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“Such as?”

“The big one is the difference between the wording of the wedding vows and the reality.”

Napier looked confused.

“The woman vows to love, honour and obey, yet I saw Mrs. Bennet and my aunt, just flat out bully their husbands into disowning me. I thought about it yesterday evening, after the conversation about Mr. Bingley. Your description of him as milquetoast brought to mind both my father and uncle. At the moment I needed them the most, I could not rely upon them.”

“I see.”

Napier remorselessly carried on.

“Are you ready to lose the name Bennet?”

“Yes, I have to be. There is no choice to that decision. It is clear that the scandal has followed me to London.”

They both had the thought at the same time.

“You said Netherfield Park has been closed up?”

“Yes. Did anyone of them ever talk about where they would rather be?”

They both knew the answer.

“I cannot ask you to spend money on me, yet it is not going to stop me. Do you think the men your lawyer hired could discover if the Bingley family are residing in London?”

Napier was doubly pleased. That Elizabeth asked at all was to be noted. But she had taken on board the lesson that money was power. His smile was positively lupine.

“I will be delighted to arrange for the discovery of the Bingleys. Do not worry about the money, I will be doing this for my own satisfaction. You think that it was Caroline Bingley that gossiped about you and that is how your uncle’s business was impacted?”

“I know, we know, that she can be that vicious. It was common knowledge that I was being banished to my uncle in London. And she had already attacked the family for having relations in trade. I think Jane had even told her his name. In addition to the mystery of why Hurst was outside my specific door, this is the other part of the matter that confuses me. Why did she take against me? I had known her for only four weeks, definitely not more than five, yet you would have thought I had been her fiercest rival our whole lives. It has to be something more than just instinctive.”

The Baron was less interested in that point.

“What would you have me do if we discover them?”

“Have you do?”

“Yes. Money is power, and it will be comparatively easy for my lawyer to discover the whereabouts of the family. I have that power, I am a lord, a minor Baron admittedly, but I am rich and far above them socially. Do you wish them ruined?”

Peter Napier watched Elizabeth recoil in shock. He watched closely and thought the reaction was the unexpectedness of the offer rather than horror at the possibility. This is what Elizabeth Bennet needed to understand, the reality of power. She had been cruelly treated but she could revisit that tenfold upon her enemies.

“There are many feelings warring within me Baron. The idea of revenge upon that vicious harpy is making my soul sing. Yet I can see the bust of Marcus Aurelius scowling down upon me.”

“These conflicting feelings are perfectly natural. I would gladly ruin her for you without a moment’s thought, yet at the same time I am pleased that you are staying my hand. It has been many years, in fact many decades, since I read the Meditations. I will find my copy and read it again. But what I want to explain to you, as bluntly and as brutally as possible, is that you are no longer alone. You have power, well through me but you hold her reputation in your hand.

“You were treated terribly, by family, by your community that you had lived in your whole life, and by society in general. You were terrified of what awaited you. That future has gone. What we have just discussed could be your future.”

Elizabeth missed the point.

“Why are you doing this? I understand you think you are under an obligation because of my injuries. It has been wonderful to reside here, to recover and just to relax for the first time in half a year. You know all that, I have told you several times.”

She looked perplexed at his actions.

“But you are suggesting something far beyond that. I am normally smart enough to understand something but this leaves me all at sea.”

Peter Napier, the 7th Baron Napier, smiled and changed Elizabeth’s world once again. But this time for the better.

“I want to marry you.”