Chapter Twenty-Six

T he supper dance was done. Darcy had never enjoyed a ball more than tonight, when everyone about them was whispering about his attentions to Miss Elizabeth. He was proud to have her on his arm, to lead her into supper. The evening had been a great success. She had noticed his waistcoat had been chosen to complement her gown and she had worn the roses he had sent in her dark hair. As he pulled out her chair, Darcy marvelled at the way her eyes—greener this evening than he recalled—sparkled with happiness.

Their courtship—he could use that word now that Miss Elizabeth had said it aloud—it had unfolded so naturally, each encounter bringing them closer together and strengthening the bond he felt and hoped she shared. He could speak to her of very personal matters, no longer bound by the constraints of society or his own retiring nature, and she would listen without thinking less of him for it. She had felt safe doing the same—and it was no small thing, being able to offer that to her. Miss Elizabeth had a way of drawing out the best in him, and he truly cherished each moment they spent in one another's presence .

Darcy excused himself to fill their plates, his heart light and his steps buoyant. He spent a few minutes jostling for position, but managed to select some of the foods he was certain Miss Elizabeth would enjoy. He could not help but imagine a future filled with countless evenings like this one where they would share one another's company.

"Heard she set the fire herself," one man sniggered. "And the fools paid her for pretending to save their daughters."

His spine straightened. "I suppose you had that from Lady Penelope," he said without looking directly at the man. "The more fool you, for she is merely jealous."

The reply was mocking. "Of you?"

Darcy shook his head. "Of Miss Elizabeth. Lady Henrietta was Lady Penelope's particular friend, and yet she left her behind. Only Miss Elizabeth was brave enough to go back. My cousin owes Miss Elizabeth her life."

That silenced the man into something Darcy hoped was reflection.

He would need to find Lord Carlisle and relay the gossip that Lady Penelope was circulating, for he had no doubt of its source. Fortunately, the earl was already engaging in a conversation with Miss Elizabeth and Miss Bennet, unusual because he typically only spoke with the ladies when his wife was with him. Darcy set down their plates but before he could ask to speak to Lord Carlisle privately, the man patted him on the shoulder.

"I must say, Miss Elizabeth, it is a delight to see you and Mr. Darcy together," he said good-naturedly. "I never imagined my insistence that Mr. Darcy befriend you would lead to such a perfect match, though I do admit to thinking you well suited!"

Lady Carlisle appeared almost magically at her husband's side and pulled him away with ease and swiftness. No one about them seemed to know that anything was amiss .

Except Lady Penelope, who had stood to speak with the Carlisles, and whose smirk was fuel to the fire.

Darcy's blood chilled to ice as he watched Miss Elizabeth's countenance transform. Her smile shrank, her complexion paled, the light in her eyes dimmed to nothing. She swallowed, blinked, and turned her face up to his.

Betrayal. That was what he saw, and it was as though someone had pierced him through the heart.

No one had ever told her. Good God, he ought to have told her. They might have laughed about it if he had. But now . . . Now, she was not laughing. He had said nothing, and the revelation had embarrassed her, broken the trust that was so essential to her.

Time seemed to stand still as Elizabeth excused herself, stood slowly, bent to say something to Miss Bennet who was sitting beside her, and calmly moved to absent herself from the room. She was not calm, of course, but she was handling herself with all the dignity Darcy had come to expect from her.

"Miss Elizabeth, I must speak with you," he said quietly.

"Later, if you please," she said, and Darcy could only watch helplessly as she departed.

He sank into his chair, haunted by the image of Miss Elizabeth's pained expression—though it had lasted only a moment, it was an image that he knew would be forever etched in his memory. He had not meant to hurt her, had not even thought about the earl's ridiculous edict since that day in the street when she had pulled Georgiana out of harm's way. And now he had ruined it all through his neglect.

He glanced at Miss Bennet and Bingley, who were looking at him, perplexed. Although his transgression was worse than Bingley's had been, he would take his friend as his model and resolve to make whatever explanations or changes were necessary to ease Miss Elizabeth's fears and show her that his love for her was true. It did not matter how their story had begun—it was real now.

