They worked together for above an hour, setting the tables, which were laid out in three long rows. Mr. Tilney issued commands to all the servants, dispatching several to attend to all the guest rooms. “It is a pity we have no fresh flowers. The ones I have been using at dinner are beginning to look quite pathetic.”
“What about candles, a vast deal of candles all down the center of the tables? The room will look heavenly,” Cathy suggested.
They raided a storeroom below stairs for every last candle, and set about arranging them on the tables. “Perhaps we should wait to light them, until the drawbridge is actually open,” Mr. Darcy said when they finished their task.
The room was transformed, and they were all very well pleased with their work when a servant informed them that a small boat was crossing the moat. “That is our cue to begin dressing ourselves,” Elizabeth said. Mr. Darcy escorted her and Cathy upstairs, while Mr. Tilney hastened to meet the blacksmith and magistrate.
All the ladies were in quite a state as they prepared themselves in their suite. Lady Allen had worked Harriet and Emma into a frenzy of ribbons and lace, the likes of which even Longbourn had never seen, for they were to meet the princess. Lady Allen paid special attention to Elizabeth’s toilette. “Are you not eager to meet your mother, my dear?”
Elizabeth had begun to grow rather nervous, for she had little say in whether or not shewishedto meet the woman who was her mother. She began to feel the weight of all that had happened since coming to Clwyd Castle, and she was not at all ready to meet the princess who had given birth to her.
Nonetheless, she muddled through her toilette, and all the other ladies praised her appearance when she was finished. She wore another of her new gowns, a creamy confection of silk and sarsenet, complimented by her grandmother’s pearls. Emma loaned her some mother-of-pearl hairpins for her elegant coiffure, and declared her ready to be presented.
The ladies all went into the parlor together. Sir Edward was seated on a sofa, and he smiled brightly at the sight of them. Across from him sat the princess.
Chapter Seventeen
Lady Allen stepped forward first, making a deep curtsey and then presenting her daughters and Emma, who did the same. The princess was gracious to them, but her eyes lingered on Elizabeth, whose feet had frozen at the back of the room.
The princess sat regal and calm, and she beckoned Elizabeth forward with a wave of her hand and a warm smile. There was something almost familiar about the woman, beyond the resemblance Elizabeth bore her.
“Come and sit with me, child. All of you, sit. I have come to speak with you while that pompous little magistrate questions your friends about the pile of bodies in the cellar. What a party!”
Lady Allen sat beside Sir Edward and took his hand in hers, and Cathy and Harriet sat on either side of their parents, for only Emma had the temerity to take a seat on the same sofa as the princess. Elizabeth did as she was bid and stepped forward, making a deep curtsey when she was a few paces away. When she stood, Princess Elizabeth patted the sofa beside herself.
Elizabeth sat between Emma and the princess, her eyes never leaving the latter. “Your Royal Highness."
Sir Edward cleared his throat. “Miss Elizabeth Bennet… meet your mother. Shall I ring for tea, ma’am?”
“So close to supper? I think not. The poor staff must already be at sixes and sevens after the mode of our arrival.” The princess gave a musical laugh, but did not take her eyes off of Elizabeth. “You poor creature, you look terrified.”
Elizabeth arched an eyebrow. “I trust you are aware of recent events?”
“Ha! Indeed I am, though you need have no further fear of murder. The magistrate is far too puffed up to allow any further shenanigans. Leave us, if you please.”
Sir Edward stood and bowed, then helped his lady and their daughters to her feet. Emma seemed reluctant, and asked Elizabeth, “Do you wish me to stay with you?”
The princess made a droll face. “She may, butIdo not.”
“We will go and say our piece to the magistrate, ma’am,” Sir Edward said. He ushered the ladies from the suite and glanced back over his shoulder to give Elizabeth a look of reassurance before leaving her alone with the princess.
“Is Miss Woodhouse a particular friend?”
“I like her, but I have known her only this week.”
“Then she cannot be too offended at her dismissal. She has got a nerve, I shall give her that,” the princess said with an indulgent grin. “I think a little cheek a very fine thing.”
“That is fortunate news for me,” Elizabeth said, summoning all her courage to smile with confidence.
“Ha! Well, you must be my daughter, then.”
“Did you know that I would be here?”
“Of course! Mr. Tilney wrote to my secretary, whom I believe he knew from school. I have not seen him since he wasvery small, though it seems he has grown in everything but good sense! What was he thinking, inviting you all here to expose his father?”
“He was thinking of the good it might do, I suppose, and not the hundred ways it could have gone awry.”
“Why should anybody like to attend a party where every stranger you meet knows that you have some secret the general has blackmailed? At the very least, everybody should be tripping over one another to discover the other secrets and extort one another. But then, everybody accepted his invitation, under his silly guise as Mr. Butler!”
