Page 28 of Infamous Relations

“And the fact that Mrs. Collins found her wet spencer — undamaged — also in the Parsonage seems to indicate that Elizabeth arrived back there, removed it, was attacked and then fled. And that her attacker stuffed it in the hall cupboard in an attempt at concealment.”

“He’s a clergyman,” Fitzwilliam said in tones of utmost incredulity. “A puffed-up, pompous bore of a clergyman who listens far too much to the words of my aunt and pays too little heed to those of the Almighty, but… a clergyman.”

“Miss Elizabeth’s cousin, no less.” Dr. Trent looked no less repulsed than Fitzwilliam felt. “But the facts are incontrovertible. I went through it again with my housekeeper once Mrs. Collins left. Elizabeth was seen hurrying to the Parsonage, in the rain. A few minutes later, shouts were heard, and she was seen running from the Parsonage, without her spencer. About ten minutes after that, I arrived home myself. While I was upstairs changing into dry clothes, from the window of my bedroom I saw Mr. Collins leaving the Parsonage, heading for the western lane towards Rosings.”

“The western lane,” Fitzwilliam said thoughtfully. “That is a slower route than the one I found Miss Elizabeth on.”

“Much drier, though, with a stony base. Mr. Collins knows the lanes well, would know that the other would have been muddy after the rain. He’s a fastidious sort.”

“The letter,” Fitzwilliam said suddenly. “That’s how he had Darcy’s letter!”

“Letter?” Trent looked at him blankly, and Fitzwilliam realised he was treading on dangerous ground. He hesitated before deciding that they already trusted Dr. Trent with several dangerous secrets.

“Mr. Darcy gave Miss Elizabeth a letter that contained some information known to very, very few people. Miss Elizabeth was… somewhat distressed, and we believe she hurried straight back to the Parsonage.”

Trent only looked puzzled.

“The letter, we discovered, came into the possession of Lady Catherine. My cousin Anne told us that Collins gave it to her.”

“And he could only have come into possession of it if he saw Miss Elizabeth,” Trent said with dawning realisation. “That is damning evidence, indeed.”

“A clergyman, her cousin, a married man under whose protection she was residing,” Fitzwilliam said with utter disgust.

“Under whose protection she is still residing,” Trent pointed out.

They looked at each other with sudden horror before both lunging to their feet and rushing for the door.

Which opened just as they got there to reveal an unexpectedly furious Charles Bingley.

Chapter Twenty

“Where is he?” Bingley demanded. “Where is Darcy?”

“Uh,” Fitzwilliam stopped in his tracks. Trent gave him an incredulous look.

“What are you about, man, we have no time to lose!”

“Easy, easy,” his brain had started working again. “Miss Elizabeth is in no present danger. Not with her sister and father by her side. We need to handle the situation carefully.”

“What situation?” another voice asked, even as Bingley stared in confusion from Trent to Fitzwilliam, and they all turned to see Darcy coming down the stairs.

“You!” Bingley started forward, fire in his eyes. Darcy held up a hand to stop him.

“I was wrong, and I apologise.”

“What did you say?” startled, Bingley blinked. He wasn’t the only one. Fitzwilliam, too, looked at his cousin in utter confusion.

“Darcy, I haven’t heard you apologise for anything in years, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard you admit that you were wrong!”

“There is a first time for everything,” Darcy said quietly, “especially when one has lately learned a lesson in the truism that pride goeth before a fall.”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you are talking about,” Bingley said after a moment, “but I still think I want to hit you.”

“Miss Bennet already gave me a very well deserved slap, Bingley. I’d rather not take one from you too.”

Bingley blinked. “Jane slapped you?” he said in tones of utmost disbelief.

“She was a Valkyrie,” Fitzwilliam said, his voice a little dreamy as he remembered his first sight of the beautiful eldest Miss Bennet. “Magnificent.”