Lydia flipped onto her back and kicked her feet against the side of the bed. “No, no one knew, but that is just idiotic! That spoils half the fun! A joke is only ajoke once someone knows they’ve been fooled, and now no one will ever know how clever we were.”
“Clever? Lydia, this was not some harmless joke. Had you been discovered, it would have been a great scandal both for you and for Miss Darcy. And both of your families.”
Lydia narrowed her eyes. “Wait… How do you even know I was at a party?”
“Apart from you turning up in my bedroom in the middle of the night dressed as a man, you mean? Denny spotted you and sent me a note. And you ought to be thankful that he did, for you were clearly out of your depth. What were youthinking,dressing like this and going to such a gathering?”
Her sister was unmoved and only scoffed loudly. “I hope you are happy now, because everything is ruined! How could you send that odious Mr Darcy in to ruin all our fun?”
“You were there with his sister! What did you think he would do when he found out what the pair of you were up to?” After a moment, she added, more quietly, “Was it he who discovered you, then?”
“Yes, and those horrid cousins of his.” With that, Lydia was off on an epic tale in which she had managed to evade not only the hateful Mr Darcy but his equally despicable cousins, who had made every attempt to cajole, persuade, and eventually bodily remove her from the party. Her voice grew shriller with each detail, making Elizabeth wince. “But at length, he won. He would have his way of things and held my debts over my head.”
Elizabeth gasped, the lamp flame wavering with her sudden movement. “Debts? You ran up debts?”
Lydia lifted one shoulder. “Mr Darcy paid them.”Then she sighed petulantly. “How was I to know they played for real money? Nobody ever asked us to pay anything at the other parties. They ought to post a notice or something of that sort! All the talk was of chits and antes and vowels. I had no notion they were worth anything.”
Elizabeth pinched the bridge of her nose, the smell of oil from the lamp making her slightly nauseated. “How much?”
“I hardly know.”
“Of course you know, just tell me.”
“A few hundred pounds. Maybe five.”
“Five hundred pounds!”
“Not more than a thousand, to be sure.”
Elizabeth gasped. “Lydia!”
“Pray do not lecture me, Lizzy.”
“How are we ever to repay him?”
“Dunno.” Lydia shrugged carelessly, picking at the muslin blanket. “You are the heiress in the room. You pay him back.”
Elizabeth had never wished to hit Lydia as much as she did in that moment, confined as they were in this tiny space with nowhere to escape her sister’s crass thoughtlessness. “Lydia, hear me now. I will speak to Mr Darcy tomorrow and arrange what I can with him, but?—”
“I cannot think how you will manage that. We will be halfway back to London by the time you wake.”
“We?”
“He means to return us home. Georgiana to London and me to Longbourn. He would scarcely let my uncle get a word in edgeways, just told him how it was to be!”
“He spoke to Uncle Gardiner? Yes, of course, hemust have.” Elizabeth rubbed her head, wishing she had been awake to see Mr Darcy, but supposing it would not have been the best moment for a heartfelt conversation in any case.
“Had it all arranged to suit himself, he did!” At once, Lydia began to cry. “Papa is going to lock me in my room for a twelvemonth.”
“I doubt any of this suits Mr Darcy, Lydia. What he wishes for is to avoid scandal, as do I. As do we all!” Elizabeth replied absently, already calculating how early she would need to rise to catch Mr Darcy before his departure—even briefly wondering how reckless it would be to run to Marine Parade for a second time this night, just to ensure that she did not miss him. Mr Darcy would likely come to retrieve Lydia at first light. There would be no time for private conversation, and if there were, he would likely be too vexed or too tired to hear it properly. “I need you to do something for me.”
Lydia crossed her arms over her chest, the mattress creaking with the movement. “Well, I need you to do something for me, too, and that is to tell Papa I have been good all summer.”
“How am I to tell our father that you were good when Mr Darcy arrives to deposit you on Longbourn’s doorstep? I will warrantsomeexplanation! And you cannot think Uncle will be silent on the matter.”
“Then pray tell him not to punish me too severely. Please, Lizzy?”
Elizabeth had thrown off the bedclothes and risen. She went over to the small desk by the window where she had written most of her letters in her weeks there. “I will say what I can, but what Papa does is up to him. And for my effort, you mustpromise me to give a letter to Mr Darcy. And do it in a quiet way!”