Miss Bennet placed her napkin on the table. "I should go speak with her."

Darcy stood. "I would like to go with you."

"I am not precisely certain what has happened," Miss Bennet said, her voice low, "but you must give her time to come to terms with whatever it is that has distressed her."

His attention was caught by Lady Penelope, who was exiting the room as well.

"I shall," Darcy said hurriedly. "But I must say a few things first so that she can think on them."

Elizabeth's sister studied him. "Very well," she said. "But you will not stay for long."

He shook his head. "No. I will not impose." No matter how much he wished to take Miss Elizabeth in his arms and explain to her just how much she meant to him, he knew to do so might mean losing her forever. But neither could he let her leave the ball without knowing that his love was true. He had seen a glimpse of what their future could be. He was not about to allow it to fade away.

Elizabeth's mind raced as she tried to piece together the implications of the earl's words. When had this happened? How long had it lasted? She could not believe that Mr. Darcy would go so far as to court her as a sort of penance he owed the earl, but then a courtship was not binding in any way, and London was not Meryton. A failed courtship might have diminished her chances in the country, but was it the same in town or would the fact that she had inspired a courtship at all give her a bit of town bronze? Make her more desirable? Was that the earl's game?

She slipped out of the supper room into the hall and swallowed back a sob. Solitude. She required solitude, she needed a few moments alone to collect her thoughts.

"Miss Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth groaned. The woman she least wished to face.

Lady Penelope caught up to her. "Oh, my dear Miss Elizabeth, I am so sorry you were humiliated in that way. It must be terrible to discover that Mr. Darcy was only paying you any attention because he was forced to it." She smiled in what Elizabeth supposed was meant to feign sympathy, but she could not help but be reminded of a crocodile. "May I be of assistance in any way?"

Was the woman actually attempting to pretend that they were friends?

Two could play this game. "I am not certain what you mean?" Elizabeth asked.

This was clearly not what Lady Penelope had anticipated. "I heard Lord Carlisle say that he insisted Mr. Darcy befriend you, Miss Elizabeth."

"My goodness. You truly do hear only what you wish, do you not?"

Lady Penelope's thin brows lifted nearly to her hairline. "I beg your pardon?"

Elizabeth sighed. A dull ache was beginning behind her eyes. "Lady Penelope, I do not wish to stand in the hall and argue with you, so allow me to be direct. You think you have a story to tell about me. Very well. I have heard some rather interesting things about you that would be every bit as delicious to the ton. If you hold your tongue, I shall hold mine."

"You would not dare. "

She was probably right, but Lady Penelope did not need to know that. "Are you willing to take such a risk? Think on it, Lady Penelope. Good evening."

Elizabeth left the infuriating woman standing in the hall just outside the ballroom, gaping in astonishment. She walked farther away until she was out of the woman's sight and discovered a door nearly hidden by the grand staircase. It was perfect. She turned the brass knob and slipped inside, finding herself in an unlit, unused room, the silence a stark contrast to the lively atmosphere of the ball. She sighed with relief. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, however, she noticed a figure standing by the window, silhouetted against the faint glow of moonlight.

She would know that silhouette anywhere. It was Lady Henrietta. Instinctively, she reached for the knob, intending to make her escape and find another room, but her movements must have alerted Lady Henrietta to the presence of another person.

"Who is there?" she called.

Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly and opened them again. "It is Miss Elizabeth Bennet, Lady Henrietta," she said softly. "Are you well?"

Lady Henrietta sighed. "I did not expect anyone to find me here."

"I apologise for intruding. I was simply seeking a moment of peace myself. If you wish to be alone, I shall take my leave."

Lady Henrietta shook her head. "No, please stay."

This was unexpected, but Elizabeth nodded and stepped further into the room. Once her eyes adjusted to the dark, the two women stared at one another for an uncomfortable moment before Lady Henrietta spoke.

