Dear Sunday friends, thank you for the wonderful comments. They feed my muse. But I'm not too sure about the ending today. I may come back to revise it later. In the meantime, happy reading!
Chapter Eleven
Elizabeth stood up from the giant bed and tried remembering how she got there. This place looked comfortable and extravagant at the same time which was unusual. She usually felt that only simple things could make her feel comfortable. But looking around the place, she knew she was wrong.
The room was different from hers and had a lot of luxury. That was when it hit her, she was at Pemberley, and she was here to get an accurate reading for Lady Anne's death. She looked out of the window; and it was almost dusk, and she had been taking a rest before dinner.
After the confrontation with Lady Catherine de Bourgh and another two days at Rosings, the guest party arranged an outing and had their discussion in a private parlour in an inn some miles from Rosings.
When Elizabeth called for Lady Anne this time, the party was less shocked.
"Would you not appear in your form?" George Darcy said, eager to see his wife again.
"No, my dear. I am reconsidering," Lady Anne said in a sombre voice through Elizabeth.
"About what, Anne?"
"To take the Soup of Forgetfulness. I feel unsettled after the meeting with Catherine. I believe I shouldn't be so selfish to use Elizabeth this way. I'm hurting her physically and mentally, and we are no closer to the truth."
"I beg to disagree, Your Ladyship," Jane interrupted. "Every communication with a ghost drains Elizabeth. She always recovers afterwards and does it again. She sees doing it as a token of thanks to the Lord for giving her such a gift. If it is not you, Lady Anne, she will be helping another ghost in Meryton or London."
"And while we are no closer to finding the murderer, Anne," Judge Darcy added. "we are getting a fuller picture of some of the possible motives. For example, Catherine is envious of your relationship with George."
"Could Lady Catherine kill her younger sister out of jealous?" Bingley asked with a doubtful expression. "She couldn't divorce Sir Lewis and marry Mr. Darcy. I doubt Mr. Darcy would turn to her even though Lady Anne is dead. What benefit could Lady Catherine get by doing away with Lady Anne? Lady Catherine might be an arrogant woman conscious of rank and look down on my family or even the Bennets. I cannot see her being so evil. We are talking about a planned murder."
"After so many years presiding over hundreds of criminal cases, I'm not surprised how a trivial reason could ignite someone's fury. It can make them do something irrational and horrible." Judge Darcy said. "But you are correct, Bingley, the procurement of the poison points to planned action. While Catherine excels in managing the estate and her daughter, I believe she would be frank enough to own up to her planning when interrogated. I still believe Catherine was, in fact, the target."
"It is unlucky that Aunt Catherine didn't remember who was near her when she fetched the drink from the refreshment table." Fitzwilliam commented.
"But if Catherine was the original target, why didn't the murderer finish what they have started. It has been three years, and Catherine still lives, not that I wish her harmed." Lady Anne said through Elizabeth. Fitzwilliam was in awe and uncertain if the thoughts came from his mother or Elizabeth. Perhaps when Elizabeth communicated in the ghost's voice, she and the spirit could merge their thoughts.
"The murderer could have gotten scared," Judge Darcy commented. "because the wrong person was killed and he could fear being discovered any day soon. But after three years, the murderer might become complacent and strike again. That is why Anne, I think we must stick to our course of action to continue to interrogate the list of suspects. Otherwise, Catherine could be in danger. We should continue to our next stop, Pemberley, in a few days' time as per our original plan."
"What about Lewis?" Lady Anne said. "What if he was the murderer? By leaving Rosings, we are leaving Catherine alone with the murderer."
"Ah, I hate these speculations," Bingley cried out. "Our families are supposed to be friends, but now we must confront and suspect everyone. I couldn't imagine my father, mother or sister to be so evil. I won't believe it!"
"You have a good heart, Bingley," Fitzwilliam said. "While I dislike suspecting our family and friends, mother's life was cut short inadvertently. Even if we did not seek justice for her, we still need to find the truth and prevent another person from being harmed by this murderer."
"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals, as Aristotle said," Judge Darcy commented. "Separated from law and justice, he is the worst."
"I agree," Mr. Darcy nodded. "Anne, please do not abandon your course of action now. And you must stay safe in the transient world!"
Lady Anne murmured a few words of agreement and then left the meeting. The guest party, in particular Mr. Darcy, was worried about her.
The guest party stayed for the week in Rosings, and Mr. Darcy discussed with the butler of Rosings privately. He asked the long-serving butler to secure more burly footmen to ensure the safety of Lady Catherine and Sir Lewis.
As planned, the Darcys left for Pemberley. They invited Lord and Lady Matlock and their vicar Mr. Collins for a short stay under the excuse of celebrating the return of Mr. Darcy from his travel. That evening, he would claim to stage a parlour game and gather the guests in the Poppy Room, one of the smallest sitting rooms in Pemberley.
