"I found it," she gasped. "Please tell me we won."
Mr Pritchard looked at the answer sheets with great care. "I shall need to check that each team has the requisite items in its possession."
"Of course," said Lady Hortensia, sipping her tea.
Mr Pritchard inspected first the ladies’ items and then the gentlemens’. He then examined both answer sheets once again, his face giving away nothing.
"Well?" said Lady Hortensia.
"Both teams have named the three objects correctly," said Mr Pritchard. "Both have given the correct phrase. The gentlemen's answer is:Every cloud has a silver lining. The ladies' answer is:A stitch in time saves nine."
"And the final point?"
"The ladies presented their answer first."
Harriet gave a squeak of delight.
Mr Darcy's jaw tightened. "By a fraction."
"Still first," said Elizabeth, realising she sounded like a spoilt child but unable to resist nettling Mr Darcy.
"After forcing your way past me in the doorway."
"I did not force my way past you. I took advantage of a tactical opening."
"You created the opening by barging into me!" His eyes narrowed, but the colour had not entirely left his face. "I was attempting to play fairly."
"How considerate. Unfortunately, I was attempting to win."
"At any cost, it would seem."
"Not at any cost," said Elizabeth, though she was still breathless enough for the words to come out more harshly than she intended. "Only at the cost of your dignity."
Harriet laughed before she could stop herself. Jane was frowning at her rudeness, and from somewhere at the back of the group Colonel Fitzwilliam called, "She has you there, Darcy."
Mr Ashcombe gave a low grumble. "Most unsporting."
"Most effective," said Lady Frances.
Elizabeth, still warm from running, gave Mr Darcy the sweetest curtsy she could manage. He bowed in return, stiff, exact and visibly aggrieved. The Challenge had begun, and the ladies had drawn first blood.
Chapter Ten
The evening’s entertainment began with a champagne reception accompanied by the strains of a talented string quartet. Lit by dozens of beeswax candles, the room glowed warmly, the light catching upon the ladies’ pale gowns and the gentlemen’s white cravats. It looked every inch the refined society event, but beneath the music and murmured conversation, civility between the two teams was already beginning to fray.
Mr Ashcombe had been overheard describing the ladies as "a pack of hoydens, lacking any truly ladylike feeling." Lady Frances had responded by calling him "a sore loser in search of an excuse," while Clara had been obliged to keep hold of Harriet’s arm when Sir Geoffrey declared that "gently bred young ladies do not gallop about houses like racing horses."
Jane and Colonel Fitzwilliam appeared both blind and deaf to the discord. They were seated together upon a small settee near the windows, talking in low voices and looking at one another in a way that made it seem there was no one else in the room. Elizabeth watched with growing concern as he raised her sister’s hand to his lips and kissed it tenderly. She would have to speak to Jane. It would do her sister no good to lose her heart to a manof whom they knew little beyond his name and his agreeable manners.
Mr Hadley, she noticed, was also paying particular attention to Mrs Cartwright. The lady, who had seemed so reserved, was now covering her mouth with her gloved hand as she laughed at something he had said. A moment later, he made an expansive gesture and drew from her a second, much less restrained laugh.
What an odd mix it all was, Elizabeth thought. Attachments and enmities, flirtations and rivalries, all thrown together under the careful eye of Lady Hortensia. The older woman approached just as Elizabeth stood alone, observing the room.
"Quite the mix, eh, Miss Bennet?"
"Certainly," Elizabeth replied, unsure whether Lady Hortensia offered this observation as criticism or praise.
Lady Hortensia looked about the room with open satisfaction. "Ever since I was a girl, I have been fascinated by people. Their interests. Their foibles. The way they behave when the odds are stacked against them. It was one of the reasons I found the Challenge so satisfying. So entertaining, frankly." Her gaze moved towards the quartet for a moment, then back to the room. "My husband indulged me. Malcolm would rather have had few visitors and spent our days occupied by quiet pursuits. Books, walks, a little music after dinner. He was the very best of men."
