Page 40 of The Cheapside Runners
“I suppose it did sting, but it was refreshing in a way. After being chased for a decade, being thoroughly ignored has much to recommend it.”
“HA! But, back to the feather knocking.”
Bingley continued, “We had to drag it out of her for obvious reasons, but she eventually told us she knew all about your brother. She had, in fact, held one of his natural daughters in her own hands.”
“Gutsy move, if you ask me,” the colonel replied with respect.
“Just the start. She said she would protect her family and friends but could care less about Caroline because she was neither. Tore the hide off her pretensions, which I bet my sister would have been unhappy to hear.”
“She gave us a lecture onunbalanced risks.We will have to speak at length about that later,” he added, with a look indicating there was more to be said on the subject vis-à-vis their ward.
Bingley continued, “Then she told us how to set a trap for the scoundrel.”
“Damme. Sounds like either my kind of woman or someone I should hide from. No wonder you took a fancy to her, Darcy.”
“Yes… not that complicated when you get right down to it.”
“So that is how he ended up with a lost tooth and broken nose.”
“Yes. The missing tooth was probably swept up from the floor of Miss Elizabeth’s bedchamber the next morning.”
“You were in her bedchamber? Are you suicidal?” the colonelasked worriedly.
“She obviously was not there. She had already moved herself and her sister… without telling Caroline.” Bingley laughed.
“Did the maids know that?” the colonel reiterated.
“Be easy, colonel,” Bingley soothed. “We were cautious and ensured no gossip ensued. Miss Elizabeth took care of her sister, but we thought we should show we could at least follow her lead without stuffing it up. All is well.”
Darcy continued, “The next morning after explaining her complete indifference to me, she suggested I just beat my head against a rock instead of speaking with your father. Said it would hurt about the same and accomplish just as much.”
“Even I know that!”
“I did to, but the die was cast by then. It was my duty to try.”
“Worth a try,” the colonel said. “I am still a bit unclear about how that led to a supper dance. The path is not very clear.”
Darcy chuckled. “Just before she left, she gave me my shilling back and said we were even.”
It took a minute for it to sink in, but then the colonel laughed hard enough to spill his drink. Fortunately, it was on a hardwood floor that had already seen gallons of port in the past, and would no doubt see more in the future, so it was not a calamity.
Bingley asked in confusion, “What shilling was that?”
The colonel took pity on him. “The elder Bennet sisters were the so-called insipid tradesman’s nieces from Cheapside,” he said before he continued laughing with Darcy.
Bingley joined in a minute later. “That explains a great deal.”
15.The Story in Their Eyes
“Pay close attention to the officer on the corner with the blondish hair?” Mrs Black said on the fourth day of their course.
“You mean the very handsome one?” Miss Green asked energetically.
“Handsome is as handsome does. Watch him carefully.”
The ladies were standing about in a first-floor room above a heavily trafficked market square loaded with officers. The students had been sceptical that they could learn anything from one floor above the street, forty yards away, looking through lace curtains, but Mrs Black was not to be argued with. The group had decamped to a smaller town outside London for the day’s observations, and the environs were little different from Meryton.
Mrs Black had slightly softened her look by moving from unrelenting black to dark blue but was still just as strict and intimidating.
