Free North by Northanger (A Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mystery) by Carrie Bebris

off-putting about their host. Although Elizabeth pitied the man for his injuries, she did not find him a pleasant individual. “I shall summon Dorothy to escort you.”
    He rose, but turned in the direction opposite the bell. He paused and glanced round the walls until he located it.
    Elizabeth eyed his wineglass and wondered whether the port or his recent accident accounted for his absentmindedness. “Do let me ring it for you.”
    The housekeeper appeared almost before Elizabeth’s hand released the pull. She seemed disconcerted to find the three of them standing, and looked at her employer as if demanding an explanation.
    “The Darcys would like to retire to their apartment now,” the captain said.
    “Already? Have you finished your conversation?”
    “We shall continue tomorrow.”
    Dorothy pursed her lips in the same sort of pout Captain Tilney had displayed earlier. “After I see the Darcys to their chamber, I shall return directly.”
    The housekeeper was silent as she conducted them through the corridors and galleries. They reached their chamber, which remained free of any hint that they had even brought their personal attendants to Northanger. At least someone had started a fire while they were at dinner, so the room had warmed.
    “Our servants?” Darcy enquired again.
    “They will turn up sooner or later. Ring the bell if you require anything.”
    Elizabeth harbored little hope of anyone in the house actually addressing a need of theirs, especially as the housekeeper immediately left them to themselves without another word. She stared at the door through which Dorothy had so speedily departed. “Just when one thinks this place cannot get any stranger—”
    “We meet our host?” Darcy finished.
    She turned. “Him, too.” She shook her head in bewilderment at the whole evening. “One hesitates to criticize a man who has suffered such extensive injuries. But he is not at all what I expected a captain to be.”
    “Nor I.” He removed his coat and tugged at his cravat.
    “For a man of his years and occupation, I thought he would possess a graver manner—particularly after having suffered such serious injury. His speech and appearance formed an odd pairing. I suspect we were more afflicted by his accident than he was. Every time he turned his eye upon me, I felt a bit off balance. I was thankful when you begged leave to retire.”
    “I believed we had both answered enough of his questions for the present.”
    She went to her open trunk to retrieve her nightdress. “He certainly posed a great many of them, though I think most were to be expected. Your mother is the reason he invited us here, after all. Of course he would want to know more about her.” She frowned. “I thought I had seen my nightdress toward the top of this trunk when we were dashing around here earlier.”
    “I saw it there, too.” He draped his coat over the back of a chair and neatly folded the neckcloth.
    She continued rummaging through half-folded stacks of clothing. She had not realized she’d made such a mess of her maid’s packing in her haste to dress for dinner. “The captain is quite an enigma. I wonder what he looks like without the bandages. Oh—here is the nightdress, under my blue sarsenet. I thought that gown was in the other trunk.” She held the nightdress by its shoulders and shook it open. “It was a little unsettling, was it not, that the captain should talk about never knowing when a letter might turn up, and about letters inspiring people to search for forgotten things, when we so recently found that letter of your mother’s urging us to do just that?”
    “That is a matter Captain Tilney need never learn anything about.”
    “Agreed.”
    He regarded her current gown with dismay. “I suppose you require assistance with those buttons again.”
    “Do not complain. They are easier to open than close.”
    He indulged in a wicked grin. “I know.”
    She laughed, pleased by the display of Darcy’s