Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

"Kitty, before you blow the candles out?—"

Elizabeth hastened into the bedroom that she had always used to share with Jane but was on this visit sharing with one of her younger sisters. Unlike Kitty, who had excused herself to go to bed some time ago, Elizabeth had struggled to extricate herself politely from the conversation between her aunt and uncle and their dinner guests, and she was glad to catch her sister still awake.

"There is something I would wish to talk to you about."

Kitty nevertheless proceeded to snuff one of the two candles out. "If you mean to continue berating me for spilling the wine?—"

"I did not berate you, I only asked you to take more care. But no, it has nothing to do with that. Please, listen."

Kitty grudgingly put the snuffer down and shuffled back to lean against her headboard, her legs bent up and her arms crossed over her knees.

Elizabeth relit the extinguished candle with the lit one and sat on the foot of her sister's bed. "What say you to going to the art exhibition on Pall Mall as a viscount's particular companion?"

Kitty's eyes widened. "I would hate the art, but I like the sound of the viscount. Why?"

"Well…" Elizabeth faltered. Now that it came to explaining what had happened earlier that day, she struggled to find the words. It was all too strange. "It is a rather complicated story, but the long and short of it is that I agreed to meet a man there tomorrow—Lord Rutherford. Only I do not want to, and I wondered whether you might go in my place."

"Why do you not want to go?"

"Because I…" I am in love with somebody else. "I do not share Mama's eagerness for me to throw myself into the path of rich men."

"You would throw me instead, would you?"

"You cannot tell me you would not enjoy it. Imagine how jealous Lydia would be if your next letter brought the news that you had been keeping company with a viscount." It was crude, but she knew it would work and indeed, Kitty tilted her head and raised her eyebrows in a manner that clearly revealed her interest.

"Why did you agree to meet him in the first place?"

"Because the person who offered to arrange the meeting made it exceedingly difficult to refuse."

Kitty frowned slightly and leant forwards, the bed creaking beneath them. "You are not in trouble, are you?"

"No, not at all," Elizabeth replied with a small huff of laughter. "Well, not really. It is hard to explain. Something very odd happened at the gallery today. Or rather, might have happened—I am not sure, for I did not see it. Somebody may have given me the cut direct."

Kitty lunged to grab Elizabeth's hand and gasped theatrically. " No ! It was not Mr Knowles, was it? I said you ought not to have refused him!"

"I did not refuse him. Indeed, he has not yet asked me anything except whether he may call on me, and I have not said no to that."

"You have not said yes, either."

"No, but no man of good sense could ever think that giving me the cut direct in a busy viewing gallery would induce me to do so! Regardless, I did not see who it was. I was not looking."

"Oh." Kitty slumped back against the headboard, sounding terribly disappointed. "Well, what makes you think a slight was intended?"

"I do not. Other people do."

Kitty screwed up her face in confusion.

"I told you it was odd! One minute I was minding my own business, waiting for Aunt Gardiner to catch up, and the next, a stranger appeared at my side, commiserating with me over what had happened, and asking whether I needed her assistance."

"And what had happened?"

"According to her, someone walked in, saw me, stared directly at me for long enough for it to be deliberate, then turned around and stormed out again."

"How did you not notice that ?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "I was not paying attention. There were so many people there, it was sometimes necessary to wait to see the exhibits, so I spent a lot of the time standing about wool-gathering. The only explanation I can think of is that, perhaps, the way I had been staring into space made it seem as though we had been looking at each other before whoever it was walked out."

"Then they might just as well have not seen you either."

"Exactly. It was all singularly ridiculous. But this lady—Lady Tuppence Swanbrook, I found out later—was infinitely more concerned by it. She said the cut direct was effectively ‘social murder' and insisted on walking me about the room to quell any whispers. Her father is an earl apparently, and she was convinced that would save me by association."

Kitty snorted at the mention of murder. "Why did she care who whispered about you?"

"She said it happened to her once. Someone she thought was a friend cut her at the theatre, and apparently, it caused a stir that lasted an entire Season. She said she could not bear the thought of seeing it happen to someone else."

"Are you sure she was not just prying?" Kitty asked. "I bet she just wanted to find out who you were and why you were given the cut."

"Probably," Elizabeth conceded with a grin, "but even so, she was very kind about it. She insisted on obliging every person she saw pointing at me to talk to us so that none of them could make me a pariah. And she offered to introduce me to her cousin, Lord Rutherford, because she thought that if people saw that he was not afraid to be seen with me, it would stop them gossiping about what happened."

"She offered to introduce her cousin, who is a viscount, to you , who is a nobody, for a cut that might not even have been given?"

Elizabeth poked her. "Thank you, but I think I can claim a slightly better social standing than a nobody. And anyhow, by the time she made the offer, we had been talking for a while, and the conversation had turned to what I was doing in London. I made a joke about Mama having sent us here to find husbands."

Kitty scoffed. "Lizzy, you cannot think she meant that her cousin might want to marry you?"

"No, probably not." Elizabeth laughed with her sister, though her mind was instantly crowded with remembrances of another illustrious gentleman declaring himself. "Though, she did seem to think that we might get along. And she joked about it pleasing Mama very well if he did decide he wanted to marry me. But for the most part, she was trying to help me. That is why I felt I had to agree to it. I do not care a whit for what a few strangers in a gallery think of me, but I did not want to appear ungrateful when she was being so kind. Besides, if her family has all the consequence that she seems to think they do, imagine what could happen if she took offence? It would be awful if somebody said something that might affect Uncle Gardiner's business."

"Then you must meet her cousin. It is no use sending me."

"But he only thinks he is meeting a Miss Bennet. He would never know you were the wrong one. He would tell Lady Tuppence the meeting went ahead, and she would assume it was me and not be offended. Please? He is sure to prefer you, anywise. You are far better at flirting. I should only make some careless remark that would offend his pride."

Kitty did not argue—she only narrowed her eyes. "How much does it cost to get into this exhibition? I do not want to spend all my pin money looking at stupid paintings."

"One shilling, which is surely worth the chance to meet a viscount?"

"One shilling is surely worth the cost of me taking your place?"

Elizabeth sighed. "Very well, I shall pay for your ticket to get in. Will you go? It would do your reputation wonders to be seen with such a man. You could drop his name everywhere you go."

"You will have to come with me. Unless I ask my aunt."

"No! I beg you would not mention this to her. She has grown almost as tiresome as Mama when it comes to the subject of men. I shall go with you but stay out of the way while you talk to him. Besides, nobody will be looking at me. They will all be looking at the pretty young girl on Lord Rutherford's arm."

"I shall look a great deal prettier if you allow me to wear your new pelisse and bonnet."

Elizabeth closed her eyes. She had owned the set for less than a week and had thus far managed to keep both from Kitty's greedy clutches. Supposing the amnesty could not have lasted much longer in any case, she sighed in defeat and nodded.

"Very well, I shall do it!" Kitty exclaimed, giving in to a grin which Elizabeth suspected she had been withholding for some time. "It does sound like fun."

It sounded like a recipe for disaster in Elizabeth's opinion, but since it was the only solution she could presently conceive, it would have to do.