Beginning, Previous Section, Section VII, Next Section
"Dougal." The word had Elizabeth spinning red-cheeked, while Dougal merely squashed over to the side of the path.
"Mr Darcy."
"I appologize Miss Bennet, I had not realised that he had strayed 'til a minute ago. I hope he did not seriously inconvenience you."
"Not at all Mr Darcy." Elizabeth bit her lip then pushed her bicycle forward. "Thankyou very much for removing him." Elizabeth quickly mounted her bicycle and finished her return to Netherfield. She was very tired thanks to a bad night at the hospital, and now she was confused and bewildered as well. What was Mr Darcy doing outside of the house this early in the morning? The thought seemed to her to be incongruous, Mr Darcy couldn't possibly rise this early, and why was he apparently in possession of such a massive and mongrel looking dog? Elizabeth shook her head to clear it as she stowed her bicycle in a garden shed and hurried into the house.
Elizabeth entered by a small side door and stripped off her mud-caked boots before quickly climbing to the upper story. It was the work of a couple of minutes to change back into her clean uniform, then Elizabeth descended once more to the ground floor and went off in search of the laundry facilities, her trousers and boots had now clocked up 35 miles in very muddy conditions without being cleaned, infact Elizabeth was somewhat worried that they might never clean up properly.
"Miss Elizabeth?" It was the housekeeper who stopped her as she meandered through the passages.
"Mrs Parks, am I relieved to see you. Could you please tell me where the laundry facilities are? I need to do some washing." Elizabeth indicated her pile of grimy clothes and boots with an expressive grimace.
"No Miss Elizabeth, you give clothes for washing to us and we'll see to it that they are done."
"Mrs Parks it is not fair for me to expect you to wash my things at inconvenient times, please it gives me something to do."
"If the master should hear of this he will not be at all happy."
"Rubbish, the Master shouldn't hear unless you tell him. Now please Mrs Parks, it won't take me above fifteen minutes to do this and it will save someone else the work."
"Such things aren't proper, but I've no way of stopping you. I'll see if Mr Nash is finished yet." Mrs Parks moved off down the hallway with Elizabeth close behind. "Mr Nash, are you finished?" Mrs Parks knocked loudly on a heavy oak door.
"No Mrs Parks, but if someone wishes to do some washing I am out of the tubs." Nash's voice was slightly muffled in his response.
"Mr Nash will give you any help you need. Criminal for a young lady like you to be washing your own clothes." Mrs Parks moved away muttering, and Elizabeth bit back the wish to call after her that she had it on great authority of the other women of the house that she was no lady at all. Elizabeth pushed the door open and stepped into a remarkably large laundry room, it was nearly double the size of the laundry at Longbourn. Tubs and mangles lined one wall with all manner of other equipment scattered around the rest of the room.
"Miss Bennet?" Nash's voice sounded almost horrified from behind her.
"Mr Nash?" Elizabeth turned to greet him, then stopped to stare at the stuff piled on a table behind him. The equipment was almost as familiar as her bicycle and it comprehensively surprised her to see it in the laundry of Netherfield, leather straps far to short to be belts, metal bars, loofahs, bleach and antiseptics, lengths of linen and cotton.
"Your pardon miss, I was expecting Mrs Parks, you surprised me somewhat."
"I'm sorry to have caused you any discomfort."
"None given miss, just surprised. Do you want me to do your washing?" Nash was very conscious of the stuff on the table behind him, he hadn't the faintest idea what story he would tell but tell a story he must if she asked.
"No, not at all, I don't wish to disturb you. Would you prefer if I came back later? My stuff is very dirty."
"Not going to be........" Nash stopped as Bingley suddenly came into the room.
"Nash, here's the rest of it."
"Thankyou, sir." Nash took the bundle and simultaneously shot Bingley a slight warning glance. Bingley was somewhat puzzled by the look and turned slightly.
"Miss Elizabeth, I do beg your pardon, I didn't see you standing there."
"I seem to be startling everyone today. How's the arm Mr Bingley?"
"It's fine, convalescing now Miss Elizabeth....now if there was someone you really wanted to ask after their.....But I ramble, you'll want to get your washing done. Mr Darcy is currently watching your sister, so feel free to sleep until lunch."
"But I saw him outside only a minute ago."
"Oh, he only took over from me when he returned from taking Dougal out."
"Dougal is Mr Darcy's dog?" Elizabeth was thoroughly surprised.
"He better be, he ignores the rest of humanity unless he feels nice." Bingley gave a slight chuckle before leaving the room, but it was with a scared face that he tore up the stairs to Jane's room and beckoned Darcy to come out. Darcy levered himself out of his chair and limped across to the door, he closed it behind him as he came out, he was more than a little unimpressed that Bingley had wanted him to come out of the room when he was without both brace and cane.
"What is it Bingley?" Darcy bent his right leg slightly so that even though it looked like he had his weight evenly balanced he infact had no weight on his right leg.
"Miss Bennet's down in the laundry. There is no doubt she recognises the stuff she deals with it daily."
"Damn!" Darcy stared thoughtfully at the far wall, then blinked. "Nothing we can do about it, I hope you didn't behave as panicked down there as you have up here. Nash will spin some tale if necessary and he'll appraise us of the facts as soon as he possibly can. I suggest you keep away from the laundry."
"Well hopefully we won't see Miss Elizabeth until lunch, I suggested she sleep 'til then since she looks very tired and since you were watching her sister."
"Then retire to the library, write some letters, read a book, write a book, throw that vase out the window, do something and I don't care what, but stop panicking."
"Sorry, sir."
"Darcy." The response was sharp as Darcy turned and re-entered Jane's room, it was with annoyance that he noticed Jane to be fully awake as he returned to his seat. "Feeling better Miss Bennet?"
"Much better thankyou." Jane watched as Mr Darcy's massive form returned to the chair he had left only a minute or so earlier. She found it somewhat curious that he should choose the most uncomfortable chair in the room to sit in.
"Hungry? Thirsty?" He still had not sat down, he was standing by the chair.
"No thankyou." Jane considered the matter before answering.
"Feel free to say so if you become so." Darcy finally sat down and had some difficulty in refraining from uttering a profane remark as he felt something grind in his leg. Admittedly things were always grinding at least to some degree or other and he had been warned as much by both Alastair and by Ownes, this did not mean anything more than warn him to become inactive for a while unless he wanted to cause himself some permanent damage. It was with a slightly rueful smile that he realised that this was a very easy way to become a hypocondriac, because when he bothered to think about the matter he found that he had aches and pains all over which normally were overlooked and ignored.
Elizabeth energetically scrubbed away at her trousers having set her boots aside to dry, but except for removing the caked on mud and producing a lot of dirty water she seemed to be having little success with cleaning her trousers. It was with resignation that Elizabeth realized that she was afterall going to have to ask for assistence afterall, whether she liked it or not she was making remarkably little headway when it came to getting her trousers suitably clean.
"Miss Elizabeth?" Nash had been standing at her elbow and could see all too clearly that she was having problems.
"Mr Nash." Elizabeth pushed some hair out of her face.
"If you were just to leave them I could quite easily, and with little difficulty, see to it that both your trousers and your boots were cleaned and back to you by five this evening."
"Well I will admit that getting this dirt out is currently defeating me."
"It would be much easier if you were just to leave them for me Miss."
"Well." Elizabeth took a deep breath as she considered her options, and though she didn't know it her shoulders had slumped forward wearily.
"Leave them Miss, I have little to do here and this is certainly more in my line then most of what I have been doing since we arrived."
"Okay, thankyou very much. Mr Nash, is there anything you might like me to do for you in exchange?"
"No miss, not a thing."
"Thankyou very much." Elizabeth thanked him one last time then left the laundry. It was not without relief that she sought her bedroom and stripped off her boots before collapsing onto her bed and falling asleep. It was bright sunlight pouring through her opened windows which woke Elizabeth, and with a moan she rolled over and buried her head in the bedclothes. But sleep was no longer to be had and after five minutes of barren endeavour Elizabeth rolled over and out of bed. Her head was aching in loud protest as she struggled around and pulled her boots on before gingerly descending the stairs, her stomach was also voicing a loud protest so Elizabeth assumed that it must be quite late in the afternoon.
"Miss Elizabeth?" Bingley had appeared at the bottom of the stairs and was looking very astonished.
"Lieutenant Bingley." Elizabeth wondered if she looked as bad as she felt, and Bingley's next remark assured her that she did.
"You look like you have a morning head Miss Elizabeth, come get some breakfast and get a drink."
"Sustenance would indeed be of interest. What time is it Mr Bingley?"
"Five in the afternoon, give or take a couple of minutes."
