Strangers After the Hunsford Refusal

Prologue

Lady Sophia Goulding stirred her tea, commanding the room as she had done for half a century.

She sat at a little table near the window, ready to commence the annual meeting that she and her daughters had come to treat as a sort of war council.

Every year for the last ten years, since the family had come out of mourning for her son, the late Earl of Hollingsworth, they had sat here at this very table on the day after Easter and had a conversation very like the one they all presently appeared prepared for.

Her two spinster daughters were tasked with research this year; Lady Rosamund had come with a stack of letters, while Lady Blanche placed six months’ worth of scandal sheets before them all.

Lady Dorothea, the dowager countess and current mistress of the house, until her son came of age, had the office of note taking.

Lady Sophia supplied only herself, deeming her seventy years of wisdom and very decided opinions to be quite a sufficient contribution to the task at hand.

In the twenty years that Lady Dorothea had been the rightful mistress of Richmond Cove, a sprawling manor on the Sussex coast, Lady Sophia’s authority generally prevailed.

Their annual scheme had been her idea from the very beginning.

Ten years ago, her eldest granddaughter was expected to debut in society, and she would have been a darling of the London ton…

if her grief at the loss of her father had not left her with such anxiety in company after their mourning period ended.

When young Lady Helena protested her coming out, Lady Sophia swiftly rescued her favorite grandchild from Lady Dorothea’s stubborn frustration – she proposed a house party that would bring the most eligible suitors and suitable friends to them, and in the comfort of her own home Lady Helena Goulding had landed a marquess.

After her success at the house party, a pair of cousins were sent to Richmond Cove, and each became betrothed at another springtime house party the following year.

It became a yearly tradition to arrange such extravagant celebrations every spring, and when the eligible relations began to dwindle, the Goulding ladies began to cast their net wider.

And every year, it became easier for them to do so, as the event gained acclaim in the first circles.

Over time, their house parties evolved. A fortnight turned into three weeks, and then four – last year’s had lasted a month complete.

And after the first few years, the ladies had taken up betting on what matches might be made – subtly tipping the scales in their favor through various gambits and stratagems.

The previous year, they had introduced another new element to their scheme.

Finding rather an abysmal lack of unattached young people amongst the nobility, they turned to gossip.

They had a great deal of it, for Lady Sophia had two other sons and two other daughters scattered about the country, and they were all frequent correspondents.

The fascinating characters who appeared in their letters found themselves welcomed to Richmond Cove, and even those entirely unacquainted with their hostesses could not resist an invitation to the fabled spring fête.

The guests were chosen with gleeful consideration.

Among them were a handsome young baronet who had jilted a gentleman’s daughter, as well as the young lady in question, who had inherited a fortune since her abandonment.

The party also included a young widow and the cousin of her sister’s husband, who had pined for her in secret – by the end of the house party, the reunited couple had become betrothed, and the heiress rejected her erstwhile lover in favor of a viscount with a penchant for poetry.

Lady Dorothea, whose favored couple was first to announce their engagement, had earned quite a sum for her clever betting.

The Goulding ladies intended to organize this year’s party just as they had done the previous spring.

Lady Sophia reached for the packet of letters and tapped it thoughtfully against the table, effectively calling their meeting to order.

“I do hope you have dug up some salacious gossip, girls. It was vastly satisfying to orchestrate so much dramatic chaos last year, and watch it unfold before us.”

Rosamund offered them a crooked smile. “It was like a novel being written just for us, or a very long play enacted, and us the only audience.”

Dorothea, the cleverest of the younger women, and far too sensible of it, only shook her head at Rosamund’s nonsensical giggle. Blanche waggled her brows. “So long as we have some very handsome players, I shall be satisfied.”

Now Dorothea actually rolled her eyes. “You are forty years old, Blanche. You were on the shelf the first year we orchestrated our grand event.”

Blanche grimaced and redirected her attention to the tea cake before her. Lady Sophia cleared her throat and began unfolding the letters and spreading them out before her, waiting for Rosamund to offer any explanation.

“I have some very promising prospects, Mamma. John’s wife has written of a family near Haye Park that has five daughters. You may recall having met some of them last year when we visited John and Susan.”

