unintentionally did us all a great service in alerting us to our danger. Did you know him, Papa?”
“I did not. Perhaps some of the militia officers paid him to give me a scare.”
Miss Elizabeth shared a sceptical look with him. Darcy quite agreed with her. This was not a prank.
“The men should be here tomorrow,” Fitzwilliam said. “The rain will keep all the ladies inside until then.”
“They will notice the men arriving, Mr. Fitzwilliam,” Miss Elizabeth said. “My sisters are anything but unobservant.”
Her father grunted. “I will tell the girls what is happening, Lizzy,” Bennet said from behind them. “Though I should like to have a better idea of what that is than I do at present.”
The men all fell silent. Had there been anyone other than the men they had already identified who would wish Bennet ill?
Darcy ran through the list again. Collins had to be the first suspect. He was in the neighbourhood, Bennet had slighted him, and most of all, he stood to inherit the entire property when Bennet died. After the haughty way in which Collins had taken his leave, he may also have coveted the chance to take his revenge upon the Bennet daughters who had treated him with less respect than he believed he deserved.
Where would the man have purchased French cognac, though? And how could he have afforded it if he had? Wickham or Forster might have had connections who could acquire the cognac, but still, he doubted either had enough blunt to purchase it. Mr. Todd was long gone and had removed his family with Bennet’s financial support. He had neither the connections nor the funds to have carried off such a plot, even should he have wished harm on Bennet—and Darcy did not believe that he did.
“What about the man who hired Mr. Todd?” Miss Elizabeth asked softly. “We have not yet discovered who that was. Could he have tried again?”
“You presume that the man who hired Mr. Todd is not Collins,” Fitzwilliam insisted. “He might easily have sent someone ahead of his visit to scout out an accomplice. He knew precisely where the estate is located, after all, and his insistence on visiting when he was not invited would then make more sense.”
Darcy wondered whether Fitzwilliam truly believed Mr. Collins to be their villain, or he only wished it so he might remove the man from Lucas Lodge.
“If this Grimstone was often at the tavern, it only makes sense that he met his employer there,” Bennet said.
Darcy nodded. “It is a place to begin,” he said, standing.
Bennet waved a hand indicating that Darcy should take his seat. “Let it go until tomorrow.”
“Ought we not start at once?” Fitzwilliam inquired.
“We are all known about town,” Bennet reminded them. “The men I have called upon from London are not. They will have more success speaking with the men in the tavern than we shall. I am afraid that we must make use of them for now.”
It did not sit right with him, but Bennet was correct. Darcy sighed and collapsed into a chair.
“I will leave you now,” Miss Elizabeth told them. “When you are ready, we will call for tea.”
Darcy watched her slip away. If Bennet was in danger, so were his daughters, and it was exceedingly difficult to wait for others to do what he wished to tend to himself. He stared at the rain as it dripped down the window and tried to put it out of his mind.
Sir William took his leave as well, encouraging them to write him with any developments.
The three of them sat, not speaking, definitely not drinking, just gazing blankly out at the rain.
The only sound in the room was the accidental clink of the silver against the plates. Papa and the multiloquent Mr. Fitzwilliam did not speak. Even by his standards, Mr. Darcy was unusually silent. Jane kept shooting perplexed looks her way, and Mary was shrinking in her chair.
“Please,” Elizabeth said when the last plate was cleared, “will you not explain to the girls what has you all in such doldrums?”
Mrs. Quimby made a small sound in the back of her throat.
“No, Mrs. Quimby,” Papa said, much to Elizabeth’s relief. “She is right to take us to task. Something rather grim occurred this morning,” he said. He addressed Mary directly. “My dear, do you wish to be excused? This might be too much for you.”
Mary frowned. “I will remain, Papa.”
Papa nodded. “Very well.” He drew in a breath and began. “Mr. Darcy joined Lizzy for the final few minutes of her walk this morning.”
Elizabeth waited for him to continue.
Papa sighed heavily. “I have been pondering how much to say on the matter. It is not a subject for most women’s ears, but then, your mother and I did not raise young women who quail at obstacles, even frightening ones.”