Page 31 of Dear Friend

That was the proper course.

He reached for the book he had abandoned earlier and found his place. His eyes passed over several paragraphs before he realised that scarcely a word had made an impression upon him. With some irritation, he returned to the beginning and tried again.

This time he managed nearly a page.

You, at least, possessed the charity to laugh first and correct me afterwards.

Darcy looked up.

There was something rather backwards in considering laughter a form of charity.

He returned to his book.

A few minutes later another question presented itself, entirely without invitation.

What had happened at Oakham Hill?

Darcy shut the book.

His gaze settled upon the sixteen unopened letters at the opposite end of the desk.

For several seconds he merely regarded them.

Then he rose and left the room.

Chapter Ten

22nd August 1811

Willowbrook Somerset

Darcy

Madam,

You do not know me, nor, until very recently, did I know anything of you beyond your name and direction. I hope you will forgive the liberty of my addressing you. I would not have presumed upon an acquaintance which does not exist had circumstances afforded me any other reasonable means of informing you of what has occurred.

I am the owner of Willowbrook cottage in Somerset. Before my arrival here I knew that the former tenants, the Harding family, had quitted the house in March, my attorney having informed me of the termination of their tenancy some months ago. I however did not know, until I came to Willowbrook myself, that letters addressed to Miss Julia Harding had continued to arrive during the house's vacancy.

Your letters have accumulated in the care of the man left to watch the property. As the Hardings left no direction by which their correspondence might be forwarded, he kept them in expectation that some means of sending them on would eventually be discovered. He ought to have made enquiries sooner, and I regret that the matter was allowed to continue for so long without being brought to anyone's attention.

I must also acknowledge an impropriety of my own. In attempting to discover the identity and direction of the person who continued to write to Miss Harding, I opened your most recent letter. I will not attempt to excuse an intrusion which I know I had no right to make. I can only tell you that my intention was to discover where notice of the Hardings' removal might be sent, so that you should not continue writing in ignorance that Miss Harding, whom I believe to be a member of the former tenant's family, was no longer here to receive your letters.

I have written to my attorney concerning the family's present whereabouts. Unfortunately, Mr. Harding left no forwarding direction upon quitting Willowbrook, and my attorney has received no communication from him since. Further enquiries are being made, and should they produce anything of use, I shall see that the information is conveyed to you.

I regret that I can offer you so little after so many months, and still more that you were not informed sooner.

Yours, etc.,

Fitzwilliam Darcy

Darcy set down his pen and read the lines back to himself. He had sat down after dinner determined to write the letter, convinced that informing Elizabeth of the truth was the only proper course left to him.

Satisfied that he had said what was necessary, he reached for the sand. Then his hand stopped.

For a moment he regarded the freshly written missive, then the stack of letters addressed to Julia Harding. Once his reply was sent, there would be nothing more for him to do but await whatever Mr. Humphrey might discover. Elizabeth would know that Julia was no longer at Willowbrook, and the strange business of the seventeen letters would cease to concern him.

Darcy found that prospect less satisfactory than it ought to have been.