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Part 29
"Young Baxter from next door came by just now. He is going to write a love poem."
"To whom?" Caroline asked.
"I do not know," Richard answered.
"Really! He comes solely with the purpose of informing you of his intentions, and you do not even ask to whom it shall be addressed?"
Richard smiled. "It was not his intention. I advised him to write one."
"Being quite proficient at it yourself," Caroline said sarcastically. She opened a drawer and took out a little box. Richard thought that it contained jewelry, but instead she lifted out some letters. "One poem, my dear. That sonnet."
"Well, I had sufficiently proved my proficiency with that," he grinned. "Do you keep all of my letters?"
"I do."
"You have a lovely box to keep them in," he remarked. "I keep yours too, but not in one place and they are less well-preserved."
"Shall I give you a box then?" Caroline asked. "And where do you keep them?"
Richard grinned again and walked to his closet. He felt in several coat pockets and took out letters here and there. He waved a pile at her. "These are my favourite reading material. Fifty letters written in twelve days and in such small script that I almost need spectacles."
"They cannot all be mine."
"Oh yes, they are."
"When did I write you fifty letters in twelve days?" Caroline asked incredulously.
"Right after you had given birth and I had to gone to London to arrange matters." She had written him everything she had done and thought, and how his children had been doing. Richard had been glad for it, since he had hated to leave his little family so soon after the birth of his children.
"But fifty!" Caroline exclaimed. She knew she had written him a great many, but she had not counted them. "Why do you keep them in your coat pockets for everyone to read?"
"I shall put them in a box if you could kindly provide me with one."
Caroline gave him a box. "Tell me about Baxter's poem."
Richard placed the letters in the box. "It has not been written yet, but once it is done he will come and get my approval."
"Of course, you are such a poet," Caroline nodded.
"I am, but I never show it," he countered.
"Why not, if I may ask?"
"It is such a difficult task."
"Do you mean you do possess the skill?"
"Oh yes! I can rhyme and unrhyme at will," Richard declared.
"Unrhyme is not a word."
He grinned. "You know I am at times absurd."
"That is why we wed."
Richard could only come up with one word to rhyme with that and he shrugged, because the sentence that entered his mind was a bit of a non sequitur. He would have to make do with it if he did not want to seem to be thinking. "Suddenly, I had a lady in my bed."
"It was no problem, since she was your wife," Caroline said.
"And I shall tease her for the rest of my life."
"She likes that and will not mind."
"I think that is extremely kind," Richard said gravely, but his eyes smiled.
"Let us not forget about dinner and Anne!" Caroline exclaimed after looking at the clock.
"If Caroline cannot match her, nobody can!"
Caroline took his arm and they descended the stairs. "You are too witty," she whispered.
"And you are too pretty."
"Will you keep this up all night?" she asked. Surely at some point she would say something that he could not find a rhyming word for?
"Am I not doing it right?"
"I am sorry we are a little late," Caroline apologised to Anne.
"I hope you did not mind the wait," Richard added.
Anne shook her head. "I did not mind. I was early."
"You hair is curly," he said to Anne in a perfect conversational tone.
Anne gave her cousin a strange look. Her hair had never been curly. "Are you feeling well, Fitzwilliam?" she asked carefully.
"Yes, my constitution is brilliant," he answered. It would have to do, even though Caroline gave him a doubtful look.
"Do not mind him, he is mad," Caroline told Anne.
"She wants me anyway, sad!"
"Richard, please stay grammatical," Caroline ordered him.
"I love it when you are dramatical," he smiled sweetly.
Anne clearly thought Richard had lost his mind. Perhaps she should say something that he could not reply to before Caroline would lose her temper and they would begin to fight. She did not know if they ever fought, but it was wisest not to try them out. "I like your dining room, Richard."
It worked, and he gave up with a sigh. "Let us eat, ladies. I have run out of words."
Caroline flashed her a grateful smile. "Thank you, Anne. I am glad to have another sane person here."
Part 30
Conversation during dinner was very normal. Caroline and Richard both tried to get Anne to talk, instead of treating her to a dialogue. It was rather difficult to get Anne to say anything, but even more difficult to get her to speak about herself.
"What do you like to do, Anne?" Caroline asked. "You are my guest, but you must do exactly as you please."
"I would not want to be a nuisance," Anne said quietly.
"You would not be," Richard assured her. "We would not mind if you preferred to spend the day in the library or out shopping. Oh! I did not mean to sound as if we would like for you to be out of the way! I hope you understand what I meant."
"I did," Anne answered.
"Perhaps you would enjoy an evening at the theatre?" he asked. "I have seen they are playing Hamlet."
"I am not coming if you decide to go," Caroline announced. "I have seen it once before, and it was only about insane people killing one another."
"Oh!" Anne exclaimed. "I do not think I would enjoy that." She figured it would be acceptable to say so, since Caroline had said she did not like it either. "I do not like it when they all die."
"Besides," Caroline continued. "It would probably not be compatible with my schedule. Many things are not. It is Saturday. Do you want to go to church tomorrow morning?"
Anne was surprised that she was given the choice, and she automatically said no, thinking of Mr. Collins' endlessly boring sermons at Hunsford, but then she realised that he would not be here. "Well, maybe..." She hated going somewhere unfamiliar all by herself, and she had very correctly deduced that this was one of the many things that were not compatible with Caroline's schedule. She had no idea what that schedule was all about, and if some things were not very conveniently incompatible with it. If Caroline was not going, then Fitzwilliam -- Anne still stuck to her mother's way of addressing him -- was probably not going either. He had already had mysterious fits of Sunday morning illness and vanishing tricks when he was still a boy, Anne recalled, and going into the Army had only made it worse. She wondered what he did at Matlock, where he was almost obliged to go.
"You do want to go?"
To be honest, Anne would rather be a bad girl for not going than go alone. "No. I do not want to go," she said. "What will you be doing tomorrow?"
"Read, work, write letters, play with the children..."
"We have breakfast with them sometimes too," Richard said, still proud of that morning, when he had been able to feed James without spilling anything on the floor.
Anne looked surprised. "Can they eat by themselves then?" Are they not a little too small to do that? Do they even have teeth?
"No, we must feed them," Caroline explained. "We do not do this every day, because --"
"They are being fed every day," Richard interrupted. "Please do not think we are starving them. But not by me."
