‘Wolves—and worse,’ he added under his breath.
She sat back in her seat, chastened. Wolves, bears perhaps… She was a long way from Hertfordshire. She was glad of the coach and the safety it offered. It was sturdily built and would withstand an attack by wolves or any other animals which might be lurking close by. She was glad too of the outriders and the pistols they carried—a warning to predators with two legs and a protection against those with four.
She endeavoured to take an interest in the scenery again, but it had lost some of its glamour for, underneath the beauty, danger lurked.
As the coach climbed further the sky began to darken, as if to match her thoughts, turning from blue to indigo. Clouds blew up rapidly and it looked as though it would rain.
‘We are going to have a storm,’ said Elizabeth. ‘Are there any inns nearby where we can stop until it passes?’
‘No, there is nothing for miles, but no matter; in another half hour, or hour at most, we should be there.’
There was a distant rumble and the threatened storm began to make itself felt. The sky was suddenly lit from behind, glowing with a lurid brightness before quickly darkening again. Inside the coach, it was becoming hard to see, and matters were made worse when the trees began to thicken as the road went into a forest of dense trees. They cast long shadows, and Elizabeth could barely make out her husband’s features, although he was sitting only a few feet away from her.
They emerged at last, but it was scarcely any brighter beyond the trees for the sky was now almost black. Another rumble, closer this time, tore the silence and a few minutes later the rain began to pour. The thunder grew louder as the storm broke overhead, and the sky was rent apart by a jagged spike of lightning which ran down to the ground in a network of brilliant veins. The horses neighed wildly, rearing up and flailing their hooves in the air. The carriage rocked from side to side as the coachman tried to hold them, and Elizabeth took hold of the carriage strap which hung from the ceiling. She clung on as she was bounced and jolted this way and that. She managed to keep her seat until the horses at last quieted, but she did not let go, knowing that another flash of lightning would scare the horses again.
‘How much farther?’ she asked.
‘It is not far now,’ said Darcy, holding onto the strap which hung on his side of the carriage.
Another flash of lightning lit the sky and revealed an eerie shape on the horizon, a silhouette of spires and turrets that rose from a rocky pinnacle—a castle, but not like those in England, whose solid bulk sat heavily on the ground. It was a confection, a fragile thing, tall and thin and spindly. And then the sky darkened and it was lost to view.
The rain was coming down in earnest, drumming on the roof of the coach, and Elizabeth was glad when the gatehouse came in sight. The coachman held the horses and guided them over the last stretch of road. There was a pause at the gatehouse, and through the wind and the rain, Elizabeth heard a shouted exchange between the coachman and the gatekeeper. Then the windlass creaked and the drawbridge was lowered, its chains clanking in the rain-sodden air before it settled with a dull thud on the reverberating ground.
The coach traversed the drawbridge and Elizabeth glimpsed a steep drop on either side, and then they were through, into the courtyard. Armed men in billowing cloaks with hats pulled down over their eyes were patrolling with large hounds, more wolf than dog, and their free hands rested on their sword hilts.
‘There is no need to be afraid,’ said Darcy as Elizabeth shrank back against her seat. ‘This is a wild country and my uncle employs soldiers to protect him from roaming bands of villains.’
‘He employs mercenaries, do you mean?’ asked Elizabeth.
‘If you will. Armed men, at any rate, who are in his employ.’
Elizabeth heard the drawbridge being raised behind them, and as it clanked shut on its great chains, she knew a moment of panic, thinking wildly, We’re shut in.
Darcy touched her hand in silent support and the gesture calmed her, and the sight of liveried footmen emerging from the castle dispelled much of her fear. Darcy stepped out of the coach as the footmen unloaded it, and he handed Elizabeth out. The butler appeared, a man past youth but not yet old, with bright eyes that missed nothing as they ran with recognition over Darcy and then ran more watchfully over Elizabeth. He greeted them with a few barely comprehensible words in garbled and heavily accented English, then bowed them towards the steps that led up to the massive oak door. Darcy returned his greeting and then stood aside to allow Elizabeth to precede him through the door.
As she stepped over the threshold, there was a grating sound and one of the axes which was displayed above the door, just inside the hall, came loose of its fastenings and fell to the floor. It missed Darcy by inches and Elizabeth by more than a foot. There was an initial moment of shock, but then they quickly recovered their composure. Not so the butler, however, who cried out in a strange language and rolled his eyes in fear.
