I turned in my chair as Papa rose and scowled at him. The unrepentant rascal. He merely winked at me and then at Jane, who was giving him the same look.
“Mr. Bennet, you have no compassion on my poor nerves! I daresay when Mr. Bingley arrives in town, you will not even trouble yourself to greet him, and your own daughters will suffer for it.”
“Far be it from me to let my girls suffer. If he is the sort of cad who cannot sniff out their beauty from Netherfield, I daresay he does not deserve them.”
Jane and I exchanged glances. Papa could keep me laughing all day long, but his treatment of Mama was growing tiresome. He felt no shame for it, of course, and it was worse that I could hardly keep a straight face when he riled her up. But it truly troubled Jane.
“Oh!” Mama put her handkerchief to her breast and fluttered it as Papa left the room. “Hewouldscamper off to his cursed library, and just when I was about to tell him the most important thing!”
“What is that, Mama?” Jane asked.
“Well! Mrs. Long had it from Lady Lucas, who got it from Mrs. Brown, who heard it from her housekeeper that there is a thief in Meryton!”
“A thief?” I asked mildly. “Oh, goodness me. There is always someone willing to pick the pockets of the careless.”
“Nay, for this is no ordinary thief. They say he broke into Mrs. Marcus’s larder and stole an entire ham, and then he took all her silver spoons.”
“Spoons!” I ejaculated. “How is she to stir her tea?”
“Indeed, it is a hardship! And there is another report that he pinched a fine tapestry from Lady Trenton in Halstead and a necklace from Mrs. Howell in Raleigh.”
“How do we know these are all the same person?”
“Oh, by his own actions, to be sure. He scarcely bothers to sneak in. Rather, I believe he hopes the lady of the house will catch him so he can rough her up a bit as he robs her blind!”
Jane stiffened. “Surely not!”
“And the worst of it,” Mama continued, “is that he is apparently so charming that the lady declines to put up the hue and cry. Lady Trenton reportedly swooned when he left her. She was that overcome.”
A smile tugged at my mouth. “So, you are saying there is a scoundrel going about kissing ladies in their own homes and cozening their finer possessions before they have quite come to their senses? I believe I should like to see a man of such talents.”
“Lizzy, you do test my nerves so! As bad as your father you are, but you will see this is no laughing matter when he accosts someone you know. I’ll not have him slipping intomyhouse and compromisingmydaughters, I’ll not. I’ll have Hill sleep in the drawing room if need be. Heaven knows I cannot depend on your father to hear an intruder before he causes mischief.”
Jane looked at me and sighed, shaking her head. I pointed up subtly, and she nodded. We’d have a long chat upstairs.
Darcy
“AMr.CharlesBingleyto see you, sir.”
“Bingley? There’s a surprise. Send him in, please.” I flicked closed the pages of the peerage book I had been leafing through. This Mr. Bennet of Longbourn had a strange family history, but it could wait. I stood to button my jacket.
Charles Bingley, two years my junior and son of a woolen mill tycoon, was an old acquaintance from Cambridge. We had never been close, owing to the rather significant gulf between our stations and social circles. However, I had always found him an amiable chap with no faults of character or taste. He had a tousled mop of fiery red hair and the freckles to match, but he had the good sense to pair them with such a genial aspect that none could object to his less-than-dignified appearance.
He entered the study wearing a smile as wide as my desk and put his hand out. “Darcy! Thank you for seeing me.”
“Of course. Won’t you sit down? Tea?”
“Yes, thank you. I hope not to take too much of your time. I shan’t wish to impose.”
“Not at all. Dobbs, will you ring for tea? And close the door, please. What can I do for you, Bingley?”
“Well, it is probably quite silly. Actually, I am not certain I ought to have troubled you at all, but as I was in the neighborhood—”
I gestured. “Please.”
He released the breath he was holding. “Very kind. Well, as you recall, my father sold the mills several years ago and had intended to purchase an estate upon his retirement, but he got the itch to travel instead. The golden Orient, the Coliseum in Rome, the Pyramids at Giza; he quite wore out his boots.”
“Indeed? I did not know. Where is he now?”