"Mainly by the nurse, with me or Betty or Susan to help her. It all depends on what I have to do. Do not worry. I shall not make you do it unless you particularly want to. I hope you can amuse yourself at times," Caroline said apologetically. "The children take up much of my time. I hope you enjoy reading, or playing the pianoforte."
"I enjoy reading," Anne said.
"I have not had time to read all of the books in the library yet, since we have not been in town for very long, and this is my first time in this house," Caroline said. "But I saw there are a great many and I am sure there must be some to your liking. There is a nice big chair in front of the fire -- oh!"
"What is it?" Richard asked.
"We should make all fireplaces crawl-proof before Julia and James start to crawl."
"I shall go and see Hurst about that," Richard promised.
"What does he know?"
"His daughter has not walked into any of his fireplaces yet, so I am sure he knows how to prevent it."
Part 31
After dinner the ladies retired to the drawing room to have tea, and Richard went to his study. He had spent too much time with the children today, and there were still some things he needed to take care of. Caroline did not need him until they were going to play cards, so he seated himself behind his desk to handle his bills. With a frown he noted that he, and not Caroline, had spent the greatest amount of money. He had feared her spending in the beginning, but it had turned out that she had been able to regulate her expenses very well. He looked through the bills again and reflected that his children had better play with all those things or it had been a complete waste of money. Or we should have more children to justify the expense.
Thinking of the conversation at dinner, he sent off a servant with a little note for Mr. Hurst. It was always worth a try, even if Caroline did not seem to credit the man with much sense. Richard thought the man was merely bored.
Caroline wanted to ask Anne if she had eaten enough, but she did not. She was already beginning to sound very maternal, and she was still many years and a lot of weight away from her mental image of the type who interfered in everybody's lives. Anne probably knew she did not eat very much. "I must apologise for Richard's behaviour now and then. He can be quite insufferable," she said instead.
"Oh no, I do not mind. He used to be worse," said Anne, who had once found a frog in her bed when she was thirteen. "I hope your son will not inherit his mischief."
"You hope in vain, I believe."
"Perhaps your other sons will not," Anne said reassuringly. "My mother never got more children because my father died, but your husband is still living."
"Did you know your father?" Caroline asked. She did not want to start calculating how many children Lady Catherine could have had if her husband had not died. A child a year from age sixteen onwards...
"No. I was very young when he died."
"Why did she never remarry? One could hardly have called her too old for that if you were so young."
"They tried, but she rather liked being in charge of Rosings, so she refused to give up her power. She likes to take decisions," Anne said dryly.
"Really? I never would have guessed. Would you mind if we taught you the card game later on?"
Anne shook her head. "I think it would be useful." If you are going to force me to attend that card game. "Or else I will spoil everybody's game."
"Oh! You will not. Richard taught me the game very well, and I am now very good at it. He is a very good teacher," Caroline said.
"Or you are a good pupil."
"Who would not be?" Caroline said dreamily. "With such a teacher?"
Anne looked as if she did not understand. "But you said he was insufferable!"
"Oh no! He is not. You will understand, someday."
Anne thought that it was highly unlikely. It did not seem very logical to her at all, but perhaps marriage did something to people's logic. Or to some people's logic. The one married couple she frequently came into contact with were Mr. and Mrs. Collins. She could well imagine Mrs. Collins say that her husband was insufferable, but Anne doubted that Mrs. Collins would stare into space with such a dreamy, glazed look. She stifled a giggle. "I am not laughing at you," she said quickly, when she noticed Caroline raising her eyebrows. "I was laughing at other people."
"I would not have minded," Caroline said magnanimously. "Have you read this book?" she asked, reaching for a book lying on a nearby table. "I am reading it at the moment and I like it very much."
Anne said she had not, and Caroline told her what it was about. For a long while they spoke about what they had read and what they would like to read, until Richard joined them. He was wearing what Caroline secretly called his 'business look', which was one of her favourites as well. Unfortunately he did not want to be caught dead with that expression on his face for some obscure reason, so it was a very rare sight and it always disappeared very quickly. He flopped down onto the sofa absentmindedly and Caroline jolted.
"My dear, do not be surprised if I end up on the chandelier one of these days," she chided him.
Richard looked up. "Somehow I do not think it will bear your weight. What is the attraction up there?"
"No attraction. You nearly catapulted me."
"I apologise." He handed her a letter. "I was lost in thought. Thinking of how many fireplaces and staircases we have at home, and calculating the cost of making our home a safe place for children."
"What is this?" Caroline unfolded the letter.
If you thought your life had ended before, you were wrong. This will be the end of your life, especially for you, since you have two of them. Alice goes everywhere, in, under, behind, on everything conceivable. I dread the moments when my wife asks me to watch the child for a minute. Close my eyes for one second and Alice either wakes me up, or she is gone. Some idiot has taught her to play hide-and-seek, so she will not even answer when I call, and I will have to go in, under, behind, and on everything as well. Very exhausting. This must be the natural check on procreation.With regards to your query -- you must have those little gates everywhere you do not want them to go, which is basically everywhere, I should think, but especially the fireplaces and the staircases. I suggested that we fence off a part of the drawing room to make a cage of sorts, but this proposal was rejected.
"Oh!" Caroline cried. "A cage! How cruel. Of course Louisa would object to that! I would too!"
"Hmm," said Richard, who had not thought it such a bad idea.
Part 32
"Since when do you correspond with Mr. Hurst?" Caroline asked curiously.
"I do not. We usually meet in person," Richard replied.
"Why?" Caroline gasped. She did not know about this.
"I like him. I appreciate his sense of humour."
"Humour?" Caroline gasped again. "Hurst has a sense of humour? And what do you do when you two meet? Drink some brandy, stretch out on your respective sofas and go to sleep? You must do it in Grosvenor Street because I have never found any sleeping men in the library here, and if I ever do, you can be sure that it will never happen again."
Anne listened on with interest. She wondered who this Mr. Hurst was and why Caroline and Richard seemed have such widely differing opinions of him.
"Caroline --" Richard began.
"Oh! You are going to tell me it is true. The man is turning you into a Mr. Hurst the second!" Her voice rose.
"Please excuse me," Anne said quickly when she heard Caroline become more and more agitated. She got up and left the room as fast as she could. Caroline's temper seemed a little volatile all of a sudden, and for no demonstrable reason.