"Heavens, no wonder my head aches and I am hungry. Mr Bingley, please lead me to food before I perish of starvation!"
"With pleasure Miss Elizabeth." Bingley chuckled slightly at Elizabeth's dramatics. "Wait in the breakfast parlour and someone will come in with the cold tray that Mrs Parks has had prepared for you since twelve o'clock." Bingley dove off down a side passage leaving Elizabeth to walk to the breakfast parlour. In a matter of minutes after she had taken her seat one of the housemaid's entered with a loaded tray and an even larger smile.
"Enjoy it miss."
"Thankyou Ivy." Elizabeth knew the housemaids at Netherfield almost as well as she knew those at Longbourn, especially since the numbers had been so reduced by the war. Ivy dropped a slight curtsey before she hurried from the room, and Elizabeth fell to the food on the tray with vigour that only accompanies a late night and seven hours sleep for about the first time in many months. Within ten minutes Elizabeth had emptied the tray of contents and was getting up to carry it back to the kitchen, if she were to carry it back herself it would save someone else having to come and collect it.
Having delivered her tray to a disapproving Mrs Parks Elizabeth had headed back upstairs again, she needed to see Jane and appologize for having been absent for the whole day. It was magnificent, she was here to nurse her sister and yet she was absent for the whole night and slept for most of the day.
"Sleep well Miss Elizabeth?" Mr Darcy had suddenly come out of her sister's room as Elizabeth reached the top of the stairs.
"Very well thankyou Mr Darcy." Elizabeth was grateful for the enquiry and puzzled by Mr Darcy coming out of Jane's room. "You have been with my sister most of the day?"
"Most of it." He agreed in a disinterested tone.
"Thankyou very much." Elizabeth moved passed him as she spoke and as result missed the stunned expression on Darcy's face. Darcy turned to look at the closed door for a minute, then slowly moved off towards his own rooms.
"Something up Darcy?" Bingley had come up the backstairs and was somewhat amused by Darcy's expression.
"I was just thanked for spending most of the day sitting in Miss Bennet's room, it caught me by surprise, that's all. I never viewed the matter as a task before, more as a refuge." Darcy's face resumed its usual expression. "I suppose I had better get those letters written, see you at dinner Bingley."
"I think not, Mrs Bennet is coming over to see how her daughter is and unless I've become blind then they have just arrived."
"I'll do the letters tomorrow then." Darcy turned and headed back to the main stairs, which were considerably broader and flatter then the back stairs. He was halfway down the stairs when Dr Ownes appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hello Darcy, how's everything?"
"Seems fine."
"You look tired."
"Sleep has been a bit thin lately."
"Then get some more."
"I'm not given the option." Darcy had stopped descending when Ownes had greeted him and now the doctor was standing two steps higher then he was.
"Get into your room, I want to see you before I leave." It was delivered in a sharp undertone.
"Okay." Darcy calmly accompanied the doctor back up the stairs and went into his own room. Nash was pottering around with the paraphernalia in preparation for that night. "Skip it again Nash, it won't be needed 'til tomorrow morning, early."
"Sir, I don't like it."
"I'm not asking if you like it, you're being told to do it." Darcy sat down on the edge of the bed and stared down at his fingers for several minutes. "Sorry Nash, I didn't mean to snap."
"You didn't sir, I left my position...."
"Nash if you value my temper do be quiet."
"Yes, sir." Silence fell in the room, a silence which remained undisturbed until there was a sharp knock on the door some ten minutes later. Nash slid silently over to the door and opened it a crack, then opened it wider to admit the person who stood without. "Dr Ownes, sir." Nash returned to his pottering as the doctor crossed to where Darcy sat on the edge of the bed.
"Take a seat doctor." Darcy glanced up briefly from his hands.
"Nice to have finally seen you on your feet." Ownes leant up against the bedpost instead of taking a seat.
"You merely come at the wrong times." Darcy finally pushed up and stood up. "My appologies doctor, my mood is not particularly good tonight."
"I actually gathered as much. Sit down so I can have a look at that leg." Ownes responded just a bluntly, well knowing that a sympathetic or kindly attitude would be met with intense annoyance and non-cooperation. He spent some five minutes checking the leg and Darcy was decidedly white around the lips when he finished. "Nash, you can now dispense with the weights at night, won't make any difference now, but keep that brace on full time. Also thank who ever you might believe in that this social flurry is temporarily over, you wouldn't believe how bad a reputation you have managed to achieve for snobbishness."
"I am very well aware of the reputation I have received, thankyou very much. Half the people here dislike me because I will not listen to them and the other half dislike me because I call myself a C.O.."
"If it's not an impertinence, would you mind telling me why you are pretending to be a C.O. and concealing the fact of this." Ownes indicated the leg as he stood up.
"When one has been shot to hell and spent several months in pain, it is indeed very easy to be a Conscientious Objector, I am not pretending to be one and I will continue to be one until I can dispense with all this stuff and actually walk for more then five minutes without feeling like nothing on this planet. When that day dawns I will once again become a combatant and quite happily ignore the question of morals when it comes to maiming, slaughtering and murdering my fellow men. They will once more become the opposition, the enemy, the cruel forms who promote chaos, pain and torture, objects which it is quite acceptable to kill and quite acceptable to die killing. Now if you don't mind doctor we will change the subject." Darcy swung around and pulled himself to his feet with the aid of Nash and the bed post. "Cane Nash......where on earth did I leave my usual one?" Darcy eyed the cane Nash handed him with annoyance, then strolled in a casual manner to the door.
"Don't over do it, Darcy, you may be off the weights at night but that doesn't mean you cans start taking marathon walks with impunity."
"As I am still unable to descend the stairs without the aid of the bannister and my cane I can assure you that I will be going on no marathons anytime soon. See if you can find my cane Nash, I assume I left it in Miss Bennet's room." Darcy let himself out of the room, leaving a bemused doctor to stare at the door.
"Is he always like that?"
"No, sir." Nash started rolling up the wires which had held the weights. "He only becomes so peculiar when he is tired, and it is a fact that sleep induced by morphia is not refreshing."
"I see. Well good luck with whatever has brought you here, your employer's one intersting person." Ownes then lt himself out of the room and quickly descended the backstairs and left the house, leaving Nash to remove all trace of the weight combination from the room. Nash finished cleaning up and quietly stepped out into the hall and went to miss Bennet's room, he had earlier said he would watch her while the evening meal was on.
Mrs Bennet had arrived accompanied by both Kitty and Lydia, much to Elizabeth's annoyance. Mrs Bennet would probably have been miserable if she had found Jane in any danger but as Jane was in no danger at all, and making a remarkably pretty invalid, Mrs Bennet was not at all miserably, infact she was nearly the opposite.
"No she is not at all well Mr Bingley, much as I would like to do it I really do not think it would be safe to remove her yet. Such a good and patient girl is Jane, never complains. Such a sweet girl, I always tell my other girls they are nothing to her."
"Removed? Certainly not." Bingley seemed stunned by the idea.
"Certainly not." Miss Bingley coolly agreed with her brother. "We shall see to it that Miss Bennet lacks nothing, Madam." Miss Bingley was not at all happy with her brother's attitude, but while she was at Netherfield she needn't pay anything towards being kept alive, and on top of that Mr Darcy was a resident.
Mrs Bennet was profuse in her thanks and appologies that his hospitality should be so trespassed upon by two of her daughters. Mr Bingley was just as profuse in refuting the situation and claiming it to be a pleasure, forcing Miss Bingley to do the same.
"Netherfield Park is such a pretty place and has such well placed rooms, the prospects here are charming. I hope you intend to stay here for an extended period."
"Well, I'll have to rejoin in a month or two when I'm back in health, but as to long term inhabitance of this place.....well I'm afraid to say that if I were to decide to depart I would be gone in five minutes."
"That is quite what I expected of you Mr Bingley, you must be a gem to his majesties armed forces with your ability for quick packing." Elizabeth couldn't resist the response.
"Oh, you begin to understand me do you?" Bingley turned to her with an interested expression.
"Oh yes, I understand you perfectly." Elizabeth gave an innocent smile as she responded.
"I wish I might take that as a compliment, but to be seen through so easily seems to be pitiful." Bingley was wearing a mixed expression.
"It does not stand that more complex characters are any more estimable then ones such as your own, they just take longer to sort out."
"Lizzie, remember where you are, you should not run on in the manner you are suffered at home."
"You are a studier of characters, Miss Bennet? I had not known that. It must be an amusing study."
"Indeed it is. Admittedly the complex characters are more interesting and most amusing, they have an advantage in that field."
"The country can in general supply but few subjects. In a country neighbourhood you move in a confined and unvarying society." Darcy had entered for the last part of the exchange and spoke as he crossed the room to sit on the window sill, he had found it to be a fact that people took it for granted that you would look slightly pale if you were directly in the light.
