Dear Sunday friends, I've edited last chapter slightly. But it won't affect this chapter. Let's see if we can make more progress with solving the murder and advancing the understanding of our dear couple. Happy reading!


Chapter Twelve

"Oh!" Elizabeth stopped plucking the flower when startled by the sound of footsteps. She turned and saw Fitzwilliam approaching her, "Mr. Darcy." Elizabeth greeted him. After two evenings of unsuccessful communication with Lady Anne, Elizabeth decided to forget about her mission and explored the lovely grounds of Pemberley.

Darcy returned the greeting and fell into silence.

"I'm feeling unsettled," Elizabeth said, seeing that he was not going to say anything yet. "I thought I would pick some flowers and herbs to make a special tea for myself." She looked at the flower once more before returning her gaze to his handsome face. Feeling confused at her feeling toward this contradictory gentleman, she looked away.

"Do you need any help?" Darcy took a step closer to her. It looked like she was ready to take one back but had nowhere to run to.

"No, no, I can handle this myself." Although Elizabeth tried to ignore his presence, acting like it didn't affect her, her voice came out shaky, and her hands trembled a bit.

"I'm serious. Let me help. I used to help my mother with like collecting flowers too."

"Oh really?" Elizabeth said.

Darcy smiled, showing his dimples. Elizabeth breathed in the fresh smell of his scent. He smelt very manly, quite unique among the aura of the wildflower. She took a few deep breaths, hoping to relax while moving further away from him, inch by inch, before she did something that would put her to shame.

"Well, I guess there's no harm in you helping out. Uh... I'll borrow an apron from your gardener. You don't want to ruin your shirt with..." Elizabeth held up one of the flowers to show him the colour of the yellow pollen. Before he could say a word back, she was already hurrying away. Soon she returned. "Here, put this on." She also gave him a basket and then explained to him what flower and herb she was looking for.

They continued together in silence. There was a slight awkwardness about this, yet it was a comfortable, peaceful silence. Elizabeth noticed there was something on Mr. Darcy's mind. He was doing that thing again where he twisted his signet ring from time to time, showing he was deep in thought. She wondered if she should question him on it and found herself speaking as she picked a white flower with a strong fragrance on her nose. "What's wrong? Something is bothering you. Hmmm, the smell is so refreshing," she continued, closing her eyes in delight. "This is so aromatic. Want a smell of it?" She offered him the flower, but when he tried to take it, she pulled it back, holding it out of his reach.

He looked a bit surprised by this but smiled. "Yeah, I'm good. Uh, are you-"

"You're avoiding my question, Mr. Darcy." She mentioned, still laughing at the look on his face when she took the flower away. "Answer me, please."

He sighed. "I wanted to know what's going on Miss Elizabeth? Why doesn't Mother want to—" he is cut off.

"I wish I could understand, but we should respect Lady Anne's wishes. She is in a world we don't know a lot. There could be dozens of reasons that prevented her appearing." Darcy nodded, watching as Elizabeth crouched down to smell a purple flower this time. She looked up at him and smiled. She then checked his basket, a mischievous smile crawling on her face. She reached forward and took a pink rose from his basket. Darcy gasped at the audacity, but she was nonchalant.

"Hey, that's mine. Don't you know your basket anymore?" Elizabeth didn't answer him, stood up and just kept on walking. He reached forward to take some green herb from her basket, but she let out a squeal and quickly dashed away. She plucked off some soft branches and threw them at him as she ran.

She smiled at the look on his face. "Enjoy the flower on you!" It turned into a scream as Darcy chased after her. "Don't!" She laughed, hurrying away while he increased his pace after her. She ran out along a narrow path, through some low-hanging trees, when the sight of Lady Anne had her coming to a stop. Darcy also stopped, curious to see what had gotten Elizabeth's attention.

"What's wrong?" He asked, walking over to her.

"N-nothing." The sound of Elizabeth's voice had gotten Lady Anne's attention. The moment she sighted Elizabeth, she vanished. Elizabeth let out a heavy breath, turning to face Darcy with a big smile. "Uh, it's nothing. Fine, I just remembered there's something I have to do. Can you help me take the basket back to my maid Heather? I'll join you later."

"Sure, just don't delay. The air is turning slightly cooler," Darcy said, looking back at her with a lingering gaze. Elizabeth rested her head against the trunk of a big oat tree, closed her eyes and tried steadying her breath. When Elizabeth blinked open her eyes, Lady Anne was there, right below a willow tree, waiting.

"Hello?" Elizabeth said quietly. She couldn't speak too loud, afraid that someone could be close. She didn't want them to know she was talking to Lady Anne at the moment.

"Did I scare you earlier? Sorry about that." She was speaking to Elizabeth but looking elsewhere in the woods.

Elizabeth couldn't be angry at Lady Anne, even though she did scare her a little. If anything, she felt sorry for her. Wandering around, seeing your loved ones and not being able to reach out to them, and feeling restless in her, wondering who had poisoned her. Elizabeth didn't know what being dead felt like; she didn't want to see it. She was happy to be alive. But one day, if she died, she wanted to rest peacefully.