She was not very fond of arguments and she paced the hall for a while. I wonder when they are finished. Will they come and get me? Did they see I left? Strained atmospheres always gave her an uncomfortable feeling inside. Perhaps she should go to some other room where she could not hear the muffled sound of raised voices, but then they would not know where she had gone to. If they ever thought of coming for her at all. Anne bit her lip.
"Miss De Bourgh?" came a voice to her right. It was the housekeeper. "Can I be of any assistance?"
Anne wrung her hands. "I fled. I think they are having an argument."
Mrs. Foster frowned. This was quite unusual. "An argument?"
"Yes, I think so. I do not understand why. It did not seem very reasonable to me," Anne said helplessly, glancing back at the drawing room again.
"May I ask who the unreasonable party was?" Mrs. Foster asked, although she could make an educated guess as to that person's identity. "I assume it was her Ladyship."
"It was."
"Oh dear," Mrs. Foster muttered. "Would you like some tea in my office? It might take a while."
"Yes, please." Anne followed her to her office. There was also a young woman working there, working on a gown.
"Susan, the mistress is flying off the handle," Mrs. Foster said to her meaningfully.
Susan frowned. "What? So soon?"
Mrs. Foster poured Anne some tea. "Here you are. Yes," she continued to Susan. "It is rather soon, but I do not know what else to think of it."
Part 33
Anne sat with the other two women and drank her tea. The door was left open and at one point they heard a door close loudly. Susan laid her work aside and prepared herself for the inevitable summons, which came not long after, and she went upstairs.
"What will happen now?" Anne asked Mrs. Foster.
"We wait," said Mrs. Foster, and they waited until Susan returned. "Well?"
"Lady Matlock is going to bed and she has locked herself in her rooms," Susan reported. She rolled her eyes. Assisting Caroline had obviously not been an enviable task.
"Locked herself in?" Mrs. Foster echoed. "Does that mean nobody can get in? Not even the Master?"
"No. She told me that that was exactly her intention."
"If she had done that before, she would not have had to do it now," Mrs. Foster muttered under her breath.
"Thank you for the tea," Anne said. "I am going to retire as well. I do not think we will still play cards." As she slowly climbed the stairs thinking of the situation, Richard came running down. He did not look at her. Anne turned and followed him with her eyes as he dashed out of the front door. He had looked truly upset and she was worried. Perhaps she should try and talk to Caroline. Perhaps she would need something. Anne knocked on Caroline's door.
"Go away!" Caroline called from the inside, and pulled the door open. "I do not want to talk to you anymore."
Anne shrank upon hearing those words being hissed into her face and she took a step backwards.
"Oh!" Caroline frowned. "I...I am sorry. I thought you were," she made an angry gesture, "him."
"What happened?" Anne asked with huge eyes.
"I do not want him to become like my brother-in-law, so I said he should not visit him, and then he said I should not visit his relatives either. And from there..." Caroline shrugged. "We spat out everything about the other that had been annoying us slightly." Her voice trembled. "It was not nice. I do not want to see him."
"He has gone."
"Good," Caroline said with satisfaction. "Leave me now. I wish to be alone."
Anne left her and went to bed. She was extremely distressed. Whenever Lady Catherine had said of someone that she never wanted to see him again, she had meant it, and it had never happened again. But they are married...they have children...how can she say she does not want to see him? What will happen? What can I do? Where did he go?
Both of them expected Richard to return, but he stayed away. Caroline wore a mask of perfect indifference, but every time she heard something that could be a visitor, she looked up expectantly before she checked herself. As the hours and days passed and he still did not return, Caroline grew more and more dejected in Anne's eyes, although she tried very hard to act as if she did not care. Anne thought that Caroline assumed Richard was staying with friends, but she was too proud to find out.
Anne was too shy to meddle in affairs that were not hers, although the temptation to do so grew stronger with every passing minute. She noticed that she ate even more than Caroline now. It could not be good for Caroline's health to worry so much and eat so little.
Caroline did not cancel the card party, to Anne's great surprise, but she wrote Jane a note that Richard was ill, asking her to bring Charles, because she knew he would believe whatever she told him, and he would not display any unwelcome curiosity. This was also the first time she acknowledged Richard's existence since he had disappeared. She had not once mentioned him to Anne.
"My husband is ill," Lady Matlock informed Colonel Marsden at the earliest opportunity. "I regret that he will not be able to join us this evening."
"I hope he recovers soon."
"Yes, thank you," Lady Matlock answered in a tightly controlled voice. "My brother is here to take his place."
Marsden cast his eye on the other people present. He saw Fitzwilliam's sister talking to a worried-looking young lady, a man looking as if he felt slightly out of place, and three more ladies. Lady Matlock seated herself by him after she had introduced him to the company and politely inquired after his health. He answered her and then asked her if she and the children were in good health as well.
Her gaze softened. "They are doing very well, thank you."
"I am glad to hear it." He understood why she did not speak about herself. She had reason to feel out of sorts if Fitzwilliam was ill. "I hope you are keeping them away from the patient," he added. "You would not want them to catch his illness."
"I most certainly would not," she answered with barely suppressed anger.
Marsden could not know that she had involuntarily been keeping the children from her husband, since she had not seen him for several days, and that she certainly did not want them to catch his vices. He could not make any sense of her anger, and thought he had mistaken it for something else, such as anxiety.
They began the game, and it soon became obvious to Marsden that Lady Matlock was seriously disturbed under her cool and calm exterior, because she played abominably ill compared to the previous time. Her eyes would flicker, with an expression that he could not quite make out, to anyone who mentioned Fitzwilliam. Nobody else seemed to notice but the quiet Miss De Bourgh, who looked invariably worried and anxious. Miss De Bourgh played very ill too, but this was not due to her state of mind, for as soon as Lady Matlock had changed tables, she excused herself by saying that she had never played before.
"You are doing very well," Marsden assured her. "For a beginner."
"They were going to teach me, but --" she broke off with a blush.
"But?" Marsden asked softly so Mr. Bingley and Mrs. Hurst would not hear. He was beginning to sense there was something strange about Fitzwilliam's illness.
"No, no," Miss De Bourgh shook her head.
"What does he have?"
She looked frightened. "I cannot say."
"Later?" he pressed, and she nodded.
