The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Mystery by Regina Jeffers Page A

them?”
    â€œYou are not to know the depths of our reasoning,” Elizabeth said pertly.
    He smiled lovingly at his wife. “Yet, what a magnificent way to be driven insane.” He bowed courtly to the women. “And now, my ladies, I have been summoned to fetch you. Our carriages await.”
    â€œMust we?” Elizabeth protested weakly.
    Darcy offered an arm to each woman. “If we do not, your sister may lose a future husband. Kitty is feeling quite neglected because Mr. Winkler and Mr. Joseph have engaged in a thoroughly theological debate for nearly an hour. I have proposed that our party stop at the Dove and Dale in Derby for refreshments before our return to Pemberley. I have also suggested to my future brother in marriage that if he requires an equality in his joining, that he should soothe your sister’s peevishness with an extra dose of his attentions.”
    Elizabeth smiled widely at him. “As you have learned, Mr. Darcy?” she teased.

    He edged her closer to his side with a flex of his forearm. “Why learn a valuable lesson if one cannot pass on the knowledge?” he countered.
    â€œI shall remind Mr. Joseph of those obligations,” Mary said. “My husband grieves for the opportunity to discuss his readings with other knowledgeable followers of God’s word, but Matthew can sometimes lose sight of everyday situations.”
    Elizabeth tightened her fingers about Darcy’s arm. “I was telling Mrs. Joseph of my first visit to the abbey. It seems odd to be among these structures without Mrs. Fitzwilliam.”
    â€œI pray my sister is happy with her new life, but I admit to experiencing a void in mine.”

    â€œHow many be there?” The house’s master asked as his mother joined him on the turret.
    â€œFour, not countin’ the woman we brought in,” she said as she scanned the open fields leading to the family’s main property. It was a former Scottish keep that had been repaired and added to over the years. The style was a mix of former barbarism and contemporary elegance. The woman closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. The mist rolled across the Scottish moors, and the woman beside him rose on tiptoes as if to embrace the land.
    The man intoned harshly, “Be we not countin’ the woman?”
    â€œI be thinkin’. Aulay will soon be needin’ a wife.”
    Domhnall protested, “Surely, the lady has a man. She not be needin’ another to warm her bed.”
    His mother shook her head in denial. “The lady say he be dead, and there be more. She be with child.”
    He roughly grabbed her arm and turned her to him. “How came ye to this knowledge?”

    â€œAs you instructed, I brought the gel a warmer gown. Wanted to see her meself. See if’n she be worthy of Aulay. She be thin as we say before, but her waist shows signs of the growth below the lady’s bosom.”
    â€œYou would thrust another man’s child on Aulay? My brother is barely capable of tending to his own needs. How might he protect a bairn when he remains so childlike himself?”
    She returned her gaze to the rolling hills and woodlands. “Aulay will never earn another’s affection,” she said without rancor. “And the gel will need someone to save her reputation. Her accent say she be English. You shud know better than I how priggish be the English regarding their womenfolk. Besides, she comes from money. The child will inherit a fortune. If Aulay takes the gel to wife, we control both the woman and the bairn, and her family can do nothin’ more than turn over the funds. We could leave this madness behind.”
    â€œBut you designed the madness,” he observed. They remained silent for several minutes as he contemplated what she suggested. “And you are certain of the lady’s fortune?”
    â€œI sent Blane to ask about the area where she be found. I be having no