Consequences by C.P. Odom Read Free Book Online Page B

niece, and the most important concern in my mind is to return to the carriage as quickly as possible.”
    “I am sorry, aunt, I did not . . .” started Elizabeth contritely, but Mrs. Gardiner laughed and laid a hand on her arm.
    “Do not concern yourself, my dear. Your energy is to your credit, and Pemberley is even grander than I was told. I can easily understand how it would attract you, but I am simply unable to continue. If I might have the loan of your arm, Mr. Gardiner, I would be greatly pleased to go back.”
    Though Elizabeth longed to further explore the windings beside the stream and the wood bordering it, she was obliged to submit, and they took their way towards the house on the opposite side of the river. Still, Mr. Gardiner slowed their progress somewhat, for he often stopped when he noticed the appearance of some trout in the water. He was very fond of fishing, though he was seldom able to indulge his taste for the sport. Eventually, they returned to the house and their carriage, and it was not much longer before they were on their way back to Lambton.
    Soon after she was seated in the carriage, Mrs. Gardiner was refreshed enough to desire conversation, and she and her husband found many observations to exchange on what they saw and heard. Not only were the house and grounds found charming and beautiful, but they also were much impressed by Mrs. Reynolds’ testimony with respect to her master.
    However, their questions to Elizabeth went mostly unanswered, since she was deep in melancholy reflections concerning all of her acquaintance with Mr. Darcy. She was remembering how wrong she had been concerning Mr. Wickham and even partly with respect to Jane and Mr. Bingley. Could she have been as wrong about his “haughty arrogance” and his “selfish disdain for the feelings of others”? She had lost much of her previous certitude by now, and she was so exceedingly troubled that she scarcely noticed the scenery outside the carriage, including the magnificent stallion idly cropping grass along the path to the house.
    ***
    Darcy instantly observed the sudden change in the gait of Marlborough just after he turned in at the lodge, and he quickly reined in the large stallion. He lost no time in vaulting from the saddle, and it took only a few moments observation to ascertain the problem lay with the horse’s left foreleg. Marlborough, hand-fed by Darcy since he was a colt, offered no resistance as his lord and master bent the hoof up to examine it. A single glance was enough to bring a seldom used but heartfelt imprecation from Darcy. Somehow, a rock, standing at exactly the wrong angle as the hoof struck the ground, embedded its sharp edge into the softer, inner part of the hoof. While it was the work of a moment to remove the offending rock, Darcy realized he would not be riding his favourite horse any more that day or for any number of days to come.
    Darcy muttered another oath as he led the horse off the road over to a stand of grass. He knew the injury to Marlborough was his fault, for he had been pushing faster than he should, especially at the end of the morning’s ride when he was so close to home. But he was impatient, which seemed to be all too common these days. His impatience originated in the desolate gloom that was his constant companion and had been since that horrible day in Kent, the same despondency that accompanied him to London and stubbornly refused to lift over the past months. Though he knew the reason for the melancholy, he did not know the cure, and he need only close his eyes to see Elizabeth’s flashing ones and hear her condemnatory tone as she informed him he was “the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.”
    But such self-reproach could serve no useful purpose, and Darcy tethered Marlborough in the grass to graze before he walked back toward the lodge. He intended to send Simpson to Pemberley to bring out the groom and another mount, but the lodge