“Then do so,” said Lady Catherine. “You may count me as one of the party.”
Mr Darcy hesitated, then nodded. “You should not go alone, however.” He turned to Caroline. “Caroline, if you would be so kind as to accompany Lady Catherine?”
“Of course,” said Caroline.
“May we search as well?” said Georgiana.
“No,” replied Darcy.
“We need as many people as possible, Fitz,” said Robert.
Darcy examined Georgiana. “Very well, you and Clarissa can search, but you must both stay under the supervision of Elizabeth. Where is she, by the way?”
“I am here,” she said, stepping into the room.
“We will,” said Georgiana. To prove it, she linked her arm in Clarissa’s and took her over to where Elizabeth was standing.
“Three ladies must search together, while each man searches alone,” muttered Clarissa. “Where is the wisdom in that?”
“He means to keep you safe,” said Elizabeth.
“What could be safer than Rosings Park?” said Clarissa.
“Patience!” said Elizabeth with a smile. “At least you have a chance to participate.”
Cold meats and pies were brought in while word was sent out to various neighbors. Lady Catherine meanwhile studied the map of the park with Darcy and the colonel, and the search area was split into different sectors.
By and by, a number of gentlemen gathered in the front of the house. Georgiana immediately located Channing, who waved at her and Clarissa and grinned.
Mr Gatley was part of the search party as well. The moment he arrived, he immediately came over to Georgiana’s side.
“I was very sorry to hear the news about your cousin, Miss Darcy,” he said. “There is no need to worry yet, however. No doubt she has just taken a fall and will be found easily enough.”
Georgiana nodded. “That is what we hope.”
He bowed and returned to the rest of the group, where Lady Catherine was now issuing instructions.
Channing caught Clarissa’s attention and wriggled his brows most comically while Lady Catherine spoke.
Clarissa smothered a giggle. “He really ought not to,” she said to Georgiana. “This is serious business.”
“We cannot expect a stranger to feel the same anxiety over Anne’s disappearance as we do, I suppose,” said Georgiana.
Just as the search party prepared to set out, Mr Collins scurried forward to join them. He dismounted and ran hastily to Lady Catherine.
“My sincerest apologies for my delay, your ladyship,” he said, gazing up at her. “If I could but explain…”
“Never mind, Mr Collins,” said Lady Catherine, curtly. “We are preparing to leave. My daughter’s fate depends on us.”
She made to move on, but he stepped in front of her horse. “You cannot imagine the depth of my sorrow at such a tragic occasion, your ladyship,” he said, speaking rapidly, “I am sure as a mother—and an excellent mother, if her ladyship will permit me to say so—your grief—severe as it must be—can have no bounds. For if a tragic event should have occurred—but we must not speak of such things—for it is by no means certain—you may count on me to assist your ladyship in any way I can. Your ladyship will find me willing to go to any lengths in this painful task of seeking Miss de Bourgh, for I assure you—”
“I am certain you will do your best, Mr Collins,” said Lady Catherine, “Now return to your mount, and Mr Darcy will give you instructions.”
Torn between apologies, lest he had incurred her ladyship’s displeasure, and anxiety that Mr Darcy would leave without giving him instructions, Mr Collins stumbled away.
Lady Catherine, who was supposed to set out herself, lingered behind to speak to the ladies.
“What did Mr Collins mean? What tragic event? ” said Lady Catherine.
“I am sure I cannot imagine,” said Elizabeth quickly.
Lady Catherine fixed her eyes on Elizabeth. “You are not such a fool as all that. If you know what he means, you must tell me immediately.”
“I do not think you should take Mr Collins at his word,” said Elizabeth. “He is prone to exaggeration at the best of times. Let us be on our way, Lady Catherine. We cannot afford to delay.”
“Nevertheless, you must have some idea what he meant.”
When Elizabeth did not answer, Lady Catherine turned to Caroline. “Well, have you nothing to say either? Have all the Darcy men married dunces?”
“You must ask Mr Collins yourself when he returns,” said Caroline calmly. “I cannot presume to comprehend what he is thinking. Shall we leave?”
Lady Catherine, seeing she was to receive no answer, urged her horse to a trot.
Georgiana and her companions moved off in a different direction, towards the copse of birch trees that was their search area.
They peered through the tree branches and brushes aside the brambles with crops or sticks, their search yielding nothing. They were hoping to glimpse something that would mark Anne’s presence—a shawl perhaps or the muff that Anne always carried—but none of them materialized. They searched carefully, hardly speaking, moving until they encountered the group from the next sector covered. They exchanged serious greetings, while each group reported the same: they had found nothing.
Just to make sure, they returned and searched again.
With each minute that passed, Georgiana’s heart constricted further. At the beginning the whole thing had seemed very unlikely. She had not really taken it seriously. In fact, Georgiana had half believed it was a way for Lady Catherine to rein Anne back in under her wing. She had even thought—to her shame—that Lady Catherine was hoping that by lengthening Anne’s leash, some accident would befall her. Then her ladyship would be fully justified to bring her daughter back under her iron rule again.
