As much as I would have liked to have it out with him then and there, we had no time for further discussion. We had arrived at the door of my chambers and I could already hear the ruckus within.
"Just let me explain!"
"How dare you insult my sister by showing your face in London!"
"James, put him down this instant!"
Darcy opened the door to reveal James holding Henry Vane against the far wall by his throat whilst Rebecca stood at her husband's side urging him to stop. Mrs. Vane, having regained her composure sometime during the past half hour, sat primly on the sofa sipping a glass of sherry.
"Yes, this seems conducive to sensible conversation," said Darcy with much irony. "Perhaps we might all sit down calmly before someone does something that could get him hanged."
My husband can do this remarkable thing where he can make anyone feel like a silly child and in their shame they will follow his every command. I find it incredibly alluring to watchwhen he isn't doing it to me. It was so alluring in fact I was almost tempted to forgive him his earlier idiocy and point out how very close my bedchamber was and how his relation could surely work out their disagreements in some other part of the house without our assistance.
Anyway, he did the thing and James released Mr. Vane and they both sulkily took a seat.
"James is so sorry for ruining your ball, Lizzy," said Rebecca once Darcy had helped her settle into a chair.
"I'm not, really."
"He is,really.And if he isn't now he soon will be."
"Iam very much sorry for wrecking your ball, Mrs. Darcy," said Mr. Vane. "It was unforgivable of me to arrive uninvited. You are my new niece, I believe? I wish I had made your acquaintance in better circumstances."
I could tell he was one ofthosegentlemen. The kind with the silvery tongue and the playful manner.
A charmer. A snake. He had a handsome face, but to my eye he was too pretty, especially his pouted lips which gave him a look of constant petulance. A mouth more suitable for a doll than a man. What Mrs. Vane have ever seen in him I could not know, but I suppose there is no accounting for taste.
I inclined my head in a gesture of not-quite-forgiveness. I didn't really feel his apologies should be addressed to me at the moment. He had more important wrongs to beg forgiveness for.
Mrs. Vane apparently agreed. "Quit your simpering, Henry, and explain your presence or I will let my brother deal with you as he wishes."
"I have come to get you back. My fortunes have changed. I can pay my debts."
Darcy interrupted, "Your debts were long ago discharged. I would not have my aunt living with the pall of that dishonor hanging over her."
"Then I will pay you back. I am a new man. I've changed."
Mrs. Vane appeared unmoved by her husband's declaration. I wondered how many times he had made such statements before.
"You were supposed to be a dead man," James burst out, "That is what we agreed."
"What you agreed?" asked Mrs. Vane, her face was not at all impassive now.
"I caught him attempting to commit treason," replied her brother in a low murderous tone.
"That is a lie!"
James laughed humorlessly. "Oh, indeed, you were just rifling through my private papers looking for gossip, were you? Trying to find compromising letters? Certainly not looking for information you might sell to the enemy?"
"I was desperate. I did not even consider your connection to Whitehall. I had no thoughts of treason! I thought I might. . . ." he paused, wriggling uncomfortably like the worm I was now certain he was, "I thought I might extort a little money out of you if I found something . . . risque enough."
"What could you possibly hope to find to blackmail me with? I was an old bachelor with no wife and no shame at the time."
"You are a Darcy! Honor is all you lot live for. A passing mention of a pleasurable night spent in a—"
"I must remind you, there are ladies present," said Darcy who apparently imagines I have never heard the phrase "house of ill repute" and will faint dead away should the utterance pass my ears.
"So just a little harmless extortion, then?" asked James dangerously.