"But the people themselves alter so much, there is always something new to analyse. Especially since the war has begun and people are changing almost hourly."
"Indeed yes." Mrs Bennet was nettled by his tone. "I can assure you that there is quite as much of that going on in the country as in the town." Her response was met with stunned silence, and after staring at her in amazement for a minute Darcy turned and looked back out the window again. Mrs Bennet fancied she had the advantage and pressed home her point. "In fact I do not see that London has any great advantage beyond the wider variety of shops, infact there is the disadvantage that it is so crowded and dirty."
"Mama." Elizabeth knew her cheeks were red. "You misunderstand Mr Darcy, he was merely observing that there was not such a large sample of people in the country, and that you must admit."
"Lizzie you are being foolish, but if you insist. Not that we are such a small community, why we dine with quite five and twenty families. Poor girlie, all this work at the hospital is bad for her." Mrs Bennet sighed and patted Elizabeth's hand affectionately. Elizabeth was so busy being mortified that she missed the look which passed between Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley, and she also missed the significant look that Miss Bingley tried to give Mr Darcy.
"Has Charlotte called lately?" Elizabeth was desperate to change the subject, any subject would be better then the current one.
"Twice, the first time was just after you left. Why didn't you say you were going, it was most inappropriate Lizzie..." Mrs Bennet hunched an offended shoulder as Elizabeth gave her a very ominous look. "Well okay, if you insist, she called again this morning and asked me to give you these." Mrs Bennet pulled a bunch of papers out of her bag. "Such a nice family the Lucas', but such a pity Charlotte is so plain."
"Mama." Elizabeth had thought that no subject could be worse, but she discovered her error.
"True Lizzie, I always do forget, but it is so difficult to be fair on others when my daughters are so fine." Mrs Bennet looked appologetic. "Come Lydia, come Kitty, we must be getting home." Mrs Bennet finally stood up, but before she had so much as taken a step Lydia had bounded up out of her seat and approached mr Bingley.
"Lieutenant Bingley, you promised us a ball just after you first arrived. It will be most shameful if you do not fulfill the promise for then we will never meet the Canadian Officers."
"With pleasure Miss Lydia, we wouldn't like for the Canadian Officers to remain a mystery. After your sister has recovered you need but name the date. Afterall we would not like to dance while your sister is sill sick."
"No indeed, what a dreadful thought. Oh thankyou very much Lieutenant, we are most grateful." Lydia was already towing her mother and sister out of the room. With her mother's departure Elizabeth promptly fled to Jane's room, she had never been so thoroughly mortified in her life.
"Clever Mrs Bennet." Darcy made the observation as he pushed up off the window sill. "How long until dinner Bingley?"
"Only forty-five minutes." Bingely looked like he was about to continue when Miss Bingley interrupted him.
"How witty Mr Darcy." Miss Bingley gave a titter then walked out of the room, leaving Bingley to continue looking puzzled at Darcy.
"Where you serious Darcy? You weren't being sarcastic?"
"Not in the slightest, I was completely serious. Mrs Bennet is not intelligent, infact she is very nearly simple in my opinion, but never-the-less she is a very clever woman. With little inconvenience to herself she has made her health and comfort the number one priority at Longbourn to all except her husband. Observe the children, their lives and objects are driven by their mother's health and well-being, an entire day may be re-written because Mrs Bennet feels an attack of the nerves. With a possible exception of the youngest, and that is because Miss Lydia uses many of her mother's traits to get her own way. Miss Elizabeth came here almost immediately after she returned from the hospital the day after her sister fell ill. She knew she would be arriving while the rest of us were having breakfast, but she also knew that she would probably be forbidden to come if she asked, so she did not ask. I do not expect any of them realise it for it is an automatic response which they have developed to avoid trouble, Bennie displayed the same trait, he carefully sounded everyone before he made a suggestion. He certainly didn't realise what he was doing, and ninety percent of the people he spoke to won't have realised what he was doing. It was a safety measure, like testing the water temperature before diving in, if the response to his test seemed to unfavourable he never broached the subject, he didn't enter into the water any further. Everyone has them somewhere or other, some are more noticeable then others, you won't see your own unless it is pointed out to you and they are the hardest habits to break." Darcy walked across to the door. "Infact my particular one is still a major problem. I'll see you at dinner." Darcy exited the room quietly, leaving Bingley to stare at the wall in bewilderment, he'd have probably stared at someone else had there been another person in the room, but he was now entirely alone.
Elizabeth jolted out of her half doze in response to a soft knock on the door. A quick glance revealed to Elizabeth that Jane was sleeping peacefully, so she hurried over to the door, in all probability it was Bingley come to make inquiries.
"I appologize Miss Bennet." It was Nash who was standing diffidently by the door. "Mr Bingley sent me to ask if you would deign to descend and keep him company, I am free for the afternoon and can quite easily watch you sister."
"Well..." Elizabeth hesitated because she had been enjoying the peace she got in her sister's room, yet it seemed churlish to refuse such a kindly offer. "Okay, thankyou very much." Elizabeth smiled her thanks as she stepped out into the hallway, now out of the room she had to admit that she liked the idea of doing something apart from dozing.
The library was uncommonly full that afternoon, Mr Hurst and Mr Bingley were playing picquet with Mrs Hurst watching on, Mr Darcy was seated at the desk in the corner and was writing steadily, watched by miss Bingley who was commenting at regular intervals. Elizabeth hesitated momentarily after she entered while she fielded questions concerning Jane's health, she then selected a book off a nearby pile and sat down. She spent about five minutes involved with that singularly barren endeavour of trying to read the book, much as she disliked to admit it the book was well out of her depth, and she finally laid it aside and pulled the bit of sewing out of her pocket.
Elizabeth was the last person who would claim any expertise in the department of fancy stitchery, but when you had the fun of sitting around for possibly hours on end with absolutely nothing to do it supplied an interesting distraction which was easily discarded. It was with amusement that Elizabeth listened to Miss Bingley and Mr Darcy's 'conversation' as she stitched, Miss Bingley kept up a never ending flow of comments and compliments, how neatly he wrote, how he kept his lines straight, how quickly he wrote, the stream was never ending and the responses were curtly polite or nonexistant.
"Please tell Georgiana I am pleased to hear of her improvement on the harp." She received a disinterested grunt in response. "I so long to see her again. How do you write so neatly Mr Darcy?" She received no response at all this time. "Business letters, what a bore, it is bad enough writing thankyou notes and invitations."
"Then it is fortunate that they fall to my lot instead of yours, but this is not a business letter."
"How quickly you write."
"You are mistaken, I write particularly slowly as point of fact."
"Caroline, stop complimenting him, he'll get far too big an opinion of himself if you do. Besides which Darcy could never write fast, he spends to much time studying for the longest possible words in which to express himself."
"Your style of writing is certainly different from mine." Darcy's head lifted not in the slightest as he responded.
"I'll say it is." Miss Bingley spoke emphatically. "Why Charles misses half his words and those he does not miss he blots."
"My ideas flow so rapidly that I cannot write fast enough and as a result I miss an awful lot of words and frequently convey no sense to my correspondant at all."
"Your humility mr Bingley disarms reproof." Elizabeth noted with amusement that there was a distinctly impish twinkle in Bingley's eye, the Lieutenant was definitely stirring for a reason.
"Nothing is more deceiving as the appearance of humility." Darcy finally looked up from his letter and swung around on his chair. "It is often merely carelessness, and sometimes an indirect boast."
"And which do you call my recent piece of modesty, Darcy?" Bingley pushed his chair back as he spoke and Elizabeth realized that either he was being soundly beaten at picquet or the game must in general bore him, the stir had been with the aim of getting himself out of the game he had been playing.
"An indirect boast. You claim that your inability to write a coherent letter is connected to the speed at which your thoughts flow. You find a reason for pride in the fact that you think considerably faster then you write, and accordingly administer a small personal panegyric by observing that your hand cannot keep up with your mind. For those that possess any form of speed they are proud of the fact, even though it frequently leads to a lack of performance in another field. Yesterday afternoon you laid claim to the fact that if you should decide to quit Netherfield, you would quit it in a matter of minutes, in this you were taking pride in the speed of your decision making skills and the speed on which you might act on them, irrelevant of the fact that to quit a place so suddenly and with such little notice would cause great inconvenience to both yourself and your staff."
"No, I disagree with that, to remember a matter of days later what I have said is not fair play. Hitting below the belt and the rest of it."
"Well it is better then kicking below the belt, but continue." Darcy gave a faint smile as he spoke.
