Page 48 of The Heroic Mr Darcy's Bad Manners
“I have not yet had the pleasure of hearing you play, Lady Elizabeth. Could you be persuaded to entertain us on my pianoforte?” Miss Eudora Darcy enquired.
“It would be my pleasure.” At the very least, it would save her from conversing with the colonel. Elizabeth looked about the room but could see no pianoforte.
“The instrument is in the next room,” the older lady explained and rang the bell.
A footman entered and opened the double doors revealing the pianoforte. Elizabeth rose, as did the colonel.
“May I turn the pages for you?”
As much as she would relish thwarting him and declining, she could not be so rude. With a tight nod of acceptance, she sailed to the instrument and began to play a light piece she knew by heart. She could not help but smile at the bewildered colonel, who obviously could read music. It spoke well of his discernment that he discovered very quickly that she was not playing what was on the sheet before her. Once the piece concluded, she allowed him his gallantry and leafed through the music at hand.
“Lady Elizabeth, I would dearly like to hear your strictures about how my cousin Darcy behaved in Hertfordshire…”
Elizabeth turned to the hovering colonel and smiled to give the impression she was about to tease, but in reality, she was deadly serious.
“Indeed. But you must prepare yourself, for what I am about to relate is very dreadful.”
The colonel barked a laugh. “I can well imagine, but do continue. I doubt that you can shock a seasoned soldier.”
He was warning her that he knew what had transpired.
She turned fully to him, the sheets of music all but forgotten in her hands.
“The first time I saw him was at a ball, and how do you think he behaved?”
The colonel shifted uncomfortably and denied having any knowledge.
“He danced only four dances with his friends, though gentlemen were scarce, and I know for a fact that more than one lady was sitting down without a partner.”
“Darcy’s reserve makes him ill-qualified to recommend himself to strangers,” the colonel defended his cousin.
“Unless he is paid,” Elizabeth remarked evenly. “I have it on good authority that his price is a mere ten guineas.” She turned to the instrument and sang an Irish air that left no room for conversation. When the song ended, she closed the instrument and returned to her grandmother’s side.
#
Darcy
A familiar knock resonated through his study.
“Enter,” he called, and it was no surprise to him that Richard came through the door.
The colonel immediately went to his port and poured them both a generous measure. The tumbler was thrust into his hand before Richard settled into a chair.
“I just called on Miss Eudora Darcy.”
A sense of foreboding settled in his stomach.
“Really. And what business had you with my aunt?”
“Nothing, but her servant had left her card at my barracks. I thought it might have something to do with you and went promptly to her house.”
The colonel was habitual, and his aunt knew that leaving her card without a message would send him expeditiously to her door.
“And what did you discover?”
“I did not have the time to enquire before additional guests came calling.”
“Who?” he growled, though his cousin’s countenance betrayed him.
