foot.
“Mr. Darcy, I can go no farther.” I reached out to brace myself against the trunk of a beech tree.
He turned and frowned. “Of course. Over here is a clear spot. Come and seat yourself against this sturdy oak.”
He took my hand and led me a few feet more, where I scraped my shoes against the tree’s bark, shedding most of the mud before I gladly sank to the ground. Covered in fallen leaves and bits of dried grasses, the hard ground felt as comforting to me as a corn-husked mattress.
“Shall you eat a bite of something?” he asked, kneeling beside me and taking Gert’s small bag from my hand.
He broke off part of the bread, and I took it from him, but I refused the cold potatoes. While we ate, we discussed the possibilities of what might have transpired at the cabin. Mr. Darcy suggested that the highwaymen could have fought off another band of ruffians who had descended upon them, or in an even more likely scene, they may have turned on each other.
I recalled that this very morning was the deadline Morgan had dictated in the ransom note. Could they have gone to meet the Earl of Matlock and retrieve the gold? If so, why would he not have left someone to guard us? Why would Gert have released us?
“Many questions,” Mr. Darcy said, “and few answers. What I should most like to know is who fired the weapons and the present whereabouts of those criminals?”
“I do wish you could have alerted your uncle to our location, but of course you could not with Morgan reading your message.”
“Whether he read it or not, that information would have been impossible to relate, because I simply do not know where we are.”
I sighed in agreement, and after a bit, I methodically began to massage the sides of my sore feet through my shoes.
“Why not remove them for a brief time?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I fear my feet are far too swollen. I might never be able to pull the shoes on again. I must persevere. I know it is imperative that we push on with great haste.”
“Yes, haste is important, but in doing so, you must not be harmed. Your face and hands are scratched, and now your feet are injured. Of what could I have been thinking?”
I was surprised to hear his expression of remorse. “Do not distress yourself, sir. Our escape has been uppermost in your mind throughout this ordeal, and I am grateful.”
My voice had unexpectedly softened with that last statement, and I felt a slight catch in my throat. His eyes met mine, diffused with that familiar tender light once again.
I forced myself to look away and break the spell.
We were now delivered from our imprisonment, and God willing, we would safely rejoin civilized society in the near future, a society that would prohibit any furtherance of the feelings recently awakened in my heart. Once we returned, all this would be as nothing more than a dream. He would once again be proud, wealthy Mr. Darcy of Pemberley, and I would be Elizabeth Bennet, daughter of a country gentleman, far below the echelon of society in which Mr. Darcy dwelt.
It was past time to put an end to this attraction taking root within my heart and which I dared suspect he might possibly return in kind. It was time to place some distance between us, to return to my saucy speech and manner. It had served me well in the past and would again, I felt certain.
And so, with a gleam in my eye, I spoke. “After all, I know what a tiresome creature I can be, and that I have tried your patience more than once. I did think I was up to this trek, though, since I bear the noted reputation of being an excellent walker.”
I lifted my chin, giving him a somewhat cheeky smile. He coloured immediately, and I knew that he remembered hearing me so described by Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley in the dining hall at Netherfield. Until then, however, he did not know that, having stood without in the hallway, I had chanced to overhear the remark.
“Miss Bennet, I . . .” he faltered, casting his eyes
“Mr. Darcy, I can go no farther.” I reached out to brace myself against the trunk of a beech tree.
He turned and frowned. “Of course. Over here is a clear spot. Come and seat yourself against this sturdy oak.”
He took my hand and led me a few feet more, where I scraped my shoes against the tree’s bark, shedding most of the mud before I gladly sank to the ground. Covered in fallen leaves and bits of dried grasses, the hard ground felt as comforting to me as a corn-husked mattress.
“Shall you eat a bite of something?” he asked, kneeling beside me and taking Gert’s small bag from my hand.
He broke off part of the bread, and I took it from him, but I refused the cold potatoes. While we ate, we discussed the possibilities of what might have transpired at the cabin. Mr. Darcy suggested that the highwaymen could have fought off another band of ruffians who had descended upon them, or in an even more likely scene, they may have turned on each other.
I recalled that this very morning was the deadline Morgan had dictated in the ransom note. Could they have gone to meet the Earl of Matlock and retrieve the gold? If so, why would he not have left someone to guard us? Why would Gert have released us?
“Many questions,” Mr. Darcy said, “and few answers. What I should most like to know is who fired the weapons and the present whereabouts of those criminals?”
“I do wish you could have alerted your uncle to our location, but of course you could not with Morgan reading your message.”
“Whether he read it or not, that information would have been impossible to relate, because I simply do not know where we are.”
I sighed in agreement, and after a bit, I methodically began to massage the sides of my sore feet through my shoes.
“Why not remove them for a brief time?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I fear my feet are far too swollen. I might never be able to pull the shoes on again. I must persevere. I know it is imperative that we push on with great haste.”
“Yes, haste is important, but in doing so, you must not be harmed. Your face and hands are scratched, and now your feet are injured. Of what could I have been thinking?”
I was surprised to hear his expression of remorse. “Do not distress yourself, sir. Our escape has been uppermost in your mind throughout this ordeal, and I am grateful.”
My voice had unexpectedly softened with that last statement, and I felt a slight catch in my throat. His eyes met mine, diffused with that familiar tender light once again.
I forced myself to look away and break the spell.
We were now delivered from our imprisonment, and God willing, we would safely rejoin civilized society in the near future, a society that would prohibit any furtherance of the feelings recently awakened in my heart. Once we returned, all this would be as nothing more than a dream. He would once again be proud, wealthy Mr. Darcy of Pemberley, and I would be Elizabeth Bennet, daughter of a country gentleman, far below the echelon of society in which Mr. Darcy dwelt.
It was past time to put an end to this attraction taking root within my heart and which I dared suspect he might possibly return in kind. It was time to place some distance between us, to return to my saucy speech and manner. It had served me well in the past and would again, I felt certain.
And so, with a gleam in my eye, I spoke. “After all, I know what a tiresome creature I can be, and that I have tried your patience more than once. I did think I was up to this trek, though, since I bear the noted reputation of being an excellent walker.”
I lifted my chin, giving him a somewhat cheeky smile. He coloured immediately, and I knew that he remembered hearing me so described by Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley in the dining hall at Netherfield. Until then, however, he did not know that, having stood without in the hallway, I had chanced to overhear the remark.
“Miss Bennet, I . . .” he faltered, casting his eyes
Similar Books