The Colonel took care to sit next to Miss De Bourgh after playing. "They had a fight on Saturday evening," Miss De Bourgh told him with downcast eyes. "My cousin left. I saw him leave, but I do not know where he went. I thought he would return, but he did not. Caroline said she did not want to see him anymore and that she was glad he was gone, and she will not admit that it is torturing her. She eats even less than I do. I believe she is too proud to say she would beg him on her knees, if she only knew where he was."
Colonel Marsden closed his eyes. It was even worse than he had thought. "And the fool has run off..."
"I thought he might be with one of his friends, but I do not think he is with one whose wife is here. I watched them closely. I do not know what to do, and Caroline will never take the first step." She sounded desperate. "He cannot mean to stay away. Perhaps something has happened to him. You know him. Have you got any idea...?"
"I could try and find out," he said slowly. "I know some of his friends. I do not believe for one second that he does not want to see her again. He is probably feeling pretty rotten himself. The fools!" he sighed. "We must do something, Miss De Bourgh."
Part 34
Anne had agreed to meet Colonel Marsden in a nearby park the following morning after breakfast, at a time she knew Caroline to be busy. She was a bit nervous, since she had never gone out and walked the streets alone. As she walked along the street, Anne's eye fell on a place where people could hire transport. Impulsively she crossed the street and mustered enough courage to make inquiries. "Excuse me," she said to a man cleaning a carriage. "Has Lord Matlock been here?"
"I don't remember no names, Miss."
"On Saturday evening," Anne tried.
"A man came just as we was about to close, but I can't remember his name now."
"Can you describe him?"
The man nodded. "A gentleman, Miss."
"Yes, but what of his other distinctive features? His hair? His height?"
"It was already getting dark so I did not really see his hair, but it was not anything special like red. And he was towering over me." The man himself was very small, about Anne's height.
Anne thought this information did not help her very much. "What did the man come for?"
"Oy. I can't remember that! It's five days ago."
"Do you not record anything?" It seemed rather logical that they would.
"Aye, we do."
"Could you look it up for me?" She was beginning to lose her patience. Why had the man not said so before?
"I sure could." The man opened a book and traced his dirty finger along the pages. "Ah! Saturday evening! Yes, there was a man. He took a horse."
"Who was it?" Anne asked eagerly.
"Dottie," the man answered.
"Dottie?"
"I remember now, because it was not really old Dottie's turn to go, but the man would not take Carrie. He turned all pale when I mentioned Carrie, and she's a good girl, honest. Needs a bit of a firm hand, but she never throws you off. A good ride, oh yes."
"Who is Dottie?" Anne almost screamed. She hoped it was not some woman. And was Carrie Caroline?
"One of me horses," said the man, giving her a strange look. "I name them sometimes. They like that. That's Carrie," he pointed to a brown mare.
"I meant the man's name," she articulated carefully.
"Oh! Why didn't you say so?" He placed a dirty finger on the page again. "Let me see. Lord Matlock. Hey, was that the fellow you asked about earlier?"
"Do you know where he was going?" Anne was glad that Fitzwilliam had gone off with a horse, and not with some stray woman.
"To me brother's business in Derby. I got brothers all over the country and we take each other's customers," the man explained. "I told the man this, and he seemed mightily pleased, because he said it was not far from his destination. Don't you like our good business sense, Miss?"
Anne did not comment on that. "Derby," she repeated.
"Yes, Miss. It's a bit far to chase after him. He's probably already there unless old Dottie broke her leg."
"Derby." Somehow that was a relief to Anne. Richard must have gone home to Matlock. "Thank you," she thanked the man, and walked quickly off to her meeting with Colonel Marsden.
Part 35
Meanwhile, Richard had arrived at Matlock with very sore muscles and an unkempt appearance from riding. "Richard!" the Dowager Lady Matlock cried out in surprise as her son was shown in. "Is anything the matter? You look horrible."
He stepped forward to embrace his mother. "We had an argument," he said pathetically.
"Dear Lord, Richard!" she exclaimed. "Do not tell me you traveled for two days because you and your wife had an argument?"
"Do not ridicule me, Mother."
"Do not make yourself ridiculous then, son."
"We never had arguments before."
"What was it about?" his mother asked.
Richard stared into space. "I committed the worst faux pas imaginable."
Lady Matlock looked shocked. "What did you do?"
"I mentioned her former...personality. I brought up the times when she was chasing after Darcy," he cringed.
His mother sighed a sigh of relief. At least he had not committed adultery or murder. This did not sound like an unfixable problem. "Begin at the beginning."
"Do not sigh like it is nothing," he said tersely. "It was obviously a very wrong thing to say."
"What led you to say it? Begin at the beginning or I will never be able to do anything."
"She did not like it that I visited her brother-in-law, because he sleeps on sofas. She thinks that if I associate with him, I will start to sleep on sofas as well. She said I should not visit him, so I was piqued by her lack of faith in me and said she should not visit my relatives then either. To which she replied that my relatives did not have any undesirable habits she could take over." Richard paused.
"Yes, go on," his mother urged.
"This is where it went wrong. This had always been something we had an unspoken agreement about. We never brought up because it would cause her pain, but I did it now. I said..." he bowed his head. "I said she was more apt to take over the undesirable character traits of the people she associated with, because her past was a very good proof of that."
"Ouch," his mother said feelingly. "It is never agreeable to be confronted with our mistakes. And then?"
"And then she became livid, and asked me if I enjoyed twisting the knife. I cannot remember exactly what she said after that, or what I said, except that it was about everything and nothing, and even about things that will not be of consequence for several years."
"Such as?"
"The children's education. I said I would certainly not send Julia to the school Caroline attended, because she would not learn anything at all useful there and she would only be corrupted. And then Caroline of course said that she would never allow her sons to enter the army, because they would turn into -- I cannot remember -- something bad. And then she accused me of always pretending to be an idiot."
"What an incredible waste of time and emotion."
"Yes," he said miserably. "And then she told me to go away."
"And so you did," Lady Matlock stated. "Does she know where you are?"
"No. And then I hired a horse, and the man wanted me to hire a horse called Carrie. Even there I was confronted with it, and I said no, so he tried to persuade me to take Carrie because she was a good girl and a good ride, and I felt so criticised because he was right. And then he said that with a firm hand she would not throw me off, but he was wrong because Carrie practically threw me out. So I refused, and he gave me Dottie instead."