Elizabeth walked down the stairs hoping that she didn't bump into any of the Darcys or Matlocks family members. Elizabeth spent the best part of the journey looking outside the carriage. Jane had teased her privately about how she hated Fitzwilliam Darcy. Still, here she was, ready to travel for hours to solve his mother's murder mystery. When Jane put it that way, it made Elizabeth seem contradictory. She wondered what convinced her that she was doing it for Lady Anne and the love she shared with her husband. Deep down, she knew she was not just doing it for Lady Anne, though. She was also doing it for Fitzwilliam. She felt for him, his melancholy and loneliness. First, he lost his mother. And then, the erratic behaviour of his father had affected Fitzwilliam. He was a good man. He deserved to have closure as well. And Elizabeth wanted to be the one to help him.
Elizabeth followed the servant quietly and felt eyes on her. She sensed someone's presence and didn't like it. She turned to look at the person staring. She saw Mr. Collins, the Vicar of Stapleford, hurriedly leave through another hallway. That felt strange, but he probably wanted to see who the unknown guests of the Darcys were. She wouldn't blame his curiosity. But he had wandering eyes and a judging expression. Elizabeth hated the feeling of someone being out to get her, so she tried hard to shake the feeling away.
The party had a pleasant dinner. Afterwards, the Bennet sisters and Mr. Bingley excuse themselves as planned. Mr. Darcy took the rest of party to the Poppy Room and told them that instead of a parlour game, he had arranged a gypsy to tell fortune. Lady Matlock was strangely delighted about it, but Mr. Collins protested loudly against such an abomination. But he was overruled by Lord Matlock, who enjoyed seeing his wife's excitement.
They were all seated in the room, sitting in a round arrangement and waiting for Miss Zeath to carry out the summoning spell. When the guests entered the room, Elizabeth said, "Hello, Lady Matlock."
"Hello to you, dear. And who might you be?" The Lady had said, her tone taking one of curiosity.
"My name is Miss Zeath. I am here to tell your fortune. But before I do that, I need to ask you a few questions." Elizabeth dressed in her veil and asked, eyeing the woman for any out-of-place reactions.
"Of course, but if you imagined you can pry some secret from my mouth, you would be sadly misled!" Lady Matlock said in bewilderment.
George Darcy tried to sound like this was all a game. "I wouldn't mind hearing about your secret. It must be about Matlock."
"I have no secret!" Lord Matlock thundered.
"How did you see the late Lady Anne Darcy?" Elizabeth asked, getting straight to the point.
"What do you mean?" Lady Matlock asked.
"Did you like her? Would you say that she was a pleasant person?" Elizabeth pressed on.
"Of course. Anne was my sister-in-law, so yes. I did like her a lot."
"Did you have any arguments with her?" Elizabeth said, looking at Lady Matlock.
Augusta averted her eyes for a split second. "No. What do you mean? She was a most pleasant person."
"So you had nothing against her? Nothing at all?"
"Oh young lady!" Lady Matlock laughed. "The only thing anyone could hold against my late sister-in-law was how she upheld her moral values." Then she mumbled, somewhat angrily to herself. "Even to the point of refusing to lend her brother some money."
"You did not like her because she refused to lend Lord Matlock some money?" Elizabeth asked. She heard Lady Matlock's mumbling, much to the latter's surprise.
"What is this? A murder investigation?" Lady Matlock asked.
Elizabeth noted that the lady had used the word 'murder', when she was told that everyone had believed that the lady died of natural causes. She noticed Fitzwilliam shift in his seat.
Lady Matlock realized her mistake a few seconds too late, and she began to speak, stumbling over her words as she did so.
"We were down on money, and well— Anne refused to lend any to me because of my drinking habit at the time." Lord Matlock gave a proud smile. "But as you can see, we are alright now. Nothing is wrong anymore." The smile he gave betrayed his words at the moment.
Elizabeth decided to close her eyes and summoned Lady Anne. She wanted to see if Lady Anne would identify who handed Lady Catherine the wine. The Darcys sat in anticipation, and Elizabeth folded her legs before stretching her hands out. She tried the physical summoning, and it did not work. She pushed harder and decided to go for the spiritual summoning too, and Lady Anne refused to answer. Elizabeth had felt Lady Anne's presence with them in the room for a moment, but the feeling had disappeared almost as soon as it came. No, just as fast as it had come, Elizabeth was getting frustrated. Perhaps Lady Anne had taken the soup and reincarnated into a new life.
"No answer yet, Miss Zeath?" George Darcy asked after Elizabeth dropped her hands and opened her eyes for the umpteenth time. Her frustration was evident in her eyes, and she nodded in affirmation to the man. George's face fell at her reply, and Elizabeth wished there was something she could do about the whole situation. Still, she could rarely assist a ghost who could not show up to be helped. Elizabeth stood up to stretch her legs before trying another type of summoning she had been working on. It was said to be perfectly adequate unless external forces were against her and had a guaranteed success rate. Elizabeth started chanting slowly before she raised her voice a bit, and she could feel Lady Anne's energy around her. She smiled because the spell book was right, and this summoning did work. She tried to reach out to Lady Anne or find her, but Her Ladyship's entire head looked like a thick fog. Then everything ended abruptly, and Elizabeth found her in the room again with everyone in the house. Fitzwilliam had genuine concern on his face, and George Darcy had looked so hopeful as he looked at her as if she had brought back good news.
