Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
In Which Lizzie Receives a Proper Proposal
Three Months Later
It was not a surprise, but Lizzie held her breath nonetheless while she waited for the final verdict.
“Guilty,” declared the judge, and the entire courtroom burst into cheers.
Below her stood Lady Catherine de Bourgh in the accused’s seat. Despite an entire courtroom celebrating her downfall, she
held her head high. Her eyes roamed the courtroom, looking for something. Lizzie had a feeling she knew exactly what it was.
Or rather, whom.
“Come on, let’s go,” she whispered to Charlotte, who stood next to her in the gallery.
“Don’t you want to stay and hear the sentencing?” Charlotte asked.
Lizzie shook her head. She didn’t want to give Lady Catherine the satisfaction of seeing her in the courtroom.
Let her think Lizzie hadn’t bothered to come.
With a bit of luck, this would be the very last time they’d ever share a room, and she was eager for the moment to be behind her.
“Darcy thinks there’s a chance she’ll get transportation to Australia.
But if it’s hanging, well . . . I don’t want to stay to hear it. ”
“All right,” Charlotte said, pushing through the many eager audience members pressing closer to get a glimpse of the famed
criminal. Lizzie had gotten more than her fair share of Lady Catherine—not only in the past year and a half since they’d first
met, but also in the last two days, as she’d finally stood trial.
They managed to reach the door and continued outside, into the autumn sun. The day was chilly but bright, and while the air
held the promise of winter, London felt oddly cheerful. Lizzie liked to believe it was because justice had been done, but
she knew it was just another day, and the weather had nothing to do with what had been decided in the courthouse.
“Are you relieved?” Charlotte asked, and Lizzie nodded.
“Relieved and sad. She hurt so many people. It’s because of her that Mr. Hurst and Abigail and Wickham and Leticia Cavendish
and Simon Mullins and Honoria Bingley are all dead.”
“And it’s because of you that she’s no longer free,” Charlotte reminded her.
“Paper?” a boy asked them, approaching with a large stack of cheap broadsides, chronicling the sordid details of the various
trials. “Lady Catherine de Bourgh on trial, read all about it!”
“No, thank you,” Lizzie said firmly, but tossed the boy a ha’penny anyway.
She already knew what most of the papers said about Lady Catherine de Bourgh, about her, and about the trial.
It had had enough shocking twists and surprise reveals to keep the public riveted, and Lizzie had turned down more than a few journalists and newspaper men who’d wanted her exclusive story.
Everyone was rabid for details. But to Lizzie, perhaps the most shocking detail was the fact that Darcy’s father had been the one to formally bring evidence against Lady Catherine in London, with supporting testimony from a myriad of others.
The city’s preeminent barrister, spearheading such a shocking case, had caused a stir.
But when they had finished explaining their entire case history with Lady Catherine to Darcy’s father and he’d spoken to Graves, the elder Mr. Darcy had insisted on filing a case against Lady Catherine himself.
“If we leave this to the Crown, they’ll try her for treason and nothing else,” he explained to Lizzie and Darcy.
In that moment, Lizzie could see where Darcy had gotten his serious, brooding expression.
“And while that would certainly be serious enough, no one crosses a Darcy without consequence.”
But Lizzie was not as naive as she had once been. There was only one punishment for treason, and Lady Catherine had signed
her own death warrant years earlier.
“Are you all right?” Charlotte asked. “I know a guilty verdict was what we wanted, but . . .”
But it hardly fixed anything.
“I’m happy she’s caught, and that she stood trial,” Lizzie said. “I just wish we could go back to a time when I didn’t think
about her constantly.”
“I know,” Charlotte said, squeezing her arm. Just the month before, Agnes had been found guilty of murder and theft, and had been sentenced to hang.
Needless to say, Lizzie hadn’t attended the execution.
“What you need is a new case,” Charlotte told her. “Have you picked one out yet?”
Lizzie smiled, thinking of the stacks of letters and inquiries that had flooded the offices of Longbourn & Sons since they’d
returned to London and news of Lady Catherine’s arrest had broken. Charlotte had carefully screened and sorted them, pulling
the most interesting cases out for Lizzie.
“Not yet,” Lizzie said. “Papa is rather irritated that so many of them are criminal when he’d much rather deal with business
law.”
“Your father might grumble, but he is proud of you.”
Lizzie smiled at that. Her father was still not thrilled with her interest in criminal law, nor was he happy to hear all that
had happened at Pemberley, but he no longer tried to dictate which cases she took, which she appreciated. She valued his opinion,
even if she sometimes disagreed with him.
“Perhaps something easy,” Lizzie mused. “I promised to visit Jane and Bingley once the trial concluded. Have you decided whether
you’ll come with me?”