But as Anne’s disappearance became more and more impossible to explain, Georgiana now began to worry in earnest. There was guilt at the heart of her worry, and a horrible suspicion that they had in some ways contributed to her disappearance. She was terrified that the role they had played in encouraging their cousin to become independent would have serious consequences. For it was true that Anne was frail and unaccustomed to depending on her own resources. If some accident had befallen her, she might not know what to do. Nor did she have the strength to survive long without help.
After another look through the copse and the adjoining area, it became abundantly clear that they would not find Anne there. Clarissa suggested that they return.
“Let us look one more time,” said Elizabeth.
“Perhaps we should return to the house,” suggested Georgiana. “Maybe someone has found her already.”
Elizabeth, however, insisted on one more look, just in case. When it wielded nothing, she turned back to the house, shoulders slumped in defeat.
They arrived there to discover that several of the searchers had already returned, but no one had any news.
“I’m afraid,” said Clarissa to Georgiana. “We know she could not have gotten very far, since she tires quickly, yet no one has found her. I cannot help agreeing with Mr Collins. I can think of no other explanation for her disappearance.”
Georgiana stared at her cousin.
“But what did Mr Collins mean?”
“Remember the other day, when we went to see Charlotte? When we found her missing? She came from the direction of the pond.”
It was too terrible to contemplate.
“Surely you are not implying…”
Clarissa nodded as though she had spoken it. “It is possible.”
“Do not say such a thing, Clarissa. Why would she do such a thing? Mr Collins could not possibly have intended that.”
Oh, if that happened. To think it would all be their fault; that they had driven her to such desperate measures by harping on her s
ituation. How would she ever be able to live with herself?
“Intended what?” asked Elizabeth, who had come up behind them.
“I—,” said Georgiana, in considerable distress.
Clarissa flushed and looked down at her feet. “’Tis only what I thought Mr Collins was implying. I would never have come up with it myself,” she said defensively. “I thought he meant that she had drowned herself.”
“Hush!” said Elizabeth, looking round at the drawing room uneasily. “Do not repeat such a thing to anybody. I cannot for a moment imagine that is what Mr Collins had in mind. I know you are fond of Gothic novels, Clarissa, but we are not characters in a novel.”
“Then what did he have in mind?” retorted Clarissa defiantly. “If you will not tell me what he meant, you cannot blame me if I am forced to speculate.”
Elizabeth looked kindly at the young woman. “If you knew Mr Collins as I do, you would know he probably meant nothing by it at all.” A small smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. “In fact, you had better think about it as little as possible.”
Clarissa’s expression remained mutinous. Elizabeth, however, smiled even more widely. “I should not tell you this, if you have not yet discovered it, but Mr Collins is among the silliest men of my acquaintance, and it is very likely, if you were to ask him what he meant, he would not remember saying anything at all.”
Clarissa was only partly mollified. “You cannot throw me off the scent so easily,” she said. “It is true that Mr Collins, as you say, is addle-brained, but you have not given me a convincing account of Anne’s disappearance.”
“You may count on it,” said Elizabeth confidently, “nothing more alarming has happened than that Anne has taken a fall and, out of reach of any kind of assistance, she has not been able to return home. I am sure one of the search parties will return with some such news soon enough. Meanwhile, something warm to drink may do us good and prevent us from speculating too wildly.”
She said this in a tone that was light and could not cause offence, and the two young ladies—in the manner of very young people who prefer to dismiss unpleasant things that do not agree with their view of the world—were able to chase away their fears when faced with a more sensible view of the matter.
Nothing in Elizabeth’s manner revealed that she was herself very anxious for her husband’s cousin. She did not consider that Anne would have done it deliberately, but it was possible that Anne could have fallen into the pond or the stream that ran through Rosings. Encumbered by her clothing and the multitude of shawls around her, she may have been unable to swim.
***
None of the returning parties had anything new to report. As dusk fell, the search was called off with an agreement to resume it the next day as early as possible.
Darcy comforted his aunt the best way he could, by telling her that even if the night was cold, Anne was equipped with enough shawls to keep her warm, and that her daughter was sensible enough to drag herself to some kind of shelter, even if she was injured. Elizabeth and Caroline assured her of the same thing.
Georgiana and Clarissa were sent upstairs—to be out of Lady Catherine’s way, presumably. They were only too glad to be removed from her presence, and Clarissa spent the rest of the evening teaching Georgiana how to make a Grand Entrance into a room full of strangers.
It was not that they were not worried about Anne. It was that they did not want to think about her. Far better to remain optimistic and to wait and see what tomorrow would bring.
***
The next day, a number of the gentlemen appeared in long boots and fishing clothes. Georgiana registered their clothing with dismay. It was clear now that Mr Collins was not the only one who had considered the possibility of drowning. They departed to search all the ponds on the grounds and to inquire downstream whether she had been found, while others continued the search for her beyond the boundaries of Rosings Park. A half-hearted search of the grounds was also conducted, with Lady Catherine leading, but the area had been combed thoroughly the day before, and no one deemed it likely that the search would yield any result.
