Page 63 of Mr. Darcy and the Mysterious "Miss B"
“Yes,” she admitted. “Jane has been happier these past weeks than I have seen her since Papa died.”
“I hope you can forgive me,” Darcy said. “Your good opinion matters to me more than you know.”
Something in Lydia’s softened. “I… I suppose if you are truly trying to make things right.”
“I am. I swear it.”
“I thought Elizabeth a right fool for accepting your advances,” she said.
Darcy glanced at Elizabeth who nodded.
“Well, there is something we ought to tell you. This romance is not quite real,” Darcy started. “You see…”
“I know. It was to keep you from having to marry Miss Bingley because of the newspaper reports,” Lydia said.
Elizabeth’s eyebrows rose.
“Pray, how do you know?” she asked and Lydia chuckled.
“Georgie told me, of course.”
Darcy sighed. “I shall have a word with her about keeping things private.”
“Please, do not be cross with her. I can be very persuasive,” she said and Elizabeth nodded.
“That I can attest to personally,” she said.
A brief silence followed and then, Elizabeth took a deep breath.
Elizabeth watched this exchange with obvious relief. “Lydia, there is something else we must ask you. Those notices in the scandal sheets about Mr Darcy—did you have any hand in placing them?”
Lydia looked genuinely shocked. “What? No! Why would you think such a thing?”
“We are trying to discover who was responsible,” Elizabeth explained. “Someone wanted to cause Mr Darcy trouble.”
“Well, it was not me,” Lydia said with conviction. “Though I suspect I know who it might have been.”
“Who?” Darcy asked.
“Miss Bingley, of course. She was always throwing herself at you, and everyone could see you had no interest. She spoke of you in glowing tones at Netherfield as well. Perhaps she thought scandal would force your hand.”
“That occurred to us as well,” Elizabeth said. “Though we have no proof and she vehemently denies it.”
“There is something else,” Lydia said. Her eyes flittered to the left and the right before settling on them again. “Someone else…” She shook her head. “No. I am wrong. I do not wish to say anything more.”
Elizabeth and Darcy exchanged glances.
“Who do you suspect?” Darcy prodded but Lydia got up.
“Nobody. It is of no consequence. Now, I am rather famished for pudding. There is flummery. Oh, how envious Mary will be when I report to her I have eaten it all!”
She disappeared then, leaving Darcy and Elizabeth once more without a suspect.
***
Later, with his stomach full of dinner and more flummery than was advisable, Darcy set out to leave. Elizabeth escorted him to his carriage, something that made him rather morepleased than it ought to have done, given their connection. The night was clear and mild, with stars visible despite the city’s glow.
They walked in comfortable silence among Mrs Gardiner’s carefully tended flower beds, the sounds of London muted by the garden walls.
