Page 48 of Till Death Us Do Part: Book 2
“You will do no such thing!” Darcy snapped; then slightly more reasonably, he continued, “We all had our part in this debacle, and we will all have our part in the remedy. The lion’s share of the blame ismine, and so must the remedy be, but I will expect all of you to try to help find her. I cannot be distracted looking for a new steward just now, and you have a right to your own repentance, I suppose.”
Knight nodded, still not entirely certain his position was secure, but the master was right. They all had a part to play, and the most important thing was finding Mrs Darcy before the trail became too cold.
While Darcy and the steward were talking, Darcy’s valet entered the room. “Welcome home, sir. I see you received the message.”
“Thank you, Bates. Travelling without you was the second stupidest mistake of my life, though I suspect Fitzwilliam profited from my delayed action, since his release was secured through happenstance.”
“I shall be certain to travel with you the next time you embark on such a foolhardy mission, sir.”
Darcy chuckled, happy to have his old valet back. Bates had never been intimidated by much, and though he never stepped even an inch out of propriety in company, he had known all the inhabitants of the room for many years.
Darcy chuckled. “You say this is a message. You saw the room before?”
“Yes sir. I assisted Mrs Darcy when—”
Darcy chuckled. “You need not say it. I heard about the brandy.”
“Very good, sir. Mrs Reynolds wisely locked the door when Mrs Darcy did not return, but there are four doors into the suite. I entered from the master’s to look around.”
“What did you see?”
Bates pointed to the piles on the dresser. “That last item, the lady’s purse, belongs to Mrs Darcy. I found it in your things after you shipped out for France and returned it to her.”
Darcy stared at the purse for several minutes, then asked, “How in the world did I end up with that?”
“You do not remember?”
“Typhus wreaked havoc with my memory. For a while, I did not even know my own name, but most of it has come back,” he said, and then he stared off into space for some time, and finally continued, “I think most, but not all, and I am never quite certain where something is missing. The doctor thinks I have recovered all I am likely to, but he also readily admitted that they do not really know, and the results vary widely.”
“I have never had typhus, but I forget things all the time. I do not recommend blaming every lapse of memory on your illness. It promotes indolence of thought.”
Bates knew he had stepped well over the line, but he also saw that Darcy could easily fall into the bad habit of gloom and despair given half a chance, and preferred that he not do so. The valet was well past pension age, had plenty of money, a warm fire and, as Mrs Darcy had surmised, mischievous grandchildren, so he was not worried about his position. He considered it his duty to help Mr Darcy, whether the gentleman wanted it or not.
Darcy found the advice useful, as he could see that his old valet had a wisdom that should be appreciated, so he sat down for a few minutes to think about the problem, while his companions worked on the mystery of the other two piles of coins. Both piles were not an enormous amount of money, butthey were obviously a message in the form of a puzzle, because each had some amount of money calculated to the penny.
After a few minutes, he smacked his forehead with his palm. “Idiot!”
That got everyone’s attention, and he said, “Mr Bennet gave me that purse at my wedding, and bade me give it to my wife.” Then he smacked his head again and frowned. “One simple job, and I could not even do that.”
Bates said, “She left it here for you. Shall we see what, if anything, is in it?”
Darcy opened the purse, but found it entirely empty, so he said, “I suppose the meaning of the purse will become clear later?”
Bates said, “If I may surmise—”
“Pray, do.”
“The message seems clear enough to me. She is telling you to talk to her father if you want to know what was in it.”
Darcy chewed on that for a moment. “I believe you are right, Bates. She is also saying, ‘Listen to Bates,’ as she must have known you would tell me that. Did you see her after the initial encounter?”
“No, I did not. Now I wish I had returned. I could have helped her.”
“Do not chastise yourself. You cannot solve all my problems for me.”
Mrs Reynolds said, “Mr Knight and I believe we have solved the mystery of the last two piles.”
“Go on.”
