The Gypsy Blessing (31 page)

Elizabeth unlocked the door and peeked around it, stepping aside only after she had made certain it was safe. He closed the door firmly behind him.

Elizabeth met his gaze. He could not take his eyes off her. She was wearing a shawl he had given to Georgiana. It warmed his heart to see something he had spent such care choosing now hugging Elizabeth’s shoulders.

Realizing he was staring, he blurted out, “Miss Elizabeth, there have been some repulsive accusations made about how you were aware of Wickham and Younge’s plans.” Darcy cringed.
Of all the things I could have said—

Elizabeth’s face fell and she blinked rapidly. “Please do not tell me that you...”

“No, no—I do not believe it.”

She walked over to the fire and stared at the flames for a minute or two before saying, “Is it possible, sir, that my father and Jane be present for the remainder of this conversation?”

Chapter 22

Darcy stepped from Georgiana’s bedchamber in search of another footman, making certain he heard the click of the locking bolt behind him before he walked away. Remembering that he had seen Roger on the second floor, he headed towards the stairs.

Darcy was certain that he had seen more than friendship in Roger’s eyes a few weeks ago when Roger looked upon Elizabeth in the corridor of Netherfield. At the time, Darcy had been wary of the man. Roger was a servant’s son who had befriended the children of the estate’s master—much like Wickham—but over time, Darcy had come to see that there was no other similarity between the two men.

After too many errors in his own judgment, he now considered Elizabeth an excellent judge of character. She trusted her childhood friend. Darcy had to assume that, unlike Wickham, Roger knew and, more importantly, accepted his place in society and had never acted upon his feelings—and yet, those same emotions would work to everyone’s advantage in the present circumstances, including Roger’s.

“Roger, if memory serves me, your parents are tenants of the Bennets, and you have known the family your entire life. For the sake of your friends and my sister, I must trust you with several tasks that will require you use the utmost discretion. Will you accept?”

Darcy’s stern expression made Roger feel even more uneasy than he usually did whenever that gentleman was nearby. “Yes, Mr. Darcy. The Bennets have been kind to my family. I’d do almost anything for their protection, sir, if that’s what you’re askin’ of me.”

“Good, that is exactly what I wished to hear. Please find and,
very discreetly,
ask Mr. Bennet and Miss Jane Bennet to join me in Miss Darcy’s sitting room on the third floor. I believe Miss Bennet knows where it is, but I would like you to escort them. Once they enter, you shall remain stationed outside the door. Allow nobody else into the sitting room or either of the bedchamber doors adjacent to it. And absolutely
no one
should come out without my permission!”

Roger tightened his jaw as he stared at Darcy, his nostrils flaring. “Mr. Darcy, I may be speaking out of turn, but I saw Miss Elizabeth go above stairs earlier, and she never came down. Is she well, sir?”

I was correct in one respect—Roger cares for Elizabeth a great deal. He would probably pummel me if he thought I had harmed her. He is the perfect man to have outside that door!
“There has been an
incident
. Miss Elizabeth is well, but...” Darcy blinked several times as he tried to sort through just what he should tell this man. He waited until a maid scurried down the stairs and out of hearing range before he continued. “There is only so much I can say here. I ask for you to do what is necessary to make certain that Miss Elizabeth and Miss Darcy
remain
well.”

Roger searched Darcy’s eyes. “I will do what you ask, Mr. Darcy. No one’ll get past me.”

Darcy clapped Roger on the shoulder, surprising the footman.

“Thank you, Roger. If there is ever a time when Bingley no longer requires your services, come to me. You will always have a place at a Darcy household.”

~%~

“Ladies, I feel the best place for this meeting to take place would be the sitting room. I would much rather
not
place that woman in the same room with Wickham, as would be necessary if she was moved to my chamber. I hope you will forgive me, but I see no other alternative at present except to relocate Mrs. Younge to Georgiana’s bedchamber once more.”

Darcy unlocked the door to the sitting room and escorted the ladies through.

As she passed into the room, Elizabeth could feel the depth of hatred in Mrs. Younge’s glare as her beady eyes followed Elizabeth’s every step. Relief passed through her as Marie, Mrs. Younge, and the footman disappeared into Georgiana’s bedchamber.

