Mr. Darcy's Refuge (38 page)

Jackson – that was his steward’s assistant. Why was he in London instead of leading the recovery in Hunsford? Darcy was too tired to try to muddle through why the breakfast room would be safer than any other room. It was easier simply to go there and see.

The butler opened the door for him. Darcy only caught a glimpse of Jackson, a gangly young man who looked even more fatigued than his butler, before a large animal jumped at his leg. Assuming in the dim light that it must be a dog, he reached down to push it away, only to encounter a tangle of hair which was definitely not canine. Why on earth was a dirty child clinging to his leg?

“Mr. Jackson, no doubt you have an explanation for this.” Darcy tried to control his temper.

The young man jumped to his feet and bowed. “I am very sorry, Mr. Darcy. This is the child you asked me to take from the orphanage. I tried to find a home for her, as you directed, but she became, er, distraught. She turns into a wild animal when anyone tries to touch her. The local apothecary suggested that perhaps a London doctor might have some idea how to help her.”

This emaciated wretch was Jenny? He could not see her face, since it was buried in his leg. “It does not appear to me that she is unwilling to be touched.” It was hard not to sound disdainful when the untouchable child was clinging to him like a limpet, with his hand resting on her head.

“I… I cannot explain it, sir, but I swear to you, she even
bit
one woman who was trying to help her. I did not know what else to do. Had I realized that she would not respect your person, sir, I would never have brought her here.”

With a deep sigh, Darcy kneeled on the floor, which forced the little girl to release her grip on him. His trousers were probably ruined anyway, so a scuffed knee would be the least of his valet’s worries. And how was he supposed to know what to do with her if others had failed?

Now that he could see her face, his first thought was that Jackson had fetched the wrong child. This one had a peaked look with a face that was all eyes, and looked nothing like the little girl whom he had never seen standing upright. But it was her expression that made him recognize her – it was the same one she had worn that night when she had woken the house with her screaming – and the doll she clutched, who looked even worse than when he had rescued it from the flood.

“Jenny?” he said tentatively.

She nodded.

“What is the matter?”

She whispered something he could not make out. Darcy looked up at Jackson questioningly.

“That orphanage – it was a terrible place, sir,” Jackson said apologetically. “I suppose they are all terrible, but this one, well, it was
terrible
.”

It must have been terrible indeed if it rendered his steward’s usually competent assistant unable to employ his native language. “No one will hurt you here, Jenny. This is
my
house, and everyone here works for me. Do you understand?”

She nodded again.

What did Jackson think that he was going to be able to do with her? “Well, then, Jenny, I would say that you need a good meal and a bath and a warm bed to sleep in.”

“No bath!” She clutched her doll to her with both hands.

Did the child not realize he was trying to help her? “Very well, then, no bath, just a good meal and a warm bed, and you will obey the maids and Mr. Jackson when they tell you to do something, unless it is to take a bath. If there is a problem, you can tell me about it tomorrow, and I promise I will listen. Do we have an agreement?” And tomorrow he would ask Elizabeth what he should do with her.

“As long as they don’t take my dolly.”

“No one will take your dolly, I promise. Now, Jackson will take you to the kitchens for something to eat.” He stood up and brushed off his trousers. He certainly hoped Elizabeth would know what to do.

***

In the morning, Darcy concluded that his well-trained staff was no match for a stubborn four-year-old girl. In the interest of maintaining domestic tranquility among his servants – or so he told himself – he decided to bring Jenny with him to the Gardiners so that Elizabeth could see her for herself. It really had nothing to do with the fact that Jenny started sobbing uncontrollably when she found out he was going out for the day and leaving her behind.

Elizabeth, seeing Jenny for the first time in the light of day, was shocked by the change in her. Quickly realizing this went beyond her limited experience with children, she asked Jenny to stay with Mr. Darcy for a few minutes while she found her aunt and explained the girl’s history.

Jenny initially shied away from Mrs. Gardiner, but upon hearing that she was Elizabeth’s beloved aunt and Mr. Darcy’s good friend, she seemed to decide that this made the lady at least provisionally trustworthy. Mrs. Gardiner, after gravely requesting the honor of an introduction to Jenny’s doll, exclaimed, “Oh, your poor dolly! Her dress is torn and dirty. Should we fix that, do you think?”

The girl considered this briefly before agreeing.

Mrs. Gardiner said, “First, you will need to remove her dress and so that we can wash it, and then I can help you mend it when it is dry, but in the meantime, we will need to do something to keep your dolly warm.” She paused, as if puzzled. “I know just the thing! My little girl has a doll not much bigger than yours, and we can borrow one of her doll’s dresses for your dolly to wear while her own is drying. What do you think?”