"It's fine, totally fine. Eh...Why did you not appear during the last two evenings?"

"It is Reverend Collins," Lady Anne said with a sigh.

"Oh, you meant that he wore a cross and thus prevented you from speaking or appearing?"

Lady Anne shook her head. "I don't think the cross is the issue. I was able to enter Kympton church before during my ghostly existence. He could be wearing something else that suppresses evil spirit."

"But you are not! You are a gentle ghost who is just searching for answers before you could move on."

Lady Anne shrugged her shoulders.

"I also feel something not right about Mr. Collins. He has leering eyes. Both Jane and I shuddered when they rested on us. Mr. Darcy, I mean your son, told me Mr. Collins and Lady Matlock seemed to know that we are trying to find out who killed you."

"I know. I was present, but I just couldn't appear or speak."

"How did they know about our mission then?" Elizabeth murmured.

"Through Bingley's servants," Lady Anne said.

"Oh!"

"Pemberley servants are loyal, and they won't gossip. But I caught one of Bingley's servants talking to Augusta's maid about what happened in Hertfordshire. They are related, and the maid, in turn, told Collins. Luckily they are none the wiser that Miss Zeath is Miss Elizabeth Bennet."

"I must tell young Mr. Darcy about it."

Lady Anne nodded.

"Do you think I should ask Mr. Darcy senior to organise another seance? So they see you and believe I'm not telling lies."

Lady Anne shook her head. "I do not think it is wise to do that anymore. I have been thinking. Perhaps the wine cellar may hold some clue. The wine glasses used on the night of the gathering would have been washed three years ago. But the servants usually do not disturb the cellar except by bringing wine in and out. We can look there."

"You would come with me?" Elizabeth asked.

Lady Anne agreed and looked at Elizabeth. "I want to also say thank you."

"I am doing just what the Lord gifted me to do."

"But you give peace to George, bring him back to Pemberley, and reunite him with Fitzwilliam. Even if I pass to a new life without this murder being solved, I will leave with a lightened heart that Father and Son would have a loving relationship from now on."

Elizabeth nodded with a small smile.

"I am happy to be of use. Let us go back to the house then. But wait-" Before she could say more, Lady Anne said, "Bring your gloves." And then she vanished.

"Great," Elizabeth murmured, heading out to her room. She debated going alone to the wine cellar but didn't want to explain if she encountered any servants.

Instead, she went in search of Jane and Darcy. She told them what Lady Anne had just said about Mr. Collins and Bingley's servants. Darcy was livid but decided not to take any action yet. He summoned Mrs. Reynolds and asked her to accompany them to the wine cellar. He stayed with the housekeeper outside, not wanting Lady Anne's spirit to startle Mrs. Reynolds when Jane and Elizabeth went down to have a look. Mrs. Reynolds was curious about Master Fitzwilliam's request but wise enough not to ask why the young ladies were interested in Pemberley's cellar.

It was empty, dark and quiet, except for the two candles Mrs. Reynolds gave Jane and Elizabeth. It had been about three years since the murder of Lady Anne, but Elizabeth trusted the ghost and still hoped to find something.

"Where should we begin?" Jane asked.

Elizabeth sighed and closed her eyes. Perhaps Lady Anne could direct them.

"The wine is organised by year," Lady Anne said to Elizabeth. "If I remember correctly, we used wine from 1801 during that dinner. It should be on the left-hand side."

Elizabeth opened her eyes and told Jane to follow her.

Bringing out gloves she had hidden in her pockets, Jane and Elizabeth searched around the surface of every barrel and shelf near the left-hand side of the cellar.

But after fifteen minutes, they found nothing. They didn't complain about the dust or smell but kept on searching. Elizabeth pinched the bridge of her nose as she continued to look around the cellar. Nothing was out of the ordinary. But after another fifteen minutes, Jane cried out, "There is something here!"

Elizabeth rushed to Jane's side. "There!" Jane pointed at a gap on the wall behind one of the barrels. From the dim light of the candle, Elizabeth could see that there was a tiny vial bottle at the back of the barrel under the cobwebs.

It was too far for them to reach. Elizabeth went out to fetch Mr. Darcy and Mrs. Reynolds.

With his long arm, Darcy got the bottle by dislodging it from the wall. They could see the remnant of some white powder. "I wonder what this one is." They hid it under a rag cloth and hurried to the still room, locking the door immediately.

Darcy brought out the bottle, eyeing it carefully. When he tried to open it, Elizabeth stopped him.

"Let me!" Elizabeth didn't want him to get off the content on his skin as they didn't know what it was yet. That was why she still kept the gloves on when she opened the bottle.

"What is this?" Darcy asked, eyeing it again.

A thought came to Elizabeth's mind immediately. "It can't be..." Elizabeth placed the bottle away first, rummaging through a desk and cut out a piece of paper. She shook a little powder out from the vial on the paper and examined it carefully.

"Ah!" She looked up when she suddenly felt a presence, and it was Lady Anne.

"Strychnine!" Her Ladyship was staring straight at the bottle, looking very angry, and murmured the word.

"Lady Anne..." Elizabeth tried to speak, but Lady Anne had vanished again.

