Page 23 of Undone

"It was only the first of several such occurrences, each perfectly capable of explanation when viewed alone." He kept his eyes upon the frost-silvered grass before them. "A grain store burned the following year, and a perfectly reasonable explanation was given and accepted, though I ordered every precaution doubled afterwards, more from uneasiness than conviction. The following autumn, fifty sheep, the finest flock upon the estate, sickened and died within a week. No man summoned to examine them could determine the cause. Whatever illness had taken hold of them spread too swiftlyfor any remedy to avail. That same year, three more tenants relinquished their leases.

"Those events are connected with my estates only." Though his tone remained even, something beneath it hardened. "Before his death, my father acquired interests in several ventures beyond the estates. Those interests passed to me with the rest of his affairs. They have proved a source of continual difficulty and considerable financial loss. One partner withdrew, then another, each pleading difficulties entirely his own, though I have long suspected someone found it worthwhile to persuade them otherwise. More recently, a vessel in which I held a considerable interest was taken by pirates, by men who should not, by any honest reckoning, have known where she was to sail."

Elizabeth walked beside him without speaking, her expression one of growing astonishment. Darcy found, having begun, that he could not stop before the whole had been said.

"Then there were other personal affairs." He spoke more quietly than before and felt her attention sharpen beside him. "Over the past few years, I showed a marked preference for two young women whom I believed I might one day marry. In quick succession, a malicious rumour compelled one to leave town, and the other was hurriedly married without any satisfactory explanation to me. I have never discovered whether my attentions occasioned it, but recently I have begun to fear that they did."

Elizabeth drew a slow breath.

"I cannot imagine such a succession of misfortunes."

"One of my closest confidants and I concluded that there is a powerful force determined to undo whatever reputation I have built over the years. The rumours that began spreading in London about what they call 'the misfortune of dealing with a Darcy' only confirm that belief."

"That, sir," Elizabeth said after Darcy had been quiet for a while, "is a heavy burden to bear alone."

"I have not borne it entirely alone. My cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, knows the whole of it, and Bingley a considerable part." He looked at her then. "But because of these fears, I resolved before I came to Hertfordshire not to involve anyone else. To care for someone, only to watch the same misfortune overtake her, is a hazard I cannot willingly invite again."

Elizabeth remained silent for some moments, weighing all he had told her with the same careful consideration she brought to every subject.

"Have you then discovered who it is that seeks to ruin you, sir?"

"I have turned the matter over in my mind until it gives me a headache, yet I have not been able to fix upon a single name I genuinely believe capable of such a scheme. There are one or two who have crossed my mind, but either they do not accord with the sequence of events, or they lack the means or the motive."

"That is indeed disturbing."

"My cousin continues to investigate the latest occurrence. As for myself, I needed time and quiet to think, which is why I agreed to accompany Bingley to Hertfordshire." Darcy sighed.

"May I make an observation?" Elizabeth said as they drew near the path where they usually parted.

"You may."

"You seek to avoid notice by refusing every dance."

"I do."

"Yet I suspect you accomplish precisely the opposite. A gentleman who dances with no one is remarked upon far more readily than one who dances with everyone. Had you stood up with as many ladies as possible, no one would have imagined your attentions fixed upon any particular lady. They wouldmerely have concluded that Mr. Darcy enjoys a country ball as much as his friend."

Darcy considered her argument. "There is one difficulty. From what I have heard, Bingley's attentions to your sister have already become the subject of the whole neighbourhood."

"Indeed, they have," Elizabeth replied. "But that is because he singled her out and danced with her twice at the assembly. Since then, he has called at Longbourn almost every day. I think those circumstances alone are enough to satisfy the neighbourhood's curiosity."

He looked at her thoughtfully.

She continued, "You, however, would do precisely the opposite. If you danced with every lady who would stand up with you, you would distinguish no one. Your conduct would become entirely ordinary, and ordinary conduct seldom attracts remark."

Darcy remained silent.

The simplicity of the suggestion astonished him more than the whole of everything he had just confessed. He had spent months attempting to protect others by withdrawing from society's expectations altogether, and Miss Elizabeth had perceived, in the course of a single walk, what had escaped him throughout that time. His caution had made him remarkable when his sole object had been to appear ordinary.

"I believe," he said at last, a reluctant smile touching his mouth, "you have shown me that I have been approaching the matter from entirely the wrong direction."

Ten

Hertfordshire

2nd November, 1811

Elizabeth