Suspense & Sensibility

'You have my word, Chatfield. On behalf of both you and the countess, I shall do all I can.'

Now he just had to figure out what that was.

Nineteen

'I should be undeserving of the confidence you have honoured me with, if I felt no desire for its continuance, or no farther curiosity on its subject.'

— Elinor Dashwood to Lucy Steele,

Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 23

Delaford Parsonage

16 June, 18 —

Dear Mrs. Darcy,

Edward and I thank you for your letter advising us of our nephew Harry’s present circumstances. Far from considering your report officious, as you feared, we are grateful for your forthright account of recent events, and based on our acquaintance begun at Norland, trust as your motive in relating them the sincere concern for Harry’s welfare that his uncle and I share. Given the broken engagement between your sister and Harry, which we grieve but concur was necessary, your continued interest in his safety bespeaks an uncommonly generous, forgiving, and noble spirit.

As my sisters-in-law apparently wished to spare us the burden of receiving such unhappy news, we had not been aware of any alterations in Harry beyond what we ourselves observed when he visited Delaford last month. That his character has undergone so material a transformation troubles us deeply.

Whilst, as you know, we had little opportunity during Harry’s school years to develop a particular intimacy with him, the inclination he showed in recent months of establishing a stronger connection with his Dashwood relations leads us to hope that perhaps, as you suggest, some intervention on our part may provide a steadying influence. Perhaps also Edward’s years of ministry to his parishioners may enable him to offer counsel in a manner Harry will accept. Indeed, it sounds as if any attempt on our part to redirect him cannot make the current situation worse.

We believe it best to approach Harry in person rather than by post. As fortune would have it, my sister Marianne and her family depart with my mother for Kent in two days’ time. She and the colonel have offered us both transportation to London and the use of their house while in town. We expect to arrive Friday afternoon in St. James’s Street, where the Brandons and my mother will stay a se’nnight before continuing on their holiday. Edward’s duties shall also call him away at that time, though I will remain longer if I can be of use to Harry.

I shall call on you when we are settled to learn more about my nephew. Until then, I am –

Your most grateful servant,

Elinor Ferrars

Darcy handed the letter back to Elizabeth. Soliciting the aid of Mr. Dashwood’s aunt to prevail upon Harry had been her idea, one to which he, having no better plan for fulfilling his promise to Chatfield, had readily agreed. As Elinor Ferrars had expressed, little could be lost by the effort, and they could satisfy their consciences that every possible recourse toward reclaiming Mr. Dashwood — or at least, Phillip Beaumont — had been pursued. Mrs. Ferrars’s reply, however, had contained surprising intelligence.

'Mr. Dashwood visited them last month?' he said.

She refolded the note and set it beside the portable writing desk she’d been using in the parlor when the post arrived. An unfinished reply to Jane’s last lay on top. 'I intend to enquire after the particulars when Mrs. Ferrars calls, but apparently he indeed went to Devonshire, just as he claimed.'

Darcy shook his head. 'Impossible! I saw him in his own window during the period he maintains he was away.'

'You saw someone in the window. Are you quite sure it was Mr. Dashwood?'

'I made no mistake.'

'From two stories below? Come now, Darcy. Are you that infallible?'

'Yes.' Though he made the assertion in a confident tone, he reconsidered his memory of the sighting. The figure’s build, his height, his coloring — it had been Mr. Dashwood. 'Yes,' he repeated.

She regarded him skeptically.

'You do not believe me?'

'II you are certain, then I believe you.' Her expression growing pensive, she tapped her quill against the blotter. 'I merely contemplate that if it was, in fact, Mr. Dashwood standing in the window, we are hard-pressed to account for how he traveled to Devonshire and back so quickly. Delaford is three days’ journey from here, and your call at his townhouse perfectly divided the nine days he claims to have been gone.'

Confronted with the logistics, Darcy sought an explanation. 'He could have traveled straight through, stopping only to change horses.'

'A dangerous proposition. Visiting his relations hardly seems an urgent enough errand to warrant risking a midnight encounter with highwaymen. And even if he did travel at such a pace, the timing of your sighting means he had less than five days’ time on either side to make the trip there and back again. He would have been required to turn around directly he arrived, leaving him no opportunity to conduct whatever business took him there.'

'Assuming he left London and returned when he says he did.'

'He claims to have departed early on Friday the fourteenth and returned late the Saturday next.' She put aside her letter to Jane and pulled out a fresh sheet of writing paper. With a few dips of her pen, she sketched out a rough calendar. 'You called on Tuesday at what hour?'

'Half past three.'

She made a notation in Tuesday’s box. 'We know he returned Saturday because he came straight here, looking as if he’d just been traveling.'

'He could have returned earlier and made himself appear travel-weary for his call.'

'Regardless, we know he was in town by Saturday evening.' She wrote as much on the page. 'That’s closer to four days than five between your observation of him and his appearance here — simply not enough time for him to have made the trip after you saw him.'

'Then he must have left and returned before Tuesday afternoon.'

'He maintains that he departed Friday morning too early to take leave of Kitty. Even if he set out at some ghastly hour…' She scowled at her annotations. 'I simply do not see how it is possible. Besides, did not someone else claim to have seen him Friday night? That gentleman at your fencing club looking for Mr. Dashwood?'

'Longcliffe?' When Darcy had encountered him, he’d said he confronted Dashwood at the Pigeon Hole late the night before. 'Yes, Longcliffe’s meeting would have happened on Friday. I heard of it while waiting for Chatfield, and we meet on Saturdays.'

'His testimony curtails Mr. Dashwood’s travel period even further. And we have not even considered all the sightings of Mr. Dashwood that others reported that week.' She set aside her pen and rubbed her temples. 'Unless Harry harnessed an eagle to his carriage, I do not know how he managed the journey.'

'Mrs. Edward Ferrars arrives on the morrow. Surely additional information from her will enlighten us. If she calls as soon as she is settled, we can look for her perhaps as early as Saturday.'

So intensely did his wife study her paper that Darcy was not sure she heard him.

'Elizabeth?'

She withdrew a second sheet. 'I am not certain I can wait that long.'