"But as to the matter of the subject I still hold that it is honesty, I do honestly believe that if I were to decide to depart I would do it in the same manner as I arrived. At least I do not choose a character with which to show off to the ladies with."
"I daresay you do believe yourself to possess such celerity, but I am not so convinced. I believe the matter would be as dependant on fate as it is for any other man. Besides which, if a friend were to come up just as you were to depart and say: 'Bingley my friend, I suggest that you do not depart 'til next week.' I feel sure that you would stay, and if he were to ask you to delay your departure any further I am sure you most certainly would."
"You have only proved by this that Mr Bingley does not do justice to his own disposition. You have now shown him off more than he ever could."
"Thankyou Miss Elizabeth, at least someone is willing to defend me, though I somehow doubt that was how he intended for his words to be taken. I feel certain that he would much prefer it if I were to give a flat denial and ride off even faster."
"Would Mr Darcy then condone the rashness of your original move in view of your obstinant stubborness when it came to holding to your plan." Elizabeth gave Darcy an inquisitive look as she spoke.
"Upon my word I cannot explain the matter, Darcy, speak for yourself." Bingley had missed the look that Elizabeth gave Darcy, and it was clear to everyone in the room that this conversation had obviously suddenly gone over his head.
"You ask me to explain opinions which you choose to possess me of but which I certainly do not acknowledge, but nevertheless we will let the case stand. According to your statement of the situation Miss Bennet the friend who asks, shall we call him A for the matter of convenience, has come out when, shall we call him B? When B is on the point of departure. A has given no reason for why B should, or even might, consider delaying his departure, offered no reason for why his wishes should be accounted for."
"To yield readily - easily - to the persuasion of a friend you do not consider a merit?"
"To yield without conviction is a compliment to neither party."
"You appear, Mr Darcy, to place no weight with the influence involved with friendship or affection. A regard for the requester would often cause one to yield without being argued into agreement. I am not necessarily referring to a case which involves mr Bingley, in that situation we had best wait until it occurs and then analyse it at our own speed. Suppose we take a hypothetical situation and analyse that?"
"Would it not be best to arrange with greater precision the relationship between A and B before we proceed, and thus preventing further discussion on the degree of intimacy between the parties, there is also the matter of the request in question."
"Yes, let's hear the particulars and do not forget the relative size and height. Whether you are aware of it or not, the height and size differences have a large effect in such a situation as you are preparing to discuss. I assure you that if Darcy were not such a toweringly tall person, when compared to my so humble self, I would not pay him half the respect I do. I declare that I do not know a more aweful object than Darcy in a specific place at a specific time......" Bingley hesitated momentarily and coloured faintly. "Namely in his own house on a sunday afternoon when he has nothing to do."
"Charles, that is not fair....." Miss Bingley came heatedly to the defence of Mr Darcy, but he had shrugged aside the matter with a faint smile and coolly interrupted Miss Bingley.
"I observe your design Bingley, such was your habit last time we met, you have no wish for this arguement to continue and in aim of silencing it you have aimed to offend at least one if not both the parties involved."
"I admit that arguements are too close to disputes for my comfort, but I deny the charge that I was aiming to insult. If you and Miss Bennet will defer yours until I am out of the room I will be happy and I will not mind what you say."
"Quite in character with you Mr Bingley, my brother also observed that you could not tolerate a dispute and frequently broke them up. As for defering this matter, what you ask is no problem with me, and Mr Darcy would profit much by finishing his letter."
"What was the paper you were reading yesterday Miss Bennet?" Bingley had turned his chair completely away from the table.
"HE1."
"Aa chi won?" Darcy looked up with a puzzled expression from his letter.
"H.E. 1. My brother started the idea years ago and called the paper the 'Hertfordshire Express 1' meaning it was the first run of the Hertfordshire Express, the paper is written by anyone who cares to submit an article. The article need not be your own, you may take it from somewhere else and hand it in to the printers. It is printed once a month and can be purchased in the tap of the Horse and Hounds."
"You seem to take the death of your brother lightly Miss Bennet." Darcy would never be able to explain later why he made the remark, but her response certainly answered any doubt he might have had on the subject.
"If by that you mean I am not dripping crape and crying more than I breathe, then yes I have taken my brother's death lightly. We lived in expectation of my brother's death for a year, his eventual death did not shock us as some might expect. Now if you will excuse me I need to change and see Jane." Elizabeth hurried from the room and fled upstairs, straight past Jane's room and into her own, it had been touch and go about her reaching her room before the tears started to fall. How dare he ask a question like that? It was some ten minutes later when a soft knock sounded.
"Come in." Elizabeth didn't feel like seeing anyone, but she couldn't really refuse entrance as she was no longer crying. "Mr Darcy?" It was with shock that she identified the tall figure which entered the room.
"I'm sorry to disturb you Miss Bennet, but at the same time I have need of appologizing for causing you pain. Such was not my intention by the enquiry I made these ten minutes passed. I was for a period well acquainted with your brother, you were the only member of your family he ever expressed any affection for, I observe now that it was merely a matter that following his wishes but I did fear that the one person he had affection for might feel nothing for him in his passing."
"Permit me to assure you Mr Darcy that I miss my brother and my twin for more reasons than because it has unsettled our futures, ensured the fact that our spineless cousin inherits our current home, and forced the matter that the rest of us will either have to marry or find an occupation. I would much prefer my brother to be alive then to have all the riches the kingdom can offer. Now if you will excuse me I have no wish to turn into a waterfall and render myself useless for tonight's work, also I have need to get dressed." Elizabeth rolled off the bed and found her feet. "Rest assured sir, your appology has been accepted in the spirit in which it was offered, I took no offense at your enquiry it was infact one of the kindest I have ever received. But as observed before, I need to dress."
"Miss Bennet, permit me to say that you are a brave woman and that your brother would be proud of you. I myself am glad to make your acquaintance. I will now leave you to dress." Darcy quietly let himself out of the room and headed towards his own room, he had spoken the truth with complete sincerity, and he was thankful that Elizabeth had accepted his appology. Elizabeth Bennet was much braver then he could ever hope to be, and he was more than ready to acknowledge the fact. And on top of that she appeared to have blown the top off the first problem on the piece of paper, he needed to get hold of a copy of that paper and as soon as humanly possible.
Darcy hadn't an idea what it was that woke him, but as soon as he was awake he knew there was someone else in his room.
"Who's there?" Darcy lit the lamp as he spoke and frowned as he saw Nash at the foot of his bed.
"Nash, sir. You have a visitor." Nash looked as happy as Darcy felt.
"Who is it?" Darcy followed the question with an exclamation of disgust, it was only three in the morning.
"Precisely sir. The person will give no name but claims to have an urgent message from Lord Parker."
"Okay, let whoever it is in, but you stay near the door."
"Yes, sir." Nash slid out of the room again, leaving Darcy to frown at the foot of the bed. It was a hunched figure which shuffled into his field of vision a minute or so later.
"Who are you?"
"Someone who will not give a name. Trust me my friend, it is in both our interests that you do not know my identity." The figure was muffled to the eyes and a hat was pulled down hard.
"What do you want?"
"Parker wants to know how you are going."
"Tell Parker he can damn well go to hell, he's had it for two months with little progress, he can at least give me as much." Darcy growled irritably, more than a little annoyed that he had been woken at three in the morning for this.
"The question was not so much about your progress as to whether you wished to pull out of it."
"Parker knows the reasons, I have no choice. Now either finish your business or get out of here."
"Cool it Duivel, be thankful you are not supposed to have first walked here, then back again. Anything I can do that you are unable to do?"
"I need a copy of the Hertfordshire Express."
"Nash will get it tomorrow, if you need anything else done, tell Nash and Nash will see that I know." The figure turned and slid out of the room, leaving Darcy to frown at the wall.
"Are you sure that person was legitimate?" Darcy turned his head to look at Nash as he returned to the room.
"As legitimate as they ever are, they had the proof and the password." Nash shrugged and stared at his hands.
"What does Nickel convey to you?"
"A metal, an american five cent coin."
"Scorpio?"
"A sign of the zodiac, if an n is added then it also gives a poisonous little critter with a sting in its tail. What was the request about the Hertfordshire Express about?"
"Just a hunch, miss Elizabeth Bennet referred to it as H.E.1 this.....yesterday afternoon." Darcy frowned up at his henchman. "Nash I have the feeling that I am making a godamn fool of myself and that someone is sitting somewhere watching me and chuckling."
"He probably is, so my theory is that you make him regret his amusement."
"Not a bad idea. You going back to sleep now or were you plugged in?"
"Going back to sleep. Sleep well sir."
"I probably won't." Darcy grunted the response as Nash passed out through the doorway which lead to the dressingroom. Darcy gave a brief salute to his nerves and resumed staring at the ceiling.
