left to their nurses until they not only have learned to speak, but have attained sufficient years and experience to have something worthwhile to say.”
“Surely by now your own daughter has acquired both.”
“The events of recent weeks prove that my daughter’s maturity does not include enough sense to act in her own interest. Therefore, she can have nothing to say at present that would concern me. And even if she did, the guest rooms of this establishment are far too cramped to dine in comfortably, otherwise I would have ordered a tray to my own chamber. I shall breakfast right here.”
A serving maid brought an empty teacup and plate to Lady Catherine and lit a candle on the table against the growing darkness. A storm was gathering.
“I require tea,” Lady Catherine said.
The maid checked the pot in front of Elizabeth. It was half-full and still steaming. She lifted it to pour, but Lady Catherine covered the top of her teacup with her hand.
“I want a fresh pot. And take care that the water is newly drawn. I will have none of the reboiled sludge you attempted to impose upon me yesterday.”
“I swear, ma’am, the tea yesterday—”
“No reused leaves, either.”
“Oh, ma’am! We never—”
“Or excuses.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The poor girl hurried off before Lady Catherine threatened to pour the boiling water over her.
Elizabeth took a pointed sip from her own cup. “The tea here is not the best I have ever been served, but it is not bad.”
“That, Mrs. Darcy, illustrates the difference between us. You are accustomed to accepting inferiority. I am not. When I want something, I do not settle for less.”
The tea arrived. Fortunately for the serving girl, Meg entered from the outside door just as she started to pour, thus drawing Lady Catherine’s derisive gaze to a new target.
“Humph,” Lady Catherine said under her breath. “I see the common dining room just became more common.”
Meg regarded their party uncertainly, though she did not appear to have overheard Lady Catherine’s snub. She went to an empty table in the corner. The sky outside had completely darkened, and the maid brought out another candle for Meg. In the flickering light, she looked lonely sitting there by herself, watching the flame as if she were not sure where else to direct her attention.
Elizabeth called over to her. “Mrs. Garrick, we have nearly finished our own breakfast, but you are welcome to join our table.”
Lady Catherine’s teacup clanked onto its saucer as a fit of coughing seized her.
Meg jumped up. “Oh, dear!” She hurried over to Lady Catherine and delivered three sharp blows to her back. As she prepared to offer a fourth, Lady Catherine seized her wrist.
“Stop assaulting me!” she sputtered.
“You were choking.”
“I merely downed my tea incorrectly, you featherbrain!” She issued a final, deep cough, then drained her teacup to clear her throat. She straightened her spine in an attempt to recapture her dignity.
Meg gave Lady Catherine’s back a final, gentle pat. “There, there. My mother had trouble feeding herself too, toward the end. Try eating more slowly.”
“The end? The end of what?”
Meg met Elizabeth’s gaze and shook her head sympathetically. “They become so irritable when they begin to lose their independence.”
A clap of thunder sounded, followed by the fall of rain. It came heavily, sluicing both the ground and Elizabeth’s spirits, for it trapped her inside with Lady Catherine.
In the courtyard, the trot of a horse signaled the arrival of a traveler. The animal emitted an unhappy neigh. It was not a traveler, however, but the ostler who hurried in a few moments later. His gaze swept the company, lighting at last on Darcy.
“Beggin’ your pardon, sir, for disturbin’ your breakfast, but Mr. Crawford’s horse is here.”
Lady Catherine’s teacup clattered a second time. “The scoundrel has returned? Impossible.”
“No, ma’am, not him. Just his horse. The saddle’s empty.”
Lady Catherine scoffed. “Then how do you know the mount is Mr. Crawford’s?”
“There’s no mistaking the animal, ma’am. Not with a scar like that.”
Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam left the ladies inside and subjected themselves to the deluge to see the horse for themselves. By the time they reached the stable, a boy had already unsaddled the mount and was rubbing her down. The horse was disfigured as Anne had described. It was indeed Charleybane.
Darcy inspected the saddle but noted nothing of interest. “Where are Mr. Crawford’s saddlebags?” he asked the stable boy.
“The horse didn’t return with none, sir.”
He exchanged a glance with his cousin. Mr. Crawford had left behind his valise and other luggage, but Darcy assumed he had fled the inn with something more than the clothes on his back. “Did he depart with saddlebags?”
“Don’t recollect, sir.” The boy finished grooming and moved to another part of the stable.
Colonel Fitzwilliam reached out to stroke the hunter’s nose, but the mare shied from his hand. “A noble animal scarred by circumstance,” he said. “Does Mr. Crawford spoil everything he touches? I wonder how she came by her injury.”
“Anne says Mr. Crawford recently acquired the Thoroughbred from Mr. Sennex as payment for a debt.”
“The mare belonged to Neville Sennex? Do not tell me so, for that means I must now consider the horse better off in Mr. Crawford’s care, which I find difficult to believe of any feeling creature.”
“Including Anne?”
“Especially Anne.” Colonel Fitzwilliam shook his head. “What cruel fortune, to escape marriage to a man who is constantly brutal only to wed one who is brutally inconstant. She deserves a happier fate than either Mr. Sennex or Mr. Crawford could ever give her.”
“I do not know how she will find one now. Her legal mire is thicker than the mud on my boots.”
“Crawford’s death would clean up matters quite a bit.”
Despite the warm, humid air congesting the stable, the colonel’s words chilled Darcy. His cousin was no coward, but he was also no hothead. He had entered the army out of necessity — as a second son, unlikely to inherit unless misfortune struck his elder brother, he had needed a profession, and in his youth had been drawn to the military because it appeared to offer a more stimulating life than would the church or the law. In his years of service he had seen his share of battles and acquitted himself well, earning a reputation as a strong commander undaunted in combat. But his had always been an impersonal aggression, directed at a faceless, collective enemy. Until Henry Crawford crossed his path.
“You expressed a similar sentiment last night,” Darcy observed.
“Ease your mind — I have not acted upon it. I merely state a fact: Anne would be far better off with Crawford dead than missing. She would be free to marry whomever she wished while the courts sort out whether her first marriage was valid or not.”
“Even could she — or her mother — find a man who is interested, I cannot imagine Anne herself wishes to wed anyone at present. Hymen has not treated her well thus far.”
“She may yet find happiness. But before that can happen, we must ascertain Mr. Crawford’s fate. Did he abandon his mount voluntarily, or did an accident befall him?”
Darcy had been pondering that very question. “She is a distinctive horse. Mr. Crawford himself presents an average appearance that would not excite notice among strangers, but the animal’s scar draws attention and would linger in the memory of anyone he encounters. He might have parted with her in order to travel more inconspicuously. That would help explain why we were all unsuccessful in locating him during our search yesterday evening.”
“Surely if he chose to set the mare loose, he did so near a place where he could hire another mount or board