Dorothea sniffed and shook her head. “We cannot invite so many sisters! What a shocking thing! Suppose they are all fond of one another?”

“Yes, how very dull that would be,” Lady Sophia quipped.

Rosamund pointed out another letter. “Our cousin Henry’s widow, Lady Russell, has put forward a young lady – well, an unmarried young lady of good family – the daughter of her late friend Lady Elliot.

Her name is Anne, Anne Elliot. She is a sweet girl, and Lady Russell was once obliged to persuade her out of an attachment to a young man of little standing.

She gave him up nine years ago – and what do you think!

He is now a wealthy naval officer, and brother to Miss Wentworth, now Mrs. Croft, who met the admiral at our fourth house party! ”

Lady Sophia perused the proffered letters. “So, he has come up in the world, and her family is now impoverished by her father’s lavish spending. Oh, that is interesting. Dorothea, mark them down as strong possibilities.”

As Dorothea did so, Blanche nudged Rosamund. “Tell her about Mr. Darcy! I have seen him in London; he favors his father, who was vastly handsome! If only he had been single when I came out!”

Lady Sophia perked up with interest. “Mr. Darcy? We tried getting him four years ago, after he came out of mourning for his father.”

“He is a snob,” Dorothea huffed. “I hear he hardly speaks to anybody, does not even dance at balls, nor does he gamble with the other young men. He would make a very dull member of the party, and probably offend all the ladies.”

“Oh, but he already has,” Rosamund cried, as if this were a mark in his favor.

“Remember the family of daughters I mentioned, who live near John and Susan in Meryton? They are, by the by, the nieces of the Gardiners, whose warehouse in London we have grown so fond of. Well, Mr. Darcy lately visited his friend Mr. Bingley there at a rented estate near Meryton. Susan writes that Mrs. Bennet was vastly put out when Mr. Darcy insulted her second daughter, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, at a public assembly – the very first night he ever met her! Apparently, the whole village hates him, and Miss Elizabeth seems rather a spitfire, leading the charge in rousing the ire of her neighbors.”

“Mr. Darcy is an imposing man – she must be a tenacious creature, to defy him,” Blanche said brightly.

She pushed the relevant letter toward Lady Sophia.

“He called her tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt him, and I think that if Pemberley were not so far from Meryton, Miss Elizabeth Bennet might have burnt it to the ground. La! She must be fearsome to behold, for if he said that about me, I should have wept in bed for a month.”

“As it is, I am seriously considering having all the mirrors removed from your rooms,” Dorothea drawled.

Lady Sophia read over her daughter-in-law Susan’s letter describing the Bennet girls. “Miss Elizabeth plays and sings and is uncommonly gregarious and satirical, but in a charming sort of way. Well, I like her already. Mark that down, Dorothea.”

“Has she any fortune? No? Well, I must mark that as well.”

“Mr. Darcy has enough for the both of them,” Blanche laughed. “And what about his rich friend, the tradesman that rented the estate?”

Rosamund’s eyes twinkled with excitement. “Oh, yes! He is not quite a gentleman, but rich enough to be forgiven, surely. And listen to this!”

She slid another letter toward Lady Sophia.

“While he was in Meryton, he wooed Miss Elizabeth’s eldest sister, Miss Jane Bennet.

Everybody in the village expected a match between them, and then he abruptly departed the area only a few days after throwing a ball in Miss Bennet’s honor.

And she stayed at his house while ill for a week! ”

Lady Dorothea arched an eyebrow, wearing just the trace of a smile. “And did the spirited sister turn all of Hertfordshire against him, too?”

“No, but I should imagine she will not be overly cordial if she were to meet with the pair of gentlemen again – unless he still harbors a regard for the sister,” Blanche suggested.

Lady Sophia turned to her daughter-in-law, who nodded dutifully. “Yes, Mamma, I am marking it down.”

There was plenty of gossip and scandal for Lady Dorothea to notate.

They discussed a pair of sisters who had been turned out of their family home; one had been separated from a man she admired, whose family was responsible for her poverty, while the younger sister had been jilted by a young man dependent on the approval of a wealthy aunt who commanded him to wed an heiress.

In the end, the ladies agreed these sisters seemed a dreary pair, and Lady Dorothea believed her friend Mrs. Jennings had the girls well in hand.