Page 72 of The Cheapside Runners
“Not quite,” said she, then after a short pause, she added in that man’s voice again, “I shall be glad to have the library to myself as soon as may be."
Darcy was halfway out of the chair before he realised that he had nowhere to go and nobody to fight.
“I took what little money I had saved and left for the post coach at sunrise.”
She looked intently at Maria.
“I planned to go alone, but your father found me at the station. He did not ask intrusive questions, but the man’sattentions had not gone unnoticed. Sir William suspected there were very few reasons for a young lady to be dancing and flirting with a gentleman one night, and alone on the post the next day. He very kindly escorted me to my uncle’s house and returned.”
“Astonishing,” Maria breathed in awe, both for her father’s actions and his good sense in keeping it to himself.
“Charlotte took this course several years ago, with one of my other instructors, for obvious reasons. I suspect Lady Catherine has a rude awakening coming,” Elizabeth replied with a smirk.
Everyone burst out laughing, and the tension was released. It seemed obvious why Elizabeth had done what she did, but she continued after a moment.
“My uncle confronted my parents, and their argument was one for the ages. In the end, between my uncle and my father, we came to an uneasy truce that lasted five years. I was but fifteen and my father had absolute power over me. Eventually, we agreed that I could spend half or more of my time in London, as long as I left the raising of the rest of his daughters to himself. I had to be at Longbourn at least five months of each year, and I had to keep my thoughts on my parents and sisters to myself. I have been biting my tongue for five years.”
“Did you worry at all about us, Lizzy?” Jane asked in a harder voice than she customarily used.
Elizabeth stared at her shoes for several minutes and finally looked at her sister.
“I have done my best to ensure you did not encounter any especially bad men, but otherwise, I kept the bargain with our father. I had little choice. He is indolent, but capricious when crossed, and he was never willing to sign my care over to my uncle. I think he enjoyed holding it over my head. I did what I could, but it was a bad position to place a child in.”
“And you never thought to tell us?”
“Which of you can bereliablytrusted with secrets?”Elizabeth snapped angrily.
Mary and Jane looked somewhat put out by the assertion, but both would eventually agree with the assessment.
“What happened to the man?” Jasmine asked.
“The Runners were new back then, and Uncle was nowhere near as flush or well-connected as he is now. That was lucky for me, because I was allowed to go to work for him when he needed my help more than he worried about the propriety of it. That first year was difficult for both of us, but as you can see, it worked out well in the end. There were certain risks involved, but I have emerged the better person for the experience. I would not trade what I have done for the world, nor would I condemn any other lady to the same fate. It was the forge that formed me, but forges are hot.”
They all stared, and she gave Darcy a hard look, which he took to mean he could criticise Gardiner at his peril. He nodded to acknowledge that he was not there and had no right to an opinion.
Elizabeth sighed. “In case you are curious about my erstwhile suitor, the man turned out to be an even bigger liar than his history suggested. He was not even using his real name, because he wanted to keep his wild oat sowing away from his father’s notice. In the end, his status is too lofty for our usual methods of disposal—which I willnotelaborate on. The only way I could hurt him would be to kill him and dispose of the body, and that causes its own inconveniences.”
The matter-of-fact way she made the statement chilled everyone in the room, but she continued, “Tempting as it is, I have never been quite ready for that step.”
They all spent a few minutes trying to absorb the implications.
Eventually, Darcy asked, “Have you kept track of the cretin?” in a tone suggesting he might want to hunt the man downhimself.
Elizabeth looked at him for some time, and finally said, “I check on him periodically.”
She paused for quite some time staring Darcy in the eye, which had the rest of the room’s inhabitants wondering if they had learnt enough about how to register the eyes’ actions in that second day of training to work out what was happening. They all concluded that they had no idea.
Elizabeth finally said, “I have been reliably informed he recently suffered a lost tooth and broken nose.”
Darcy’s grin turned downright feral, which confused the ladies even more.
Elizabeth was exhausted and tired of rehashing the past, so she suggested it had been a big night, and they should all seek their beds.
Darcy paused on his way out the door. “I will see you tomorrow.”
24.Breakfast of Suitors
“Ah, Darcy, good to see you. If you have not broken your fast, we will sit down in a half hour.”