It was not an auspicious beginning to their visit. Nor was the walk across the vast, echoing hall, with its dark stone walls and its draught-blown torches and its gloomy wall hangings. But once they were shown into the drawing room things improved. The room was warm with the heat of a log fire, which crackled in an enormous stone fireplace. The carpet was old but not threadbare, and the furniture, though dark and heavy, was of a good quality. Sitting in a chair with his legs stretched out to the fire was a man whom Elizabeth took to be the Count.
The butler announced the Darcys in a foreign tongue and the Count rose, surprised, his look of astonishment quickly giving way to one of welcome. He was somewhat strange of appearance, being unusually tall and very angular, with a finely-boned face, long, delicate fingers, and features which gave him a perpetual look of haughtiness, yet his manner when he greeted Darcy was friendly.
Elizabeth let her eyes roam over the Count’s clothes, which were reassuring in their familiarity, for they were the kind worn by country gentlemen in England. He wore a shabby but well-cut coat of russet broadcloth with a ruffled shirt, which had once been white but was now grey with many washings, beneath which he wore russet knee breeches and darned stockings. His black shoes were polished, but they too were shabby. The only thing she could not have seen on some of her more countrified neighbours was his powdered wig, which would have marked him out as old-fashioned, eccentric even, in Hertfordshire.
The two men spoke in a foreign tongue which Elizabeth did not recognise. It seemed to bear some resemblance to French but many of its words were unfamiliar, and she could not understand what was being said. Darcy quickly realised this and reverted to English. The Count, after a moment of surprise, glanced at Elizabeth and then, understanding, spoke in English too, though he spoke it with a heavy accent and a strange intonation.
‘Darcy, this pleasure, it is not expected,’ he said, ‘but you are welcome here. Your guest, too, she is welcome.’
He extended his hand and the two men shook hands with a firm grip.
‘Thank you,’ said Darcy. ‘I am sorry I could not give you warning, but I did not like to send a messenger on to the castle alone.’
‘The road to the castle, it is not a safe one,’ the Count agreed. ‘But what does it matter? My housekeeper, she is always prepared for guests. And this so charming young woman is…?’ he asked.
‘Elizabeth,’ said Darcy, taking her hand and drawing her forward.
‘Elizabeth,’ said the Count, bowing over her hand. ‘A beautiful name for a most beautiful lady. Elizabeth…?’
‘Elizabeth Darcy. My wife,’ said Darcy with wary pride.
‘Your wife?’ asked the Count, recoiling as though stung.
‘Yes. We were married three weeks ago.’
‘I had not heard,’ said the Count, quickly recovering himself, ‘and that, it is not usual; en général I hear of things which concern the family very quickly. But we are out of the way here…’ he said, looking at Elizabeth curiously before turning his attention back t
o Darcy. ‘And so, you are married, Fitzwilliam. It is something I thought I would not see.’
‘There is a time for everything,’ said Darcy, ‘and my time is now.’ He completed the introduction, saying, ‘Elizabeth, this is my uncle, Count Polidori.’
Elizabeth dropped a curtsey and said all that was necessary, but she was not entirely at ease. Though the Count was courteous and charming she sensed an undercurrent of curiosity and something else—not hostility exactly, but something that told her he was not pleased about the marriage. She wondered if he too thought that Darcy should have married Anne.
‘The day, it is not a pleasant one for your journey,’ said the Count. ‘Alas, it rains often in the mountains and we have many storms. The darkness, too, it is not agreeable. But no matter, you are here now. My housekeeper, she will show you to your chamber at once. You will want to change your wet clothes, I think. I have already dined, but you must tell me when you would like to eat and my housekeeper, she will prepare a meal—unless you would like better to have something in your room?’
Finding herself suddenly tired, and knowing too that Darcy had something he wished to discuss with the Count, Elizabeth seized on the opportunity to retire to her chamber and said that something on a tray would be welcome.
