Regina Jeffers - The Phantom of Pemberley - A Pride and Prejudice Murder Mystery

Thirty minutes later, Mr. Baldwin appeared at the door. Darcy met him there and then turned to the group. “Mr. Baldwin assures me that your rooms are prepared with comfortable fires burning in each. I am sure most of you would like time to freshen your things after such a harrowing day. Your trunks are in your chambers. If you are in need of anything, please do not hesitate to ask any of my staff. I am afraid we keep country hours. Supper will be served at half past five.”

“If you will follow me,” Mr. Baldwin instructed the guests.

The guests rose and made their way to the door. As each one passed Darcy, he or she murmured words of gratitude once again—everyone except Lydia, who seemed to think of herself as more than a guest. “You will have someone bring me water for a bath, Mr. Darcy?” She offered her most beguiling smile.

“Certainly, Mrs.Wickham.”

With everyone’s departure, Georgiana excused herself to practice her music. Finally, it was just he and Elizabeth. Immediately, she moved into his embrace. For several moments, they simply held each other. “I suspect after this week, we will be more than happy to isolate ourselves at Pemberley once again,” Darcy said.

Elizabeth rested her head on his chest.“I am sorry for my sister’s impudence,” she said, near tears.

“None of that, Elizabeth,” he warned her. “I have known no greater joy than I have found with you this past year. Have you not realized that I would move mountains to make you happy? I can tolerate the inconvenience of a few extra people for the pleasure of seeing you enjoying your family.”

“But Lydia is so uncontrollable,” she protested.

He countered, “And Lady Catherine is not?”

She wound her arms about his neck as she confessed, “Well, perhaps we are even.” Elizabeth lifted her chin to look at him. Darcy tightened his hold on her, drawing Elizabeth closer to him. “You are my heart,” she whispered as her lips parted in anticipation of his kiss.

“No, Mrs. Darcy. I never found the candleholder,” Megs reported. “I searched all the nearby rooms to be seein’ if it be there, and I askt’ Margie and Lilly to be checkin’ Her Ladyship’s room like ye be sayin’, but it be not there either.” She appeared more than a bit upset.

Elizabeth puzzled over this mystery. “It certainly makes no sense,” she muttered. “I thought surely it would turn up by now.”

“I be sorry, Mrs. Darcy.”Tears began to fill the woman’s eyes.

Elizabeth heard the trembling in the maid’s voice. “My goodness, Megs. Do not do that. No one is blaming you.The candelabra will reappear, just as I said this morning.”

“I would not want ye to be thinkin’ poorly of me, ma’am—like me did not do me job. I like it at Pemberley. So much better than at the Johnsons’.” She blurted out the words in a rush of emotions.

“I assure you, Megs,” Elizabeth said calmly, “that we have no complaints regarding your work. The holder will reappear. In a house the size of Pemberley, it could be anywhere. We will continue to search for it.”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank ye, Mistress.” The woman bobbed a curtsy before leaving to do her duties.

Without thinking about what she did, Elizabeth began to search the rooms along the hallway leading to Georgiana’s private chambers. Even as a child, Elizabeth had hated an unsolved puzzle, and although she knew it would reappear, she wanted to find the candleholder to solve this particular mystery. However, after thoroughly going through three bedchambers, she realized the futility of such a search. There were just too many places at Pemberley to look. She would alert Mrs. Reynolds and Mr. Baldwin—have everyone on the lookout for the missing item.

“Mr. Baldwin, I was wondering if we had men working in the east wing today?” Darcy, as he always did when he hosted guests at Pemberley, was double-checking all the details for the evening’s entertainment.

“Not of which I am aware, sir.” The butler lit the wall sconces in the main hallway. “Should I inquire, sir?”

Darcy glanced toward the main staircase.“I thought I saw someone in the window when we returned from Lambton. I may be wrong, but I would like to know for sure.”

“I will check with Murray, sir.”

“Be discreet, Mr. Baldwin. If one of our men is shirking his duties and hiding out in the unoccupied rooms, I wish to catch him in the act.”The more he considered those brief seconds of eye contact the more convinced Darcy was of actually seeing someone in the darkened room. A footman being where he did not belong was the most logical explanation.

“I will see to it personally, Mr. Darcy.”

Elizabeth tapped lightly on Lydia’s chamber door. “Lydia,” she said as she opened it just a crack, “may I help you dress?” Elizabeth wanted a few minutes alone with her sister. She had not seen Lydia since the day her youngest sister and George Wickham had left Longbourn for Newcastle. That had been before Darcy’s second proposal—before her double wedding with their oldest sister, Jane, to Charles Bingley. Of course, the Wickhams claimed that his military duties and the great distance prevented their attending the wedding, but Elizabeth knew the real reason to be the unspoken feud between Darcy and Mr.Wickham.

“Come in!” Lydia called from behind the screen where she dressed.

“I thought we might have some time together.” Elizabeth came closer to the screen. “It has been more than a year since we had a five-chit chat.” It was what they had once called that time at the end of the day at Longbourn when the five Bennet girls gathered to share gossip and hopes and dreams. Beside the long talks with her father and her uncommon need for Jane as her confidante, it was what Elizabeth missed most about her Hertfordshire home.

“Sure, Lizzy.” Lydia grunted, obviously struggling into her clothes.

Elizabeth indulgently came around the screen.“Let me lace that for you.” She took up the strings of her sister’s corsets. “I will ask Mrs. Reynolds to find someone to serve as your maid while you are at Pemberley.Would you like that, Lyddie?”

“Just listen to you.” Lydia turned to really see her sister. “Are you not the be-all, now that you have married Mr. Darcy. Back at Longbourn none of us had our own maid. We all shared the Hills and Harriet.”

Elizabeth spun Lydia to where she could tie off the last of the strings. “Well, I did marry Mr. Darcy, and if that makes me uppity, then so be it.” Elizabeth walked back toward the room’s seating area. “So do you wish the help of a maid or not?”

Lydia followed her as they took a place before the hearth.“Why should I not live in luxury while I may,” she replied.

Elizabeth pulled her feet up under her to sit comfortably.“Jane’s last letter said that you and Mr.Wickham had moved recently. I will need your new directions.”

“It is not much.” Lydia straightened her dress’s seams, trying not to make eye contact with her sister. “Obviously, nothing like what you or Jane has.” She glanced about her.“Just four rooms.You know—military quarters are not much by Pemberley’s standards.”

Elizabeth knew that her sister had changed quarters three times since her marriage. Elizabeth and Jane had agreed to aid their younger sister, knowing Lydia’s tendency to spend foolishly. Elizabeth sent such relief as it was in her power to afford by the practice of what might be called economy in her own private expenses. She refused to ask Darcy to provide the Wickhams with any more financial support. It had always been evident to everyone that the couple would know no economy, and that such an income as theirs, under the direction of two persons in their wants and heedless of the future, must be very insufficient to their support. “But you and Mr.Wickham—I mean—you are happy, are you not, Lydia?”