"You have always been a mystery to me, Miss Elizabeth. You showed up at Mrs. Buxton's and were thrilled to be there. You never paid proper deference to me or anyone with a title. You never seemed to care what other people thought of you, even when the other girls would not befriend you because they were afraid of me and Pen."

"There is no mystery," Elizabeth said with a sardonic little laugh. "I truly did not care what you thought of me."

"You still do not."

Elizabeth shrugged inelegantly, as she might have done when she was fourteen. "I do not really know you now. But as for school—if having friends at Mrs. Buxton's required me to do things I knew to be wrong so that I might remain in your good graces, I felt it too high a price to pay. I had my sister, and I had my integrity." She smiled. "And now that I am in London, I have friends too."

"My brothers and cousins among them."

"Your brothers are acquaintances," she corrected the other woman. "But friendly ones, yes. And then there are the Carlisles, Amelia in particular."

"And Darcy."

"And Georgiana," Elizabeth added without commenting about Mr. Darcy.

Lady Henrietta hesitated. "And were you never lonely?"

"Of course I was," Elizabeth said hotly. "Did you think I enjoyed being shunned by the other girls? This may shock you, but I am not a reticent person. I prefer having friends about me."

"Pen was my only real friend, or so I thought. I am not sure now."

"I do not suppose you wish to tell me what she has done?"

Lady Henrietta hesitated but dropped into a chair near the window and motioned for Elizabeth to join her there.

When Elizabeth had settled herself, Lady Henrietta said, "She has been relentless in her attempts to convince me to defy my father and publicly blame you for the fire."

"I could not have done so, as you are well aware. "

The other woman nodded. "I told her to let it go. My father and I are coming to know one another better, and I do not wish to ruin that. But Pen will not stop."

Elizabeth's heart clenched, the painful memories of the fire resurfacing as they often did in her dreams. "I see."

Her voice barely above a whisper, Lady Henrietta said, "She knows it is a lie. She does it to spite you, and forgive me, that is nothing new. But even if her spite had cause, which it does not—if Pen genuinely cared for me as a friend, why would she be so insistent on perpetuating this gossip when I have told her I do not wish to participate? To do so would injure the relationship I am finally building with my father, but that does not appear to matter to her, though she knows how long I have wanted it. It has been troubling me, Miss Elizabeth, that is all."

"But why would all of this send you into this room in the middle of a ball? Why now?"

"Pen is here this evening and she wanted to make some sort of scene involving you, to, as she said, ‘send you scurrying home to the country.' But she needs me to be a part of it."

Perhaps Lady Penelope would have succeeded in creating a scandal had Lord Carlisle's revelation not sent Elizabeth out of the dining room. "Lady Penelope has a very high opinion of herself if she means to ruin Lady Morgan's ball with such a scene in full view of Lord and Lady Carlisle," Elizabeth said drily. "She would certainly not make any friends for herself. Honestly, it is rather amusing to consider."

"I told her so, and she was very angry with me."

"She has been very angry with me for years, and I am no worse off for it."

Lady Henrietta exhaled slowly. "I was a horror, I know I was. I felt my father did not love me and had sent me away. I focused my anger and injured feelings on you because you would not bend to my imperious demands." She glanced down at her feet. "I have not even properly thanked you for coming back for me that night. Truly, I do not remember you waking me, but several of the girls said they saw me come to the door and then close it again."

"I did not realise you were not with us until we reached the stairs and I counted everyone."

Lady Henrietta shook her head. "I am a very deep sleeper."

"So I noticed. It took an entire pitcher of water to rouse you."

The other woman snorted. "I do remember that. And I vaguely recall you forcing me out of the window onto the trellis. I do not recall when the trellis pulled away from the wall and we fell."

"You were dazed from the smoke. I was coughing a good deal and could barely see."

"Good show, then, that you were leading the way."

"Are you familiar with the phrase ‘the blind leading the blind'?"

Lady Henrietta actually laughed at that.

Elizabeth sighed. They were not friends. Perhaps they would never be able to claim that much. But it did feel better to have Lady Henrietta not actively disliking her.