The Count made her a low bow and rang the bell. It set up a dolorous clanging which echoed from somewhere deep in the bowels of the castle, and Elizabeth wondered how far the housekeeper would have to walk to reach the drawing room. Whilst they waited, the Count continued to ask them about their journey and commiserate with them on the difficulties of such remote travel. The housekeeper arrived at last, a dour woman, small and watchful. She seemingly spoke no English, for the Count addressed her in his own tongue. She inclined her head and then, saying something incomprehensible and yet at the same time so expected that Elizabeth had no difficulty in understanding it, she conducted Elizabeth from the room.
As the door closed behind her, Elizabeth heard Darcy saying to the Count, ‘I must speak to you on a matter of great importance,’ and the Count saying gravely, ‘Yes. I can see it. There is much to discuss.’
What there was to discuss, Elizabeth did not know, but she was beginning to wonder if it had something to do with the marriage settlement. That would explain why Darcy was reluctant to discuss it with her, for he would not want her to feel uncomfortable that her dowry had been so small. Her parents had given up all attempts to save many years before, and what little they had possessed had been used up when they had had to pay Wickham to marry Lydia. Elizabeth knew that Darcy did not care for himself, but for their children… It was customary for the bride’s portion to be settled on the children, and it might well be that Darcy needed the Count’s advice on how to compensate any future offspring for her own lack of funds. It was also possible that that was partly responsible for the coldness of some of Darcy’s family.
She followed the housekeeper across the hall and up a flight of stone steps. They had been worn in the middle where countless feet had trodden over the centuries, and their footsteps echoed with a hollow sound. Then the housekeeper turned along a twisting passageway before going up a spiral staircase and into a turret room.
Annie was already there, unpacking Elizabeth’s things. There was a large four-poster bed in the middle of the room, hung with red velvet drapes, and assorted pieces of heavy furniture arranged around it: a washstand, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers, a writing table, and, pushed under the table, a chair. There was also a dressing table, but it was of a different type to the other furniture, a delicate piece painted in soft blues and pinks, with slender legs tapering into dainty gilded feet. Narrow windows were set vertically into the walls, which were very thick. Beside the window hung heavy velvet drapes which had not yet been drawn. In the grate was a fire. It was as yet a puny thing, having been so recently lit, but the huge logs were starting to kindle, and before long there would be a blaze. Candles were set around the room, showing it to be a perfect circle, and the stone wall above the bed was softened by a tapestry.
The housekeeper murmured something unintelligible then curtsied and was about to withdraw when Elizabeth said, ‘One moment.’
The housekeeper stopped, arrested by the tone of her voice.
‘There is no mirror on the dressing-table,’ said Elizabeth, trying to show by a kind of pantomime what she meant. ‘Will you have one sent up please?’
But either the housekeeper did not understand her, or there were no mirrors to be had, for she shook her head emphatically and then withdrew.
‘Well,’ said Annie, ‘folks are strange hereabouts and no mistake. First, all the talk in the servants’ hall, and now this. No mirror indeed! How do they expect a lady to dress without one?’
‘Never mind,’ said Elizabeth, thinking that she would ask the Count on the morrow. ‘She probably did not understand me.’ She removed her cloak then asked curiously, ‘What talk in the servants’ hall?’
‘Nothing but idle nonsense,’ said Annie. ‘Saying as how the axe falling means you’re to cause Mr Darcy’s death. Saying that it fell once before when the Count and his wife walked through the door and look what happened to her. Will you wear the blue dress or the lemon tonight, Ma’am?’
‘Neither,’ said Elizabeth. ‘I will be having something in my room, so there is no need for me to dress for dinner. What do you mean, the axe falling means I will cause Mr Darcy’s death?’
‘Well, Ma’am, they say that as the axe fell when you were both walking through the door, and it fell nearer to him than to you, that means you’re going to kill him or some such nonsense. They were all shaking their heads and muttering about it when I went into the kitchen. Most of them don’t speak a word of English, but Mr Darcy’s valet told me what it was all about. Heathenish nonsense, all of it.’
‘I don’t think they’re heathens,’ said Elizabeth absently. ‘On the contrary, they seem to cross themselves a great deal. As we came to the castle, the local people crossed themselves every time the coach passed.’
‘Even so, Ma’am, they’re not like the people at home.’
‘No, they are not,’ said Elizabeth.
She thought of all her friends and neighbours at home. Their absurdities did not seem so absurd at a distance; instead they felt reassuring. Even the memory of Mr Collins seemed endearing rather than ridiculous.