Before long, Mr. Bennet and Jane entered through the door to the hallway. Jane rushed to her sister, throwing her arms around her. Elizabeth choked back a moan, pleased that she was able to find the strength not to cry out from the pain caused by her sister’s embrace, hoping she was well able to keep it from her expression as well.

“Lizzy, I was so frightened. You have been missing for so long.”

“Have you snuck outside to climb some of Mr. Bingley’s trees in your ball gown, Lizzy?” Mr. Bennet said with a chuckle. “I cannot imagine what your mother will say—” He stopped speaking abruptly when he noticed the pained look on Elizabeth’s face. He put his hand on his eldest daughter’s shoulder and tugged. “Jane, step away.” He carefully scrutinized his beloved daughter. “Lizzy, your gown... your hair...”

Elizabeth closed her eyes and swallowed hard. When she looked at them again, both her father’s and sister’s eyes were full of concern.

“What happened to you, my dear?” Mr. Bennet asked in all seriousness.

“Please have a seat, Papa. I have been
injured
, but I am well.” Feeling she had best give Jane some kind of warning, Elizabeth turned to her sister. “I am about to tell the
full
story, Jane.”

Jane gasped quietly. “Oh!” She looked around at the others assembled and then nodded to Elizabeth. “I am confident that it will go well, Lizzy.”

When offered a seat, Elizabeth refused. “I can think better standing.”

After everyone else was seated, Elizabeth began, “I am afraid that most of you, except for Jane, will think I am mad when I tell you what has happened. This is exactly the reason why I have not told any of you before this—but know what I say is the truth. I must admit that, at first, even I feared for my own sanity.” She looked at Jane, who was wearing a confident smile, encouraging her to go on.

Elizabeth took a deep breath. “The following is confidential and must not be discussed with anyone outside this room.” After all had agreed to her condition, Elizabeth went on to say, “You all are aware of my love of nature... As some of you know, several months ago, I had been walking the extended grounds of Longbourn and came across an injured woman.” Elizabeth began pacing. “She was bleeding badly. I tended to her wounds, and when she was ready, I helped her return to her band of gypsies.”

She could see Darcy make the connection to her earlier comment.

“I met her husband, who happened to be the leader of the gypsy tribe. It says little for gentility, but they were both surprised and fascinated that a lady had deigned to offer her assistance. I tried to tell them that it was the Christian thing to do—helping another of God’s children—but they insisted that it was so unusual as to require a reward. The husband gave permission for his wife to cast upon me a gypsy blessing. She also gave me this good luck charm.” Elizabeth held up the amulet that she now wore around her neck. “She said she had saved it for me because it was mine.”

She looked at Jane and her father and said quickly, “And it
was
good luck after all. Had I not been wearing it tonight, I most likely would not be standing before you at this moment. I might have been killed.”

Both paled, and her father was about to say something, but Elizabeth put up her hand to stop him. “All will be revealed in time.”

“The gypsies had not been very specific about what their blessing would do, and I did not think much of their words at that time. Though I did tell my father, of course, that I had come to the aid of the gypsy woman, I did not choose to wear the necklace, knowing that if I did so, I would have to explain its being in my possession... ” Her voice trailed off, and she smiled slightly. “Let us say that my mother would not have looked upon my actions very kindly. I put the talisman away in a safe place and barely thought of the incident again... until shortly after my birthday of this year.”

She walked over to a table where a pitcher of water stood and poured herself a glass. Her hand trembled as she lifted the glass to her lips.

After Elizabeth had refreshed her voice, she continued, “That was the day I began to receive drawings by post. Due to the subject matter of the first sketch, I had thought they were from my Aunt Gardiner.”

Elizabeth could see that Darcy had connected another piece of their shared history—the letters.

Mr. Bennet said, “I remember—you wondered about Madeline’s sudden ability to draw and that the handwriting was not hers.”

Elizabeth nodded. “But what you do not know, Papa, is that all the incidents portrayed in the drawings later came to pass just as they were pictured.”

