“Had your father any notion of their fate?”
“He most certainly did. My mother had opposed the sale, and he accused her of having hidden the statuettes or given them away. If she did, it was the one time she ever defied him. But he never found them, and he resented the loss of those ivories to his dying day. I think he complained about them to my poor brother even more than to my sister or me. He often said that my mother had robbed Frederick of part of his inheritance.”
“Did Frederick share that opinion?”
“I think he doubted her capacity to resist my father’s will. She bore a great deal from him. His presence in this house was so strong that it eclipsed hers. While she lived, the house reflected my father’s taste, not hers, and after she died hardly anything retained her influence. Her apartment went untouched, but her favorite garden gave way to a pinery, and even her portrait was removed from the drawing room. Very few of her effects remain — we have, for instance, no letters written to or from her such as you were so fortunate to discover at Pemberley. I should like to see them, if I might.”
“Of course,” Darcy said. He paused as a thought struck him. “In fact, given the interest Frederick’s imposter had in them, perhaps you would like to read them sooner rather than later. Your better knowledge of their author might enable you to discover something in them that my wife and I cannot. Would you care to come to Pemberley?”
Henry readily accepted, and they fixed upon a date in the near future. Darcy would have invited Mr. Tilney to accompany him back to Pemberley immediately, but when he departed Northanger on the morrow he would head south, not north.
He had one more stop to make.
There was a scarcity of men in general, and a still greater scarcity of any that were good for much.
“Dr. Severn has arrived, ma’am.”
Elizabeth almost poked herself with her needle. Her lying-in was not anticipated for another several weeks, and she doubted the physician had suddenly developed such interest in her as to journey to Derbyshire early just to lend his support. She would sooner credit him with intending to disrupt the impromptu concert to which Georgiana presently treated her and Lady Catherine in the music room.
“Dr. Severn? I did not send for him.”
Georgiana’s hands stilled on the pianoforte. “I did.”
Elizabeth directed a questioning gaze toward her.
“I wrote to him the day your leg failed.” Georgiana rose and crossed the room to Elizabeth’s side. “Please do not be angry. Had I not, and something unfortunate happened, my brother would never forgive me.”
She could not resent Georgiana for her concern, nor for the love and loyalty to her brother — and to herself — that had motivated the summons. “I am not angry. You acted as Darcy directed.”
Part of Elizabeth was glad for the opportunity to confirm Mrs. Godwin’s assessment with the doctor. The rest of her dreaded the conversation. She always left their exchanges with the sense that Dr. Severn considered her ignorant, incompetent, and insignificant. “Settle him in the guest wing,” she told Mrs. Reynolds. “I will receive him in my dressing room afterward.”
“It is about time someone in this house summoned a doctor,” Lady Catherine declared. “My nephew must be at death’s door. I have not seen him since — I cannot recall. It has been well over a se’nnight. As soon as this Dr. Severn finishes with you, I insist he cure Mr. Darcy’s cold.”
Darcy’s “illness”
“Mr. Darcy is much improved today. In fact, he rose early and went shooting.”
Lady Catherine eyed her skeptically. “So I may look forward to seeing him at dinner?”
So much for cleverness. As Darcy still had not found his way back to Pemberley, Elizabeth could not possibly produce him by dinner for his aunt’s benefit. “He declared himself so in want of fresh air and activity that he might not return in time for dinner.”
“Hmph.”
Elizabeth went to her dressing room, where she found the housemaid just finishing her duties. Jenny greeted her cheerfully. At least someone in the house offered a pleasant word.
“How are you finding life at Pemberley, Jenny?”
“I like it very well, ma’am.”
“I am glad for it.” She crossed to the window that overlooked Lady Anne’s garden. The snowdrops were beginning to bloom, just in time for Candlemas.
“ ’Tis a pretty garden,” Jenny said.
Elizabeth agreed. “Prettier when in full flower, of course. Was there much in bloom when you first arrived?”
“Chrysanthemums. And a few others still holding their petals. There were some bright orange flowers over in that part of the garden off to the right — near the yew. I could not tell from this distance what they were.”
“I believe you refer to the marigolds.”
“Well, they were lovely, whatever they were. Not,” she hastened to add, “that I spend my time gazing out the windows when I am supposed to be working, ma’am.”
As Jenny left, Elizabeth rang for Lucy. She wanted her maid present primarily for propriety’s sake during the doctor’s examination, but the moral support would not be unwelcome. She arrived just before the physician. Though only three of them occupied the room — Lucy as unobtrusively as possible — Dr. Severn’s presence made it feel crowded.
“Miss Darcy wrote that your leg troubled you,” he said. Without Darcy in the room, he for once had no choice but to actually address her.
“Yes. Earlier this week, it went numb.”
“Then why do you stand upon it presently?”
“Because presently it is not numb.”
“And what were you doing when the numbness occurred?”
She hesitated. “Standing.”
He jerked his chin toward the chaise longue. “Sit down.”
She followed his order, extending her legs along the seat. He approached and began to examine her left leg.
“It was the right leg that lost sensation.”
He made no reply, only a cursory assessment of both limbs.
“A hot compress helped,” Elizabeth offered.
He rose from her side and straightened his coat. Apparently, his examination was concluded. “When do you expect the child?”
Was it not his duty to remember such a vital detail? “Early March. You are coming to Pemberley two weeks hence in anticipation, correct?”
He withdrew a small notebook and pencil from his medical bag and made a note. “I believe I just accepted another patient due about that time, who has chosen a London confinement. I shall have to reconcile my schedule.”
“Have you not reserved several weeks for us? Mr. Darcy and I both understood you would arrive at Pemberley a fortnight prior to the expected date to ensure you are present when my travail begins.”
“Right. Yes.” He released a disgusted sigh. “This would all be much simpler if you had arranged a London confinement.”