They waited for a little while, and she did it again and there was no answer. However, this time, Elizabeth was struck with a terrible headache, and she almost fainted, but Fitzwilliam quickly rose to catch her. He carried her through the servants' quarter. Then he walked back upstairs to the guest chamber and sent for the physician to look after her. Jane sat beside her, waiting for her to stop holding her head in pain. Elizabeth finally felt comfortable as she drifted off to sleep.
Elizabeth had told him that summoning involved using the mind and her head. So Fitzwilliam knew summoning his mother was the sole cause of Elizabeth's skull-splitting headache. She was treated by the physician from Lambton and told to take it easy, but there was something strange about the situation. When Fitzwilliam learned from Jane that Elizabeth was sleeping soundly, he went downstairs, where everyone was waiting for him to be updated about Miss Zeath's health. He explained that Miss Zeath had left and was resting in a tenant cottage.
Fitzwilliam walked towards the window side, and he looked out of the window. Many things had happened in just these past months, and with each time, everything was becoming confusing. Like how Elizabeth invaded his senses, his whole emotions were starting to become a mess. One minute he felt like he loathed her, and the next minute he wanted to be the main focus of her life and be the centre of her world. Just now when he was holding her, he tried to take away her pain. He wanted her to stop communicating with ghosts. If she were to become his wife, the future Mistress of Pemberley, she would have no time to do something so exhausting for people unrelated to them.
"Just the man I've been looking for," Rev William Collins said, and Fitzwilliam whipped his head back to look at him. Collins walked closer before patting Fitzwilliam's back. Fitzwilliam looked at him and wondered why he came to him when his father was around. He did not like the man very much, and Fitzwilliam had always tried his best to avoid him.
"I heard you were in agreement to bring the gypsy girl from London to here to try to talk to Lady Anne?" He asked, and Fitzwilliam nodded.
Fitzwilliam had no idea where the man was going with his words. Fitzwilliam sighed tiredly, but then he decided to listen. Even if he was see-saw in his emotion regarding Elizabeth, he had decided not to show it to the vicar. He would rather keep it between himself and his father.
"I wonder how Mr. Darcy was able to be convinced that she had the powers to talk to a ghost. Someone who didn't die recently and someone who died of natural causes. I was keenly waiting for her to perform the miracle, but she faked a headache. Why would you let your father hire a fraud?" Collins asked with disgust marring his entire face, and Fitzwilliam was irritated. He had no doubt why Mr. Collins suddenly referred to Elizabeth as a thief, but it didn't sit well with him. He would rather not discuss this with him, so he doesn't argue with Collins. Still, it was getting hard to keep his silence, and he would rather not have anyone disrespect Elizabeth because she offered to help his father. Instead of telling Collins to mind his business, he just shrugged his shoulders, hoping the man got the hint to mind his own business.
Upon noticing the expression, Collins moved away, and Fitzwilliam's mind drifted back to Elizabeth. Why would he consider Elizabeth to be the future Mrs. Darcy? She had been involved in too much of this ghostly business to devote wholly to him and Pemberley. He should forget her. Period. Fitzwilliam hated how he went back and forth with his mind, and he would instead pick aside, but it was not that easy for him. He hated how indecisive he was becoming for her.
The next evening, Elizabeth requested another session, and Mr. Darcy gathered everyone again. She still looked fragile, but she tried to summon Lady Anne once more, and Lady Anne did not answer. Elizabeth was convinced that Her Ladyship was doing it on purpose. She could feel the ghost's energy around the place, but she was just not saying anything. She stood up from her sitting position before stretching her body to look around the room. Maybe she needed to change the environment; the entire area was starting to get stuffy for her too. She needed to breathe.
They all stood waiting for what would happen, and Fitzwilliam noticed Collins moving towards his father and murmuring. He had no idea why the vicar was raving mad at this moment. He was sure that Collins was probably trying to convince his father that Elizabeth was a thief and not honest. He was grateful that his father wasn't feeble-minded and would gladly stand his ground.
Mr Darcy was accosted by Collins who tried to convince him that Miss Zeath was no good, but George was a full-fledged believer of Elizabeth. He dismissed the Reverend's words without much thought. But Collins didn't stop there. Instead, he went to Fitzwilliam to plead his case gain. The clergyman claimed that he knew they might not take it well, but it was worth trying.
"You probably might not want to see me now, but I assure you that I am not trying to paint this young woman evil in front of you, but someone needed to do this. Everything she is doing is barbaric, and she is trying to perform rituals. Lady Anne would never want this as a devoted Christian. All the rubbish I've been hearing from your father about how she summoned dear Lady Anne and claimed she was murdered. We all knew Lady Anne was sick, and she just went back to the Lord. We shouldn't be encouraging this, and as the master of this house, you are in the right place to stop it before it goes further. Your father is sick, and he wouldn't be able to make such decisions because his beloved wife is the woman in question. Please help him refrain from making this mistake." Collins said to Fitzwilliam and stomped off.
'Where did Collins hear about our mission? Father would never talk about it.' Fitzwilliam thought.
