“And Aunt Madeline?”
“I was fond of her, and we delighted in our children together. She was the sister-in-law of one of my business associates whose wife was from Derbyshire. Madeline found herself in a situation like Lady Allen. Her sister had six and wanted no more children, and there was no other family to help her hush the scandal. I thought to myself it would be some repayment for how my own scandal had been managed, and I offered to marry her. I wanted children of my own, to raise them, and from the very beginning we got on as the dearest of friends. I told her of my lost love, and of you, and she told me of the lad she had loved all her life, who promised to marry her before perishing at sea. In that loss, we were close indeed, and never much minded that our hearts belonged to others.”
Tears welled in Elizabeth’s eyes. “Then I am glad you were happy, and she was, and that now you can be reunited with Lady Allen and your daughters. Will you see them?”
“As often as I can, and likely more! I do hope so. I never knew of them, though I heard of her marriage when I returned to England, and I grieved for years.”
“I would like us to often be in London together.”
“Lizzy, that is just what we should wish! Margaret means to ask Harriet to come and stay with her, and she wishes to think of some excuse to put about with Mrs. Morland, such as giving Cathy a season with her new friend. You are welcome, and I hope the Bingleys might venture to town when the babe can travel.”
“Then we are in perfect accord,” Elizabeth said. “But have I any other brothers or sisters?”
He gave her a sardonic look. “Really, Lizzy!”
“Oh! And who is my mother? Is she alive? What is she? Did you not love her? Might I know her? Would she wish it?”
Sir Edward chuckled. “She is alive, and I daresay we will be very pleased to meet you in a few days’ time, if Tilney is to be believed.”
“What do you mean?” Elizabeth’s first thought was that there may be some means to leave the castle.
But Sir Edward gave a mysterious smile. “The guests who were delayed – old acquaintance from my feckless youth at court.”
Elizabeth gasped. “Not a member of the royal household.”
“A rather prominent one, known for her dalliances. You were named for her.”
“You cannot mean….”
“So you see, there is a particular reason for you to come to London. The princess is going to be delighted with you.”
Chapter Six
Elizabeth must have swooned, for she was suddenly shaken, and her eyes slid open. Cathy, Harriet, and Emma were hovering over her, and Mr. Darcy stood behind them looking no less anxious.
“Lizzy, you are a princess!”
Elizabeth smiled dazedly at Cathy. “The daughter of one, at least, though I hardly think royal bastards can claim such a grand title.”
“Oh, do not use that horrid word! It was very wrong of high and mighty Miss Denham,” Emma huffed.
Elizabeth met Mr. Darcy’s gaze and saw nothing but concern there as her friends helped her sit up; she could not account for why her origins had not utterly repelled him. If anything, he had been kinder than ever to her. He hadflirtedwith her.
Lady Allen hovered over Elizabeth, fussing protectively. When Elizabeth assured them all that she was perfectly well, Lady Allen came to sit beside her in a motherly pose. “I am sure you must wish to ask your uncle – and I am dying to know – Princess Elizabeth, Edward? You never told me that part!”
Sir Edward looked round at their audience, though nobody looked the least bit abashed by their eagerness for what he might say next. He shook his head with a rueful chuckle.
“Well, where do I begin? I finished at Cambridge back in eighty-nine; though from trade, my family was already filthyrich, and I had made some very well-connected friends at university, who would go on to inherit lands and titles. We were a mad set, fond of travel and food and luxuries and women. We had a plan to begin our grand tours together in Paris, though of course in eighty-nine it was quite impossible. Instead we all traveled to a friend’s summer estate near Weymouth, to enjoy every manner of seaside revels. General Tilney was amongst our set, in fact.”
“That is when you met the royal family,” Mr. Tilney said with a nod.
“Your late uncle Harry, several years his junior, was our classmate, but we knew the colonel, as he was then. His regiment was stationed in Weymouth at the time, and Harry suggested it as our destination when the Bastille fell. To be near a military presence felt reassuring, with a foreign monarchy on the brink of toppling.”
“I have heard this story,” Mr. Tilney said. “There were rumors at the time of French agents infiltrating coastal cities, and my father saw it as a chance to distinguish himself. I was too young to recall any of it at the age of two.”
“Yes,” Sir Edward agreed. “I had forgotten it, but I believe I met you when you were in leading strings. Your mother was expecting your sister then. It was a stroke of luck for your father when the King travelled to Weymouth for his health, and the regiment had their moment of distinction. They uncovered an assassination plot, and thwarted it just in time, which was very convenient for your father. The general was noticed by the King, and given a position in his network of spies. Through the general’s distinction, Harry and the rest of us were brought into the royal circle. We attended the same parties and saw a great deal of some of the King’s children.”
“And that is how you attained your knighthood,” Elizabeth said.
