Chapter Seventeen
Lady Allen stepped forward first, making a deep curtsey and then presenting her daughters and Emma, who did the same. The princess was gracious to them, but her eyes lingered on Elizabeth, whose feet had frozen at the back of the room.
The princess sat regal and calm, and she beckoned Elizabeth forward with a wave of her hand and a warm smile. There was something almost familiar about the woman, beyond the resemblance Elizabeth bore her.
“Come and sit with me, child. All of you, sit. I have come to speak with you while that pompous little magistrate questions your friends about the pile of bodies in the cellar. What a party!”
Lady Allen sat beside Sir Edward and took his hand in hers, and Cathy and Harriet sat on either side of their parents, for only Emma had the temerity to take a seat on the same sofa as the princess.
Elizabeth did as she was bid and stepped forward, making a deep curtsey when she was a few paces away.
When she stood, Princess Elizabeth patted the sofa beside herself.
Elizabeth sat between Emma and the princess, her eyes never leaving the latter. “Your Royal Highness."
Sir Edward cleared his throat. “Miss Elizabeth Bennet… meet your mother. Shall I ring for tea, ma’am?”
“So close to supper? I think not. The poor staff must already be at sixes and sevens after the mode of our arrival.” The princess gave a musical laugh, but did not take her eyes off of Elizabeth. “You poor creature, you look terrified.”
Elizabeth arched an eyebrow. “I trust you are aware of recent events?”
“Ha! Indeed I am, though you need have no further fear of murder. The magistrate is far too puffed up to allow any further shenanigans. Leave us, if you please.”
Sir Edward stood and bowed, then helped his lady and their daughters to her feet. Emma seemed reluctant, and asked Elizabeth, “Do you wish me to stay with you?”
The princess made a droll face. “She may, but I do not.”
“We will go and say our piece to the magistrate, ma’am,” Sir Edward said. He ushered the ladies from the suite and glanced back over his shoulder to give Elizabeth a look of reassurance before leaving her alone with the princess.
“Is Miss Woodhouse a particular friend?”
“I like her, but I have known her only this week.”
“Then she cannot be too offended at her dismissal. She has got a nerve, I shall give her that,” the princess said with an indulgent grin. “I think a little cheek a very fine thing.”
“That is fortunate news for me,” Elizabeth said, summoning all her courage to smile with confidence.
“Ha! Well, you must be my daughter, then.”
“Did you know that I would be here?”
“Of course! Mr. Tilney wrote to my secretary, whom I believe he knew from school. I have not seen him since he was very small, though it seems he has grown in everything but good sense! What was he thinking, inviting you all here to expose his father?”
“He was thinking of the good it might do, I suppose, and not the hundred ways it could have gone awry.”
“Why should anybody like to attend a party where every stranger you meet knows that you have some secret the general has blackmailed? At the very least, everybody should be tripping over one another to discover the other secrets and extort one another. But then, everybody accepted his invitation, under his silly guise as Mr. Butler!”
Elizabeth smirked. “If you said as much to Cathy – Miss Morland – I should be much obliged.”
“She does have the look about her of a lady in love with a man of more countenance than comprehension,” the princess tutted.
“My, you are a witty creature, just as Sir Edward said. Such open manners! You have a look of intelligence about you, and you have certainly grown into the resemblance that has always been there.”
“Has he ever told you about me?”
“I made it a secret condition of his knighthood, that he must provide me with annual reports of your wellbeing and accomplishments. I asked the same of Mr. Bennet, though he begged off the arrangement some years ago. One of your sisters saw a letter with my seal and asked him too many vexing questions. I have seen you many times with my own eyes; it has been a lark of mine.”
Elizabeth was startled. “What do you mean?”
“My friend Arabella has a penchant for costumes and disguises. Her mother was an actress, and she worked as a seamstress in the theatre before entrancing the late Lord Abernathy. She is deliciously scandalous; I shall introduce you at dinner. She helped me with what became an annual tradition. Every year, as near to your birthday as I can manage, she and I travel to Meryton in a very shabby carriage, and she disguises me very cleverly, so that I might have some chance encounter with you. I have been a babbling widow at the milliners, a posh lady perusing novels at Hatchard’s, and even the eccentric dowager who let Netherfield for only a day, threw a ball, and left the county.
