“If she has, that is even less reason for me to want to remind her of it,” Darcy replied. “That is why I was hoping you would agree to speak to her.”
“Darcy, sending me to do your bidding still constitutes interfering. It would be more honest to speak to her yourself.”
He opened his mouth as though to object then closed it again and averted his gaze. “I cannot face it,” he said at length. “How do you think I ended up behind the blasted pillar in the first place? I know she does not want me—I have no desire to see it writ all over her face. But I feel too much to do nothing. Do not make me beg, Fitzwilliam. Will you help me or not?”
“Of course I shall,” he said quietly, rueful of having made sport of the matter. “What would you like me to do?”
Darcy sighed with obvious relief, a smile dancing briefly at the corner of his mouth before his countenance was once more overtaken with gravity. “She has arranged to meet this Rutherford fellow at the gallery tomorrow at noon. Will you go—try to intercept? She knows you, and she knows you helped me deal with Wickham. If you could somehow let it be known that Rutherford is not to be trusted, she will listen to you, I am sure of it.”
Fitzwilliam gave him a decisive nod. “Consider it done.”
“Thank you. It means a great deal to me.”
“Good. You can pay me in advance with dinner. Come on.” He stood up and marched to the door, all anticipation for a hearty meal and some livelier conversation.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Kitty, before you blow the candles out?—”
Elizabeth hastened into the bedroom that she had always used to share with Jane but was on this visit sharing with one of her younger sisters. Unlike Kitty, who had excused herself to go to bed some time ago, Elizabeth had struggled to extricate herself politely from the conversation between her aunt and uncle and their dinner guests, and she was glad to catch her sister still awake.
“There is something I would wish to talk to you about.”
Kitty nevertheless proceeded to snuff one of the two candles out. “If you mean to continue berating me for spilling the wine?—”
“I did notberateyou, I only asked you to take more care. But no, it has nothing to do with that. Please, listen.”
Kitty grudgingly put the snuffer down and shuffled back to lean against her headboard, her legs bent up and her arms crossed over her knees.
Elizabeth relit the extinguished candle with the lit one and sat on the foot of her sister’s bed. “What say you to going to the art exhibition on Pall Mall as a viscount’s particular companion?”
Kitty’s eyes widened. “I would hate the art, but I like the sound of the viscount. Why?”
“Well…” Elizabeth faltered. Now that it came to explaining what had happened earlier that day, she struggled to find the words. It was all too strange. “It is a rather complicated story, but the long and short of it is that I agreed to meet a man there tomorrow—Lord Rutherford. Only I do not want to, and I wondered whether you might go in my place.”
“Why do you not want to go?”
“Because I…”I am in love with somebody else.“I do not share Mama’s eagerness for me to throw myself into the path of rich men.”
“You would throw me instead, would you?”
“You cannot tell me you would not enjoy it. Imagine how jealous Lydia would be if your next letter brought the news that you had been keeping company with a viscount.” It was crude, but she knew it would work and indeed, Kitty tilted her head and raised her eyebrows in a manner that clearly revealed her interest.
“Why did you agree to meet him in the first place?”
“Because the person who offered to arrange the meeting made it exceedingly difficult to refuse.”
Kitty frowned slightly and leant forwards, the bed creaking beneath them. “You are not in trouble, are you?”
“No, not at all,” Elizabeth replied with a small huff of laughter. “Well, not really. It is hard to explain. Something very odd happened at the gallery today. Or rather, might have happened—I am not sure, for I did not see it. Somebody may have given me the cut direct.”
Kitty lunged to grab Elizabeth’s hand and gasped theatrically. “No! It was not Mr Knowles, was it? I said you ought not to have refused him!”
“I did not refuse him. Indeed, he has not yetaskedme anything except whether he may call on me, and I have not saidnoto that.”
“You have not said yes, either.”
“No, but no man of good sense could ever think that giving me the cut direct in a busy viewing gallery would induce me to do so! Regardless, I did not see who it was. I was not looking.”
