Page 27 of Not Without Me, Miss Elizabeth

"The pleasure is entirely mine." He offered her a ghost of a smile.

Next, as he had done when they entered the room, Darcy rose from the bed to take stock of their surroundings. A small window, boarded from without, offered no real hope of escape, its dimensions far too narrow in any case. He examined the walls in turn before coming at last to the door, testing the latch carefully and finding it, as expected, firmly locked.

Returning to the foot of the bed, he said, "Our only way out lies through that door."

She asked with a degree of uncertainty, "How do you propose we manage it, sir?"

"I have been considering what we know of their habits. We are likely to be moved again shortly after sundown, and if they find us still bound when they come, we shall be exactly where we began. We must act today, when they come to fetch us,” he replied, sounding confident.

"But two men always come at night. How are we to overcome them both, unarmed as we are, and you scarcely able to stand from your own hunger?"

"We require a diversion." He said it simply, as though the answer were obvious, though she could see the calculation working behind his eyes even as he spoke.

"I do not disagree, but what manner of diversion can we possibly contrive, confined as we are to so small a space, with nothing between us but a bed and four bare walls?"

"I believe I must appear to have lost consciousness." He held her gaze steadily as he said it, watching for her reaction. "If I feign a faint, you might call for help, tell them I have collapsed, and draw at least one of them into the room."

"And if only one comes? What becomes of the second, standing watch beyond the door?"

"Then we deal with one man rather than two, which I count a considerable improvement upon our present odds. Should the second come after, we shall have the advantage of surprise, at the least, and whatever weapon we manage to contrive besides."

"You make it sound a simple thing, sir, when I cannot think it simple at all."

"I do not think it simple. I think it dangerous, and uncertain, and very possibly the worst decision either of us has made since this whole business began." He paused, and something in his face eased, just slightly. "But I haveturned it over a dozen ways since morning, Miss Elizabeth, and I can contrive no better one. If you can, I beg you will tell me now, and I will hear it gladly."

She considered a long moment, searching for some alternative he might have overlooked, and found none. "I have nothing better to offer, Mr. Darcy. Only my fear that we shall be caught before we've properly begun."

"That fear I share entirely, I promise you. But I would rather fail attempting our freedom than sit idle awaiting whatever Wickham has planned for us." His tone left little room for argument, though something in his eyes seemed almost to ask her forgiveness for the flatness of it. "Are you with me in this?"

"I am." She said it more firmly than she felt it, and drew what courage she could from the saying.

"Good." A small, tight breath escaped him, as though he had been holding it since he first proposed the scheme. "Miss Elizabeth, off the bed, if you please."

She looked entirely confused. "I beg your pardon?"

"Off the bed, please." He was already moving as he said it, urgency overtaking his usual careful manners. "We shall need a weapon, and if we move the mattress aside, we may find something useful among the slats beneath."

"What manner of weapon do you propose we find in a bed frame, sir?"

"I could not say with certainty until we look. A loose slat, properly wielded, will serve well enough against an unarmed man taken by surprise. It need not be elegant, Elizabeth, only sufficient."

She obeyed at once, her heart hammering now with something closer to purpose than fear, and together they eased the mattress aside as quietly as their combined strength and the awkwardness of their bound hands would allow.

He had, she noted, addressed her by her Christian name, evidently too absorbed in their scheme to remark upon it himself. She saw no reason to correct him.

With the mattress cleared, they found a row of sturdy wooden slats beneath. He tested several, attempting to work them loose, but found each firmly nailed to the frame.

This did not deter him. Taking hold of one slat, he began working it side to side with his full weight, and after some five minutes of steady effort, felt the nails begin to give, until at last it came free. He moved to a second, further along, and repeated the labour until it, too, came loose.

With both slats secured, he directed Elizabeth to help him return the mattress to its place. "There, we have our weapons. Now let us considerour next steps, Miss Elizabeth."

CHAPTER 14

Once their course was settled, Elizabeth repeated the plan over in her mind, resolved to know every step of it by heart. She could not entirely master her nerves, nor feel any real confidence in its success, but Mr. Darcy had been so resolute that they must attempt it that she felt she had no choice but to play her part.

"You will keep one slat, and I the other. I shall hide mine beneath me, while you lay yours beneath a pillow. I will call for help, and tell them you have fallen ill with fever. When the door opens, close it gently behind the man who enters. Once he comes near enough, I shall strike him before he can cry out. You must help me, if it becomes necessary. We shall bind his wrists with your cuffs, and gag him with a length of pillow linen so he cannot call out. Then you will open the door, judge our best route, and bring me with you." Elizabeth hesitated, "But, what if more than one man should come? What if there proves no way past that door at all?"

Mr. Darcy did not look fazed at the prospect. "We shall not know until we try, and try we must."