"Let me take this moment, then, to say thank you," Lady Henrietta said softly. "Thank you for saving my life."

"Lizzy?" Jane called from the direction of the door. "Are you in here?"

Elizabeth shut her eyes. She only wanted a few moments to recover. Was that so much to ask? Though to be fair, Jane did not know that Lady Henrietta was here, and Elizabeth had no idea how long they had been shut up together.

She stood. "I am here, Jane."

Jane opened the door wider, and she saw that Mr. Darcy was behind her, holding a lit candle .

"I am not ready to speak to you, Mr. Darcy."

Lady Henrietta stood. "I should go."

"Henrietta?" Mr. Darcy inquired.

Elizabeth had never heard him call his cousin anything but Lady Henrietta before.

"What are you doing here? Did you follow Miss Elizabeth into this room?" He strode inside, and Elizabeth feared he might launch into some sort of protective diatribe.

"In point of fact, Lady Henrietta was here first. I intruded upon her privacy, not the reverse."

Mr. Darcy's brows pinched together, and Elizabeth sympathized. She too was confused about the way many things had been unveiled this evening.

Lady Henrietta nodded to her and made for the door.

"I understand that you do not wish to speak to me," Mr. Darcy said to Elizabeth before his cousin had exited. "But I hope you will allow me to say just a few things before you leave the ball."

Elizabeth glanced at Jane, seeking her counsel in the same way that Jane had sought hers earlier. Jane nodded.

"Very well then," she said, and resumed her seat. Mr. Darcy took the chair Lady Henrietta had vacated.

"Miss Elizabeth, the earl summoned me to Carlisle House after the Ashfords' ball."

He paused and Elizabeth nodded.

"He raked me over the coals for having been uncivil to you, and insisted I make up for it by in turn being friendly to you, just amiable enough that others would either not believe the gossip about my insult or would think that I had said it mistakenly."

Did he believe hearing the details would make this any less humiliating ?

"I am not explaining this well, but please believe me—while I did as Lord Carlisle asked, at first, it was not long before I witnessed your generosity, your compassion, and yes, your bravery. I felt that something changed between us in the carriage at Hyde Park, and by the time I asked to call on you, I had quite forgotten the earl's instructions. My request was real, Miss Elizabeth, and what we felt here this evening, that was true. Is still true, for me. If you do not believe anything else I am saying, I beg of you—believe that."

Elizabeth felt as though she could crawl into bed and sleep for a hundred years. For so long she had been required to keep her emotions under strict regulation, and all the extra weight of the evening had exhausted her. Mr. Darcy's confession was all mixed in with Lady Penelope's vitriol and Lady Henrietta's change in behaviour. Added to all of that, the way the fire and the monies that had come after had entirely changed her life and led her here. It was too much.

"I will think on what you have said, sir," was all she could manage.

Mr. Darcy's shoulders drooped, but he nodded and stood. "Thank you for hearing me out. I must warn you, however, of something else."

Jane came to take his place in the seat across from her and Elizabeth glanced up to see Lady Henrietta still standing at the door. Mr. Darcy must have followed her gaze.

"I thought you were leaving," Mr. Darcy said sternly.

"I was," his cousin said, "but Penelope is outside."

"Why would that keep you here? She is your great friend, is she not?"

"I . . ." Lady Henrietta looked back at Elizabeth. "I do not think so."

Mr. Darcy glanced back at Elizabeth questioningly, but she shook her head. "It is complicated, and I do not have the wherewithal to explain just now. "

The door was thrown open so hard that it cracked against the wall and Lady Henrietta leapt back, barely avoiding being struck. Mr. Darcy stepped in front of Elizabeth and Jane.

Given Lady Henrietta's earlier warning, Elizabeth was not surprised to see that it was Lady Penelope bursting into the room, a crowd of eager onlookers trailing behind her. The fact that many of them carried candles told Elizabeth that far from stumbling upon her by accident, Lady Penelope had followed Jane and Mr. Darcy, then doubled back to assemble the audience she so clearly desired. She simply would not give up whatever vendetta she believed they were engaged in.

