thousand? He would never know, but he owed it to his wife, and to himself, to try his best.
Needing to do something positive rather than wallowing in guilt, he looked around and asked, “What happened?”
"She clearly moved everything back," replied Mrs Reynolds softly. She spent a moment looking around the room before continuing, "As far as I can tell, she put everything back exactly where it was the night she arrived."
Jennings added, “She must have used Noah and Molly to do the move in the middle of that last night. That is the only way she could get it done without my knowledge. I would have heard if she used any more footmen, or they did it during daylight. They could do it in two or three hours if they put their backs into it, and Mrs Darcy was not a wilting flower or afraid of hard work.”
Darcy looked around. “So… a message to me, and as you said, about as subtle as a razor-sharp axe.”
“Yes sir.”
Darcy looked around the bedroom and saw some small piles on the dressing table. He hurried across the room to examine them carefully, calling the others to join.
Knight said, “This first is another message,” and pointed to the pile on the left, which consisted of two ten-pound bank notes lying neatly atop each other, and a small handful of coins.
“If I am not mistaken, these are the two exact notes I gave Mrs Darcy for her first two quarters’ pin money. They both have a grease stain I got at the blacksmith. The coins add up to the exact amount I gave her to prorate her first eight days of marriage in December. It is all her pin money since her marriage, to the penny.”
Darcy clenched his teeth and grumbled, “I am of a mind to take all responsibility on myself, Knight, but in a less forgiving mood, I would say that was badly done—very badly. I instructed you to pay her pin money, but I do not recall suggesting you humiliate her—though I suppose that might be one of my many lost memories.”
Knight looked at the ground. “I have been kicking myself for that for months. She came here as both a vulnerable young woman and the mistress, and I did not respect that. I can offer no excuse. I will tender my resignation.”
