Page 76 of The Long Road Back to Yesterday

“Mr. Darcy, you may return for us at one, if you would be so kind. That will give you a good stretch of time to fish before you must leave your sport and return to fetch us.”

He inclined his head. “I shall be here, ma’am.” He turned to his sister. “Comport yourself well, Georgiana.” Then Mr. Darcy left them.

* * *

Elizabeth bit the inside of her lip and resolved to be cheerful.

“Georgiana, I am more than halfway through this book by Brand. As you can see, I have three others in this stack, and I mean to go through every one of them. I wish to discover any interesting lore concerning Arbor Low that may be recorded in these volumes.”

“I understand you, Lizzy. You are warning that the reading itself may be dry, though we are searching for folklore that may prove quite captivating.”

“Yes, dear. Exactly.”

“I am very excited, Lizzy. I hope I find additional lore concerning persons who have gone missing. I asked my brother about it on the way home yesterday, and he said they most likely died alone upon the moor from exposure.”

“Did he?” Elizabeth asked, disappointed. Did the man possess no imagination?

“Yes. That is what he said after I asked whether they might have disappeared into an enchantment. You know, like Thomas the Rhymer. He met the Queen of Elfland beneath the Eildon Tree and went away with her into Fairyland. Or like Tam Lin. He told Janet he was a mortal man seized by the Queen of Fairies and taken into her power. To those who knew him, he would simply have disappeared at Carterhaugh, just as the disappearances in your accounts are connected with Arbor Low.”

Elizabeth grinned. “You are the perfect student and precisely whom I needed to help me this morning. We are kindred spirits, Georgiana, for your imagination is every bit as active as mine.”

They both laughed.

Elizabeth settled into her chair, and Georgiana took the one beside her. As Georgiana leafed through the volume in search of the section on Derbyshire, Elizabeth entered the two fairy tales upon a separate page of her notebook.

When she had finished, she said, “I have added the tales of Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin to my page devoted to fairy tales. I had only one listed before, Sir Orfeo.”

Georgiana looked interested. “I am not familiar with that one.”

“That does not surprise me. It is not among the usual fairy tales read to children. I know of it only because I studied Virgil and Ovid with my Papa. We also studied the medieval English romance of the Orpheus story because my father said it would be disrespectful to study the ancient tale and neglect its place in our own British fairy tradition. I did not object, for I enjoyed the story very much.” Elizabeth stroked the feather of her quill.

“Papa also believed that every tradition, legend, or tale contains some kernel of truth. He said that over time, particularly when stories are handed down through the oral tradition, they take on lives of their own and may appear very different to us from what they were when first told. He believed it was our task to search out whatever truth remained, or whatever principle might still be useful to us.”

“Lizzy, I should have liked to have your Papa for a master. The ones I have had were not nearly so interesting. Everything was learned by rote, with scarcely a thought given to guiding principles or anything beyond the lesson itself.”

“Yes, I understand. I was very fortunate to have studied under my father’s tutelage for ten years.” Elizabeth’s eyes grew moist. She drew a handkerchief from her sleeve and dabbed at them. Then, with a smile, she said, “Do not mind me, Georgiana. I lost my father but five months ago, and the loss is still very fresh. Come, let us begin.”

Both young women were hard at work when Mr. Darcy arrived. They heard him announced, and Elizabeth looked up from her book.

“Georgiana, use this slip of paper to mark your place, and note upon your sheet the page where you stopped. You have saved me a great deal of time since I need not begin that section again from the beginning.”

Elizabeth did the same with her own volume, then rose and joined Georgiana as she went to her brother. Georgiana embraced him briefly and kissed his cheek.

“Fitzwilliam, I have been ever so good and accomplished a great deal of reading, though I fear I discovered nothing mystical or enchanted in Camden’s writings.”

Darcy raised a brow.

“William Camden, sir,” Elizabeth explained. “He was a distinguished scholar and headmaster of Westminster School. Georgiana is reading through the section on Derbyshire in his Britannia.”

“Ah, I see.” He turned to his sister. “And how did you fare, my dear? Was it slow going?”

She laughed. “No, Brother. I found it interesting. I have learned a great deal about the various henges, stone circles, barrows, and other ancient monuments found here in Derbyshire.”

Elizabeth glanced over her friend’s gown. “Your dress is very fine, Georgiana. I fear it may not remain so if you venture anywhere near a fishing rod.”

Georgiana looked down at her gown. “It is one of my newer day dresses, but I shall take care, Lizzy, not to damage it.”

Elizabeth raised her eyes to Mr. Darcy. He was grinning.