Her breath quickened and she looked at him with a promise in her eyes.“Fitzwilliam.”
Realizing he had started something he could not continue in a public park, he turned and began walking toward the pond with a determined stride.
“Mr.Gardiner tells me he is considering sending your cousin to school next year, though they may wait a year.What is your opinion on the matter?”
Elizabeth smiled to herself and answered accordingly, thinking that Colonel Fitzwilliam was right.It was time to relent.
A Simple Sunday and an Eventful Monday
Elizabethhadexpectedtospend Sunday afternoon quietly at home with the Gardiners, but she had received an invitation to spend the afternoon with Lady Clara.A Hopewell carriage picked her up in grand style, and soon she was having tea in a small parlor at the back of the large house.
“This is a lovely room.”
“Thank you.It is my favorite room in the house.I redecorated it last year.Mother said it would be a good way to practice being a wife, but in truth I think she could not be bothered with it.She has never enjoyed decorating.”
“Well,” said Elizabeth with an appreciative look around the room, “you have done a wonderful job.Everything flows together delightfully.”
“I am glad you think so.I cannot abide a garish color scheme.”
After several more comments on the striped paper and the patterned fabric covering a new chair, Elizabeth noticed Lady Clara seemed uncomfortable.She was fidgeting with the fringe on a nearby pillow, and she plucked at the skirt of her dress.Her forehead was often wrinkled in thought and she had started several sentences that she did not finish.
“Pardon me, Lady Clara, but is something on your mind?You seem distracted.”
“Oh, forgive me, Miss Elizabeth.Actually,” she hesitated and looked around the room nervously.“I was wondering if you might give me a bit of advice.”
“Oh?”
“Mr.Covington came to call on me yesterday.”
“Did he?”
“Yes.My mother was on her way out, so she had my aunt sit with us.She arrived in Town Thursday last and is half deaf and rather nearsighted.”
“An ideal chaperone then.”
Lady Clara smiled uneasily.“Yes, well, he was attentive.Do you suppose—do you think he might…”
“Do I think what, my lady?”
“Do you think he truly likes me?Or is he only in need of money?”
Elizabeth looked at Clara sympathetically and moved to sit near her on the sofa.She placed her hand over Lady Clara’s on the cushion and squeezed.“I do not know him personally, but Colonel Fitzwilliam is well acquainted with him.I will ask for you and find out as much as I can.”
Lady Clara’s face lit up in relief.“Oh, thank you, Miss Elizabeth!That is very kind of you.”
“It is the least I can do.I will tell you that I know Mr.Covington’s family fell on hard times recently and he was forced to sell the estate to remain solvent.He was able to partially replace his sister’s dowry and his mother’s settlement, so they are not entirely destitute.I believe he has inherited a small estate from an uncle.”
“Yes, he told me of it.It is in York.I have been there once before—it is a lovely county.”
Elizabeth looked at her seriously.“Do you like Mr.Covington?”
“I believe I do.He seems kind and he has so many interesting things to say.He speaks of more than gossip and the weather.”She suddenly looked more animated.“Yesterday, we spoke for a half hour on the current campaign on the peninsula.I have never had such a conversation with a man, well, other than…”
“Colonel Fitzwilliam.Yes, of course.”Elizabeth tried to sound cheerful and supportive without giving her false hope in case it were to come to nothing.“It sounds as if you have at least made a new friend, even if nothing romantic comes of it.”
“Yes.He told me he had known me before.I danced with him my first season, more than once he says, though I do not recall it.But then I do not recall most of that season.I was entirely focused on… you know.”
“Yes, the good colonel has the effect on some people.”She smiled brightly.“But Mr.Covington has found his way back to you and it is a good sign that he remembers you two years later, is it not?”
