Mrs Gardiner peered over her sewing with a knowing look. “You are not still bothering with that footman, are you? Lizzy, why ever should you trouble yourself? He was quite obviously intoxicated and probably justifiably turned out.”
“I take no interest beyond the word I have given, which was merely to offer my opinion of my uncle’s generosity and fairness as an employer. If the man should choose to apply, and if my uncle should choose to receive him, it is certainly no business of mine.”
Mrs Gardner thinned her lips sceptically, and she raised an eyebrow at her niece. “Lizzy, I have some duties to be about this morning. Would you mind very much taking your cousins out for air with their nurse? They may go alone, of course, but it is best if someone attends them, and I think you could do with the diversion.”
“Of course, Aunt.” Elizabeth reached down to give her youngest cousin a playful embrace and watched wistfully as her aunt rose to go speak with the nurse.
She sighed. Now, what was she to do with that footman who was waiting below stairs? And why was it that he had considered it such an insult when she had asked him to wait in the kitchens? He should have counted it a hopeful sign, but instead, had clearlystruggled against a vocal protest that he was not invited to the drawing room.
Perhaps she was, indeed, wasting her time with him. After all, how often did a servant expect to speak directly with the master when he applied for employment, yet had she not attempted to secure him such an interview? He had not even a written character by his former employer! She was doing him a favour, offering to speak on his behalf on so little inducement. After all, what had he done for her, apart from knocking down her parcels?
Well… he had picked them up again. And carried them—badly, but his only complaint had been an entertaining assortment of grimaces and scowls. She tried to forget how gallantly he had shielded her from the dirtier parts of the street, or how he had suggested a safer route for her to walk home. He was only trying to impress her in hopes of employment, surely, but there had been about him an air of command which would suit his prospective post ill. He ought to be inquiring at the Army instead of a household, but perhaps he would like taking an officer’s orders even less than an employer’s.
Elizabeth determined—again—to dismiss him from her thoughts and released her cousin back into the care of her nurse to make ready for her outing. “Kitty?” she called into the next room. She rounded the corner and found her sister seated near the fire. “Would you like to come for another walk? I am going out with our cousins.”
Kitty, who had been fussing with her new bonnet, looked up to Elizabeth with a sneer of disdain. “You have already tired me sufficiently for one morning, Lizzy. If you do indeed insist on attending the Gardens this evening, I require some rest, or I shall begin to cough, and you know how that drives Uncle to distraction.”
“If we go, it will not be for many hours yet.”
“Nevertheless, I am quite happy here for now. If only Aunt had some darker ribbon!”
“Very well. Aunt has asked me to accompany the children, so I shall see you when I return.”
“Lizzy, what do you intend to do about your dashing new footman? Did Uncle speak with him?”
Elizabeth shook her head nonchalantly. “Nothing at all, for he is notmyfootman. Uncle is away at present, and I have already exerted enough effort for that man. I am in no humour to give consequence to footmen who have been dismissed by other masters, and despite your teasing, he is not fine enough that I should be tempted to bother with him further.”
Kitty cleared her throat and coughed, smirking all the while.
Elizabeth, filled with a sudden sense of foreboding, turned around. Her mysterious stranger had apparently broken the injunction to remain in the kitchens and had not only found her out but had heard every word.
He looked to be darkly displeased, eyes piercing, and cultured tones clipped as he glared back at her. “You have long been wishing for my absence, I see. Very well, I shall trouble you no further. Good day, madam.”
Elizabeth blanched in mortification as he turned and marched away. Then, a sense of indignation welled up within her. “What was he thinking of, coming upstairs and surprising us like that?” she demanded of Kitty. “No one of decency would have done so, and least of all one who wishes to be employed at the house!”
Kitty offered no answer but a giggling snort, as she held her hand over her broadening grin and laughed riotously. “I don’t know Lizzy, but I have never seen anyone so thoroughly mortify you! He caught you fairly, whether you confess it or no.”
Elizabeth made a sour face and took up the reticule that she had set aside but minutes before. “Enjoy my moment of humiliation to its fullest, if you will, for it shall be the last. Never again will I exert myself for someone such as that!”
“You would not have been so embarrassed if you had not spoken so ill,” Kitty pointed out—perhaps the most sensible observation she had uttered in the past six months.
This did nothing to improve her sister’s humour. “I will return in an hour or two, Kitty,” she grumbled. “Do try to finish laughing at my expense before I come back.”
Chapter seven
Not fine enough to tempt her! Fine enough, indeed!He ought to have announced his identity to that strumpet’s face. Let her then pronounce again that he was not fine enough for her! A daughter of trade! He would have laughed aloud, had he not been so irate.
If the scion of Pemberley could be said to stomp, he was most decidedly stomping now. Very few other descriptors of his ambulatory attitude could quite capture his mood as he stormed away from the tradesman’s house in Cheapside. He had not even had an opportunity to speak with the master, but no uncle could possibly be reasonable enough to atone for that sabre-tongued miss!
No, even if she were the last alibi in the city, he would have nothing to do with that household. She would be just the sort to learn of his true identity and try to ensnare him. She, who had not even the decency to see through his present trappings and recognise the distinguished gentleman at first glance! She, yes, she would be just the sort to put on a sweet face for a wealthy man when she would do nothing of the kind for a… he hissed in aggravation.
Unfortunately, shehadexerted herself for his benefit, while asking nothing in return. Thus, he had not even the pleasure of denouncing her as a heartless wench. She was merely… baffling.
But he would think no more of her. Something else could surely be found to solve this dilemma. Perhaps… perhaps his uncle would not be so unreasonable after all.
“Compromised Anne? Darcy? Well now, his blood is red after all. I could hardly believe it if you had not sworn to it, but this is fortuitous. It seems one way or another, we shall have the boy settled.” The Earl of Matlock laced his fingers over his abdomen as he lounged in his favourite chair, his sister pacing like a caged tiger before him. “Has he made the engagement official?”
“No! He is not even to be found. He disappeared in disgrace after ruining my daughter, and I must see him brought to rectitude!”
