Chapter 13 #2
As soon as Darcy stepped into the main drawing room, he began to wonder if his cousin was right to be doubtful.
A number of gentlemen put down their newspapers to stare at him, while others turned to their companions and started to whisper.
Darcy was accustomed to being the center of attention at balls and other events, and knew how to deal with it, but it was usually the matrons and young ladies who eyed him there.
Being the target of rumors from gentlemen who were his peers was a completely different matter.
He held his ground. It was uncomfortable, but he was determined to stay the course. He sat down and ordered drinks for him and his cousin, and tried not to look in the direction of the betting book where his name and that of the ‘Siren’ were written. He would not dignify it with his attention.
They sipped their drinks, but Darcy soon began to feel restless. The space that was his home away from home did not feel welcoming. The dark walls which were normally comforting now felt oppressive. He could not feel at ease.
“Shall we go up to the billiards room?”
Richard nodded and gulped down the rest of his drink. A group of young gentlemen were at a table on one side of the room, watching two of them play and shouting encouragement to the players. It was clear they had laid bets on who would win.
He recognized a few of them from that day in the park.
When he spoke to the attendant, they all looked in his direction, elbowing each other and stifling their laughter.
Darcy felt a visceral dislike for their eighteen-year-old grinning faces, but he ignored them.
Having received the cue sticks from the attendant, he took up position on the table furthest from the young crowd.
It was not until he had completed a cannon that the sound of inebriated laughter broke into his concentration.
“I tell you, he was wading through the water, with the Siren in his arms,” one of the young men was saying. “She was so soaked, she may as well have been naked!”
Darcy saw red. Still holding the cue stick in his hand, he strode over to the young gentleman. He now recognized him as the one who had gone to fetch the coachman.
“You!” he said. “How dare you speak this way, when you stood by on the bank and allowed a little girl to drown instead of assisting! You stand here and mock me when you did not have the decency to offer the young lady your coat. And you dare cast aspersions on someone who could have drowned! A shriveling coward who was afraid to enter the cold water! I have a mind to challenge you to a duel!”
“I meant no harm, sir,” stammered the young man, his face bright red with embarrassment. “It was just harmless fun.”
“Harmless fun? To ruin the reputation of a young lady instead of rescuing her? How is that harmless fun? You had better not utter a single word about Miss—”
A heavy hand fell on Darcy’s shoulder. Meanwhile, an expectant silence filled the billiards room. Nobody moved.
Heavens! Had he almost revealed Miss Bennet’s name? He was filled with horror. He realized now that he was holding the billiard stick like a sword, pointing it at the young man.
“I am sure Lord Morrison will be more prudent from now on,” said the colonel. “Meanwhile, I am feeling some pangs of hunger. Will you join me in the dining room, Darcy?”
“Of course,” said Darcy, though hunger was not what he was feeling at the moment.
He was mortified that he had lost himself so completely as to come so close to disaster.
It was bad enough that he had given his name to these young men at the park.
It was well-intended. He needed to secure his carriage.
But by doing so, he had made it easy for them to concoct the whole scandal.
But he was also angry enough to turn back to Lord Morrison.
“You will not speak of her that way again, or you will have to answer to me.”
“Of course, Mr. Darcy.”
Darcy put down the cue stick and left the room. To his relief, Colonel Fitzwilliam did not lead the way to the dining room. Instead, he went straight to the door and to St. James’s Street.
“What on earth are you doing, Darcy? It will help no one if you cause a scene. Leave it alone. There will soon be some other scandal to occupy them. You are only adding more wood to the fire. It will be all over London that you were willing to fight a duel for the Siren.”
“Do you really expect me to let it go? A young lady’s reputation is in tatters through no fault of her own. Nothing untoward happened. I was with Georgiana. We were not even alone, and there was child with us.”
“Society is cruel. People are eager to seize on the smallest thing. We are gossipmongers by nature, and our interest is captured by anything scandalous and outrageous. We thrive on the misery of others.”
“I see war has made you cynical.”
“My point is that you cannot fight fire with fire. You need to let the fire go out.”
But Darcy was already thinking of Miss Bennet. If he, whose position in society was unassailable, had felt the impact of the rumors, what would happen to Miss Bennet when they discovered who she was?