Lydia let out a breath of relief as she cleared the Netherfield property without being stopped by anyone, but at the same time she viewed the three mile trek ahead of her with distaste, unlike Elizabeth she was no fan of walking, but nevertheless she had to travel the distance for there was no other way she would get home in time without being seen.
"Lydia!" The voice called softly, but Lydia stopped immediately and turned towards the voice.
"What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you." The figure which came out of the shadows was slim and tall, clad entirely in black only the hands and face were at all visible against the dark countryside.
"What's happened?"
"Not much, and that is the problem." The Count cast a quick glance around before turning to walk in the direction of Longbourn. "What did you get out of our friend?"
"A very bad temper and a suspected lead."
"Well Parker did warn us. Though I must admit that he made quick work."
"It helps that he is actually here, not undercover, and aware of what he is looking for." Lydia's tone was slightly touched with acid.
"Andrea knew our friend long before you knew Andrea." The cool voice reprimanded.
"I assumed as much, he claims to have no choice in whether he continues or not." At times Lydia found the Count's sheer disinterest and lack of emotion infuriating, other times she wished she had the same detachment.
"Then let's hope that he manages to retain his reputation as unkillable, this matter has become personal for him. I've seen what the man does when the matter becomes personal and I can almost guarantee that either he will die or this matter will be cleaned up."
"What happened before?" Lydia was curious about this point for no one had ever explained how this business began in the first place.
"I don't know, no one knows outside of a circle of three. One is Darcy, and he won't talk, one is the 'big fish', and we don't know who he is, and the third is a mystery. In fact the third is so thoroughly a mystery that we are only assuming he was there. The 'big fish' did something to Darcy, but what was done was not done to Darcy, there has to have been a third person and all we know for certain is that number three was not one of us."
"Interesting. See that Nash gets a copy of the Hertfordshire Express before tomorrow morning." Lydia rubbed her head wearily. "I'm frightened, we have a killer loose here and we don't know how or when he will act. Who will he take? Will it be one off the locals or will it just be a corpse that appears from nowhere like last time."
"Lydia, if I hadn't met you before I would be seriously questioning your ability to do this work." The Count frowned worriedly down at her. Doubt in the work of another was the only emotion Lydia ever saw him display, and to her he displayed it quite regularly and there was nothing she found more irritating than this distrust.
"I'm currently doubting my own ability, but don't worry, it'll pass by breakfast time." Lydia pulled a face, then suddenly slipped on the mud and fell over with a sharp gasp. The Count immediately dropped to help her back up when simultaneously a shot whistled past his ear. The Count hit the mud and squirmed into the hedge.
"Wait here." The Count then vanished silently into the darkness, leaving Lydia to huddle into the darkness of the hedge. Lydia waited tensely for perhaps five minutes until the Count rejoined her.
"Anything?"
"Nothing." The response was totally devoid of emotion. "We need to get moving."
"I quite agree." Lydia started to move, then stopped with a sharp gasp as pain tore through her foot. "I think I must have wrenched my ankle when I fell." Lydia poked a ginger finger down her sock, then suddenly her breath came out in a very sharp hiss.
"Something wrong?" The Count suddenly turned back from his reconnaissance of the surrounding country.
"I think so, there is something most certainly wrong down there."
"Let me see." A thin pencil of light lanced out as he spoke, and Lydia wanted to faint when she saw her ankle.
"I thought it was just moisture from the mud." Lydia's voice was quite detached as she made the observation, which caused her companion to suddenly turn the light on her face.
"No passing out!" Though the Count had to admit that the blood display was quite impressive, his primary interest was whether the bullet was lodged or it had passed clean through.
"I don't think I will. It must have been that which sent me down into the mud, I thought I tripped on something."
"I think we're in luck." The Count had continued probing Lydia's injury while she spoke and now he sat back with a satisfied grunt. "The bullet has passed clean through and fortunately also has touched neither the bone nor the tendon. Or at least that is what it looks like." The Count pulled a broad bandage from one pocket. "Give me a minute to tie it up then see if you can bear any weight on it, we still have a mile and a half to go and I certainly couldn't carry you that far, even if I wanted to, and I most certainly don't since we seem to have a gunman taking shots at us."
"If Mr Darcy can walk nonchalantly around with a shattered leg in a brace, then I'm sure I can stagger at a respectable pace with a chewed up ankle."
"Derbyshire isn't permitted to out do Hertfordshire I observe." The Count finished binding the ankle and slid out of the hedge. "Seems clear, see if you can stand." There was a brief scuffle and Lydia was standing beside him.
"I think I can walk far enough but I'm feeling rather ill."
"Not surprising." The Count started off down the path setting his pace according to the amount of weight and pressure Lydia exerted on his arm. No more shots followed the first two and within an hour the Count was throwing small pebbles at Mr Bennet's window. The window opened a fraction and a head appeared, then nodded and vanished. Five minutes later the library windows swung quietly open.
"Problems?" Mr Bennet would normally have been amused by the muddy condition of these two, but the situation was such that he didn't feel at all amused.
"Can't say, get some first aid equipment, we can't afford to have a doctor in on this one."
"Damn!" Mr Bennet vanished, shortly to return with a heavy box. "What happened?"
"Someone decided to practice their targeting skills, got Lydia in the ankle and missed my head by about an inch."
"Find anyone?"
"Not a soul, they must have shot then fled." The Count was busy trying to remove Lydia's boots. "Wish we could cut these."
"We can't explain away a bullet hole, cut them and thank our lucky stars that Lydia was wearing her old boots."
"Good." The Count produced a wicked looking knife and in a matter of seconds the boot was detached from Lydia's foot. The socks received similar treatment.
"Warm water." Mr Bennet left the room as he spoke and returned some five minutes later with a pan of warm water and some cloths.
"I think we've managed to escape any serious damage, but she won't want to dance or do anything very energetic for a week at least."
"Lydia is never energetic unless at a ball and no festivities are to be expected until after the Netherfield Ball, and Lydia gets to set the date for that."
"A relief." The Count prodded around for another minute, during which Lydia fainted dead away. "Yes, looks like I was correct in my original guess, no bone has been touched and the tendon hasn't suffered more than a graze." It took him some fifteen minutes to bind it up satisfactorily. "If any complications arise take it directly to a hospital, otherwise just let it heal itself. We can't afford for Lydia to be found out now."
"You realise what you're saying?" Mr Bennet stared across the desk at this aristocratic Pole, the man gave Mr Bennet the creeps with his detached calm.
"Of course I do, I'm asking you and your daughter to ignore the fact that she has a bullet pass through her ankle and pretend it is whole."
"You speak as if that is minimal." Mr Bennet was not happy.
"Compared to what others are doing it is minimal. Andrea walked twenty-six miles before he died in an effort to get to Lydia. I've climbed the Swiss Alps with a broken arm, there is a friend of ours currently in Meryton who had his leg shattered. It was nearly amputated then the doctors left it, you don't know it is broken but he wears a leg brace all the time, he does his job with the constant threat of crippling himself permanently hanging over his head." The tone was a bored statement of fact.
"You're joking." Mr Bennet had paled considerably, and even as he made the remark he knew that the Count would never joke.....about anything.
"Not at all, the point is that we consider something more important than our own health. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get moving. I'll leave you and Lydia to sort things out between you. Tell Lydia I'll be back in three weeks." The Count then started to the window.
"Where are you going at this hour?"
"London." The response came as the Count climbed out the window. Mr Bennet snuffed the light and carefully carried Lydia up to her room.
"Has he gone?" It was Lydia's first words after she came around.
"Yes, about five minutes ago."
"London?" But there was little doubt in Lydia's voice.
"Correct, said he be back in three weeks. Lydia I don't like this."
"Why? You had no problem with it a year ago when I started."
"A year ago I didn't realise that you might be required to conceal an injury."
"It won't be hard, I don't do anything except for the occasional expedition to Meryton and dances. Papa, the request to conceal this injury is for no other reason then the fact that my life might rely on the fact that the shooter doesn't know who I am, so to might the lives of the rest of our family."
"Lydia I do not understand you at all." Mr Bennet spoke as he walked from her room, leaving Lydia to turn over awkwardly and stare up at her ceiling tears pricking fiercely behind her eyelids, the pain in here foot was nothing compared to the pain in her heart.
"Oh papa." Lydia rolled over and buried her head in her pillow as the tears started to fall, it was at times like this when she wished for the Count's detachment.
Elizabeth came down the slope to Netherfield with a perplexed frown knitting her brow, she wasn't sure what she was going to do when she arrived, but that was a bridge she would cross when she reached it. As expected, Dougal was waiting for her on the Wilderness path, so Elizabeth hopped off and waited for either Mr. Darcy or Nash to come and remove the monstrous animal. It was a matter of a couple of minutes waiting until Elizabeth heard the expected footstep.