This year, I was the gypsy at the May Day Fair. ”
“You told my fortune, and would not take my coin,” Elizabeth said, laughing. “You told me I was destined for greatness.”
“And so you are, of course. I hear you are betrothed to Mr. Darcy of Pemberley – very well done, child! He shall need a title to truly deserve you, but all that can be managed; my father will oblige whatever I wish. A dukedom would mortify your Mr. Darcy, if he is anything like his father, and I daresay his cousin would tease him mercilessly for it. But an earldom would do, since I may soon have grandchildren to think of. Lady Darcy, how do you like that?”
“I hardly know,” Elizabeth said; she was all too aware that her mouth was hanging open, yet she was powerless to rally her good sense.
“Any other young lady would have begun calculating the advantages of being my daughter the moment the truth came out. Perhaps your humility is to your credit, but you must begin to think more decadently, and prepare yourself to grow quite spoilt.”
“Do you wish to continue our acquaintance?”
“Of course, my dear. I know you must have a great affection for the woman who raised you, and she has my gratitude, but she is soon to part with you, anyhow. Your husband will simply have to share you. He has a house in Mayfair, I believe? It will be no inconvenience at all for you to visit St. James’s and Windsor.
” The princess’s enthusiasm waned for a moment. “If you wish it, of course.”
“I believe I am willing to visit you, though I am sure it shall be overwhelming at first.”
“I can visit you in your homes, if you prefer it, and you are welcome to come to Clwyd, for I mean to make the whole castle over when I purchase the place.”
Elizabeth nodded, unable to comprehend the possibilities of what they were discussing. It was all too much. But she liked the princess’s open manners, and she still had many questions to be answered. “Did my parents know you visited me?”
“If they suspected anything, they never let on.”
“Did you ever observe, or hear from Sir Edward, anything that gave you any alarm?”
"I hope you were not unhappy with the Bennets! Sir Edward wrote of your affection for your sisters, particularly the eldest, and how like Mr. Bennet you were in disposition, well-read, clever, and playful. I did hear of you forming an attachment when you were but young, to some son of a mayor my father knighted while in his cups. When Sir William Lucas turned up at St. James’s, I introduced him to a widow with three rich and comely daughters, hoping his son would take a shine to one of them. ”
“I was crestfallen when he wed,” Elizabeth said. “But as I told Mr. Darcy just a few hours ago, I have long ceased to lament the loss of Mr. Lucas.”
The princess laughed. “What sort of man is your Mr. Darcy? He must be supremely secure in your affections, for you to tell him of a youthful infatuation.”
“He has every reason to be, for I love him very dearly.” Elizabeth told the princess everything, beginning with the insult at the assembly, and Mr. Wickham’s subsequent slander, and going into greater detail of how she had come to trust and rely on Mr. Darcy since coming to Clwyd Castle.
The princess listened intently, her countenance expressive.
“That is quite a tale, my dear; you have had a proper romance, indeed! Locked in a castle together, forced to place your trust in a man you once hated, only to face the great shock of being proven utterly wrong about his character! And he pined after you all the while, but you never knew. Did he truly kiss your tears on his handkerchief? I should faint straight away. You had better not tell Sir Edward that, for he is too charming already.”
“Were you in love with him?”
“A little, I think. I cannot say how great a compliment that may be, since I have fancied myself in love at least a dozen times. But he was one of my favorites, and I am glad that he is your father. You have his eyes, and his easy charm.”
“It is strange to imagine him some sort of youthful Casanova.”
“Ah, but he was. All the ladies at court were half in love with him, for he was full of compliments and poetry, sneaky winks and sly touches in a crowded ballroom. I was astonished that he noticed me, but we got on like a house on fire once I managed to speak sensibly with him. I hear he is to be congratulated on his upcoming marriage.”
“Yes, he and Lady Allen are to be married. He has only just met their daughters.”
“So many new relations for you, all at once. Well, most young ladies could say the same, on the verge of marriage, but in that regard you shall gain only a sister, I believe. The Darcys are rather dwindling; you must have sons.”
Elizabeth could make no reply, and she was spared the thought of giving Mr. Darcy sons, for Sir Edward returned. “The magistrate wishes to speak to you, Lizzy. He has questioned everybody else but the prisoners, and Mr. Tilney is keen to announce dinner.”
“Send him in,” the princess said. “I have a great curiosity to hear this tale of killers and clues from Lizzy.”