Papa suppressed a chortle as he raised his hand. “Mr. Hill, will you please bring it in?”
I thought Collins would perspire and gasp his last when our old butler pushed in a second tea cart with a draped figure perched on top. A clever bit of theatrics from Papa, as always, for never is one so inclined to beg for the pleasure of buying something as when he cannot see what it is he means to buy.
“Lady Catherine is prepared to pay seventy-five pounds for it!” he cried.
Papa arrested himself halfway out of his chair. “But my good sir, you have not even seen it yet.”
Mama started fanning herself. “Seventy-five pounds! Goodness me, girls. You are saved!” she whispered.
Collins gripped the armrests of his chair and fairly lunged to his feet. “I pray you, sir, lift the veil and relieve my suspense!”
I cast Jane a worried glance. With the way this Collins fellow was lumbering about, it would be a wonder if he did not knock the sculpture over before they ever settled on a price.
Ever the showman, Papa lifted the white cloth with a flourish. “There you are, Mr. Collins. Is it not everything Lady Catherine could possibly have imagined?”
Collins tiptoed toward it, his mouth hanging open and a long lock of unkempt hair dropping over his eyes. Such had been his eagerness to marvel at the thing. Truly, itwasworthy of admiration. I tilted my head and tried to imagine seeing it for the first time.
It was large enough to grace a mantel or a pedestal in a grand house. If I placed my fingertips on the table beside it and measured it with my forearm, the tips of Eros’ wings came just above my elbow. The marble was scarred here and there, and the tip of one wing was missing, which only added to its value, according to Papa.
Eros, or Cupid, however one preferred to call him, was truly a figure to behold—allof him. And the way he was cradling his lover, with his hand upon… well, that much does not entirely bear repeating, but it had put many a fancy inmyhead. I can say that much with confidence. Euphoric rapture cried out in the lines of their faces and the postures of their bodies, and the figures were rendered in exquisite detail. Clearly, the work of a master.
Papa said there was no way to know who had originally crafted the marble statue, as it was so very old. He claimed to have obtained it only in the last year from some unknown collector, but I had always nursed some foggy memory of finding something similar in his hidden cottage when I was very young. But that must be mere imagination, for what purpose would Papa have in not telling me where it had come from?
I still wondered what he was about, purchasing something that certainly must have been quite dear when Longbourn did not have deep coffers. Mama was always complaining that she needed more pin money, and our gowns had all been made over more times than they ought to have been. But if this Lady Catherine was willing to pay a handsome price, perhaps I could forgive my father for making such a lavish expenditure.
“One hundred pounds,” Collins whispered reverently.
Papa arched a brow. “Well, now, Collins, I had not quite settled on whether I ought to sell it.”
“Oh!” my mother scoffed. “Mr. Bennet, how you trifle with me. Of course, you will sell it! He has offered one hundred pounds! Are you mad?”
“I must be, my dear. No, no, I quite enjoy having this on my desk as I write my little letters of business and so on. I’m afraid you will have to tell Lady Catherine that I will consider her offer.”
I snickered, and Jane nudged me with the toe of her house slipper. Papa loved bartering almost as much as he loved his pottery.
Collins’ face changed hues, and his mouth gaped helplessly. “But Her Ladyship said I ought not to return until I had made all the arrangements! She will be most seriously displeased if I do not satisfy her.”
“Well! Then if you must, you are welcome to remain as our guest some days. Hill will make you comfortable. Oh, Jane, Lizzy? Were you still planning to go walking this afternoon? I wonder, as Collins here is to stay with us, perhaps you could show him around Meryton. I am sure you would enjoy that, would you not, Mr. Collins?”
Collins had his back to me, but his disappointment at not receiving immediate gratification played through every clumsy bone in his body. “Yes. Yes, that will do, Mr. Bennet. I thank you for your gracious offer. But I cannot stay more than… a week. Yes, a week. Lady Catherine is expecting me.”
“And we cannot disappoint Lady Catherine, can we? We will talk again on the morrow, Mr. Collins. Meanwhile, girls run along and get your pelisses and your bonnets and your muffs. Good lasses. Enjoy your outing!”
I pierced my father with a dangerous look, but he only grinned back at me as he removed his spectacles. How very tidy he had fixed everything! Collins would now be even more desperate to make a deal with each hour that passed, but the burden of entertaining him had fallen on Jane and me. One could be certain that our younger sisters would be of no help.
“I’m going to scream, Jane,” I whispered.
“Not here. You’ll scare Collins, and he’ll knock the statue over,” she murmured back.
I sighed. “Well, come on. We may as well get this over with. With any luck, we can outpace him to town, so we shan’t have to listen to his praises of Lady Catherine.”
Darcy
Ihadnotmuchtime. The Royal Archive did not open their vault to just anyone, and I had no “Lord” in front of my name. It was to my everlasting relief that the keeper of the records treasury turned out to be Viscount Rogan, an old friend from Cambridge who had relied heavily on me to pass his mathematics classes.
“One hour, Darcy,” he cautioned me. “And I cannot permit you to remove anything.”
“I would not dream of it. If you will direct me to the volumes I speak of, I will be on my way as swiftly as I have come.”