Lady Penelope's hand flew to her chest in mock surprise as she realised that Mr. Darcy was in the room, and her lips curled into a sneer.

"Do you see?" Lady Penelope nearly shouted. "Miss Elizabeth Bennet is alone with Mr. Darcy! She has ever been a fortune-hunting chit! I have no idea how she has fooled so many usually sensible people of her virtue, but she has certainly never had any."

The crowd murmured, their faces a mix of shock and curiosity. Elizabeth saw Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley standing at the front of the crowd, laughing to one another.

Lady Penelope, emboldened by the reaction, pressed on. "It seems our dear Miss Elizabeth is brazen enough to pursue a gentleman of wealth and standing even in a dark room at a ball with hundreds of people in the rooms just down the hall. A woman who is low enough to agree to such as assignation only for personal gain is surely the sort of person who would set a fire to prove herself heroic."

"How dare you, Lady Penelope," Mr. Darcy said. "If there is anyone guilty of inappropriate behaviour here, it is you. Have you been following Miss Elizabeth all evening? Your obsession with her is appalling. "

"I am far from obsessed with Miss Elizabeth," Lady Penelope scoffed. "The very notion."

"Then why are you here?" Mr. Darcy inquired.

Jane stood from her chair. "Regardless of your purpose, Lady Penelope, Mr. Darcy and my sister were never alone. Mr. Darcy came into the room with me to look for her."

Lady Penelope's eyes narrowed to slits, and her lips curled into a ferocious sneer. Ignoring Jane's explanation, she inquired, "What were you both doing in here with Mr. Darcy, then?"

The buzz of voices increased, and there was some indecent laughter.

It was school all over again. Everyone listened to the lie and very few to the truth. Elizabeth considered whether she even wished to address such a disgusting inquiry. After all, what right had Lady Penelope to issue questions and expect that she would answer them?

"How could a maiden even know enough to ask such a thing?" Mr. Darcy asked coldly, and Lady Penelope's mouth dropped open.

She snapped it closed and narrowed her eyes. "Then what are you doing here, Miss Elizabeth?"

The crowd went absolutely silent while Elizabeth and Lady Penelope glared at one another.

"She was here to speak with me," a voice rang out from the far side of the room. Lady Henrietta emerged from the shadows, her head held high as she walked into the light.

This did surprise Elizabeth. She had thought Lady Henrietta had slipped out as the crowd was pouring in. She reluctantly conceded that there might be something to Lady Henrietta's desire to change after all.

The crowd gasped as they all observed Lady Henrietta step forward. Lady Penelope's complexion turned an almost ghostly shade of white. Her mouth opened but she struggled to find words .

Elizabeth nodded as regally as she was able, not being used to it. "Thank you, Lady Henrietta, for coming forward. I did not wish to speak for you."

Lady Henrietta lifted her chin and stared down her nose at Lady Penelope. " You have ever been discreet, Miss Elizabeth. I am sorry that I had not understood that before." She took a steadying breath, and Elizabeth was close enough to see that Lady Henrietta's hands were shaking. She sympathized with her former nemesis. It was no easy thing to break off a friendship, certainly not one of such long-standing, and in such a public manner.

"It is time for the truth to be known, Pen. Miss Elizabeth is not the villain we have painted her, and I will no longer participate in what I now know to be lies. She saved our lives at Mrs. Buxton's that night—mine, but also yours. She knocked on everyone's door though she could have easily escaped herself without warning anyone and made certain that she and her sister were safe."

"She likely set the fire herself." The whispers behind Lady Penelope grew like a stream meeting the river. Everyone was aware of the disdain Lady Henrietta had previously felt for Elizabeth. To have her speak in Elizabeth's favour would go a long way to countering any innuendo Lady Penelope might concoct.

"Another tired lie, Pen. She could not have set the fire. I have recently learnt from my father that the fire started in the attic."

"What difference does that make?"

