“And how did you find yourself in here, the next morning, in the company of Lord Hartley, his son?” Mr. Bennet smiled. “What is the story there?”
“Robert asked to come. And I was not averse to gaining a brother.”
“It was only anotherfatherwho you wished to avoid?”
“I already have one.” Elizabeth smiled tearily at Papa.
He did not reply quickly. Papa took off his spectacles and wiped at the side of his eyes. “Yes, well. Yes. But you have been. You have been my daughter for these many years—” He wiped at the eyes again, sniffled. He then took a decanter of cognac from the side table and poured Elizabeth a slender finger along with one for himself. “To my brave daughter.” They clinked, and then he swallowed it back, and with a smile, Elizabeth sipped her own.
Papa refilled his glass and looked at it as though he wished to drink the whole back again. “Jove, I received a shock when you introduced me to young Lord Hartley. I think I am only now recovering.”
“I did not think until we leapt from the carriages how arriving so suddenly would appear. Were you all very anxious?”
“Not until you exited sobbing. But that Bingley and Jane were wholly calm, and also that you brought Mr. Darcy and that other young fellow helped quickly to put my emotions in a proper state. But, while I am touched—deeply and truly—for you to prefer me to Lord Rochester—”
“I hope that it does not very sadly lessen the honor of your triumph if I mention that I do not believe that he would be a very good father.”
Papa choked on his cognac sputtering and laughing. Elizabeth provided him with the cloth that the decanter had been set on to allow him to laughingly wipe his face. “I cannot imagine he would be.” Papa coughed several more times. “But thataloneis not reason for you to come home instantly.”
“He meant to force me to come to his house. I would not do that, and—Lord!” Elizabeth’s hands started trembling. She remembered suddenly again the fear, the writhing in her guts. The way she’d held the gun. The way he’d approached her, confident that she would not shoot him.
That moment of pulling the trigger, planning to do it.
The shock as Colonel Fitzwilliam forced her hands down as the small recoil of the muff pistol travelled up her arms. Elizabeth grabbed the cognac that Mr. Bennet had poured for her and swallowed it all back. “Oh, heavens, heavens, heavens. I tried to shoot him.”
“That is a serious matter.” Papa’s mood instantly sobered. “What precisely happened?”
“I think it was a mistaken policy for you to ensure I had it. I do not even know if he let me enter Mr. Darcy’s carriage because he’d been shocked by my shooting at him, or if he was simply intimidated by Colonel Fitzwilliam.”
“And who is Colonel Fitzwilliam?”
“Darcy’s cousin. He is the one who pushed my arms down, so the bullet missed. Then he shouted that he would not see any bloodshed right next to his aunt’s house. A very battlefield voice. And he cursed at all of Lady Catherine’s footmen who had come with Lord Rochester. I am quite confident that his words were not supposed to be used around either a man of the cloth, or a tender maiden.”
Elizabeth smiled at her attempt at a joke, but the memory of shooting a loaded gun directly into the chest ofthat manleft her hands still trembling.
Mr. Bennet poured more brandy. He pushed it towards her. “No more than this. You do not need to be drunk, but a little more to take the edge off cannot go amiss. So, so, so. You nearly shot him. I do not know...I did not think...I sent it with you so that you could protect yourself. But I did not think...I suppose I did not think what that might involve. What it might mean. I am glad that you need not fear any consequences from having shot him, but I also cannot be happy that he lives to bother us.”
Elizabeth did not know what to think of that. She realized that she was no longer frightened of Lord Rochester. She was now more frightened of that thing in herself which wouldrespond with murderous violence to a strong emotion. She hadwantedto kill him.
“I shall also make sure that everyone in the village, all of the tenants know to tell us if anyone asks after you, or if there are any strangers hanging about at all. And I do not think you should be allowed for any long walks without at least two armed footmen.”
“I do not know—I both wish to have my own gun and fear it. But otherwise, I wholly agree with the precautions. At least until I am of age.”
“You can at least guess now why I always delayed telling you these facts.”
“I do not know if that was therightdecision. But I would never want to be under his authority. I asked Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam if they thought I should flee the country, but neither of them believed that to be necessary.”
“And what broughtMr. Darcyinto this whole business?” Papa smiled at her as he put emphasis on the name.
Elizabeth flushed. She suspected the red extended well down her throat.
Papa raised his eyebrows. “I see.”
“He has merely acted as a friend!”
The skeptical expression did not waver.
“Do I,” Elizabeth asked hunting about for a different subject of conversation, “Should I abandon the country? In your view.”
