Page 194 of The Long Road Back to Yesterday

Darcy ignored the remark.

“Several days later, the gentleman returned by the same road. Remembering the young woman, he stopped at the house to inquire after her and retrieve his coat.”

Kitty leaned forward.

“An elderly man answered the door. The traveler gave the young woman's name and asked whether she had recovered from her exposure to the cold.”

Darcy paused.

“The old man told him that no young woman of that name lived there.”

Kitty's eyes widened.

“The traveler insisted there must be some mistake. He explained that he had brought her to the house himself only a few nights before and had watched her enter. He became concerned that she had fallen ill and that the old gentleman was attempting to conceal it from him.”

“What did the old man say?” Georgiana asked.

“He told the traveler that the young woman had been his daughter.”

Darcy allowed a moment to pass before continuing.

“She had died twenty years before, on the same night of the year upon which the traveler claimed to have brought her home.”

Kitty drew closer to Georgiana.

“The traveler refused to believe him. At last, the old gentleman told him to follow. He led him behind the house to the family burial ground and stopped before a gravestone bearing his daughter's name. The date of her death was exactly as he had said.”

“But what of the coat?” Bingley asked.

Darcy looked at him.

“Folded neatly at the foot of the gravestone was the traveler's greatcoat.”

Kitty caught Georgiana's hand.

Bingley laughed. “Darcy, you have made my task considerably more difficult.”

“You insisted that I begin.”

“I did, and I already regret it.”

Kitty looked toward Bingley. “You promised us a story.”

“So I did.” He settled into his chair. “Mine concerns a house where, shortly after midnight, a coach could sometimes be heard coming up the drive.”

“A ghostly coach?” Kitty asked.

“If you interrupt me before I have begun, Miss Kitty, my coach may never arrive.”

She promised to be silent, although her expression suggested that the promise would not last long.

“The family had heard the story for years. On certain nights, horses approached the house at a gallop. The wheels could be heard upon the gravel, and then the coach stopped before the front door. Whenever a servant was brave enough to look outside, there was nothing there.”

“Did they all hear it?” Mary asked.

“Those who were awake did. One guest, who considered the entire story nonsense, announced that if the coach came during his visit, he would look at it himself.”

“That is always a mistake,” Elizabeth said.