Beside Two Rivers

33





By the time Darcy stepped off the last step into the foyer, Langbourne had cast off his hat and cloak. A cold draft blew against her as a servant closed the front door, but did not abate the fever racing through her nerves. She fixed her eyes on Langbourne as he removed his gloves.

“Where is my wife?” His voice sounded raspy, his tone irritable.

Darcy faced him. “Upstairs, I believe. She hoped you would come.”

“A most inconvenient time for Madeline to have passed on. I suppose you shall blame me.”

Darcy said nothing, only looked him straight in the eye. With an uneasy gait, Langbourne turned to the maid. “Bring me something to drink. I don’t care what it is as long as it will soothe my throat. There was a hard wind riding here.”

When the maid gave her curtsey and was gone, he approached Darcy. She felt a shiver wash over her, but remained where she stood. He drew her hair between his fingers. “You, at least, made it to Meadlow in good health. I have no doubt Charlotte will grow jealous of you, but do not mind her cold ways. She never interferes.”

Darcy recoiled. “You go too far, sir.”

“Not far enough.” He looked up the staircase at the sound of footsteps. Charlotte appeared and Darcy observed with perplexity the genteel smile that graced her mouth upon sight of her wayward husband. She loves him. Why?

“You came so quickly,” Charlotte said.

“Well, when someone dies in one’s house, one should take care of the details. I could not leave it up to you to deal with. You do not have the head for it or the fortitude. It was, however, ill-timed.”

“As if this could have been marked on a calendar,” Darcy said. “It is not Charlotte’s fault. Perhaps if you had left Madeline at Havendale, she would still be with us, and you sir, would not have been so put out. I told you she was ill and could not travel.”

He sneered. “There’s that bold tongue again.”

For a moment, they stared into each other’s eyes. The contention between them flared. Coupled with the grief she felt, her loathing of him grew to unbearable proportions. She drew her skirts around and rushed back up the staircase to the room given her. She locked it, then threw herself across the bed and wept.




A funeral carriage drew up to a rear door at Meadlow. Two men dressed in black carried the body of Madeline Morgan away. Darcy asked to accompany them back, but they shook their heads at her and said it was something just not done.

Charlotte knocked on Darcy’s door and spoke to her through it. “Everything is settled. You should stop weeping, Darcy. You must make plans as to what you will do now that Madeline is gone.”

“I wish to go to Fairview and then home,” Darcy answered back.

“Then go. I will not stop you.”

She listened to Charlotte step away. Neither she nor Langbourne cared what happened to her, and they had sent Mrs. Burke away the moment the funeral carriage left. Still, she wept, until her heart grew calm and her tears dried. Ethan had not come and she yearned for him. When the maid came to her room with a fresh pitcher of water, Darcy questioned her.

“You gave the note to the coachman?”

“Yes, miss. He said he’d post it the first chance he had, which I think would be either at Castleton or even Manchester. It will take time.”

“There is no one here who could have delivered it?”

“No, miss. Sorry.”

After the maid left, Darcy looked over at her cloak lying across the back of a chair. The mantelpiece clock ticked as she paced the floor. “I can do this. I’ve hiked the river paths and climbed the cliffs. I sailed across the ocean to England alone, and walked to Havendale. I do not need to fear.” Then she got down on her knees and bent her head in her hands. “Help me, Lord. I cannot stay here another minute. Show me the way. For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore, for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.”

She had to travel light, and so she placed only one set of clothes in her bag and closed the latch. Picking up her cloak, she drew it over her body, and fastened the tassels at her throat. Then she slipped out the door, went down the staircase with her head held high, and walked away from Meadlow without a look back.