“They will listen to you more than me, Lizzy. Kitty and Lydia always say I order them about.”
Elizabeth chuckled. “Do you?”
Mary shrugged. “A little, I suppose. But they have to learn to do things the right way.”
“And we have to learn to trust them to do that, in time. Give them instructions, and if they do not do it properly, the results will speak for themselves. Once they have failed, they will not wish to repeat the experience.” She smiled at her sister. “I know, for as much as Mama wished to teach me, I had to go my own way.”
“Did you learn to do things as she preferred, in the end?” Mary asked curiously.
“I learnt that she was not always wrong,” Elizabeth said wryly. “But I discovered new ways to accomplish what I wished, for I am a stubborn creature at heart.”
“I am always afraid of doing the wrong thing. I wish I had a bit more of your stubbornness. It seems very much like confidence.”
“But you do, Mary. Do you not remember how well you prepared the house to receive everyone on the night of the accident?”
Mary smiled shyly. “I do.”
“I was not at all surprised by it,” Elizabeth told her sister, and shrugged. “You are a Bennet, after all.”
Sir William was not his normal, jovial self as the men settled in Mr. Bennet’s study that afternoon.
“That man was Aaron Grimstone,” Sir William grumbled. “Dealt with him once or twice when your cousin was alive and I was still mayor.” He shook his head. “In his youth, Grimstone was well known locally as an excellent shot. Unfortunately, he was just as well known for being in his cups most nights. Then the days too. It got bad enough that your cousin turned him out of Longbourn for drinking.” He made a clucking sound. “Waste of a life.”
Darcy agreed. “Did he work in the house?”
“Footman. Accompanied the old Mr. Bennet on his hunting trips, prepared the guns, and so on.”
“That is how he knew where the gunroom was and that the window could be opened from outside,” Bennet said wearily. “Did my cousin end anyone else’s employment I should know about?”
Sir William shrugged. “Longbourn has always been well run so far as I am aware. The servants are generally loyal and do not seek other positions. A few maids have made for London with their beaux over the years, but little else.”
“Was Grimstone working currently?” Fitzwilliam inquired.
“Not that I am aware,” Sir William replied. “Gambling, shooting matches, not much else.”
“You are being targeted, Papa,” said a soft voice. Miss Elizabeth stepped inside and pulled the door closed behind her.
“Lizzy, you should not be here,” Bennet said, but there was no steel in his tone.
“She was the one who found the body, Bennet,” Darcy said in her defence. “If she did not swoon or fall into hysterics at the sight, I doubt there is much we are discussing that would distress her.”
“Well,” she said, taking another step into the room, “it distresses me, of course. Someone means harm to my father. It does not follow, though, that I must be overset by my distress. I would be no good to anyone if I allowed it.”
Darcy felt vindicated when the other men accepted Miss Elizabeth’s presence. Sir William seemed a little uneasy, but he would not countermand Bennet’s orders in his own home.
“There was money inside Mr. Grimstone’s pocket,” he said.
“Was that his name?” Miss Elizabeth asked. “Was he hired by someone else, then?”
She was very quick.
After Bennet waved him on, Darcy explained how the cognac had arrived and why it was in the gunroom for Grimstone to find.
“That is why he had one of Papa’s guns,” she said, nodding. “Go on, sir.”
“Then, probably quite early this morning, he took up the position where you discovered him.” Darcy watched her carefully.
“Where Mr. Grimstone partook of the cognac and paid the price for his intentions. And