“You just be a great coxcomb, sir, to invite us all together like this,” Mr. Rushworth cried. “General Tilney is not a man to be trifled with, and I do not like it!”
Mr. Tilney inclined his head? Looking rather crestfallen. “I am sorry to hear it. I had imagined a different outcome, as Isaid. I had thought the evening would prove one of celebration, in ending my father’s vicious hold over you all.”
Mrs. Rushworth wrinkled her nose with disdain. “And instead we are to dine amongst strangers who all know us to be hiding some great secret, and who all have scandalous secrets of their own. I am not in the habit of dining in such company.”
“Are you not?” Lady Susan gave a wolfish grin and waggled her brows. “I reside chiefly in London, and move amongst the first circles. All the best people are hiding something, I assure you.”
Beside her, Sir Walter leered. “And some of us are not hiding their secrets especially well; they prefer their notoriety.”
The lady grinned at him. “If only my notoriety were enough to deter the attentions of the desperate.”
“Well, I think it is mad,” Mr. Rushworth insisted. “I was raised to be mindful of the company I keep. Mother would not approve.”
“You are welcome to depart, if it makes you uneasy,” Mr. Tilney said. “Take rooms at an inn, if you like, and I can send for you when the general is gone, and the royals have arrived.”
Mrs. Rushworth gave a sideward glance at the man beside her, and shook her head. “We will remain, so long as you are good as your word, sir. You have already deceived us with your false name.”
“I must hope to make amends by granting you what I am sure you have long desired… independence from my father’s machinations,” Mr. Tilney said smoothly. “When the royals are finished with him, you need not live in fear of his blackmail any longer. In the meanwhile, you may take solace in the company of others who understand what you have endured.”
Elizabeth looked over at Mr. Darcy. He gazed about the table with an expression equal measures guilty and suspicious, and somehow this was the most ominous moment of the evening.
***
Dinner remained tense and chaotic, though they muddled through it, and rather quickly. Nobody had much of an appetite after Mr. Tilney’s revelation, nor any inclination to withdraw to the parlor after the hurried meal. They had been all suspicion and distrust, and when it was observed that Mr. Tilney had referred to a dozen of them having secrets, nearly everybody had been eager to insinuate that they were one of the four innocents at the table.
Only Sir Edward and Mr. Darcy had refrained from this paltry tactic, which troubled Elizabeth as she paced her bedchamber that evening. Her uncle had evaded her, despite his promise; he remained firm that he must speak to the general before providing her any elucidation. Mr. Darcy had scarcely been able to meet her eye, though he had sought to attach himself to her for want of any better companions. This, at least, ought to have been a relief, but the first moment of solace she found came when Catherine Morland knocked on her door.
“Is it not charming to share a cozy little parlor, Miss Bennet?”
“It is very snug, with the fire blazing,” Elizabeth admitted.
Miss Morland held up a bottle of wine and two glasses. “Mr. Tilney sent this, with a note that said I am to share it with you, that we might grow better acquainted.”
“I suppose he must have a little pity for us, knowing us to be amongst the four who harbor no dark, mysterious secret.”
Miss Morland gestured to the sofa, and Elizabeth sank heavily into it as her new friend poured them each a glass of wine. She arched an eyebrow. “How old are you, Miss Morland?”
“I will be nineteen next year,” the girl said boldly, before shaking her head with a wry laugh. “I will be eighteen in December.”
“And I think you are not insensible to the charms of Mr. Tilney. Do you think it wise, given the circumstances?”
“Probably not,” Miss Morland sighed. “But he is the handsomest man I ever saw! And so affable! And do you not think it is terribly clever and noble of him to go against his father, and free everyone from whatever blackmail they have endured?”
Elizabeth considered, for it was very likely that her uncle was amongst that number, and she shuddered to think what that might have to do with her. “I suppose it depends. If anybody has actually done some great wrong, for which they deserve punishment rather than extortion…. Perhaps he ought to have handled it all through the appropriate legal procedures.”
“But we are to receive two children of the King! Are they not the highest law?” Miss Morland sipped at her wine, and then frowned. “Do you suppose there is any chance that Lady Allen and Sir Edward are the other two innocents?”
Elizabeth let out a heavy sigh and refilled her glass before doing the same for her friend. “I am sorry to say that I do not think it likely, else why would they have brought us here? No, when I think of it, I must consider the others that have some connections present. Miss Woodville, I think her name was, the haughty blonde in the white dress….”
“Miss Woodhouse, I thought she was quite nice.”
“Well, I suppose I can excuse her behavior at such a time. But Mr. Tilney said that she came with her aunt and a companion, so perhaps one amongst them has no horrible secret of their own. And then there was the married couple, the Rushworths, and that lady’s brother. One amongst them, perhaps? It cannot be anybody who came alone.”
Miss Morland nodded thoughtfully. “Your uncle seemed to know Lady Allen – either that, or they were instantly smitten. Perhaps there is some great secret from their past!”
Elizabeth laughed. “My mother and her sister have teased my uncle for being quite an enthusiastic beau in his younger days, but I cannot think how that would be a damaging revelation. Forgive me, I hardly wish to think what my uncle might have done that could warrant the disquiet that fell over him as we traveled here.”
“Oh dear, it was the same for Lady Allen, and she is generally so cheerful. But she has always been such a kind and attentive neighbor, and has taken such an interest in me, especially now that I am quite grown up. I ought to feel ungrateful for speculating like this, but I am vastly curious.”