Lady Henrietta raised her voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "You know as well as I that we had locked Miss Elizabeth in a bitterly cold classroom two floors down for the temerity of protecting a servant from my ill-conceived wrath. Certainly, you recall Miss Elizabeth's response. We neither of us escaped untouched. "

More gasps. Mr. Darcy glanced at Elizabeth, and touched the skin below his eye before lifting his brows in question. She recalled he had wondered about his cousin's bruised eye and how she had acquired it. Elizabeth answered with a short, tight nod.

His smile was almost feral.

Lady Henrietta was still speaking. "My father also related to me that Miss Elizabeth and Miss Bennet were on their way to their room when they smelled the smoke. All the parents knew this, including yours. Unless Miss Elizabeth could be in two places at once, it was not her."

"If we locked her in, how would she have escaped?"

"I gave her the key!" Amelia crowed from the back of the crowd, which had parted just enough to allow her through. "I stole the key from Lady Henrietta, who had stolen it from the housekeeper, and I gave it to Miss Bennet."

Elizabeth had not known this part.

"And Miss Hamilton also told me where to find my sister," Jane said. "It was past midnight, and she had indeed been locked in a classroom, without a fire, in February."

More murmurs, louder now, indignant.

Elizabeth could not resist glancing at Mr. Darcy. His eyes were on her, filled with admiration, but also impossibly sad. She did not like it. But he had tricked her, and it felt—well, she was not sure what she felt at just this moment. Her head ached so badly she felt as though she might weep.

"If it was not her, who could possibly have done it?" Lady Penelope cried. "She and her sister were the only ones still awake!"

Lady Henrietta looked positively ill. "Pen . . ."

"No, Hen—you tell me, tell us all. Who else could have done it? "

"It started in the attic, Penelope. Our group was all there earlier that night." She glanced at Amelia. "Almost all of them. Who do you think started it?"

Gasps filled the room, and Elizabeth felt as though she was walking the boards, an actress in some ridiculous play.

"We were there hours before, and all we did was tell ghost stories!" Lady Penelope was so outraged that Elizabeth thought they were likely doing more than that. Planning further punishment for the girl they had imprisoned, perhaps. "We were asleep when the fire ignited."

Lady Henrietta closed her eyes. "All the girls had candles. Did all of them make it down the stairs with us? Did you check? For I did not."

Lady Penelope, her face flushed with anger and humiliation, glared at the assembled group. "You may all choose to believe these lies, but I know the truth. One day, Miss Elizabeth's deception will be revealed, and you will all remember that I tried to warn you."

As her vicious words fell on deaf ears, Lord Morgan appeared in the doorway, his deep voice booming with authority. "What is the meaning of this?" When no answer was immediately forthcoming, he crossed his arms over his chest. "Lady Penelope, Lady Henrietta, you will please attend me. The rest of you, kindly return to the ballroom."

"Miss Elizabeth," Mr. Darcy said in a faint voice as she stood to leave, "will you allow me to call in a few days' time?"

Exhausted and distressed, Elizabeth whispered, "I will have Lord Carlisle send you a message when I am ready, Mr. Darcy. Good evening."

She would not look at him. She had no wish to witness his pain, but she was feeling it too. It was jumbled up with all the slights she had endured at school and Longbourn, and she simply required a little solitude to unwind it all, something she had been entirely unable to find here .

The Carlisles were hurrying down the hall, Amelia at their side, by the time Elizabeth and Jane made their way out of the room.

"Lizzy," Jane asked with concern, "are you well?"

"Please," Elizabeth said, her voice still no more than a whisper, "may we just go? I cannot bear any more."

"Certainly," Lord Carlisle said, and Elizabeth imagined that his expression bore some signs of guilt. She filed that away for examination later as he hurried away to call for the carriage.

As Jane offered her a swift embrace, Elizabeth glanced back at the room. The door was open, and Mr. Darcy, his back to her, was reaching for the candle Jane had brought in with her. He blew it out, and then stood straight and tall before the window, clasping his hands behind him and staring up at the moon.