“It is in Holstein, but the count has several properties. He is currently residing at his summer estate.”
“It is of no matter. Even though Holstein is part of the German federation, it is under Danish reign, and we are at war with Denmark.”
Elizabeth made to speak, but Darcy held up his hand to stop her.
“In this instance, it would be likened to proclaiming you are a distant niece of Bonaparte himself. It will not do you any service. Was there anything else?”
Quashing an angry retort, Elizabeth curtsied and left the study. She walked directly to her room and locked the door for good measure.Mr Darcy is insufferable!Her grand-uncle was a count, after all. Why did Darcy revere his Matlock relations so much if peerage did not matter?
#
Covent Garden, June 10th
The Darcy party arrived late by design. The night’s first performance, a comedy, was already playing on the stage. Darcy would have preferred for him and his wife to sit in the back row, but the Bennet family, pushing him through the box, had effectively thwarted his plan. He ended up in the middle with his wife to his left and, by sheer luck, the sensible Mary to his right, which saved him from making conversation with the insipid Kitty, the wild Lydia, the over-enthusiastic Mrs Bennet, or the sardonic Mr Bennet. He would have requested a change of seats regardless, if not for the fact that it would be best not to draw much attention to their party, especially of the unattractive kind. Introducing Elizabeth to thetonhad not unfolded as he had hoped. It was as if his every misgiving had been confirmed. It was paramount that they righted the poor first impressions and gained the standing the Darcy name had enjoyed for centuries. The whispers at White’s had been disconcerting to say the least. Some gentlemen had wondered why his membership at the club had not been revoked, enshrouded in scandal as he was. His father would turn in his grave if he knew…
Elizabeth tipped her head back and released a merry peal of laughter. Helplessly, eyes drifted in the direction of the sound like flowers turned to the sun.
“Lizzy!” Mary admonished in a harsh whisper.
His wife leant forwards and turned to her sister with a confused expression. “What?”
“You are making a spectacle,” Mary hissed.
“Do not be ridiculous. I laughed, which is the purpose of watching a comedy, is it not, dear sister?”
Mary huffed but did not crowd him as Elizabeth was doing—and thank heavens for that small mercy. What a display that would have been, to have two bickering sisters in his lap. Darcy cleared his throat and Elizabeth resumed her seat, all mirth wiped from her countenance—her complexion faded in degrees from fiery red to a proper English shade of porcelain. She was beautiful in her tempered but steely determination.
Beauty in nature was designed to attract mates or prey. Spending three weeks in the company of Mrs Bennet induced him to think its purpose was much the same in society. Even worse, Mrs Darcy had been short with him this evening, had answered his polite enquiries with monosyllabic answers, and generally avoided his presence. Starved as he was of his wife’s delectable company, her behaviour puzzled him. What was he in this cobweb of marriage? Prey or mate?
At the interval he discouraged the ladies from leaving their box and offered to procure refreshments. The scowls, whispered conversations, and pointed looks directed at them were disconcerting. Within ten minutes, everyone knew who was sitting in the third upper box from the right. Thank heavens he had spent the extra funds on the more private upper tier.
Darcy enlisted Mr Bennet’s aid in carrying the glasses of wine and returned fifteen minutes later to a spectacle. He heard Mrs Bennet before he could see her. She was bickering with Lady Jersey in the corridor about the excellence of her daughters. The exalted lady was regarding his mother by marriage as if she were a dung beetle. This could not end well, and before he could reach them, Lady Jersey gave Mrs Bennet the cut direct.
Darcy groaned and hastened his family into the box.
“Would you know how to rein in your mother?” he asked his wife sarcastically. “Your father can obviously not be stirred.”
It was not fair to his wife, but she must see that her relations did nothing to aid their cause.
“Mother!” Elizabeth admonished, but it was all too late. “You cannot browbeat the aristocracy into liking me, and that was Lady Jersey. How are we ever to gain vouchers to Almack’s when you insult its most significant patroness?”
In Mrs Bennet’s defence, she excused herself profoundly but declared the provocation had simply been too aggravating to dismiss. Mr Bennet wore his tiresome smirk, ill-qualified or too lackadaisical to correct his wife. Darcy did not even bother to enquire what the quarrel had been about but wearily suggested they return to the house before anything worse happened. He retired immediately upon arrival and called for Grey to divest him of his attire. Once that arduous task was accomplished, he walked towards the door, intending to go to his wife as usual, but halted with his hand on the latch. Would Elizabeth welcome his company? She was so out of sorts, and he was vexed by everything Bennet after the embarrassing display at the theatre. Perhaps it was best to allow her to rest…
Chapter 18 Spirited Away
“Lizzy!”
Mary’s screeching startled Elizabeth out of her chair and down the stairs. She had been enjoying a respite alone in her sitting room whilst her Bennet relations had left for a shopping spree. After two days of languishing about the house with nothing to do and no callers, everyone had become restless. Yet Elizabeth had declined joining her parents and sisters to write letters to Jane, Charlotte, and her grandmother.
Mary never raised her voice. By the desperation in her tone, Elizabeth knew something dreadful had happened.
“Lydia has been kidnapped!”
Elizabeth froze in front of her sister. That could not possibly be true, yet Mary was not prone to hysterics and honest to a fault.
Darcy, who must have heard the shouting from his study, approached them in long strides. Even Georgiana popped her head out of the music room.
“Pray, who has kidnapped Lydia?”