His mother listened to his rant and thought it was time it came to an end, since he started to confuse his wife with a horse. "Richard, I do not tolerate this kind of behaviour. Either you are on your way yourself, or I shall personally escort you back."
"No, Mother, she meant it. She does not want to see me again," Richard protested.
"Yes," she said firmly. "You must accept that you will argue now and then. There is no need to panic. Caroline will be happy to have you back." She did not doubt that Caroline was equally distressed, and that she had not intended to send Richard running.
"She was happy to have me gone," he muttered.
"For a while," his mother explained. "Any two people who spend as much time together as you do would get on each other's nerves at some point. Most people do not wait a year and a half to have their first serious argument. You have been extremely fortunate."
Richard did not look as if he felt very fortunate.
"I suggest that you talk to the parson. He is more experienced in dealing with domestic quarrels than I am. It is his job."
"Pff. He hates Caroline. She is only present at services she is not allowed to attend."
"Very well. Think about it then. But I do insist that you go upstairs and bathe and shave. You look like an escaped convict."
Anne pressed her hand to her side. It really was not far to the park, but she was not used to walking at all. The excitement of having news prevented her from thinking. She could only think of having something to tell.
Colonel Marsden saw her approach. It was very obvious that Miss De Bourgh had something to disclose. Her excitement was clearly visible and she could not help grinning. It was rather infectious. "Is he back?" he asked as soon as she was close enough to hear.
"No, but I found out where he has gone."
The Colonel offered her his arm and they started walking. "Where?"
"Derby."
"Close to Matlock," he commented.
"I know. I think he went home."
"To?"
"His mother? She is not in town."
"I did not know that Fitzwilliam was such a..." Marsden searched for an expression. "Mama's boy."
"He was upset," Anne shrugged. "I do not think it so strange. My aunt is very nice, and just the sort of person to go to."
"How did you find out?"
Anne explained and she glowed with pleasure when he said that it had been very clever of her. She was a little proud of herself for going there to make inquiries and walking to this park all by herself.
Colonel Marsden looked pensive. "Would they know when he is coming back?"
"I did not ask."
"Shall we go and ask?"
"Yes. What if they know?"
Anne showed him the way. The same man was still busy working and he looked up when they arrived. "There you are again, Miss. Oh! Have you found him? Been up to Derby and back in ten minutes, eh?" he laughed.
"No, this is not him," Anne said gravely.
"We had another question," Marsden began. "Would you know when Fitzwilliam is due to return?"
"Who's he?" the man asked. "How many men are you looking for, Miss? You can start a little army of them at the rate you're going."
"He is Lord Matlock," Anne said quickly.
"Oh! He's the same man you wanted to know about?"
"Yes."
"Ahh. I see."
"So, would you know when he will be back?" Marsden asked again, because the man seemed to have a very short memory.
"I have no idea. I see them when they're coming." The man scratched his head. "Eh! I just remembered that he looked so familiar, and now I know why! He's not that fool that always walks by with his woman at an hour when you'd expect them still in bed, is he? I mean, she's not a bad looking thing. It got me thinking that I've seen her alone for the past few days. But if that's his woman, who are you?" he asked Anne. "Or has he got two? Lucky devil."
"That is none of your business," Marsden said. "Thank you for the information."
They walked back to the park, and Anne was really in need of a bench. Fortunately the Colonel seemed to feel she was dragging on his arm because they halted in front of a bench and he sat down.
"Do we tell her?" Anne asked him.
Part 36
Anne had decided not to tell Caroline. It would only burden Caroline further, she thought. Caroline would not react in a rational manner at the moment, as was proved by her grumbling that she had no reason to complain, because taking care of Richard's affairs as well as her own only kept her busy twenty-three hours a day.
Catherine came by on Thursday to visit her sick brother. This posed a bit of a problem for Caroline, however, since she could not say he was too ill to be visited without inventing some kind of illness, and then she would have to invent symptoms and apothecaries as well. Before she would become too caught up in her own lies, she told Catherine the truth. "Richard is not ill," she said, looking away from his sister. "He is...he is...I do not know where he is."
"What do you mean?"
"He is not here."
"Has he recovered?" Catherine asked. "So soon?"
"He was never ill."
"But yesterday..."
"He was not ill yesterday either. In fact he was not even at home."
Catherine looked puzzled. "Why did you tell everyone he was ill?"
"Because we...had a serious disagreement," Caroline said. "He left, and he has not come back yet."
"A disagreement? Richard left?" Catherine cried incredulously. "When was that?"
"Saturday. At first I thought he might be with you, but you did not reveal anything yesterday, so I suppose he must be somewhere else."
Catherine frowned. "Saturday! That is an awfully long time. How can you stay so calm?"
"Calm?" Caroline laughed bitterly. She cried every night, and that was as much breaking down as she could afford, considering her children. "I am guessing that -- no, hoping -- that he will regret it, and that he will come back. I do not know where he can be, since he did not take anything with him."
"Aww!" Catherine whined. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. Does Anne know or does she think he is ill?"
"I do not know. She told me he was gone, but I did not ask her about it."
"She cannot think he is ill. Surely the complete absence of meals going up to the patient must have struck her as odd? She could not have believed you were starving your own husband?"
"Perhaps she has not noticed. I have seen very little of her in the past few days. Perhaps she thinks he went for a walk and then came home and fell ill? Would she not have asked me where Richard was, otherwise?" Caroline asked. "I did not want to bother her with our troubles, and I confess I have been a negligent hostess, but I was very busy. For example, I spent half an hour looking for his seal, and another half hour looking for an example of his signature to copy, because there were things to be signed and to be paid."
"Are you still angry with him?"
"No, he might be angry with me, though," Caroline said earnestly. "I just want him to come back, and I would go to wherever he is to tell him so, no matter how many people are looking on. But then...the longer he stays away, the greater the chance of my getting angry with him again, for even though I said horrible things to him, our children did not. I do not want him to forget about them."
Richard had certainly not forgotten about them. He kept wanting to look in on them, but every time he had this thought he was painfully reminded of the fact that they were in London. He missed them so much, and he missed Caroline too, but he really could not imagine that she would no longer be angry with him.