Her sister and brother-in-law had elected to extend their stay at Netherfield Park, in part because of Caroline’s condition.
She’d awoken after three days of sleep to a splitting headache, but Jane wrote that Caroline was not nearly as irritable as she’d expected.
Lizzie had a feeling that wouldn’t last, but she was relieved that Caroline was all right.
She was indebted to her, and she’d have to tell the other young lady as much when she visited.
She tried not to think how Caroline might call in such a debt.
“I’ll accompany you,” Charlotte said. “As long as you don’t insist on going into the east wing again.”
“Jane says the repairs are underway!”
“That’s hardly reassuring!”
Lizzie nudged her best friend. “I’m sure a certain vicar would be happy to see you.”
Charlotte blushed. “I had a letter from him yesterday—he’s coming to London on business next week and asked if he may call
on me.”
Lizzie gasped. “Charlotte!”
“Now, calm down. Nothing has happened yet.”
“But it could, and that’s the most wonderful thing.” Lizzie wanted nothing more than to see her friend happy, and she couldn’t
remember the last time anything had made Charlotte smile as much as Mr. Thomas’s letters. It was a good thing that she’d never
been taken in by the awful Mr. Collins.
Just then, the doors to the courthouse opened and people began pouring out, spreading the news of the guilty verdict. Charlotte
and Lizzie watched as the people went by, giddy with excitement. Lizzie couldn’t bring herself to feel more than intense relief—despite
everything that had transpired, she didn’t delight in Lady Catherine’s sentence.
Just then, a familiar figure emerged from the crowd, looking about. Lizzie smiled and raised a hand to wave. “Darcy!”
He turned and strode toward them, and Charlotte said, “I’ll leave you to it. See you back at the office?”
“Yes,” she said. “Tell Papa I won’t be long!”
Charlotte took her leave as Darcy reached her and took her arm.
“Well,” Darcy said. “It’s finished.”
“And?”
He grimaced. “It seems as though they’re unwilling to transport or execute the wife of a peer, so it’s prison. Indefinitely.”
Lizzie shuddered, remembering the stench from within Newgate, which sat just a short distance away. “That is a punishment.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “And still probably not all she deserves.”
There was a hollow tone to his voice, and Lizzie knew that the past three months had taken a toll on Darcy. He’d served as
his father’s junior counsel in bringing the case against Lady Catherine, and they’d uncovered more about Lady Catherine’s
misdeeds than they’d even suspected. Lizzie squeezed his arm. “You did very well today.”
“Do you wish it had been you, before the judge?”
She shook her head, then stopped. “All right, maybe a little. But this was too risky a case to leave to chance and some judge’s
ill-conceived opinions on my capabilities when it comes to the law. Besides, I was too close to the case. I was happy to give
my testimony and leave it that.” She looked to the blue sky and then back at him. “You know, this is an important spot.”
“Outside the courthouse?”
“No, this precise spot,” Lizzie said, lips quirking into a teasing smile. “Don’t you recall?”
He looked about them, and at the many people streaming past. “Did we have an argument here or something?”
She laughed. “No! But something very important did occur here. After another trial . . .”
He understood her then. “You mean, when we kissed for the first time?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, shall I kiss you again? For tradition’s sake?”
“You could.” She stepped closer to him and took his hand, threading her fingers in his. “Or we could mark another memorable
occasion here.”
“What’s that?”
“You could . . . ask me something.”
His eyes widened and she tried not to laugh. “Really?”
“Only if it’s really, really significant,” she teased.
“Oh, I have just the thing,” he said, turning so that they were facing each other. He gazed down at her and swallowed hard,
then said, “Miss Elizabeth Bennet, would you do me the tremendous honor of . . . going into business with me?”
Her eyes widened and she laughed. “What?”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, but I wasn’t sure about the timing,” he said.
“I don’t want to work for my father anymore—we’ve been getting along a little better, but the types of cases he wants me to pursue and the types of cases I want to take on are entirely different.
You and I have been consulting on cases for over a year now. Why not combine forces officially?”
“You truly want to go into business together?”
“Why, was that not the question you were expecting?”
“You’re teasing me,” she accused.
“Always,” he said, leaning in to whisper in her ear. “But not about that. Naturally, though, if we are to become conjoined
in business, we might as well make everything entirely legal and . . . join hands in marriage?”
A thrill ran through Lizzie, not unlike the feeling she got when an enticing new case presented itself before her. But this
wasn’t some short-lived mystery to be solved. This was the future. Forever. With Darcy.
“Yes,” she said, her lips finding his.
“Yes to what?” he asked in between kisses that warmed her to her toes.
“To all of it,” she responded when she was able to draw a breath. “Yes, a thousand times yes, to everything with you.”