Elizabeth gulped as she stared down at the bottle. She exchanged a worried look with Darcy and Jane, with Mrs. Reynolds looking on anxiously. She then wrapped up the vial in a rag cloth. Darcy signalled for the ladies to leave the still room. But before Elizabeth could walk out, he pulled her aside and whispered, "What is it?"

"Lady Anne said it is strychnine," Elizabeth replied in a low voice.

Darcy gasped in surprise. She handed him the bottle in rag cloth and added, "Please inform Judge Darcy about it first. I think he should get it tested before informing your father. We don't want Mr. Darcy to get upset if it turns out not to be poisonous." Darcy nodded and agreed.

They then walked out of the still room. The ladies returned to their chamber to rest before dinner. Darcy went to his study and asked to talk to his uncle. Mrs. Reynolds returned to her duty unsure of the entire incident in the wine cellar and the still room.

~P&P~~P&P~~P&P~

Elizabeth hurriedly went down the stairs, skipping some as she did so. How in the world did she oversleep? She wondered.

When she got downstairs into the spacious dining room, she noticed that everyone was waiting for her arrival. Fitzwilliam's childhood friend Frank Churchill had also returned from London.

"I am sorry for my lateness."

Churchill gave her a friendly grin, the corner of his eye crinkling in apparent amusement. "It is all right, Miss Elizabeth, really. You gave me enough time to do a few stretches, and I am sure Fitzwilliam appreciated it. Isn't that right, old thing?" Churchill then slapped Fitzwilliam's back in a friendly manner.

Fitzwilliam replied dryly. "Sure. Whatever it is, you say, Frank."

Mr. Collins shifted in his seat and cleared his throat loudly to demand attention. All eyes were on him immediately. His mouth curved downwards into a frown, enough to tell Elizabeth that he was not happy and that whatever he was about to say would certainly not be good.

"Not all of us have the luxury of time, Miss Elizabeth." The vicar started, saying her name like it was something foul. "You kept Mr. Darcy and Master Fitzwilliam waiting, the two masters of Pemberley. Lord Matlock and I have matters to attend to myself. And do not let Churchill and Bingley fool you. They are not just gentlemen of leisure. We all have things of importance to do, so tell me, how could your maid not wake you in time? I think she should be dismissed without reference!" Collins asked in a calm yet intimidating tone of voice. Before Elizabeth could say anything, George Darcy beat her to it.

"Leave Miss Elizabeth's maid alone, Collins. Everybody has the days when they do such things by accident." George said and turned to Elizabeth to give her a reassuring smile.

"I really am sorry," Elizabeth repeated. She hated that Collins treated the women in the room as nobody.

"Let us go in for dinner." George Darcy said, escorting Lady Matlock in. Lord Matlock walked behind them with Jane on his arm. They were followed by Judge Darcy and Elizabeth. The remaining four gentlemen, Fitzwilliam, Churchill, Bingley and Collins, came up the rear.

During dinner, Judge Darcy started the conversation by staring at the reverend. "Collins, Fitzwilliam told me you were rather upset with Miss Zeath. If I remember correctly, you had once preached that you could communicate with spirits. Does that not make you in a similar profession as Miss Zeath?"

The reverend's face turned bright red, but he replied with the fullest arrogance, "I'm a man and an appointed servant by the Lord. My ability and behaviour are beyond comparison to those of a mere woman and a fraud."

"Really?" Fitzwilliam said with gritted teeth. "I wonder where you learned that men are superior to women. And how did you know Miss Zeath is a fraud?"

"Did the gypsy girl not fail to 'perform' the summons? Was that not proof enough? And what nonsense about Lady Anne being murdered? She died of heart failure. Your family physician said so. Did you believe your doctor was wrong? I think you are blinded by that woman." Collins said with a sneer.

"Oh, Collins, be careful with what you said," Churchill jumped in. "Your lovely patroness Lady Matlock is here. Did you not always say she is superior in understanding scriptures than you?"

"How can you compare Lady Matlock with a gypsy girl? One is elevated to one of the highest ranks in our society while another lives in a tent and performs for money."

"Indeed, my wife is a woman with superior knowledge," Lord Matlock said. "And gypsies are just a nuisance. Every landlord will tell you so. So there is no comparison. I don't know why George invites one here. But what is this talk about Anne being murdered?"

"Your Lordship, I am sorry I had not told you earlier," Collins said humbly. "The servants are riled with gossip. It seems Mr. Darcy paid Miss Zeath to communicate with Lady Anne and the gypsy girl came up with the extraordinary claim that your sister was murdered. I believe Mr. Darcy is sick in his mind due to the sudden loss of his wife. Master Fitzwilliam did not listen to reasons either. The gypsy girl might have cast a spell on the young master. Perhaps, Your Lordship, it is time for you to petition to take care of the two Darcys and Pemberley!"

Elizabeth was astonished by the bigoted ideas coming from the reverend's mouth. And was seizing Pemberley the motive for killing Lady Anne? Did Lord Matlock instruct Collins to do the dirty deed? Did Collins fawn over his patron so much that he forgot the moral commandment of 'thou shalt not kill'?