He spent the whole day thinking, as much as other people allowed him to. Many people who had been waiting for his return now saw their chance to speak with him. He did not know how they all had gotten wind of it, but news spread incredibly fast. Supposedly they had all devined that something was the matter in London, because there was certainly nothing wrong at Matlock, and they all came to find out what it was.
On Tuesday evening he had been able to give the matter enough thought to decide that he would return on Wednesday. That would not enable him to attend that card party, but it would have him back in London on Friday or Saturday, depending on the weather. He would not ride as wildly as a few days before, and he would take proper rests.
"I am returning tomorrow," he announced to Lady Matlock.
"I knew you would," she said calmly. "You miss them."
"All of them."
"That is what I meant."
"Even if Caroline does not want to see me --"
"You do not know that," his mother pointed out to him. "And you will never know if you do not ask her. I have a much better idea. I am coming with you. Both of you always talk in such roundabout ways, that I fear some very evasive scenes. You might act as if you treat it like a joke, which will not go down well with Caroline, and conversely, you might get the wrong impression if she pretends not to care about your return, when you both only want the other to fly into your arms and tell you happy they are to be reunited."
"Ugh," said Richard with a grimace. "And will you be prompting us? How very spontaneous and sincere every word we say will be."
"No, I shall not prompt you, and I do not come along to hold your hand. I trust you have enough sense to know when to abandon your act. I confess I have more reasons for coming along, because all my children and grandchildren are in town. I am merely going down a little sooner than I had planned, and it would be very convenient to keep an eye on you at the same time."
Part 37
Colonel Marsden, who seemed to have nothing to do but to go to the park with Anne to discuss the Fitzwilliams, met Anne again on Friday. "Have you found out anything?" he asked.
"No," Anne replied. "Have you, Colonel?" she boldly asked after a few seconds. If he asked her, surely she could ask him as well?
"Well, I found out that Fitzwilliam did not keep his engagement with Lennox last night, but that is not surprising, since he is not in town."
"Yes, it would have been quite a feat," Anne agreed. She was enticed to say more by this great feeling of being taken into confidence by somebody. "Although he could have been back, if he had stayed only one night at Matlock."
"But that would have been a rather bizarre scheme to go for only one night."
"It remains bizarre, no matter what," Anne muttered. It was not meant to be overheard, for it would never have occurred to her to openly judge anyone's actions, but she seemed to be able to say so many things since a few days earlier.
"I agree. My temper is quite different," said the Colonel. "It seems rather odd to run away like that."
Anne blushed. "I did not mean to say that it was odd."
"Yes, you did," he said calmly. "Bizarre and odd are still the same things as far as I know."
"But I did not mean to say my cousin was odd."
"And you did not. You said his behaviour was odd, and it was. It has been odd for a while longer. He hit a Duke, did you know?"
Anne gasped. "What did he do?"
"He hit a Duke."
"Why would he do that?"
"It was self-defense, he said. Nevertheless, I took great care to agree with whatever he said on the subject of his children. What are they called again? It was not Romeo and Juliet, but something like it."
Anne smiled. "Do you really not know? You are his friend."
"James and Juliet? I cannot help thinking of them as Romeo and Juliet, however."
"Julia."
Colonel Marsden shrugged with a smile. "It is the same thing. I dare say they could all be referred to as Baby until they learn how to talk properly, and it would sound all the same to them anyway."
"Oh!" Anne laughed. "No! They recognise their name."
"So do dogs," the Colonel pointed out.
"I suppose so."
"Do not suppose. It is so. They know their name, and yet if I call them _____, they come running just as happily. It all depends on the tone."
"What is _____?" Anne asked curiously. "I have seen it written on the church wall in white paint. "Mr. Collins is a _____. But it was gone the next day."
Marsden blushed becomingly. "Oh, well, forget I said that. I should not have said that in the presence of a lady."
"Is that how men talk when there are no ladies present?" Anne asked in curious innocence. "We do not have such funny words when there are no men."
"No! Not all of them. Some do, but you would not want to associate with them."
"I should not associate with you?"
"No! Yes! I mean...I only speak like that to my dogs," said Marsden, looking rather flustered. "I am quite harmless to associate with. I think?" He hoped so, for he rather liked Miss De Bourgh.
Part 38
Richard and his mother had left very early the day before, and they had not spent too much time taking refreshments along the way, so they arrived in town some time after dinner. Lady Matlock went in first, and she went directly to the housekeeper for a chat. Richard followed her more slowly. He hesitated at the foot of the stairs and looked up.
A door opened somewhere at the back of the hall and Caroline, who had been sitting on a bench behind the house with the twins, came in carrying them. "Julia! Do not put those cold little hands in my neck. James! That means you cannot do it either. I am going to set you down right here to warm up those little fingers." She set them down on a bench and sat down between them herself, first taking the hands of the child to her left. The one to her right noticed Richard, and it cried out happily. Caroline turned and saw him as well.
He saw she was not unhappy to see him, so he smiled. Julia was already stretching out her arms at him and James had just noticed him too, while Caroline sat waiting what he would do. He would have to get the children out of the way first. I could put them on the rug on the floor. They could fall off the bench if they remained on it, and I need all my attention for Caroline. He lifted Julia up high, to her delight, and then he cuddled her. "I missed you," he said softly, and then he set her down on the rug and repeated the same actions with James, who was also stretching out his arms to be lifted.
Caroline, who did not usually have any problems speaking, found that she was incapable of producing any sound, and all she could do when he had finished with James was to imitate her children. He pulled her off the bench to hug her, and for a full minute he expressed himself with unusual seriousness and feeling.
Lady Matlock, who emerged from the housekeeper's office a few minutes later, saw that she was too late to give Richard some good advice, but by the looks of it, it was no longer necessary. It was improper, but she forgave them as long as they did not make it a regular habit. She did not think it was, although the servants displayed a remarkable lack of curiosity. The only thing that bothered her slightly was that the twins were left to their own devices on the ground, while their parents were too occupied to look down. Grandmama sighed. If she knew how to lift two children at once, she would have carried them into another room. She really could not leave one unattended while she went back to fetch the other. As she contemplated taking them one at a time in spite of that, she saw Anne coming down. Anne could help her.
Anne was surprised to see her cousin and her aunt, but she was also very embarrassed by the sight of two people kissing before her and she quickly wanted to walk on. So that is a kiss? I had no idea it took so long! Can they breathe at all?
