Mr. Darcy's Daughters by Elizabeth Aston Read Free Book Online Page B

case, the sufferer generally knew perfectly well who he was, and even after a severe concussion, memory gradually returned. Three years was such a time! Could Tom so thoroughly forget family and friends and home? Have no memory of childhood or time in the army? Have no idea in the world that he was betrothed? Why, he might even have been married already; if he could be unaware of an engagement, then why should he not have forgotten a wedding? A wife, children—Surely this must have occurred to the count’s family, been a cause for enquiry at the very least.
    Camille heard a voice outside, and the butler announced Dr. Molloy. He was a slight man with grey hair and a most penetrating eye. Miss Darcy, he informed them, was now resting and should soon recover her equanimity. Perhaps they could give him some information about what had caused the nervous attack; he understood it was disagreeable news of some kind, but his patient was disinclined to speak of it.
    Fanny gave him a lively account of what had happened; he pursed his lips and looked grave. Would she say that Miss Darcy was of a highly strung temperament? Ah, this young lady was her sister, who better to give him information on this point?
    Camilla hesitated. Letty was certainly given to frets and fancies, but she wouldn’t describe her as being highly strung. She listened to Dr. Molloy’s adroit questions with growing respect as he drew out from her a good portrait of her sister’s habit of mind.
    It was as he thought. She must be watched, for a shock of this kind could have its effect on the body; the mind and body were, as they must know, inextricably linked, especially where young ladies were concerned. And in this case, if he might say so, her amour propre was touched; she would benefit from being encouraged not to dwell on the misfortune, but to have her attention turned in other directions. He had bled her a little, administered a powder, and in due course a glass of red wine would prove restorative. On the morrow, gentle exercise, a walk in the park with her sister, would refresh her spirits.
    Camilla thanked him. Letty was, in her opinion—one she kept to herself—suffering from temper as much as anything. She hated to be thwarted or deflected from her chosen path. It was a remarkable story, she said; Dr. Molloy must have considerable experiences of such cases—was such a long-lasting loss of memory really possible?
    Dr. Molloy, Fanny’s physician, has visited, and assures us that Letty will soon recover. I asked him about Tom’s case, and he replied that such a sequence of events is indeed possible, and the effects of a blow to the head may remain with a man for the rest of his days. In this case, it is to be hoped that being reunited with his family and returning to formerly familiar places will restore Tom’s memory; Dr. Molloy says that it is often so.
    To continue with my account of Tom’s life in Belgium: he stayed with the family for many months, and they developed a great regard for him. Mr. Roper told us that Tom and the lady who was the count’s daughter were reticent on the subject of their affection for one another, and he said that he was of the opinion that the count, although he liked Tom well enough, was far from willing for his daughter to marry a man without a name, a past or a family. However, married they were.
    She paused again, not wanting to mention the howl of dismay with which Letty had greeted the news of the marriage.
    “Married? No, no, it is impossible! You wicked man, you are making up a vile tale to torment me, you have been set to it by my sisters; it is not true, no, not a word of it.”
    Belle and Georgina had hotly refuted this suggestion, their voices and Letty’s rising to a crescendo of accusation and counter-accusation, ending only when Letty buried her face in a handkerchief and collapsed into loud and shuddering sobs.
    Letty was much affected by this news, as you may imagine. We exclaimed at the