“Oh, yes, Dolly would like that!”

“Excellent!” Mrs. Gardiner held out her hand to Jenny, who took it without hesitation and went with her out of the room. Her voice continued from the hallway. “If I found a wet washcloth for you, do you think you could clean your dolly a little? I am afraid it would make her very sad to be dirty when she is wearing a pretty new dress.”

Elizabeth looked at Darcy with amusement. “Apparently she only needed the right touch.”

Darcy said, “I suppose it is a step in the right direction if her doll is no longer filthy and ragged, but I would prefer it if she herself were the one to be cleaned.”

Guessing at the true source of Darcy’s ill humor, Elizabeth checked to be certain that the hallway was now empty, then put her arms around him. “I can understand why Jenny does not want you to leave her. I feel the same way every evening when you depart, even if I am sensible enough now not to cry about it.”

“Do you truly miss me when I am gone?”

“What sort of silly question is that? Of course I do. Do you not miss me?”

He answered first with a kiss that fluttered her pulses. “Agonizingly,” he said in a low voice. “Especially now that I can never be sure that your father will not have sent you away during my absence.”

“He has not mentioned it, and my guess is that he wants me here for his own sake. Should he tell me to leave, I will not go without an argument.”

“I am glad of it.” He released her with apparent reluctance, then walked a few paces away.

It did not bode well if he was not interested in holding her. “Is something the matter?”

“No.” Then, with a look at her hurt expression, he added, “Last night, your uncle told me that since no one could be spared to chaperone us, he expected me not to take advantage of that fact, especially given the scandal surrounding your sister.”

“You sound angry.”

His expression softened. “Not angry. He is right, and I should have known it without being told. I just do not like it, particularly when our time together is so limited. Still, I would far rather be with you and unable to touch you than not to see you at all. But more importantly, how is your father this morning?”

She knew he was only asking for her sake, but she appreciated it. “His spirits have improved enough that he is complaining about having nothing to eat but barley broth and telling us not to hover over him. The doctor seems satisfied with his progress.”

An hour later, Mrs. Gardiner reappeared, holding two girls by the hand. One was her youngest daughter, Emma, and the other was a smiling Jenny, scrubbed pink, wearing a dress that must have been Emma’s, her fair hair cut short and falling in soft curls around her thin face.

Elizabeth had been expecting something like this, but judging from Darcy’s stunned look, he had not. “You look lovely, Jenny! Why, your hair is just like a fashionable lady’s!”

Jenny giggled. “Emma wants hers cut now, too, but her mother says no.”

“I helped, though,” Emma retorted. “I did a good job, too!”

Darcy finally found his voice. “Mrs. Gardiner, you are a miracle worker. I cannot thank you enough. How did you convince her to bathe?”

“Jenny was perfectly happy to bathe as soon as we established that she could keep her doll with her. She doesn’t object to washing, just to having her doll taken away. Apparently one of the older children at the orphanage stole her doll from her, and she did not get it back until your man insisted upon it to the matron. You, Mr. Darcy, are apparently the only person she trusts with her most prized possession.” Mrs. Gardiner’s lips were quivering with restrained mirth.

Elizabeth, feeling no such restriction, laughed. “That is no wonder, given that he risked drowning to bring her that doll!”

“So I have heard! Jenny told us about it in great detail.” Mrs. Gardiner smiled down at her.

Emma asked eagerly, “Was there really a dragon that you had to fight your way past?”

“Just a river in flood, which is close enough to a dragon for my taste,” Darcy said gravely.

Elizabeth took his hand. “I believe
I
was playing the role of the dragon at that point!”

Mrs. Gardiner released the two girls’ hands. “Emma, I think Jenny would enjoy seeing your toys. Please take her up to the nursery with you.”

The girls managed to leave the room with a certain amount of decorum, but once they were out of sight, Elizabeth could hear their running footsteps and giggles.

“Mrs. Gardiner, I will be forever in your debt,” said Darcy with feeling.

“Nonsense. Emma had a glorious time turning a real, live rag girl into a princess. Jenny is a sweet girl.”

“If only you could convince my staff of that!”

“She was frightened, that is all. She was beaten at that orphanage, you know – I saw the marks on her back. What do you plan to do with her?”

“My man is looking for a tenant family in her village willing to take her in. I will pay her expenses, of course. He only brought her to me because no one could manage her, and he feared I would object to strong measures being taken.”

Elizabeth could not help laughing. “How very like you! You pulled her out from under a tree branch, so now you feel responsible for her for life.”

Darcy frowned. “Do you object?”

“No, not at all. I think it is very kind of you.”