Elizabeth could not find the courage to go on while faced with her father’s and the Darcys’ shocked expressions, so she turned to look at the fire, instead. “It was about that time that I began to question my own sanity. My aunt became concerned after receiving a particularly hysterical letter from me, begging that she stop sending the drawings. She wrote of her worries to Jane, who spoke to me about it.” She turned to Jane and continued, “I showed Jane the drawings... and before long she, too, saw that they predicted future events.”

“Yes,” Jane interjected, smiling at her sister. “It is the most amazing thing I have ever experienced.”

“My mind was eased a great deal by her confirmation,” Elizabeth continued. “We came to the conclusion that the gypsy must have been making the drawings and mailing them, but that was proven wrong in a way. I had received a drawing of Jane and myself at Ramsgate even before we had received an invitation to go there... my Aunt Gardiner felt that the sea air might do me good.”

Mr. Bennet broke in. “Edward wrote to me of their concern for you but said nothing specific.”

“It is interesting to note here that the gown I was wearing in the drawing was purposely left at home. The next time I looked at the drawing—after we arrived at Ramsgate—the picture had changed. I was then wearing a gown that I
had
taken with me.”

Georgiana gasped.

“I still do not fully understand how these drawings work. We have looked at them time and time again, and no other has changed.” Elizabeth shook her head. “Whilst at Ramsgate, one sketch I received pictured...” she glanced at her father and realized she should not go into detail about Georgiana’s near miss concerning Mr. Wickham lest her father assume the worst about the young lady. Elizabeth continued, “One drawing depicted someone we had met at Ramsgate eloping with a man whom we learned was not to be trusted. It was one among several other drawings equally disturbing. That is when Jane and I discovered that we could use the drawings to
prevent
something from happening.”

“Miss Elizabeth, are you saying that you received drawings predicting tonight’s events?” Darcy asked hesitantly.

Elizabeth nodded. “They were actually very detailed. Some among them predicted what would happen if tonight’s events were not averted.” Elizabeth visibly shuddered. “I had only just received the latest group of drawings today and had not the opportunity to show them to Jane.

“I thought Miss Darcy was to remain at the ball until after supper, so I was not keeping track of her movements as closely as I should have.” The next was spoken directly to Georgiana. “I had planned on following you upstairs when you retired... I would have stayed with you, thinking that Mrs. Younge would never have led Wickham into your chamber whilst you slept if I were with you.” She took another sip of water to recover her resolve. “When I realized you were already above stairs, I could not waste any time to explain to Jane what I knew.” Elizabeth turned to Darcy. “I looked for you, sir, but could not find you. By the time I arrived, instead of being able to prevent the entire event from happening, I had to contend with what had already begun.”

This time, Darcy shuddered. “It had been that close?”

Elizabeth nodded. “Georgiana was sleeping and did not even know we were in the room. When I ordered Wickham to leave, he attacked me. We struggled for what seemed like an eternity. When Wickham tried to stab me—”

“
Stab
you!” Mr. Bennet jumped up from his seat.

“The knife hit the pendant, not Elizabeth!” Georgiana exclaimed.

“Yes. The gypsy’s necklace was good luck, after all,” Elizabeth stated.

Silence came over the group for several minutes before Darcy said, “Others would not have acted as you did, no matter what the drawings depicted.”

“Then you believe me?” Elizabeth held her breath.

“It is a fantastic story... I am not certain what to believe.” Darcy was thoughtful for a few moments, and then asked, “You say the other drawings have not changed... does that apply even if the event was prevented?”

“Correct—at least they have not thus far.”

“May we see them?” Mr. Bennet asked.

“Yes, but they are at home, locked in a drawer.” As Elizabeth reached for the glass of water once more, the silk shawl she was wearing slipped to the floor, revealing her badly bruised arms.

Georgiana and Jane gasped. Darcy shot out of his chair. “Wickham did this to you?”

“Oh!” She quickly retrieved the shawl and covered her arms again.

Mr. Bennet walked towards her and took her hand, gently lifting her arm. Taking the edge of the shawl between his fingers, he looked at her for permission to remove it. When she nodded, he did. His face became so pale that Elizabeth thought that he would become ill.