When they returned to Gracechurch Street, they were met by four pairs of anxious eyes.Elizabeth smiled brightly at the room and asked if they might have some tea for the walk had left her quite thirsty.She prepared a cup for Lady Blackburn and winked when she delivered it.
That lady smiled and said, “Thank you, my dear,” and Darcy nearly fell off his chair.
Lady Blackburn began a conversation with Mrs.Gardiner.They had both grown up in the Peak District and they had a lively conversation on the beauties of the area.The call ended with Lady Blackburn inviting Mrs.Gardiner to call on her and join in a charity effort she was part of.She kissed the cheeks of Darcy and her son and patted Miss Elizabeth’s hand with a warm smile.
Everyone stared blankly at one another for more than a minute after the door had closed behind her.
“Well,” said Jane, a little breathless.
“Indeed,” added Darcy.
“You have worked your magic on my mother, Miss Elizabeth,” said the colonel.“Not that I ever doubted you.”
“That was in large part due to your efforts, Colonel.I must thank you for the glowing recommendation.”
He bowed slightly.“I am always happy to assist a lady.”
Darcy still looked rather gobsmacked and did not join the conversation until Elizabeth surreptitiously took his hand and squeezed it.He looked at her in surprise, and seeing that she was truly not distressed, he smiled weakly and made an effort to converse.
Elizabeth could only be glad she had now met both sides of Mr.Darcy’s family and come out of it unscathed and with the support of someone as powerful as Lady Blackburn.
Mischief in Meryton
WhileElizabethwasbeingcourted in London, Charlotte was holding court in Meryton.She had been carted around by her mother to various teas and functions, and made to repeatedly describe Rosings, her parsonage, and how Lady Catherine allowed them to walk in the gardens whenever they wished.
Charlotte found it all tedious, but it made her mother happy.She was happy to see her old friends again, and she could not help but notice the change in attitudes around her.Her entire life in Meryton, people had known her as the eldest Lucas girl.Pleasant, but not handsome, and with a dowry as small as hers, she had needed to be handsome.
She had been declared a spinster in the making at fifteen, and by two and twenty she was a spinster in truth.No one had ever thought she would marry, and she had occupied a strange place in society.She was respected as the eldest daughter of one of Meryton’s most prominent members, as well as for her own good nature—she hoped.Yet she was pitied as well.Her fate was to live at Lucas Lodge all her days, assuming her father lived into old age and her brother did not force her out.The people of the town had thought to watch her grow upward in years and downward in consequence until one day she was simply forgotten.Charlotte had expected it as well.
And then Mr.Collins came to Longbourn.He was a bumbling fool and said the most ridiculous things, but he was respectable, had good prospects, and he was not a cruel man.She knew she could do a great deal worse, and she had long wished to have a family and home of her own.She leapt at the chance to cease being the Spinster of Lucas Lodge and instead take up the mantle of Mistress of Hunsford Parsonage.
Being a vicar’s wife suited her.She felt useful in the community, and she truly thought she was helping the parishioners with their concerns.She listened when an ear was needed and sat with the bedridden and the elderly so they would not grow lonely.She mended and sewed and consoled as she could, and she thrived on the busyness and the joy of running her own home.It had given her a confidence she had never before possessed, and she idly wondered if this was how Elizabeth felt all the time and subsequently why she was willing to take risks Charlotte never would have imagined.
Thinking of Elizabeth made Charlotte think about all she had learned with her friend in Hunsford.Chiefly, what they had learned about Mr.Wickham.Even now, he was flirting with Miss Long on the other side of the room, acting for all the world as if his engagement to Miss Mary King had not ended only a week ago.He was certainly not heartbroken, nor did he even have the decency to act as if he cared about her departure.
Charlotte shook her head.She could only think Mary King had made a lucky escape.Such a man would only make his wife miserable.
She was incensed when she thought about how Mr.Wickham was free to move about, charming as he pleased, where he pleased, with no consequences for his actions.She knew such was the way of the world—men were granted freedoms women could only dream of—but women were not without their own form of power.She knew there were ways to stop someone of Mr.Wickham’s ilk.She would begin tomorrow.
She was drinking tea with her mother and her friends in the parlor when Charlotte began her first maneuver.
“Do you know, I heard the most awful thing in Kent.”
Four pairs of eyes moved to her instantly.
“What was that, dear?”asked Mrs.Lucas, thinking it could not be so very interesting as Charlotte had been home three days already and had said nothing of it.
“It was about one of the officers in the militia here.”
Now Lady Lucas perked up.“One of the officers?Which one?”
“I heard the most dreadful things.He is a liar and a gambler, leaving debts everywhere he goes.”She waited until they were watching her carefully and added, “And he is a seducer!”
They gasped in unison, just as she had planned.
“Who is it?”asked Mrs.Long.
“It must be that Mr.Saunderson.I have always wondered about him,” added Mrs.Goulding.
