Her gaze anxiously assessed him. “You appear unaltered,” she said.
“Indeed, I am entirely unchanged.” Right down to his clothing.
She took his hands and pulled him inside, where Mr. Melbourne had granted him permission to don fresh attire while the constable and Elizabeth’s guards waited in the corridor. As soon as the door closed, she was in his arms.
“I wish you had allowed me to visit you.”
“Gaol is no place for a lady, particularly one in your condition.” He indulged in her embrace but a moment before setting her away from him. “You must permit me to wash away its taint.” He stepped to the basin and stripped to the waist. In truth, even if the environment had not been so wretched, his pride could not bear the idea of his wife entering a gaol to see him.
“Was it very bad?”
“It could have been worse.” He could have been housed in the common gaol, in conditions so squalid they bred gaol fever. At least he had not spent the night amid prostitutes, vagrants, and murderers.
She helped him into a fresh shirt. “You are confident that Captain Tilney’s intercession will resolve the matter?”
“If he intercedes.”
“You suspect him of dealing falsely with us.”
It was a statement, not a question, leading him to infer that her thoughts paralleled his.
“I have done nothing since leaving here but ruminate on the whole affair, and I cannot otherwise explain our present circumstances,” he said. “Even if a servant or other member of the household acted without the captain’s knowledge in actually planting the diamonds, I fail to see a way he could not have been involved in some part of the business.”
“I reached the same conclusion. What I cannot determine, however, is his motive. You have had no previous intercourse with this man, no occasion to give him offense. Why should he lure us to his home and enact such a scheme?”
They were interrupted by Mr. Melbourne’s knocking on the door to hurry them along. It was just as well; Darcy had no answer to give. He found himself equally unable to divine Captain Tilney’s intent.
The journey to Northanger required a fraction of the time their exodus had. They raced along through a landscape cheerfully disrespectful of their serious errand. When they passed through the gates, a noble structure, for once not obscured by fog and mist, greeted them.
Dorothy, however, did not. Instead, a butler appeared at the door the moment the carriage stopped. The white-haired servant bore himself with the air of a domestic who has served a home and family so long that he feels ownership of it.
“Is your master within?” Mr. Melbourne asked.
“He—” The butler stopped, appearing to reconsider what he had been about to say. “Yes, I suppose he is.”
They entered the hall, where sunlight streaming through the high arched windows lent the lofty space a much happier air than the gloom that had pervaded it during their stay. The butler left them to themselves and passed through a door that had remained shut throughout the Darcys’ previous visit. He returned shortly. “Mr. Tilney will receive you in the drawing room. May I relieve you of that, sir?” He gestured toward the damning cane, which Mr. Melbourne carried.
“No. This remains with me.”
Expecting to follow the familiar route to the stately room where they had first met the captain, Darcy was surprised when the butler led them through the door he had just used. It indeed opened into a drawing room, but one of much more modest proportions and modern furnishings. Upon their entry, a tall, slender man came forward to greet them. He had dark hair touched with grey and a pleasing countenance, though the latter presently bore a somber aspect that matched Darcy’s own mood.
The gentleman acknowledged Mr. Melbourne with a familiarity that suggested casual acquaintance, then bowed to Darcy and Elizabeth. “Welcome to Northanger Abbey. I am Mr. Henry Tilney. What may I do for you?”
“I beg your pardon, Mr. Tilney,” said Mr. Melbourne. “We did not mean to disturb you — the servant must have misunderstood. We are here to speak with your brother.”
“I am afraid that he is beyond speech.”
“Oh, dear,” Elizabeth said. “The captain appeared to be recovering from his injuries. I hope his health has not failed?”
Mr. Tilney regarded her curiously. “One might say so, madam. My brother is dead.”
“You are describing what never happened.”
— Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey
Dead?”
Elizabeth’s exclamation held all the shock Darcy felt. Captain Tilney, the one person who could elucidate this whole affair — silent forever. Though Darcy regretted the lost life, in truth he regretted still more the lost enlightenment their late host might have provided regarding the diamonds. His death was most untimely, for more persons than the captain.
“We received word this morning that Frederick died from injuries sustained while serving with his regiment,” Mr. Tilney said. “I am just arrived myself to begin settling his affairs.”
Mr. Melbourne muttered some appropriate sentiment of sympathy, which Darcy and Elizabeth recovered themselves enough to echo.
“This is astonishing news, indeed,” Darcy added. “Though his injuries were extensive, he bore them with such fortitude that we had no notion his survival was in question.”
Mr. Tilney studied Darcy as if attempting to make out his meaning. “You speak as if you had seen my brother recently.”
“We last saw him on Wednesday.”
“Wednesday!” Mr. Tilney’s keen eyes widened. His expression of surprise, however, lasted but a moment — it quickly gave way to one of doubt. “Where?”
“Here at Northanger. We took our leave of the captain after having spent the previous night as his guests.”
Mr. Tilney stared at Darcy, seeming to have not quite heard his reply. His countenance, which upon their introduction had been open and genial — if subdued by sorrow — became guarded.
“Forgive me — you say you passed Tuesday night here, at Northanger Abbey, in my brother’s company?”
“You must think us extremely inconsiderate to have intruded on your brother’s privacy whilst he was so afflicted,” Elizabeth said. “I assure you, we never intended to do so. We were not aware until well after our arrival that our host had recently suffered injury. By then, night had fallen and the storm raged at full strength. We could not depart until the following day — which we did.”
“Yes,” said Mr. Melbourne. “With Mrs. Tilney’s diamonds.” The magistrate withdrew a cloth bag from the pocket of his coat and handed it to Henry. “After the Darcys departed, these were found in their possession. I understand they belonged to your mother.”
Mr. Tilney loosened the drawstring and lifted out the necklace. “It has been so many years since I laid eyes on this set that I had utterly forgotten about it.” He turned an inquisitorial gaze on Darcy. “How did you come to have these?”
Darcy hesitated. He still suspected Captain Tilney had orchestrated the setup, but he could hardly malign a dead man to his brother without evidence to support his theory. Henry Tilney had no reason to believe him, and every reason to distrust him.
“I wish I knew. But I assure you, I did not steal those diamonds. Though my wife and I did happen upon them in your mother’s chamber, we left them untouched.”
Now Mr. Tilney’s increasing displeasure encompassed Elizabeth, as well. “What cause had either of you to enter my mother’s chamber?”
“We passed the night there,” Elizabeth said.
His posture stiffened, and he regarded her incredulously. “You slept in my mother’s apartment?” He blinked several times before adding, in a quiet yet angry tone, “On whose authority?”
“The captain’s.”