“Well, we thought—”
“Who is ‘we’?” He raised his eyebrows.
“Oh,” she said, looking down at her feet, wondering if Mr. Darcy would appreciate being drawn into this. “It is Mr. Darcy. He has been assisting me. He is my husband’s cousin.” She felt obliged to give some reason for his involvement.
“Oh, is he.” The duke nodded. “Well, I have been introduced to him, but never had a real conversation with him. His sister, Miss Darcy, however, I spent hours in the company of yesterday, and she is…” A smile stole over his features, a secret smile. “She is quite lovely.”
Elizabeth thought the duke might be in love with Miss Darcy! Well, this was a development. She wondered if she should say anything to Mr. Darcy about it.
The duke let out an embarrassed laugh. “Oh, enough of that. What is your theory?”
“Well, it involves the fact that Mr. Houseman looks like you?”
The duke nodded. “All right. Do you think that Mr. Houseman is… are we triplets?”
“No, he’s too old, I think. I can’t be sure, but I think he is at least five and twenty.” She thought he could be even a bit older, though she was certain he was not yet thirty. There was much speculation about Houseman, after all, what with his largefortune from trade and the way he had invited ever so many people to stay in his country house.
“Right, then, so what are you saying?”
“Well, I wonder if we all have different mothers, and if the duke, our father, simply had a habit of going to Scotland and marrying different women.”
“That would be bigamy.”
“True, but he might have gotten away with it, what with his money and his status and his—by all accounts—forceful and threatening behavior.”
Neithern stroked his chin. “Well, then if that’s true, why am I the one who has been recognized?”
“Likely your mother was the first marriage,” said Elizabeth.
“No,” said Neithern. “Not if Houseman is older than both of us.”
“Oh, true,” said Elizabeth, furrowing her brow. “But no, he could have married your mother first and then not gotten her with child for years.”
Neithern considered this. “Yes, perhaps, I suppose. I am going to my grandmother. She is here, at Neith Abbey, because we are in preparations for our midsummer fete, though she would otherwise stay at the dower house. I shall charge her that she must produce some form of proof for the marriage of my father and my mother.”
“All right,” said Elizabeth. “But if she has been unable to do so in the past—”
“Well, yes,” he said. “But I shall tell her that I may need to prove my status, and if this does not motivate her, the threat of scandal and ruin will. She is quite concerned with appearances and reputation, you know. Cut my grandmother and she bleeds nothing but duchessdom.”
“I see,” said Elizabeth, nodding. “You will tell me what you discover?”
“Of course,” said the duke.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“DO YOU THINKit is true?” Georgiana said to Mr. Darcy at breakfast.
“What are you speaking of?” he said absently, clutching his tea and thinking all manner of thoughts that had everything to do with Elizabeth saying that loving her husband had caused her pain.
“I have heard that Richard is married to Miss Bennet,” said Georgiana. “Secretly!”
Mr. Darcy sighed. Oh, yes, he had forgotten that Caroline had this information and had been spreading it about all over.
“I cannot believe he would marry someone like her,” said Georgiana. “No, no, I suppose I can, for everyone can see that the Bennet sisters drive all men mad.” She rolled her eyes. “But I don’t see where they are going to live or what they are going to do, and I think our aunt, his mother, is going to lose her mind with the news, if it’s true. She could do something very rash, and then we shall have to cut Richard.”
“No, it’s not quite that bad,” said Mr. Darcy. “She is respectable enough. She’s the daughter of a gentleman, after all. You haven’t heard anything otherwise, have you?”
“Is there something otherwise to hear?” said Georgiana, turning on him, very interested.