"Don't come any closer."
"Why not?" The steps had stopped the second she spoke.
"Because it is not safe. Call your dog, but don't touch him. Take him into a yard and either yourself or your man needs to wash him down with diluted acid and lots of soap. This is not an emergency but I prefer not to take risks, whoever washes him is to wear waterproofed gloves."
"Very good Miss Bennet. I assume there is an outbreak of something at the hospital."
"Correct." Elizabeth spoke curtly because she was very tired and worried. "Please have someone get all the clothes out of my room, have them placed in a pack and then wrapped in oilskin and left on the doorstep. Tell Mr. Bingley that from now on until I give the all clear every member of the house is to spend a minimum of two hours outside everyday regardless of the weather. Exercise is not necessary, but it would certainly be to advantage, and hands must be washed with great frequency with strong soaps." Elizabeth had kept her back turned the entire time that she was giving instructions.
"Very good Miss Bennet. Let me check this is straight. Clothes on the back step in a pack and wrapped in oilskin. Dougal is to be washed in dilute acid, soap and warm water before he is to be touched. The entire household is to turn out for a minimum of two hours in the outside world on a daily basis, and a regular washing of hands in a strong soap. Correct?"
"Correct."
"Dougal." As Dougal moved to pass her Elizabeth moved to the side so he would not come in contact with her. "Miss Bennet, is there any way I can be of use either to yourself or the hospital?"
"I do not know, I will tell Doctor Ownes of your offer. Thank you very much Mr. Darcy, please ensure that the instructions are carried out it could be a matter of life and death for the residents here."
"Would it be to much to ask what the problem is, miss Bennet?"
"It is a Staphylococcus infection Mr. Darcy, tell Mr. Bingley and Jane, but no one else. Keep an eye open and on the first possible signs of infection isolate the person from the rest of the house and send an alert to Netherfield Hospital, we are hoping we have managed to control the matter and that we are merely over reacting. Now I suggest you go Mr. Darcy, I have to get back to the hospital, my services are needed and I am supposedly isolated from the outside world."
"Very good Miss Bennet." Darcy gave a short whistle as he moved off and Dougal followed him from a short distance . He whistled again as he left the wilderness and headed the long way back to the house. He stopped after a short distance and turned back to watch. Sure enough, Elizabeth was headed back up the hill she had skidded down a mere matter of minutes earlier, Darcy whistled again, shoved the paper into his pocket, and headed back to the house. With this nice bit of information he had just received the matter that he was somewhat excited about when he had entered the wilderness needed to be forgotten about. He reached the side yard and let out a loud yell.
"BING!!!!!" He scanned the windows of the house and soon had the satisfaction of seeing Bingley's head appear in a downstairs window.
"What is it?"
"See to it that Miss Elizabeth's personal effects and clothes are placed in a pack, wrapped in oilskin and laid on a back doorstep, then forbid use of that door until I say you can clear the matter."
"Anything else?"
"Where do you keep acid?"
"I wouldn't have the faintest idea, go ask Jock."
"The gardener?"
"Yes!"
"Right!" Darcy waved a hand and moved off around the corner of the house, while Bingley withdrew his head and closed the window again.
"Interesting." Bingley chewed his lip in perplexity then finally left the parlour, having responded to the questions of no one. He sent Nash up to pack up Elizabeth's equipment, then whiled away the time until Darcy returned meandering up and down the main hall. Darcy entered approximately an hour later looking very disheveled and rather damp, though in a remarkably good humour.
"Everything dealt with?"
"Well we isolated the back doorstep, if that's what you mean."
"Good, is Miss Bennet in her room?"
"Yes."
"Good, get upstairs and kick whoever is with her out and take over the watch for yourself, I'll be with you in twenty minutes, I need to change my clothes." Darcy took the stairs as quickly as he could, which meant he took five minutes to awkwardly pull himself up with aid of his cane. Once in his room Darcy stripped to the skin and ran a full bath, throwing in a lot of soap. Having bathed, dried himself and put on an entirely fresh set of clothes and his second brace, Darcy used two of his canes to scoop up the discarded clothes and dump them into the tub which he had not drained. The acid had in fact irreparably damaged the suit, but Darcy considered it a minimal cost if it might prevent sickness from entering the house. Darcy hurriedly unwrapped the towel from around his head and gave it a quick scrub to dry it further before combing his hair and leaving his room. He knocked softly on the door of Miss Bennet's room and entered when invited.
"Hello Darcy, take a seat and tell me why all these precautions are being taken?" Bingley was seated in a heavily cushioned armchair.
"How are you Miss Bennet?" Darcy completely ignored Bingley's impatient questions.
"Very well thank you Mr. Darcy, I should be able to return home tomorrow or the day after."
"I'm glad to hear you are feeling considerably better."
"It is nice to feel better. Where's Lizzie?"
"Heading back to the hospital when I last saw her." Darcy sat down in his regular cane chair, which though uncomfortable had the advantage of having a seat so high that his knees weren't under his chin when he sat on it.
"Oh dear." A distinctly worried expression crossed Jane's face. "What instructions did she leave?"
"The entire household were to spend a minimum of two hours in every day outside in the fresh air, though exercise would be useful it is not a necessity. Also frequent washing of hands in strong soap. We are also to isolate any sickness that appears in the house and contact the hospital."
"That's very bad, poor Lizzie." Jane was looking very worried and upset.
"Her instructions will be attended to, now since both of you seem to know what the problem is, could I please be told?"
"In a minute." Darcy waved the demand aside, his eyes fixed on Miss Bennet. "They have had this happen before?"
"Yes, back around Easter it happened and the hospital was nearly closed, I fear this could close the hospital. It was too expensive last time."
"Damn!" Darcy swore with a lot of feeling and stared at his hands. "It appears that a Staphylococcus infection has broken out at Netherfield Hospital, Elizabeth wants certain orders carried out until she gives the all clear for us to forget about it. At the same time she doesn't want it to go outside of the three of us. We're to watch for signs of infection, but by the sounds Elizabeth was more tired then worried, she doesn't want a panic to break out...which is quite understandable."
"Two hours a day I think you said." Bingley was staring thoughtfully at his hands. "I think that early afternoon is the best time, we'll clear the house out after lunch, we can claim it to be a whim on my part and they'll put it down to shellshock until they hear of the problem at the hospital, then they'll probably all panic together. I'll go see to it all if you don't mind staying with Miss Bennet, Darcy?"
"Not at all, get to it Bingley." Darcy sat silently while Bingley departed from the room, staring at his hands.
"How was she, Mr. Darcy?" Jane had pulled on a sweater and was now pushing herself up into sitting position.
"She seemed tired but in good health."
"That sounds good." Jane relaxed back slightly, then tensed up as she noticed that Darcy's expression was not at all relaxed. "Something wrong Mr. Darcy?"
"I have in my years seen men who were expected to live die, and I have seen men who were expected to die live. I have no wish to alarm you, but if I were you I would be worried for your sister, more worried then you ever were before in your life."
"Why?" Jane sat upright, thoroughly alarmed.
"It is less than three months since your brother died, and your sister has been working at top pressure for an extended period. Mentally your sister is as vulnerable as they get to illness, if she falls ill I doubt she will put up any fight at all, so much easier to die and join her twin."
"Why are you so certain." Jane was curious, he spoke with such certainty.
"I have watched someone suffer such a fate and I nearly suffered it myself. When someone close to you dies it is much easier to follow them then to fight and try to live without them. I expect you probably know it, but your sister objects to my existence."
"She objects to the fact that you are a completely healthy and intact man who is a C.O. It is not you as a person that she objects to, or at least I don't think so, she just wants someone to dislike and you've managed to fill the position quite nicely."
"If I were in her position I would quite agree with her objection and do the same thing, but I am not in her position." Darcy's tone was faintly acid touched, but he promptly changed the subject. "What'll happen if they decide to close Netherfield Hospital?"
"They'll close it, and possibly burn the building, depending on the age of the building. With Weatherton I expect they'll just disinfect the place as thoroughly as possible and let it go."
"What'll happen then?"
"The people currently working at the hospital will probably be given a month of leave to ensure that they aren't infected, then moved off to another hospital. We'll know within the next week whether the Hospital is to be closed or not, personally I hope it isn't closed, but I fear that it will."
"Could they open another hospital in the region?"
"Very unlikely, we're nearly too far from London as it is, and all the other houses which are large enough are too close to Meryton. Meryton Hospital is permitted because it is just a shell-shock hospital, theoretically we have no infectious diseases and unhealthy refuse to endanger the civilian population with."
