“Yes, sir.”
She pulled the cord by the fireplace to summon the housekeeper. Darcy passed by the door and entered the adjacent study. He looked haggard after only five hours of sleep. His uncle followed him.
“What is this I hear? Did you engage that Bingley woman for two dances last night?”
Judge Darcy’s grating voice could be heard through the wall, and the mention of a certain lady made Elizabeth strain to listen.
“Yes. It would have been abominably rude to leave the woman in the middle of a set.”
“Tongues are wagging that you have already tired of your wife. A wife whose absence was noted. I implore you, if you must spread your wild oats, do it with more care. Plenty of respectable widows, who are more experienced, would be more than grateful for your services.”
“I resent the implication,” Darcy growled in a low, forbidding voice. “I have no interest in Miss Bingley, romantic or otherwise. She is the sister of a friend, nothing more.”
Elizabeth swallowed a sigh of relief and willed her legs to move forwards—away from the ignoble judge, but his next words arrested her from proceeding.
“It is not too late to apply for a divorce.”
The judge’s words implied that the subject of divorce had already been discussed, and cold dread lodged in her chest.
“Dragging my personal business through a seven-year court case will hardly restore my name. I would be an old man before it concluded. Not that I—”
“Five and thirty is hardly an old man. You would have many good years to sire that heir you need with a proper lady. A lady of wealth, connections, and a title. Be aware that as long as you are contemplating it, it is best you do not impregnate the Hertfordshire chit. If you get one of these modern, addlepated judges, they may object to a divorce if there is a child born from the union. Unless you have reasons to believe it is not yours.Thatmight cut years off the process. I have the power to help you in that endeavour. I have researched the subject, and it may not take as long as you suggest. The Marquess of Lothian married Lady Harriette three weeks after she divorced Lord Belmore by an Act of Parliament…”
Darcy said nothing in reply, which was quite telling.
“You may dispose of a child should your wife already beenceinte, though no method is without significant risks to the mother. Do you have her courses recorded?”
Elizabeth’s blood rushed cold in her veins, and she did not wait for her husband’s reply; she had heard enough. A loud bang spurred her to hasten her stride. There was not a shadow of a doubt that the judge was capable of executing every threat to her person and was most likely responsible for the campaign against her. She would deal with that later because it was time to set her plan into action. Preferably before Sunday and the reading of the banns.
She ran up the stairs with her heart beating wildly in her throat. “You are not easy to love, Mr Darcy,” she muttered as she entered her chamber and pulled the bell. Martha was with her in an instant.
“My courses have come and I need sheets.”
“Right away, ma’am. But I have to run down to the scullery for them.”
Excellent! That should set the tongues wagging through the household.It was of the utmost importance that no one suspected what she had an inkling was the truth.
“Thank you, and could you pack my old gowns in a trunk? I have decided to donate them to my aunt’s charity. Please call for the cart. I assume we have about twenty minutes before it is ready to leave. Will that be feasible?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Martha curtsied and hastened to do her bidding. She was going to miss her lady’s maid…
After eavesdropping on the enlightening conversation in the study, Elizabeth would not mind disappearing for all eternity and would not shed a single tear for the loss of her oafish husband. Oh no! She was vexed and not sorry at all…
In a strongbox she had a small sum of ready pin money, but it was not enough. She hoped she could withdraw funds from her settlement without Mr Darcy’s signature.
She opened her escritoire and penned a note for her husband. It would be cruel to leave without notifying him. After all that had transpired, she still loved him.
With the trunk loaded upon a small cart used to transport goods from the market, Elizabeth sent it to Gracechurch Street and turned to Martha.
“I have a desire for a walk in the park if you would care to join me, Martha.”
Martha eyed her mistress with trepidation. “Should you not rest, ma’am?”
Elizabeth had briefly forgotten that she had asserted her courses had come and had made a great show of pretending to wear the sheets Martha had delivered.
“Not at all. I have found that my pains are lessened by vigorous walks.”
Martha’s eyebrows rose up her forehead, but she dared not gainsay her mistress. Elizabeth sighed in relief when her maid nodded and they set out for the Grosvenor Gate to Hyde Park. She steered them towards the Serpentine and an idea formed in her head when she espied a boat offering to row passengers on the river.
