A Mutual Accord

Epilogue

Eastbourne 1826

Lady Elizabeth Darcy waited in the front of the crowd with her husband and her sisters for the ribbon to be cut at the opening of Eastbourne’s new school. Mr MacArthur was no longer mayor. He had made way for Mr Johnson, the owner of the general store, who stepped forward to make a speech.

“Ladies and gentlemen, fourteen years ago, Eastbourne was attacked. We lost many, and for a time after, we suffered through the grief and rebuilding together. One of our heroes was a young man, just a boy in the year 1812, and it was due to his bravery that the coast and the town was warned. His reward was his education, and the provision for his future, which he has seen to admirably. There is another here, who would like to say a few words about Mr Tyler. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present, Sir William Bennet.”

There was polite applause as Elizabeth’s cousin William took his place next to Mr Johnson. “Tom Tyler was nearly twelve when I met him, and a brighter or more likely young chap you were never probable to meet. It seemed to me that he was more than his origins, that there was something special about this lad, and I was not wrong. On that fateful night in June of 1812, an unlikely bunch of us took it upon ourselves to do what we could to save the town of Eastbourne and our friends. Lady Darcy, naught but a slip of an unwed girl, put in motion the events which saved the lives of our foreign secretary’s family, and she even infiltrated the caves where the villains operated, and shot one. I, naught but a humble parson, ran for the cliffs to stop the fireworks, and prevented more than one French ship from landing. Perhaps the least likely of us was Tom Tyler. A squatter’s child who was still learning to walk in a man’s boots, Tom breached the Wish Tower and set the scene none of us will ever forget, lighting the beacons, warning the south coast, and then rang the tower bell, alerting the town.

“Eastbourne burned that night. The fires of the homes which were attacked burned as brightly as any coastal beacon, and the lives that were lost can never be replaced, but the town, and our country will forever be beholden to Tom Tyler for his bravery. When our foreign secretary asked Tom a fortnight later what he would do if he were a wealthy man, Tom answered that he would build a grammar school in Eastbourne for children of all stations. Impressed, Lord Matlock rewarded Tom with a sum of money in trust to provide for him and his family, and arranged for his education. Tom never forgot his dream, and that is why we are standing here today.

“I do not believe I was ever as proud of another person as I was the day I stood next to Tom Tyler and our friends at St James to be recognized for our deeds by the Prince Regent, and that pride has only grown as I have watched him become a man. Today, I am very happy to witness Tom’s dream become a reality as we officially open the Battle of Eastbourne Memorial Grammar School!” The applause was deafening as Tom Tyler stepped forward and shook hands with William and Mr Johnson, then took a pair of scissors that was handed to him, and cut the ribbon. The crowd surged forward as the young man shook hands and accepted congratulations from his community.

Elizabeth pressed closer to Darcy as they and their friends and relations watched Mr Tyler laugh and talk with his village, who was tremendously proud of his achievement. Tom had never attended a grammar school himself. He received his education from the vicar, but when he approached the age of seventeen, it was decided that he was too bright not to attend university, and so he went to Oxford to read the law. Upon leaving the university, he had accepted a position working for the local solicitor, Mr Aldridge. He had assumed control of his fortune from Lord Matlock the year before, and immediately set about building a new school, aided by generous endowments from Sir and Lady Darcy, Sir Richard Fitzwilliam, Lord Carlisle/now Matlock, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Lady Catherine had not the good fortune to see the school finished, for she had sadly passed away only two months previously.

Elizabeth looked down at her medal. She did not wear it often. Only when visiting court every few years, though they had all brought out their medals today. Some days, she was so busy with her rambunctious family that she mostly forgot that she had the thing.

The ceremony was followed by a reception at the home of Sir and Lady Gordon, with whom Elizabeth had maintained a friendship with for all of those years. Elizabeth accepted a cup of tea in her friend’s drawing room as she and her husband chatted with their friends and relations. Jane and Mr Bingley were present, as was Mrs Bennet, who lived with them at the Great House at Stoke. Mary and William were in conversation with Kitty, Lydia, and their husbands. Ashley Fitzwilliam, now Lord Matlock these last five years, was present with Arabella and their daughter, also Ashley, the youngest of their children, born the year after the invasion.

The following day, there was to be a cricket match. The tradesmen of the town had approached Darcy and Bingley the day before to inform them that they were fourteen years overdue to meet on the shore for their delayed match. The gentlemen were excessively excited for the game, and the entire village was to turn out for the spectacle.

Suddenly Lady Gordon was at Elizabeth’s elbow. “You will never guess who is here,” she whispered, motioning for them to follow her.

Elizabeth and Darcy went, along with Mary and William. “ Monsieur le Comte !” Elizabeth exclaimed as she entered a small parlour. She searched his face as the others expressed their greetings. “It is just as Lady Catherine said.” When the comte raised a brow, she continued, “You have not aged a day. You may even look younger.”

“This is not impossible,” came the familiar reply, accompanied by the same dashing grin. “You as well, madame , time has touched you not at all since last we met.”

I do not know if I quite believe that ,” Elizabeth laughed as her husband stepped forward and bowed.

“I do, and he is entirely correct. We are delighted to see you, monsieur ,” said Darcy. “How do you come to be in England?”

“I came to congratulate the boy,” the comte answered. “I met with him a short while ago, to give him a gift. He is growing to be a good man, that one.”

“Young Tom has been a good man since he was eleven,” said William Bennet, bowing to the comte , then making way for his wife. “It is good to see you, monsieur .”

“I have heard tales of you, ma petite , you have been busy,” said the comte to Mary as she threw her arms around his neck. Mary had spent years honing her skills at the instrument, and then distinguished herself and the Bennet name by composing several concertos that were all the rage across the continent and at home.

“How does Madame du Barry, monsieur? Is she still with us?” Elizabeth asked. It had been in the papers when Louis XVII returned to the throne in 1815, and a number of hidden artefacts had been publicly returned to him, along with the Cleopatra Emerald? 1 .

“Our friend is still with us!” The comte smiled at her question. “She has never returned to France, but she is in her eighth decade, and is still served by her loyal friends. She lives quietly, as she did before, when in Eastbourne.”

“Please send her our regards, if it is not too much trouble,” Elizabeth requested. “Did you repair the flaw in the jewel?”

“Ah, very nearly,” the comte sighed ruefully. “We must strive to remember that true perfection in a jewel is found not in its flawlessness, but in the story it carries within. So it is with people – their marks tell the tale of their journey.”

Elizabeth smiled bemusedly and turned to her husband as Mary and William conversed with the comte for several more moments.

“Did you ever imagine, when you asked me for a courtship at Oakham Mount, that it would be such an adventure?” Elizabeth asked.

“I do not believe anyone could have expected such events, my dear, but I am very happy that I persuaded you to discover whether we could reach a mutual accord,” Darcy answered.

1. The Cleopatra Emerald is a fictional jewel invented for the purposes of this story, though many of the priceless treasures of the house of Bourbon changed hands repeatedly after the French Revolution.