"What will your sister do if the hospital is closed?"
"She'll probably help with the shutting down process, take her month's holiday, then move away from home to wherever they send her."
"She wouldn't consider changing to Meryton Hospital?"
"Meryton Hospital." Jane's expression was a mix of sadness and happiness. "Meryton suits me well, I like things to be quiet and set. But Meryton would not suit Lizzie and she knows it. Lizzie needs the drive and excitement, she needs to be fighting and running fast. Meryton is a shock hospital, we mostly just hand around tea and keep an eye to ensure that the patients don't hurt themselves or go truly insane. Elizabeth likes fighting for life, she thrives on desperate worry and high stress loads, this leads to a collapse about every four months, so she is given a two week leave which she spends sleeping in bed, then she's back at the hospital. Netherfield is an understaffed hospital, which makes the loads on the resident staff exceedingly high and stressful, just after the staph wave back at Easter Lizzie was working for twenty-four hours straight, then got twelve hours off before going back on shift again. They just couldn't spare her, Dr Ownes claims she has healing in her hands, and no one would question her if she says someone will live or die, she is very rarely wrong in that department. It was during this last battle at Ypres that she was running those awful hours and for about a month afterwards as they coped with the extra number of patients...but I'm getting of the point. No Lizzie wouldn't go to Meryton because she knows that she would not be suited to the work."
"I see." Darcy stared at his hands pondering the situation.
"Mr. Darcy your leg brace is showing."
"Miss Bennet?" Darcy looked up blankly.
"Your leg brace is visible, you might wish to push you trouser leg down." Jane had only just noticed the telltale metal bars.
"I thank you Miss Bennet." Darcy carefully readjusted his trousers then resumed his seat, and promptly checked that it wasn't visible.
"Polio Mr. Darcy, or something else?"
"I'd probably be cross if it was polio, but no, it was an accident."
"Permanent or temporary?"
"Hopefully temporary. Miss Bennet I would prefer it if you were not to tell anyone about this."
"Easily Mr. Darcy." Jane had nearly not even asked why he wore it and she certainly had no intention of telling the world that he wore a brace, it appeared that he was somewhat embarrassed about it.
"Thank you miss Bennet." Darcy picked up the book he had been reading earlier and resumed where he had left off.
"Good news sir?" Nash had been watching Darcy for five minutes in silence now.
"Perhaps. Do any of the staff get the Hertfordshire Express here?"
"Yes, there is a large stack in the kitchen."
"Go get the last two or three editions if you can." Darcy resumed scrubbing his leg, a task that he found exceedingly tedious and tiresome, also somewhat painful, but as boring as it was it more than paid off when it came to wanting to any itching his leg might suffer.
"Very good sir." Nash left the room and descended to retrieve the last five editions, he hadn't the slightest idea of why Darcy had suddenly acquired an interest in the Hertfordshire Express, but certainly a year ago Darcy's interest in a little black book had more than paid off, so Nash wouldn't argue if Darcy took interest in anything, there was invariably a reason behind his madness. Nash returned to see Darcy strapping his leg brace back on with a disgusted frown.
"This Nash, is a damnable nuisance. Five, good man, get busy in two of them and see if you can find an article with an anonymous author which rabbits away insanely on the subject of a metal and how good it is for some animal who is usually connected to a farm."
"Yes sir." Nash settled himself and started to scan through the wide variety of articles which stretched from a gossip column written by Mrs. Long to an in-depth analysis of the treatment of sheepdogs, written by one Jim in the most shocking English Nash had ever read excepting his own. There were small advertisements commending all manner of things from Epsoms Salts through to mud found behind Gibbins' barn (what, or who, Gibbins was, was a matter Nash didn't intend to inquire into). There was an article on the cooking of spinach with cheese, there was a critical analysis of the road conditions around Meryton (very critical, the anonymous author was advising that all the roads be totally renewed), there were two hospital reports and the roster for the next three fire brigade turns. There was a copy of the church roster for who was on and off what duties, there was a notice from the local shop on the matter of a sale of goods and there was a warning from the local lawyer that theft was a crime and punishable by a variety of methods from a minor fine through to death. Nash rolled his eyes and looked up, Darcy had already laid aside one paper and was working quickly through his second.
"Problem Nash?"
"I think your description was insufficient, either that or this paper don't have what you're after."
"Then go to the next one." Darcy shoved a scrap of paper into the paper and cast it aside before picking up his third. Nash made a disgusted face and changed to the other paper he had.
"Does feeding Nickel to your sheepdog sound right?"
"Sounds splendid, now get back into the other paper and see if you can find anything remotely like it." Darcy discarded his third paper and took Nash's second paper, while Nash turned despondently back to his first paper.
"Nothing metal related at all except for an advice that we should put cobalt in the road mix to lengthen the life of our roads."
"Cobalt and roads?!" Darcy came off the bed with a crash and stared intently at the article in question. "Get every available copy you can lay your hands on and immediately!" Nash left the room immediately without a word and Darcy produced a book and a pencil from under the bed, either this was a dead end which just happened to look like a solution, or at last they were making some progress. Darcy's brow was creased as he counted through every available idea and recorded the results. Each article had the same number of words and the wording was frequently awkward, but there was no apparent match between the awkward wording. Each article had a reference to metal and its use for something, but the references were all in different places. Darcy shook his head in exasperation and rolled over to stare at the ceiling, one two problems answered and an entire new one dumped in his lap, he might now understand H.E.1 and nickel, but that didn't help him understand their importance and neither did it deal with these blasted articles. That the articles were fishy was without doubt, what also was beyond doubt was the fact that he hadn't the faintest idea how they worked.
"Two more editions sir." Nash came back into the room with the papers in question. "They advise manganese in the ditches to strengthen them, and iron in our tea, to aid the digestion if you don't mind."
"It sounds remarkably like my aunt Catherine." Darcy rolled his eyes and pulled the two papers towards himself. "Try and get in touch with that contact, if possible I want every edition back to April of last year. If anyone asks say I'm doing an analysis of country papers and heard this one mentioned as a good one, or something like that."
"Sir, I would be wary of the local priest."
"Don't worry, I already am, a more insufferable lump of half-baked cringing humanity I have yet to find."
"He has recently received an offer for the parish at Hunsford on the understanding that he will marry before he takes the offer."
"Well advise him to marry my cousin." Darcy pulled up and returned to his bed, glancing at his watch as he went. "Two o'clock, Nash my sincerest apologies for keeping you up late, now get into bed and don't you dare show your nose outside your room before eleven."
"That will cause a lot of talk sir."
"I don't care, tell them the truth if they ask, say I selfishly kept you up very late, now go to bed so I can retire as well. Remind me that we need to go to London tomorrow afternoon."
Parker dropped heavily into his chair, automatically pulling the days work towards himself as he dropped. It was perhaps an hour after he had arrived that the telephone rang.
"Dellingham."
"Table 13 is occupied by our friend." The voice was muffled.
"Since when?"
"Since eight minutes ago."
"Thanks, keep watch unless you see me, report if he moves." Parker hung up and frowned across the room, why had the Count turned up now? On a sudden decision Parker suddenly called through and got himself excused for the morning, not but what he'd have kicked up an almighty fuss if they had refused him, he was way ahead in everything except his correspondence. The trip to the Ritz was completed with a minimum of trouble and it still amazed Parker that they demanded the same standards as they had before the war. Also known as unless you had a Lord before your name they wouldn't let you in unless you were dressed right at the very height of fashion.
"How do you do Lord Dellingham?" The Porter greeted him in a friendly manner and Parker nodded coolly as he passed, Mannering would not be at all worried by the cool response for he knew he would be well tipped. Parker paused for a moment at the entrance of the Grill Room and looked around, sure enough the Count was peacefully eating at table thirteen, after a moment Parker strolled across and took a seat opposite from the Count.
"Hello my friend." The Count glanced up to nod from his food then returned his attention to his food.
"Been a while." Parker ordered a cup of coffee from a nearby waiter.
"True." The Count had paused before answering as if considering the matter.
"I assume you are aware of Andrea's return and departure?"
"I was made aware at the same time as it was drawn to your attention. Oh well I must be going my friend." The Count finished off his meal and stood up. "I'll see you this evening." It was muttered as the Count strolled passed Parker's chair. Parker calmly finished off his coffee before he to departed from the Grill Room and returned to his office.
"Count Alexei to see you sir." Davids discreetly withdrew after he made his announcement and Parker looked up from his port to see the Count strolling into the room.
"'Evening Parker." The Count took a seat. "Why'd you put Darcy onto that sheet of paper?"
"He seemed the best choice and you were not to be found. It gave Darcy something to do until he was listed as medically fit again."
