“An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a disengaged… All is safe with a lady engaged; no harm can be done.”
“Likely Miss de Bourgh has recovered from her headache and returned to the ball,” Elizabeth said. “Have you sought her there?”
“Of course I have!” Lady Catherine replied. “What do you think I have been doing for above an hour?”
“Perhaps you might tell us, instead of abusing Mrs. Darcy for a perfectly reasonable question,” Darcy said.
Lady Catherine expelled an exasperated breath. “I sent Mrs. Jenkinson to Anne directly after supper to enquire after her headache. When she reported to me that Anne was not in her chamber, I looked for her in the ballroom. No one had seen her recently, but Lady Winthrop mentioned that earlier in the evening she had witnessed Anne dancing.” She cast a stern look at Colonel Fitzwilliam. “I thought surely Lady Winthrop had mistaken some other young lady for my daughter, but the colonel has admitted his guilt in the matter. I do not know what you were thinking, Fitzwilliam, to risk Anne’s health by exhausting her.”
“I did not believe any harm would derive from a single dance.”
“No harm? Look what your rash action has come to. Anne developed her headache as a result of overexertion, and now cannot be found.”
As Lady Catherine did not include the Darcys in her indictment, Elizabeth inferred that Colonel Fitzwilliam had omitted their involvement from his confession. She would have to thank him later for his discretion.
Recalling the previous night, when she had encountered Anne headed for a walk, she asked, “Have you looked in the gardens? It is a warm night, and I noticed numerous guests strolling outside earlier. Perhaps she decided to take some air.”
“Anne knows better than to expose herself to the night air,” Lady Catherine declared. “She never so much as sleeps with a window open.”
“Nevertheless,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said, “after searching all the rooms where company is assembled, I indeed circled the gardens, and sent two servants through the hedge maze. They startled more than a few couples, but Anne was not amongst them.”
“I should hope not!” Lady Catherine snapped.
“Has Southwell been informed?” Darcy asked.
“The earl is occupied with his guests,” Lady Catherine said. “He is a useless creature anyway when it comes to serious matters, and therefore performs greater service by distracting others from this crisis rather than taking the situation in hand himself. That is why I must rely upon Colonel Fitzwilliam and you.”
While concerned for Anne’s well-being, Elizabeth thought this situation hardly constituted a crisis. “Miss de Bourgh is a grown woman in familiar surroundings. Surely she is somewhere in the house, perfectly safe and unaware she has even been missed. In fact, she might have even returned to her chamber by now.”
“As I told you, we just came from there, after searching the ball. She is not in her room. And before you suggest that she has returned whilst we have been in conference, Mrs. Jenkinson waits for her there and would have informed me. Her chamber is only round the corner.”
Darcy reached for his coat. “Then let us search the remainder of the house. I agree with Elizabeth — Anne cannot have gone far. In the time we have spent discussing this, we could have found her and all of us returned to our own affairs.”
As he thrust one arm into the garment, the other sleeve disturbed the note Elizabeth had set aside upon his entrance. She had quite forgotten it. The sheet drifted to the floor and landed at Lady Catherine’s feet.
Her ladyship looked at Elizabeth sharply and took it up. “What is this?”
“I discovered it upon returning from the ball, but had not yet found opportunity to read it,” Elizabeth said. “It bears the de Bourgh seal. Is it not from you?”
“This is Anne’s handwriting.”
“Let us open it directly, then.” Elizabeth reached for the letter.
Lady Catherine broke the seal herself. “Yes, let us.”
“I beg your pardon, but that note is addressed to me.”
“I beg no one’s pardon. It is from my daughter. She can have nothing to say to you that I may not read. I am privy to all her communications.”
Elizabeth extended her hand. “You are not privy to mine.”
Lady Catherine ignored her and unfolded the letter. In the interest of finding Anne, Elizabeth allowed her to continue rather than descend into argument. Darcy’s aunt kept them all in suspense as she read the lines silently, but the rapid transformation of her expression from one of self-righteousness to one of fury revealed that the letter held news of some import.
Lady Catherine turned to Elizabeth. Her complexion mottled, she crushed the edge of the paper in her hand as she held it to Elizabeth’s face. “What, in heaven’s name, is the meaning of this?”
“How can I possibly answer you while I remain ignorant of the letter’s content?”
“Ignorant! That you are, without doubt! In countless subjects. But apparently you are perfectly well informed of the news this letter contains.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam regarded Elizabeth with shock. Even Darcy beheld her with astonishment. But the most bewildered person in the room was Elizabeth herself. When had she encouraged Miss de Bourgh to run off to Scotland with a man she just met?
“Who on earth is this Mr. Crawford?” Lady Catherine demanded.
Elizabeth could scarcely order her thoughts enough to speak. “A gentleman we met tonight — a friend of Admiral Davidson.”
“And you urged her to
“No! He invited her to dance and I—”
“You stupid, common baggage! How dare you presume to offer my daughter advice on any matter, let alone one so critical? Do you think because of your sister’s elopement that this is an acceptable way for a young lady of Miss de Bourgh’s station to wed? Do you think at all? Are you capable of intelligent thought?”
The force of Lady Catherine’s rage struck Elizabeth almost as a physical blow. She was not one to cower in the face of conflict, and had stood up to Darcy’s aunt on previous occasions, but she had never in her life been the object of such wrath.
“I did not encourage Miss de Bourgh to elope with Mr. Crawford or anyone else. Indeed, I cannot imagine what led her to believe I had, nor the circumstances which brought the opportunity about. When last I saw her, Colonel Fitzwilliam was escorting her out of the ballroom, while Mr. Crawford remained behind with me—”
“Plotting this caper?”
“No! We exchanged a few pleasantries and then parted.”
“Whereupon with your blessing he abducted my daughter. You have ruined her future, utterly ruined it! Do you so much as begin to comprehend the damage you have wrought with your heedless counsel? How, on the eve of a betrothal that would have merged the de Bourgh line with an ancient, worthy family, you have jeopardized the union I labored hard to achieve? Or was that your goal? You were not satisfied with usurping Anne’s intended place as Darcy’s wife, so you sabotaged her chance at a superior match?”
“The marriage may yet be prevented,” Darcy said. “Surely they travel the Great North Road. If I leave directly
