Someone else in the room had said something in a quieter, deeper voice, but it had not appeased his lordship, who was now shouting. “No, that willnotdo. This ismyroom, and I beg you wouldget out.”
“I beg they would both get out!” Elizabeth said in a strained voice.
“I am sure,” Mr Hartham said, “but might I suggest that you come back in the morning to take the matter up with him? In my experience—which is not inconsiderable—viscounts do not like to be surprised in their night robes.”
Elizabeth nodded, but her desire to escape the house before she was detected was foiled when her hasty turn resulted in her knocking over a pedestal, which had definitely not been on the landing the day before, sending the potted plant atop it bouncing down the stairs. It thudded loudly as far as the third step, whereupon it smashed into a thousand pieces and sent soil spraying across the carpet.
She froze. Mr Hartham froze. For a few seconds there was no sound at all, and she dared to hope they might have escaped notice. Then came the sound of a dog barking wildly within, and shortly thereafter the bedroom door was wrenched open, and Lord Saye thrust his head out of it. The dog came careering out of the door, still barking wildly, and began to sniff and paw at them.
“What the devil? Mrs Basset! I thought for a moment the house might actually be haunted! What are you doing here? And who is he?”
Elizabeth supposed she ought to be thankful that he was at least not in his night robe, as Mr Hartham had predicted. If one was to be caught creeping about someone’s house in the middle of the night, it was preferable that all parties should be fully clothed, for the situation was already irredeemably embarrassing without inappropriately attired bodies to consider. Lord Saye was wearing trousers and a shirt, with a banyan over the top, though that was untied and his shirt collar wide open. Much the same as his companion’s, whoappeared in the doorway behind him, only he was sans the banyan—and he was…
Her stomach dropped.Mr Darcy!
“Oh my—” She stopped just shy of blasphemy, though only the Lord Himself knew how. “What are you doing here?”
“What amIdoing here?” Mr Darcy replied heatedly. “What areyoudoing here? In our house, and at such an hour!”
“This ismyhouse, and I am entitled to be in it at whatever hour I so choose.”
“It might be your house in name, Mrs Basset, but it ismyhouse while I am paying to stay in it,” Lord Saye objected.
“That is not Mrs Basset,” Mr Darcy said.
“Yes, it is,” Lord Saye replied.
“No, it is not!” Elizabeth insisted.
His lordship cocked his head at her. “Mrs Baggett? Barnett?”
“This is Miss Elizabeth Bennet,” Mr Hartham said. “And this most certainlyisher house.”
“And for the second time, who might you be?” Lord Saye demanded.
“Mr Hartham. Your next-door neighbour.”
“Then you are in the wrong house, sir.” Lord Saye leant one shoulder against the doorframe. “Why is everybody insisting on being in the wrong place tonight?”
“Pray forgive the intrusion, my lord,” Elizabeth said. “I did not know you had taken possession. You sent no word.”
“Had I known I might find you creeping about with a lover in the middle of the night, I would have,” saidLord Saye with a smirk. “As it was, I meant to speak to you in the morning.”
Before Elizabeth could protest his use of the word ‘lover’, Mr Darcy, his distaste plain, said, “Do you mean to tell me that you are our landlady, Miss Bennet?”
Lord Saye gave a little snort and replied for her. “Obviously. Do keep up, Darcy.” He seemed to have found some humour in the situation, although Mr Darcy clearly recognised it for the disaster it was. Without saying anything more, he turned and disappeared into the bedchamber.
“TheMr Darcy?” Mr Hartham asked quietly, looking questioningly at Elizabeth.
She grimaced ruefully and nodded once, drawing a pitying look from him that only worsened her discomfiture. “Let us go,” she said quietly and prepared to utter some manner of remark to excuse them. Before she could, another voice rang out along the landing.
“Is this an exclusive party or can anyone join in?” Colonel Fitzwilliam came sauntering out of the darkness towards them. He made a sudden stop when he recognised her. “MissBennet? Is that really you? What are you?—”
He did not get any further with his enquiry. They were all interrupted by a cascading sound, followed by a whoosh of water, the crash of falling materials, and a very loud imprecation. Lord Saye whipped around to look behind him, and the dog resumed his furious barking, dashing past his master into the room.
“Good grief, Darcy, what have you done to the ceiling?”
Colonel Fitzwilliam shoved his lordship out of the way to look. “Well now thatisunfortunate.”
