Chapter Twelve #2
They were sent off, the guests rotating through exits on three sides of the room to properly disperse them; Elizabeth was dismissed through the door which happily afforded her the swiftest path to the stairs, and she hurried up to the third floor, exhilarated already.
The third floor corridor was empty, but for a maid outside the nearest doorway. She waved Elizabeth over and handed her a black cloak. She was instructed to put it on, keep the hood down, and wait.
Elizabeth stalked into the room, which was lit only by a fire. She kept her head down, and she could hear excited breathing nearby. She froze, wondering who her compatriot might be. A few minutes later, the door opened again, and there were heavier footfalls – a gentleman, perhaps.
The door opened one final time, and Lady Sophia greeted them with dramatic flair.
“Well, aren’t you the lucky ones? You need not trouble yourselves over being marked for death – or dessert – but will you turn on one another, or take the path of safety in numbers?
But I suppose you are eager to see your co-conspirators.
You may lift your hoods, my treacherous fiends. ”
Elizabeth pulled back the black velvet hood and let out a laugh of wicked glee as she beheld Lady Rebecca and Mr. Bingley beaming at one another.
Lady Rebecca turned, the black cape swishing elegantly around her, and gave a merry hoot at Elizabeth.
“Oh, wonderful,” Mr. Bingley cried.
“Brilliant, Lady Sophia,” Lady Rebecca said. “I could not ask for better accomplices. Now, who shall be our first victim?”
“This round, there shall be two; I should hate for anybody to be alone once they are eliminated. They must have some company, until the bodies begin to pile up.”
“Darcy,” Mr. Bingley said. “I thought of it the moment I felt three coins in my hand. Nobody shall ever suspect me of it.”
Elizabeth instinctively shook her head; she found that she could not like the idea of Mr. Darcy being obliged to sit out for most of the game, deprived of the enjoyment.
Lady Rebecca chortled. “I shall be the first person accused, and poor Lizzy the second! No, we must think of whom we wish to be accused and cast out, and who they might choose to mark for death. How wonderfully macabre!”
Elizabeth grinned at them. “I had not thought of that. You are deliciously devious! Very well, which two people do we most wish not to win the game?”
Mr. Bingley and Rebecca instantly spoke the name that was on the tip of Elizabeth’s tongue, but she knew that selecting Miss Bingley would be too obvious.
As her friends shared a teasing look, she tapped her chin to consider.
“I have noticed that Colonel Brandon and Mr. Willoughby do not get along. Perhaps Mr. Willoughby?”
Lady Rebecca nodded thoughtfully. “What of Lady Julia? I have the impression that she is not well-liked by the ladies.”
“True,” Elizabeth said. “And one might make the case that Miss Elliot or Lord Bixler did the deed to evade suspicion.”
Lady Sophia nodded, and set them to the task of finding their quarry. “There are servants in all the open rooms. When you have completed your vicious mission, they will ring the bells – or I shall, when ten minutes have passed.”
“I am strangely frightened,” Mr. Bingley said, rubbing his hands together. They had each been given a pair of black gloves to wear; coupled with their cloaks, they would betray nothing that would give them away. He drew up his hood. “Shall we go together?”
“We shall have two people to find, in only ten minutes,” Elizabeth said, but Lady Rebecca had already taken them each by the arm.
“We shall be more frightening together. Come, let us embrace the spirit of this strange game!”
They found both of their targets before the bells rang, both in a room together with Miss Elliot.
All three were frantically searching for another crown.
Mr. Bingley and Lady Rebecca marked Mr. Willoughby and Lady Julia with a touch of the hand, and Miss Elliot gave a squeal of fright.
She tugged gently at Elizabeth’s cape. “If a phantom is found out, let me take their place – we shall win the game together.”
Elizabeth doubted this, and she hoped she might carry on for as long as possible with her current compatriots.
In the ominous spirit of the game, she gave a deep throated chuckle, raised a gloved hand, and ran it along her throat.
Then, the trio fled the room, their cloaks swishing about them as the bells began to ring.
Per their instructions, they handed their cloaks off to the nearest servant as soon as they had the privacy to do so, and then they rushed back to the dining room, encountering some others of their party along the way.
Elizabeth made a great show of looking frightened and confused, like the other guests, who merrily played into the theatrics of the game.
In the dining room, the table had been cleared, save for a long row of candles down the center. Everyone but the two eliminated players resumed their seats. Lady Sophia commenced the discourse, and accusations were cast widely about the room.
Miss Elliot led the charge, predictably naming Colonel Brandon.
She was accused in turn of betraying Lady Julia Bixler, and Elizabeth was happy to inquire if anybody had seen Miss Elliot hiding and searching for talismans amongst the innocent.
She suspected the lady had been with the two dearly departed guests the entire time, and when nobody could account for Miss Elliot’s whereabouts, they all agreed it was because she had been wearing a phantom’s cloak.
She let out a scream of rage as she was made to relinquish her guinea and withdraw.
Elizabeth and her conspirators had escaped any notice in the first round; the game was off to a promising beginning for Elizabeth, though she feared she was looking a little too smug when Mr. Darcy met her eye.