"Anne? Help me. They look bored," Lady Matlock said.
Anne thought Richard and Caroline did not look bored at all. In fact, they looked as if they enjoyed what they were doing. She looked shocked, for she did not understand what Lady Matlock wanted. Does she want to tear them apart? Interrupt them by tapping them on the shoulder? Do they even know we are here?
"Anne?" her aunt said again, as she lifted one of the twins up from the floor, ignoring her son and daughter-in-law who ignored her likewise. "Can you take the other one?"
"Oh, the children," Anne stammered.
"Yes, dear."
Anne blushed and lifted the other child, and followed the elder Lady Matlock to another room. She hoped she was holding it correctly, but it did not seem to protest, so it was probably all right.
They sat down on a sofa and the proud grandmother had to cuddle and kiss her grandchildren, and see if they had learned to do something new in the short time that she had not seen them. After that, she asked Anne what she was doing here.
"I thought I had the children with me," Caroline said to Richard. "Surely they did not get up and walk away? I would be very insulted if they had hidden from me that they were able to do so." She stared around the hall a little anxiously.
"I put them on the rug."
"I hope they did not go out the front door!" Caroline cried.
Richard eyed the distance from the handle to the floor. It was twice the height of one baby. "Somehow I do not think they did. In a corner of my mind I thought I heard my mother speak. Did you too? She must have taken them."
"I did not hear anything! Where did she go?" Caroline opened doors at random. "Oh! There they are," she exclaimed with a smile, and she embraced her mother-in-law.
"Everything all right?" the elder Lady Matlock whispered to the younger, while Richard gave his children a second cuddle. "Did he speak with you?"
"Oh, yes," Caroline smiled.
"It must have been very short. I did not stay with Mrs. Foster for very long."
"It does not have to be long to be good."
"But that does not apply to kissing?" the elder Lady Matlock asked with a twinkle.
Caroline looked at the clock and did some mental calculations. "Not much more than five minutes."
"But closer to ten? I realise you had some catching up to do, but it would not do to make it a permanent habit. Well," her mother-in-law laughed. "Now I have spoken, and no one will be able to reproach me anything when you do it again, since I can safely say I warned you of the impropriety."
Part 39
The next morning Anne had had breakfast with her aunt, because there was no sign of either Richard or Caroline. Anne had not known Caroline to be anything other than punctual, but she could not know that today was different because it was Saturday.
The elder Lady Matlock of course knew about Saturdays from living with them, but she had at least expected Richard, unaware of the fact that he had gotten into the habit of bathing with a baby. He was the first to come down, however, carrying little Julia, and they both looked very cheerful.
"What took you so long?" his mother asked. "I want to call on Cathy."
"Do you need me for that? We had to take a bath." He sat down with Julia on his lap.
At the mention of a bath, Anne briefly wondered how her mother was faring in Bath. She had not received any letters yet.
"We?" Lady Matlock asked.
"Julia and I. Where is our other half?"
"Other half? What do you mean?"
"Caroline and James."
Lady Matlock frowned. "Do I understand correctly that you bathed Julia?"
"No," Richard grinned, while he tried to cut Julia's food with one hand.
"Then why do you say you and Julia had to take a bath?"
"We did. But I did not bathe her, I bathed with her." He smiled broadly at his mother's expression.
"Well, well," said his mother, unsure what to think of this. "How...unusual. And Caroline?"
"She took James. I thought she was always much quicker than I, but I must be better at this than I thought." He did not know that Caroline had to have her hair washed also, and that this took very long.
After feeding Julia, he gave her to his mother, so he could eat his own breakfast. His mother pushed her chair away from the table so Julia could not grab anything. She had seen a cup of coffee that interested her very much, but fortunately for her grandmother, it was just out of reach. "Anne, would you like to come with me to Catherine?"
Anne hesitated. She had to meet Colonel Marsden in the park to tell him that Richard had returned. "Umm...I do not think so."
"Would you rather come with us to the park?" Richard asked.
"Which park?" Anne asked with big eyes.
"Around the corner, and then a short distance down the street. It is not a quarter of a mile."
It was the same park. Anne had to think very quickly. She might as well go along. If she did not go, he might think that she had forgotten it. The Colonel would not reveal that they had been scheming when he saw her with Richard and Caroline, and she would not even have to tell him that Richard had come back, because he would see that for himself. "Yes, I will come."
Caroline came down with James not long after that, and Lady Matlock noticed that they were just as cheerful -- bath time was obviously a happy time -- although Richard still seemed to be a little careful about what he said. There were several occasions during the meal when she had expected him to make one of his usual comments, and he had not.
After they had all eaten, they went upstairs to prepare themselves for their outing to the park, and Lady Matlock prepared herself for a visit to her daughter. She would stop at a toy shop first, since her hasty departure had not given her time to buy a present for Robert.
Anne wondered about her previous meetings with Colonel Marsden. They had met to find a solution to the Fitzwilliams' problem, but they had hardly discussed the matter. They had spoken more on other topics. She put on a nice bonnet.
Part 40
The trio walked to the park, the ladies on either side of Richard. Once they were in the park, they encountered Colonel Marsden almost immediately. The only one of the four who did not look surprised was Anne.
"Fitzwilliam! Are you b...better?" Marsden asked. He wanted to say 'back,' but he checked himself just in time.
"Yes, quite."
"He went home to pick up Mother," Caroline added. The others looked a little surprised, but they did not comment.
The Colonel offered his arm to Anne, and they followed the others. Richard and Caroline were talking to each other about the past few days, and walked much faster than their companions. They walked on and on until a passing man greeted Richard and interrupted their little tête-à-tête. They suddenly remembered that they had been walking with Anne and Colonel Marsden, but there was no sign of them anywhere when they looked behind them.
"How do we do it?" Caroline asked, when they stood staring down the path in some confusion. Last night it had been the twins who had mysteriously disappeared, and now it was Anne and the Colonel.
"Do what?" said Richard absentmindedly. He was more intrigued by the way the sunlight shone on her hair.
"Manage to lose people all the time! Where did they go?"
"I thought you wanted to set them up with each other. This is a golden opportunity."
"Not so loud!" Caroline cried, gesturing at the trees and shrubs alongside the path. "What if they are behind the shrubbery over there? They could overhear us."