Annie finished unpacking and then pulled the curtains across the windows. The fire had blazed up and the room was beginning to feel warmer. Elizabeth slipped out of her wet clothes and into a dry woollen dress and then stretched out her hands to the fire. They were very cold, but at last she felt them beginning to thaw.
There was a timid knock at the door and a young maid entered, bearing a tray of something hot and appetising. She stayed as far away from Elizabeth as possible as she crossed the room and put the tray down on the writing table, looking at her with frightened eyes.
‘What did I tell you?’ asked Annie in aggrieved accents as the maid hurried out of the room. ‘She’s one of the day servants. They’re the worst. They won’t even stay in the castle overnight; they say they see things, unnatural things.’
Elizabeth walked over to the tray and looked down at the stew.
‘It tastes better than it looks,’ Annie said. ‘I had some in the kitchen.’
Elizabeth picked up the spoon that was set beside the bowl and tasted the dish, which was a kind of chicken stew with a distinctive flavour.
‘Peppers, those are the things they put in it to make it taste like that,’ said Annie. ‘Better than all that garlic in Paris, this doesn’t taste so bad.’
Elizabeth broke off a piece of bread and ate it with the stew. When she had finished, Annie removed the tray and Elizabeth, left alone, wandered round the room. She examined the few books that were placed on a bookcase by the window and gazed at the tapestries, but instead of soothing her before she went to sleep, the contents of the room unsettled her. The books were not like those in the Longbourn library, s
melling richly of leather; they were damp and they smelt of mould.
The tapestry too was unsettling. It displayed a bold picture worked in faded reds and emeralds and golds, and it appeared to be some kind of bestiary. It showed a forest populated with strange creatures: wolves of gigantic proportions, their sharp faces dominated by red, glowing eyes; bats with human faces, monstrous in size; satyrs and dragons and basilisks; and in one small corner, a wan-faced woman with flowers in her hair. The monsters reminded her of the pictures in the books of fairy tales she had read as a child. In the safety of Longbourn, they had seemed ridiculous, but here, in the castle, they did not seem so easy to dismiss. The idea of Little Red Riding Hood losing her way in the woods close at hand did not seem an impossibility; nor the idea of the Sleeping Beauty being haunted by a malevolent witch who caused her to sleep in the mouldering castle for a hundred years; nor of men who were beasts and of beasts who were men.
Her one satisfaction was that the tapestry was hung above the bed, so that she would not have to look at it as she lay down to sleep.
She wandered over to her travelling writing desk, which Annie had unpacked, and took out her writing implements. Then she sat down to finish her letter to Jane. She read through what she had written so far, ending with: Darcy respects his uncle and wants to seek his advice, about what I am not quite sure. I only hope it sets his mind at rest and leaves him free to follow his heart which I know, Jane, leads to me.
I must go now, but I will write to you again when we reach the castle. For the moment, adieu.
She then continued:
We have arrived at the castle and it is as remote a place as I ever hope to visit. It is also the strangest and I feel very alone. I wish you were here, Jane. I miss your calm sweet temper and your goodness and ability to see the best in everyone. Everything here is strange. We arrived at the castle in a terrible storm. It is in a far-flung part of the mountains and surrounded by woods which are inhabited by wolves. I saw them on the way here, running alongside the coach, their fur grey and their eyes shining red through the foliage. I can hear them howling at the moon as I write. The castle itself is an old building built of stone, dark and gloomy, and it is in a state of disrepair. When we arrived, one of the axes fell off the wall, narrowly missing Darcy and myself. The servants say it means I will cause his death! And yet, although I know it is ridiculous, I can’t help feeling afraid. I feel shut in here; indeed, when the drawbridge was raised behind me I felt like a prisoner. Things would not seem half so bad if you were by my side. Together we would laugh at the wolves and the strange portents. But without you, my own dearest Jane, I find myself surprisingly nervous. God forbid I should end up like Mama! Write to me soon and laugh me out of my idiocy. Without any letters from home I feel strangely alone. Tell me of our Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, and the dear children. Remind me that there is a world beyond this one and that order and familiarity and calm and security exist. Tell me too of the delights of London and your beloved Bingley. I hope your fears are less and your joys greater than mine.