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“Mr. Ingram ... Mrs. Ingram!” Mrs. Reynolds began breathlessly, looking over their heads towards the long drive as if expecting another carriage. “What a surprise to see you here. Are you escorting Miss Elizabeth back? Is she riding with Mrs. Preston?”

“Mrs. Preston?” Evan Ingram began cautiously, glancing at his wife. “Mrs. Preston is not in Derbyshire as far as we know.”

The housekeeper’s hands shook as she placed them over her heart, her face paling instantly. Stuttering now with fear, she could barely get out the words, “I ... I was led to believe she was accompanying Mrs. Preston to Rosewood Manor early this morning. Have you not seen or heard from them today?”

“No!” Georgiana exclaimed uneasily. “We came to see Elizabeth and had no idea she was not here! You say Cecile escorted her from Pemberley? When did she arrive?”

Seeing that the women’s panic was beginning to draw the attention of the servants, Evan spoke up. “Let us go inside and discuss this matter rationally.”

He scooped up Millie, and they all proceeded into the house. As they entered the foyer, Margaret, a young maid who often cared for Millie when they were at Pemberley, was coming towards them down the hall. Mrs. Reynolds motioned for her to come forward and enquired of Evan, “Would it not be best to let Margaret entertain Millie while we discuss all of this in the drawing room?”

“I believe that would be wise,” he replied, kissing Millie’s cheek before handing the child over to Margaret, who eagerly stepped forward to take her little friend.

“Go with Margaret to the conservatory, sweetheart. She will let you take some toys from the large box to play with while Mama and Papa talk with Mrs. Reynolds. You will like that.”

Millie’s eye lit up at the mention of toys, and she nodded her head in agreement. “Yes, Papa.”

Everyone followed the two as they disappeared in the direction of the conservatory then swiftly made their way towards the drawing room. Georgiana had no sooner entered the room before she addressed the housekeeper. “Tell us everything that has happened with Miss Elizabeth since last I was here.”

What followed was an account of the arrival of Mrs. Preston, including the woman’s claim of having a letter from Mr. Darcy for Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s insistence that Cecile stay the night, and her strange decision to accompany the woman to Rosewood Manor that morning.

“I had a dreadful feeling about her leaving with Mrs. Preston. I tried to dissuade her, reminding her that the master wished her to stay at Pemberley where he could be sure of her safety. However, it seemed to me that she had her mind made up. She was resolved to go regardless of what I said.”

“Do you suppose my brother said something in his letter that upset her?” Georgiana asked, her mind reeling with possibilities. “You know he has a tendency to say things in the wrong manner.”

Evan, who was too troubled to sit, interjected, “I am almost certain that there was no letter from Darcy. Frankly, I do not believe that he would send a letter to the woman he loves via my sister. I have to believe that the letter was a ruse to get to Elizabeth.”

“I had not thought of that!” Georgiana exclaimed, the truth of her husband’s observation sinking in. “Now that I think on it, my brother would never have trusted Cecile with something so close to his heart!”

Mrs Reynolds added, “I know it was not my place, but because of my unease, I took the liberty of searching Miss Elizabeth’s bedroom after she left this morning, trying to determine if she might have packed a bag.”

Georgiana brow knit anxiously. “And had she?”

“From what was left in the room, I could not make a true determination. She did not carry a bag as she left, but I suppose she could have hidden it among Mrs. Preston’s items. It appeared, if my memory serves, that there were a few gowns missing but certainly not all of her clothes.”

Mrs. Reynolds sighed heavily. “To tell the truth, I was just relieved to find so much still left in her room and wished to believe that the missing clothes were amongst the items waiting downstairs to be washed.”

“What of the little chest she loved so much?”

“I did not think of that!”

Instantly, Georgiana stood. “Let us search her rooms. Perhaps we can find some evidence to settle our minds. I know we will have to inform William, but I want to investigate every avenue before I compose a letter of this import.”

She glanced to Evan as she headed to the door. “Please come with us dear. You may notice something we do not.”

Minutes later, the three were examining the closets and drawers in Elizabeth’s rooms. Mrs. Reynolds had just located the small chest, which was sitting open on the floor, when Evan called out, “Here!” She and Georgiana hurried into the small sitting room next door to find him holding a letter aloft.

“It was propped against the lamp on that table,” he nodded towards a small reading table in the corner. “I think you should open it, Ana. Darcy will certainly understand why you felt you needed to read it.”

Georgiana nodded, taking it from his hand and reading her brother’s name in Elizabeth’s fine script. Then, after meeting the others eyes, she tore open the seal. As she read she did not comment, but grew increasingly pale. Evan pushed a chair close behind her and carefully pulled her down into the soft cushions, even as she kept reading. By the time she had finished, the room was deathly quiet.

Eventually Georgiana’s softly voiced what they all feared. “Elizabeth is gone forever—to the Americas. My ... my brother surely will die of heartache when he reads this.”

She began to sob, and Evan pulled her up from the chair and into his arms, soothing her in his tight embrace. His eyes met those of Mrs. Reynolds as he looked over his wife’s shoulder, and the tears on the housekeeper’s face caused his to well up. Still holding Ana, he reached to take one of the elderly woman’s hands as she lamented, “This is all my fault. I should never have let her go.”

Georgiana turned then to embrace Mrs. Reynolds. “No! You love her, too. You could not have known this would happen nor could you have prevented her from leaving.”

Evan wanted to reassure the women, though his mind reeled with the implications of what his sister had done and how he might reverse the damage. Almost instantly, he formed a plan.