Richard laughed. "I would say you did a wonderful job if they were."
"Richard!" Caroline said, and he laughed even louder.
"You must admit that this is far better than having them exchange three words over a card table. This way they may find out if they are well suited in height, in walking pace, in their appreciation of nature..."
"What does height have to do with anything?" Caroline asked.
"It is very important. Have you ever thought what it would be like to be a midget married to a giant? Do you know what back aches walking with a midget could cause the giant? He would have to bend over sideways to offer her his arm."
"How would you know that?" she asked a little jealously.
"I have a good imagination," Richard answered. "And I am very glad that you are not a midget."
"Nor you a giant."
"Anne is not very tall, though," he pointed out. Anne was indeed quite small.
"Excuse me, dear. If you have no problems walking with Anne, how can Colonel Marsden have them? You are taller than he is."
"Like I said, he will find out that he has no problems."
"I am sure that that will make him like her much better," Caroline said sarcastically.
"Better, you say? So you are implying he already likes her. What happened at your party?" Richard was a little sorry that he had missed the party.
"I confess I did not pay very much attention. I did not even win. Oh! There they come. Hush now," Caroline said. Richard would have liked to hear more about this lack of attention, but she did not want to dwell on her defeat for very long. "Do not give me such an expectant look. Yes, I can only play well when I know where you are." She was then silent until Anne and the Colonel were close enough to call out to.
Part 41
"Yesterday evening. I did not know he had returned, and I came down the stairs and then..." Anne stopped.
"And then?"
"They were standing there..."
"Where?" Marsden asked. "Who?"
"They were," Anne gestured ahead. "In the hall. My aunt was there too," she said quickly, before he could ask what they had been doing in the hall.
Marsden was not stupid, and he decided not to embarrass Miss De Bourgh any further by asking what had been happening in the hall. It sounded as if it had embarrassed her somewhat, although he did not see how it could have been very bad if Lady Matlock had been there as well. "He brought Lady Matlock then?"
"Yes, his mother. Confusing, is it not, to have two of them?"
"Yes, it is. And now everything has been resolved?" the Colonel asked with some regret.
"Yes, I think so. They do not look as if they still have problems," Anne said, looking intently at the couple who now walked some distance ahead of them. They had just managed to walk into a dog because they were not looking where they were going. "Oh! They do still have problems, but of a different kind," she laughed.
"Indeed! I believe they have forgotten us completely. That does not matter, however, because they are very difficult to follow now and then."
Anne agreed, and they talked on other subjects until they happened upon the waiting Richard and Caroline.
"I am sorry," Caroline apologised. "We seem to have outstripped you, because we were talking. Can you forgive us?"
"Certainly," said the Colonel, who had been talking with Miss De Bourgh about their family homes. He and Anne then remained silent under Caroline's scrutiny.
Caroline saw nothing that indicated any familiarity between them, and she concluded that matters were still not taking the course she wanted them to take. More action would need to be taken if her little scheme was to work. She leant over to Richard, who was succeeding very well in trying not to appear interested and who was seemingly intent on studying his wife's hand on his arm, and whispered in his ear. "What do you think? Shall we invite him again? He does not seem to admire her yet. Perhaps he needs a little more time."
Richard resisted the urge to lift his eyes and look straight at Marsden. His friend would have known for certain -- as he was probably now guessing -- that he was being discussed. "Yes, do that, and invite Georgiana too, because you did not invite her last time."
"But he might prefer her!"
"What if he does? Do you want to deprive Georgiana of her true love?" Richard whispered.
"No," she frowned.
"I shall invite Patrick Baxter as well. He is more her age," Richard grinned. "And he is already in love, so Georgiana need not fear."
Part 42
Anne looked as if she could not manage to walk for an hour. "I am afraid I must decline," she apologised. "I am not used to walking so very far."
"I shall escort Miss De Bourgh home," Marsden offered.
"And I shall escort you home," Richard said to Caroline.
"Hmmpphh!" Caroline snorted. They parted from the others and continued their walk. "That was very clever of you," she said to him.
"Not at all. It was all your doing. You are turning me into a matchmaker," he shuddered.
"But you are a willing victim," she reminded him.
"I am afraid so." For another half hour they walked through the park and they came to a tea house. "Shall we have some tea?" Richard asked, and Caroline did not object, so they entered and chose a table near a window that offered them a good view of the park.
"Have you been here before?" Caroline asked him. She thought it was a quaint little place, and it seemed to be frequented by very genteel-like people.
"No." Richard did not usually have tea in public places at only a stone's throw from his own house, and certainly not all by himself.
"I am glad."
"Why?"
Caroline shrugged. "Well, then I would have had to ask who you had been with. I assume people do not come here alone. Except that man over there, but he has a newspaper. Perhaps he prefers his newspaper to his wife?"
"Impossible. Then he is not a man, but a fool."
"If he had a wife like...oh no! This cannot be true!" Caroline looked outside in horror. "Spare us, Charles! Walk on!"
"Charles?" Richard asked. "What have you against Charles so suddenly?" He peered outside curiously.
"Do not let them see you! I have absolutely nothing against him. But his mother-in-law! Duck!"
"No, that is a gull," he said to tease her. Caroline had dropped her scarf and herself out of sight rather elegantly, but Richard felt it would be rather conspicuous if he did the same. He placed a plant between himself and the window. "What a way to reveal you are not wearing one of those movement-restricting suits of armour, Caroline," he said in an amused tone.
Caroline raised her reddened face above the table and sat up straight. "Do you think anyone noticed I bent over with unusual ease?"
"No, I do not think so, and why should you care?"
"Have they gone?" she asked anxiously. "I do not see them anymore."
"That is because they have entered."
Caroline gasped. "No! There is no escaping it now, I suppose."
Darcy had been stubborn and he had not acted upon Mrs. Bennet's hints. Bingley, however, had found this impossible, and now the Bennets had come to stay with him. Mrs. Bennet would never have voluntarily gone up to Caroline to speak with her, but ever since she had heard from Jane that Caroline had become a Countess, she had displayed a great interest in her. 'Jane's sister the Countess' was fortunately unaware of how many people in Hertfordshire knew of whatever she had done, but it was a fact that Bingley was indiscreet and Mrs. Bennet most curious.
"Lady Matlock!" came a shrill voice from behind her, and Caroline cringed.