Georgiana, meanwhile, could no longer dismiss the possibility that something terrible had happened. Her unruly thoughts had become a reality, and for the whole day she was haunted by the image of Anne being carried back, dripping with water. She could not bear it.
She was profoundly relieved when those wearing the long boots returned empty handed.
***
The third day the search broadened to include the village. Again, not the slightest trace of Anne was found.
Finally, with everyone who had participated in the search gathered in Lady Catherine’s living room, Darcy delivered his verdict.
“We have done what we can in the immediate area. We would like to thank you all for the assistance you have given us, but we will have to begin searching farther afield now. To do so, we will have to make an entirely different assumption about Anne’s disappearance. She was not so strong as to venture very far on her own. We therefore have to conclude,” and here he looked at Lady Catherine, “that Anne has been abducted for ransom.”
Lady Catherine nodded.
“That is the conclusion I reached myself. I am willing to pay the ransom, of course, as long as they do not hurt her.”
“It is not the custom of abductors to harm their victims,” said Gatley, “since their only goal is to obtain as much money as possible. If she is harmed, they will not receive the money.”
“We will continue to search for her with the hope that some clue will help us reach her abductors. But now it is a waiting game,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam. “We must wait for a note from them, which should be delivered soon.”
But two days passed and no note came.
***
Six days had passed since Anne’s disappearance, and they were no closer to knowing what had happened to her. Colonel Fitzwilliam could no longer stay away from his regiment and was forced to leave. The Darcys’ plans to remove to London were postponed.
Lady Catherine had taken to her rooms and rarely came downstairs. But that particular afternoon, they were all gathered together for tea in the drawing room. Caroline and Elizabeth had both persuaded Lady Catherine to come down, saying it was not good for Lady Catherine to shut herself up alone.
They were soon to regret this kindly intervention.
The gathering was doomed from the start. When nerves are strung so tight, the smallest matter is likely to cause the strings to overextend.
In this case, it was Clarissa who stretched the string to breaking point.
For once, she did not intentionally provoke Lady Catherine. She did not knock over Lady Catherine’s tea caddy intentionally. But the fact was, she had no business passing by the tea tray at that particular moment. She was not helping with passing the tea cups, and she was excluded from the tea circle, for she had her own coffee.
But she rose—as she later explained to Georgiana—because she thought she saw something from the window—something white moving between the trees. She rushed to look out, hoping it was a clue to Anne’s disappearance. On the way, she passed the table holding the tortoiseshell tea caddy and the water urn. Somehow, her dress caught on the caddy, and it toppled to the ground.
Lady Catherine always locked the caddy, as one generally did with such a precious commodity as tea. But she was planning to brew another batch, and so she had left it open for the moment, with the latch loosely fastened.
As the caddy toppled to the ground, the latch came undone, and the tea scattered all over the floor.
“Clumsy, clumsy child!” exclaimed Lady Catherine. “My Souchong tea all over the carpet! Do you realise how precious this tea is? No, you would not, of course, for was it not your fellow citizens from Boston who cast shiploads of tea into the ocean?” She tugged at the bell pull vigorously.
She direc
ted the footman who appeared directly to his knees. “Rescue what you can of it,” she ordered. “We cannot allow it to go to waste.”
Lady Catherine sat back in her chair and closed her eyes, as if the incident marked the end of her patience. Clarissa took the opportunity to move noiselessly past her. But, as if sensing her, Lady Catherine’s eyes flew open. A vindictive look came into them.
“Do not think I am finished with you, young miss,” she said. “You have played enough games with me.” She turned to the footman. “Get up,” she said. “You may leave now.”
The footman, who had been carefully collecting the leaves and placing them on the tray, rose and walked away.
“You may pick up the leaves,” she said to Clarissa.
A wave of general protest at this extraordinary demand rippled through the room.
“Do you think I do not know that you knocked over the tea deliberately? I have seen your sly looks when you thought I was not looking. You have intended to do this for days now. Pick the leaves up.”
Clarissa put her hands behind her back and, standing very tall, replied in a clear, defiant voice.
“I will not pick the tea leaves up, Lady Catherine. I apologise for knocking the caddy over, but it was an accident, and I will not pick it up.”
“I have had quite enough of your brazenness,” said Lady Catherine. “And I have had enough of your meddling. Because of you, my daughter is missing. It was you who urged her to take walks alone, and you who pressed her to escape the watchful eye of Mrs Jenkinson, even knowing full well that she might easily trip and fall. Behold the consequences! Because she was unprotected, she became an easy target. Had Mrs Jenkinson been there, Anne would never have been abducted. It is you, and you alone, who is responsible for everything that has happened. You have polluted the hallways of my residence and caused untold harm to my only child. I have been more than patient. Yet even now you defy me.” Lady Catherine straightened up in the manner of a judge who is about to pronounce judgment. “You are no longer welcome in this house. You must leave immediately.”
The Darcy Cousins Page 12
