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“My late husband talked of this with me. Men are lauded for being ruthless, it is expected of them. Especially when protecting their family.”

“You are absolutely correct. Lord Napier being ruthless, many would look on the matter with favour. There would be comments such as ‘you do not tangle with Napier’, ‘Napier deals with problems in a most ruthless manner’, ‘I warned him not to go against Napier’. What we have not talked about is the reputation of Lady Napier.”

“The female is supposed to be unknowing of such things. And if she does know it is through her husband, not directly.”

“Yes, my Lady.”

“What do you suggest?”

“There are two aspects. How ruthless do you wish to be, and do you wish to be known as the originator of such ruthlessness?”

“Let me answer the second question first. I wish it to be speculated about, but with absolutely no evidence to support it.”

She stopped.

“Or deny it.”

“And the first question, my Lady? Please remember I am your lawyer.”

“I wish Mr. and Miss Bingley to consider Canada as their future home.”

There were no oblique words, no instructions that could be denied. Lady Napier did not want the ultimate sanction. Her lawyer was very pleased. He would have been much less sanguine to know that Mr. Jones was listening to the conversation.

--

Thomas Jones would never step out of his place and think of Lady Napier as his daughter or niece. The third son of a tenant farmer in the Welsh hills he had run away from home at a young age and found a home in the Army, rising as far as possible to the rank of Sergeant Major. If he had been wounded in the early years of the war then his fate might have been different, better. But by 1812 Britain had been fighting France for 20 years and the treatment of wounded soldiers was getting worse not better. The never ending stream of wounded and broken men had overwhelmed what little support there was. He lost his arm in one of the many vicious fights in Spain, surviving the amputation and then getting lucky when there was no infection. But regardless of 30 years of service, he was out on his ear. Lots of words of respect and praise, but words don’t fill your belly.

Matthews had been in another battalion of the regiment, he knew of the Sergeant Major but did not know him personally. When Lady Napier started to put together a small group of wounded veterans to guard her, Matthews knew enough to know that he was not the man to lead the group. That decision saved Jones’ life. There were now six of them, four still with Lady Napier, and two remaining at the estate in Somerset, including Matthews.

But all six men were retainers for life, and this was not just wishful thinking on their part. Lady Napier told them to their faces with her lawyer standing by her side. She showed them the loyalty that they never received from the Army. They thought of themselves as the luckiest of men. They were ferocious in their defence of their young mistress. Three of them were old enough to be her father, the other three older brothers. Her family might have cast her aside but these six men would guard her as if she was their own daughter or sister.

And they had all been trained by the Army. Which tended to solve problems with bullets and steel. Miss Caroline Bingley had no idea how much danger she was in. They were Lady Napier’s men.

When Lawrence left, Jones went to his room to start to plan.

--

If anyone could have seen the whole picture it would have been quite funny. Jones was planning to deal with the matter in a terrifyingly blunt manner. Lawrence was returning to his chambers, thinking about the most elegant, and circumspect, of ways to solve the matter. And Elizabeth was talking it through with Harriet Underwood, seeing if there was a way to socially ruin either or both of the Bingleys.

“I feel we, or rather I, should have thought of this sooner.”

Harriet sounded upset at her oversight.

“Your first word was right, it is on both of us. Napier Hall was a refuge, and I used my mourning period to hide from society. I have been thinking of the different ways to gradually introduced myself, none of which appear to be very easy, and missed the obvious problem.”

“Is it likely that you will meet? You are Lady Napier, a Baroness.”

Elizabeth nodded.

“I understand that, and I agree up to a point. But I think we need to have a plan for her. I feel it is all but a certainty that if I do not have a plan for dealing with her then it will be inevitable we will run into each other at Gunther’s or somewhere else fashionable.”

They sat in silence, Harriet hopelessly lost in having any ideas. She had been with Elizabeth for nearly the whole of her widowhood but had not yet developed her mistress’ touch of ruthlessness.

“Carriages.”

She was startled out of her thoughts but the one word pronouncement.

“Er, what about carriages?”