Page 52 of The Sole Love

Jane met them on the steps, dressed in an immaculate riding habit, with a happiness they had not seen on her face for a long time. She tapped her riding crop nervously against her boots, visible beneath the skirt gathered up for riding.

“Do you have good news, my dear?” Mrs Gardiner asked, trying to sound cheerful herself.

“Excellent news,” Jane replied, and both ladies’ hearts tightened painfully as they expected news of David. “Colonel Fitzwilliam has invited all of us young ladies to ride to his family’s house, which is ten miles from here. It seems Lady Matlock has arrived and is expecting us for tea. Ten miles! Can you imagine? I have never made such a long excursion on horseback.”

Elizabeth smiled, somewhat relieved. She was the only one who did not ride, but she did not mind remaining at Pemberley.

“Mr Darcy will bring you there later. In fact, I believe all of you are coming for tea.”

“And have you had any news from Mr Haskett?”

Jane looked at them as though she did not understand the question, but finally answered, “Yes, yes. He wrote to me and is waiting for me to confirm that he may come.”

Then the steps were invaded by laughter and cheerful voices, and Mrs Gardiner whispered to Elizabeth, “Why do I have the impression that this excursion is more important than Mr Haskett this morning?”

“For Jane, riding is one of the greatest pleasures. I do not know how Mr Darcy discovered that, but I am certain he had a hand in arranging this. He knows how worried I am about her.”

“Do you think Mr Haskett is still in London? After his first letter, I understood he was already travelling.”

“You heard her; he is waiting for her approval to come.”

“Yes, but he may be twenty miles from here, waiting.”

“God forbid!” Mrs Gardiner declared forcefully.

∞∞∞

“How can just the two of us go to Matlock Lodge?” Elizabeth asked Darcy around noon when he came to tell her that a chaise was waiting for them. He had been away on estate business all morning, and Elizabeth had already begun to worry, wondering why he had not appeared. During their earlier walk, he had explained that he had been away for two months and that matters requiring his attention could not be postponed. But he had apologised so regretfully that she had taken pity on him and assured him she would find plenty to occupy herself with, surrounded by her entire family.

“Whom would you like to go with?” he asked playfully, leading her towards another exit and making her wonder how long it would take her to learn her way around the house.

“What do you mean, whom, sir? Anyone.”

“I am sorry, but everyone has already left. We could take Mrs Reynolds with us,” he said with a laugh, although there was scarcely room for the two of them in the small, open, two-wheeled carriage she discovered waiting outside.

When she still hesitated, he spoke very close to her ear. “We are at Pemberley, my love. If I wish us to leave the estate without meeting anyone, you may be certain I can arrange it. And in any case, in the country the rules of decorum permit an engaged couple to travel together in an open carriage.”

“You are inventing—”

“Perhaps,” he laughed in splendid spirits.

“An engaged couple?” she continued to scold him, feigning great surprise.

“Are we not?”

“Have you proposed to me, Mr Darcy?”

“Twice, Miss Elizabeth.”

“Both times entirely improperly.”

“Then you will be travelling with a man who is nothing to you, and by the time we arrive at Matlock, you will probably be thoroughly compromised.”

Darcy invited her to climb into the carriage without another word, just as Mrs Reynolds appeared, and they both turned towards her. She obviously had something important to say; otherwise, she would not have interrupted them.

“Mr Bingley has arrived, sir,” she said.

Elizabeth sighed so deeply that Darcy turned to her in alarm.