The young ladies came one by one from the stairs. They descended in a magnificent display of their gowns and jewellery while the young gentlemen waited downstairs. It was 1783, and we still wore dresses with hoops, though the corset was no longer as rigid, while wigs had recently fallen out of fashion. We were free to feel comfortable at balls, in carriages, and on the streets. Anne had a magnificent pink gown with a very long train that followed the shape of the stairs like a living snake. As I told you, it was destiny: five minutes earlier or later, and nothing would have happened. Destiny wanted Fitzroy to be at the bottom of the stairs, and Anne was a dream. When she stepped onto the floor, they were in love. Forever.
“Her brother, the actual Earl of Matlock, was conducting her, but he was so impatient to arrive that he nearly abandoned her…to Fitzroy’s arms.”
“Were you there that night?” Georgiana asked.
“I was not, but Anne told this story so many times that now, even after all these years, I have the feeling I was.”
“What happened?” Elizabeth asked the question that was on everyone’s lips.
She heard Lady Anne’s story with an anxious ear because, strangely, she still feared that her marriage to Darcy was in danger. It was illogical because they could marry as soon as they wanted, yet she had decided to wait. Perhaps it was amistake. Hearing that long-ago story, she realised that every marriage faced obstacles. The anguish overwhelmed her; she was frightened but also felt selfish because it was not her story, and Lady Anne had the right to be the heroine of the day. so she turned to Darcy, hoping he would tell her he loved her and nothing could separate them.
Darcy stood near the bow window, slightly leaning against a panel. Though he was conscious of the portraits and the story Lady Edwina was unfolding, his attention was directed to Elizabeth. He wondered what he was ready to do if any obstacles should appear to their love. What happened to Lady Anne and Blandford to prevent their future together?
He asked the question aloud in haste, but he knew the answer long before Lady Edwina responded.
“They prohibited Anne and Fitzroy from marrying.”
“They?” Darcy asked. “Who might ‘they’ be?”
But Lady Edwina did not respond. With the key still in her hand, she stood and, without a word, went into Lady Anne’s bedchamber.
The atmosphere in the chamber was thick with emotion, as dense and suffocating as the air on a fog-laden London morning. Georgiana felt as though she could not breathe; instinctively, she moved to open a window, but before she could, her brother’s hand came to rest upon her shoulder. Without another word, all three followed Lady Edwina.
It had been a decade since Edwina had last stepped into that room. She hesitated—not for lack of memory, for she had not forgotten the location of the secret drawer, but because she was no longer confident that opening it was the right course of action.
“Please,” Darcy said, “we have decided to know what Mama left us, regardless of what this drawer may contain.”
Edwina turned to them and spoke in a whisper. “I am only afraid the contents could change how you remember your mother…”
“Nothing can change our memories! I am utterly confident she did nothing wrong. If she was a victim of these circumstances, we would love her more and feel compassion for the love she lost. It is a disturbing revelation to think that she did not love our father. But in the end, she lived with him for nineteen years, and we never once suspected that she was not happy with him.”
His godmother smiled. “Anne was a generous person. If she did not love your father in the way she loved Fitzroy, she fully enjoyed the life they had as a couple, and she loved you. Motherhood was a gift she heartily embraced, and she never complained about not being content or fulfilled. She was kind and understanding with your father, and he was happy with the love she gave him.”
Lady Edwina opened a drawer in sight—yet well hidden within the cabinet was another drawer that opened with the key—and returned with a pile of letters and a box.
At first, they were all disappointed as their intense expectation was that they would have the secret as soon as the drawer was opened. But they all knew the secret, and the letters could only give them a greater understanding. It was a tale of love and separation, one of the oldest intrigues in human history.
Holding the letters, Darcy understood that the real secret could be hidden in the motives behind their separation. The letters likely would reveal why two worthy young people were denied the right to live their love together.
Chapter 12
The presence of the two portraits was too intimate to be ignored for long. It was as if they were watching a couple in their most private moments, a continuous revelation of their love. They silently left Lady Anne’s apartment and descended to the parlour on the ground floor.
They expected Darcy to be the first to touch the objects from the secret drawer. It was still his decision to open the letters and reveal the contents of the box.
“Dear Mama,” Georgiana spoke with tears in her eyes, “she liked boxes; she had a great collection, and each box was full of precious objects.”
This box had exquisite woodwork with gold and mother-of-pearl incrustations. When Darcy took it into his hands, they saw the blazon on one side. Instinctively, Darcy gave the box to Lady Edwina.
“I am sure it is the Blandford coat of arms. My goodness, this box was a commitment. No one would give a box with the blazon unless he had a serious intention. Come, Darcy, open it!”
Her tone was anxious; it seemed impossible to discover new elements in a story she was sure to know.
The box had a golden handle in the form of a snake; like the box itself, it was a masterpiece of craftsmanship. A delicate key was tied with a ribbon to the handle. Georgiana laughed again at memories of her mother’s boxes and keys and the mysteries a small child wanted to know. Her wish came true as she was about to discover her mother’s most intimate secrets that, it seemed, not even Edwina knew.
Lady Edwina stood and moved close to Darcy as he opened the box. It held a ring—nothing but a ring in its intricate velvet support. They looked in disbelief at the ring in the shape of the griffon; they had already seen it on the blazon from the box, covered in precious stones the same colours as the coat of arms. The ring had an elaborate gold mounting for a young woman’s slender hand. The duke did not give her one of his rings but made one, especially for her.
“It was more than she let me know!” Edwina was equally astonished and saddened to find her beloved friend had kept such secrets from her. She tried to remember every circumstance of the thirty-year-old story. Still, nothing was said between them to induce Lady Edwina to conclude there were more than some chaperoned meetings, dances, and hand-holding walks.