"Not criticising the move, just asking. Did you give him any instructions?"
"No, told him he was beyond the pale and he reckoned that that evened his odds up a bit."
"He's probably right, have to say I've forgotten what it's like working inside the law."
"Oh Darcy's still working within a law, it's just his own law instead of the country's law."
"I think our fish would be unhappy if he heard that, Darcy's approach is a trifle direct when he decides to bend the law."
"Why do you say that?"
"I say it because he's blown himself up with lentonite in an effort to escape. Let me say at this point that the escape was successful, a little too successful in fact, he managed to escape us as well."
"You don't mean just recently?"
"No, that was back in the summer of last year."
"I was going to say!" Parker then looked up sharply as the door opened and Anne walked quietly into the room.
"Gentlemen." Anne hurriedly retrieved the folder she had come in after and departed again, she knew she had interrupted something, but her train was about to leave and she didn't want to miss it.
"Your secretary?" The Count was looking at the closed door, then suddenly returned his gaze to Parker.
"Correct. Do you have anything our friend can go on as to who his adversary is?"
"Darcy knows more than I do on the subject, our fish is proving most elusive."
"You mean you having nothing more than we have?"
"Not a thing." The Count shook his head calmly. "All I can say is that the fish is out there and not even the German High Command know who he is."
Elizabeth scowled morosely at a nearby shop window, the expedition to Meryton which she and Jane had planned, since Jane was on the last day of her sick leave and because Elizabeth had an entire month before she was reassigned, had been edited at the last minute thanks to an attack of nerves on the part of Mrs. Bennet. It had started with Lydia finding out that they were going and throwing a hysterical fit because she wasn't being taken as well, so perforce mama had demanded that Lydia and Kitty be permitted to accompany them. Then Jane had felt it unfair that Mary be left out since the rest of them were going, so then Mary joined them. Elizabeth had silently moaned as she saw the lunch bill mounting, now they would have to accept aunt Phillips' offer after all, and to say the least it was an offer Elizabeth was very reluctant to accept since a the Horse and Hounds were currently booked out by a group of Flying Corps officers and the Canadian officers were frequently in Meryton. There was nothing their aunt Phillips liked more then matchmaking. The group were further increased before they reached the first bridge, for their cousin the reverend Collins had observed them pass his rectory and it offended his sensibilities for his cousins to be walking unattended to Meryton. Elizabeth knew the reason for this interruption was other then he claimed, but he claimed it offended his sensibilities so Elizabeth agreed on the subject. So by the time they reached the outskirts of Meryton the group, which had originally consisted of two, consisted of six and Elizabeth knew she would not get a single thing done, which she wished to get done, done.
"Lord, it's a harem." A startled RFC officer leapt back into the building he had just exited.
"What's that Mac?"
"An embarrassing situation Paige." The officer's head then reappeared. "Sorry ladies, reverend, you caught me by surprise." The officer was looking more than a little embarrassed, and Elizabeth couldn't resist a grin, she knew exactly how they must appear, and working at Netherfield Hospital had done nothing to protect the innocence of her mind.
"What?" A second head appeared behind the first. "Heather!" There was a lot of feeling in the remark.
"Don't worry, I think Pip has overshadowed us again." This remark from the first officer had Elizabeth looking around, and then drew a moan from her, for Lieutenant Harold Denny was to be seen on the other side of the street walking along slowly as he talked to some stranger.
"Quickly Kitty, or we will miss them." Lydia's whisper had Elizabeth starting forward, but she was nowhere near fast enough and Lydia and Kitty started across the street with Lydia loudly declaiming about a bonnet that Kitty must really see. The two girls made the far footpath just as Denny and his friend reached the same point, Elizabeth hesitated barely a second before she followed them across the road, there was nothing else she could do, and besides which she had to admit that she was very curious about the very personable man who was standing with Lieutenant Denny. It was a matter of seconds before they were all introduced to Mr. George Wickham, whom Denny proudly announced to be on the verge of joining the RFC. A move which Wickham promptly denied, and when asked by a very disappointed Denny as to why he changed his mind, he announced the fact that surely Denny couldn't expect himself to tuck himself away in a dark corner when he had just been introduced to so many lovely ladies. Denny looked disappointed, but he claimed an understanding for Wickham's decision and the group turned and headed towards Mrs. Phillips' genial parlour.
"Pip!" The yell brought Denny up short and as a result the whole group came to a halt.
"What is it Mac?" Denny looked back in annoyance and Elizabeth identified the man who had initially called them a harem to be running up with a very large Alsatian at his heels.
"Nero struck again, would you have a tenner? I'm skint, the damn dog swiped a prime side of beef and that rascally landlord expects me to pay for Nero's misdemeanours. Pardon Ladies."
"So does Robbins expect you to pay when Nero takes up robbery." Denny dug a wallet out of his pocket as his fellow officer came to a halt beside the small party. McKenna spared a brief nod for the party as he waited impatiently to see what Denny could produce, and Elizabeth found the situation to tickle her sense of humour. It was not often that a man gave them such a curt greeting, least of all when they were out in force. "I can give you a fiver if that's enough?"
"I'll threaten to crash Paige and I might be able to get his fiver out of him. Thanks Pip." McKenna took the fiver he was offered and stuffed it into a pocket.
"What not going to get rid of your debt immediately?" Denny looked surprised.
"Paige went to talk mathematics with some Canadian Lieutenant and I'll be da...sorry blasted if I go hiking the whole way out there in an effort to get a fiver."
"Agreed, it would be much nicer to fly. Ladies, meet Lieutenant Ellis McKenna, the man who spends all his available time paying off debts his dog makes."
"Any more cracks like that pip squeak and out you go."
"All right, alright." Denny's abrupt retirement was so amusing that Elizabeth couldn't help laughing. Conversation flourished and flew around all the time bubbling with a little undercurrent of laughter, which was easily attached to McKenna's occasional remarks. McKenna might not say much, but the majority of it was carefully considered and weighted to keep all conversation light and funny. It was the sound of an approaching motor which stopped the party and caused them to turn around, and to her disgust Elizabeth observed that it was occupied by Lieutenant Bingley, Nash and Mr. Darcy. Nash was driving the motor, with Bingley leaning forward to speak from the back seat, Mr. Darcy was scrunched down in his seat with a hat pulled over his eyes. As the party turned the motor also changed course, Bingley had seen the Bennets and wished to speak to them. Darcy's hat shifted about a sixteenth of an inch as he glanced at the party, then it returned to its former position, the car was moving at a speed which would have made a royal procession look like the le Manns twenty-four hour race.
"Miss Bennets! How do you do?" Bingley was leaning out over the door as the car crept up. "We were just on our way to Longbourn to see how you all were and whether miss Bennet was well."
"We're all well, I'm back on duty tomorrow." Jane answered in a soft voice, and Elizabeth was amused to note that Darcy had finally moved his hat enough that he could see out from under it, he was looking very bored and sleepy, obviously he had not been as eager as Bingley when it came to visiting Longbourn.
"Gentlemen, Lieutenant Bingley and Mr. Darcy, conscientious objector. Lieutenant, Mr. Darcy, permit me to introduce Lieutenant Ellis McKenna, Lieutenant Harold Denny, and Mr. George Wickham." The effect of Wickham's name on the car was astonishing.
"That you George?" Bingley suddenly leant further out of the car and stared at Wickham. "By George, so it is. Haven't seen you in years my friend."
"I was otherwise occupied." But Wickham was not watching Bingley, his eyes were on Darcy, and Darcy's hat was firmly back over his eyes and he was staring off down the street.
"I didn't realize the Major had any relatives." McKenna was frowning at the figure in the front seat, a very perplexed frown.
"This Darcy is that Darcy's brother." It was only now that Bingley recognised the pilot who usually flew Darcy for his reconnaissance tours of the lines. No wonder Darcy had been damned reluctant to come over and speak to the group.
"Is he, damn pity, that Darcy was a damn fine fellow to have around. Know where he is?" McKenna turned away from the front seat and looked at Bingley.
"Last I heard he was in hospital."
"Lucky blighter. Oh well, excuse me people, my observer just returned and I need to get a fiver out of him." McKenna touched his hat and took off down the road towards the Horse and Hounds, were a figure, attired in an RFC uniform, was to be observed entering the front door. The motor stayed next to the group for perhaps a minute more while Bingley talked pleasantly with Jane, then they made their excuses and the car moved on. Elizabeth watched as the car crept along the rest of main street it paused for a few minutes while Darcy went into the Horse and Hounds then resumed its progress to the other end of Main street, then accelerated as it reached the open country beyond, they may have intended to visit Longbourn but that was obviously not their primary objective, or else why had they not turned in the yard for the Horse and Hounds and returned to Netherfield.