She made no response, for she could scarcely get her fingers to work as she dressed herself. Lady Rebecca seemed to require no reply. “He told me intended to speak to you yesterday about a matter of some delicacy.”
“He was very civil yesterday, though I fear I rattled on about Norland,” Elinor said, beginning to feel herself an absolute simpleton for having now wept twice in front of the colonel.
“Yes, Norland – I imagine you had a great deal to say. I hope he expressed himself well. But it is really the strangest coincidence!”
Elinor wanted only a few buttons in the back to be fastened, and she came out from behind the screen at last. “What coincidence?”
Lady Rebecca tipped her head to one side. “What do you mean? You talked about Norland with him?”
Elinor turned around as Lady Rebecca fastened the buttons and made a few adjustments to the way the elegant garment hung about Elinor, who was a little larger in the bust. “Yes – I suppose Marianne told you that our foolish half-brother gambled it away. She and Mamma took the news rather hard.”
When she had finished her ministrations, Lady Rebecca spun Elinor around so quickly she nearly lost her footing. “But am I sure I heard him say something to you of resigning his commission, of acquiring some property.”
“Yes,” Elinor said dubiously. And then something lurched in her stomach. “Oh, no. Surely not.”
Lady Rebecca thinned her lips into an apologetic smile. “So, he did not tell you.”
Elinor shook her head in dismay. “Not… Norland?”
The pained expression on Lady Rebecca’s face was answer enough. “Perhaps you ought to sit down – allow me to explain….”
But Elinor instead began to pace the room. “No, no, it is impossible.”
“It is improbable, to be sure. Truly, we came into the country with no notion we should encounter any Dashwoods. Even after our first meeting, I am sure it never occurred to him that you may be kin to that beastly fellow.”
Elinor looked at Lady Rebecca with despair, and still she paced. “But he is not such a man! Your brother – he would not do such a thing, surely!”
“All men play cards,” Lady Rebecca said with a little shrug. “It gives them something to do, if they cannot accomplish any pursuit that requires intelligence.”
“But he would not take a man’s home – and so soon after John and Fanny suffered the death of their child! It is too cruel – he cannot have been the man to take advantage of John in such a way.”
“Please sit down, Miss Dashwood – you are making me dizzy!” Lady Rebecca gestured to a chair by the fire, and Elinor was so bewildered that she did as she was bid. She stared wide-eyed at Lady Rebecca, desperate to hear something that could make sense of it all.
“If Richard had intended to swindle your brother, he would have taken possession of the estate at once, in November; he would never have taken the post with the regiment here in Meryton.”
Elinor was still too stunned to say much of anything. “In November?”
“Yes, he and Phillip – our brother, the viscount – were at their club, and by Phillip’s telling, your half-brother was well in his cups and determined to make an ass of himself.”
“He was grieving his child, his only son.”
“He was taunting my brothers, gambling more than he ought, and losing a vast sum, despite the good advice of his own friends and companions. He continued in such a fashion, ever determined to win it all back, and insisted upon wagering the deed to his estate. Perhaps Richard might not have accepted it if your brother had not taken a swing at him – my brother, my step-mother, and my young cousin can all attest that his eye was purple for a fortnight afterward!”
Elinor shuddered, and began to hug herself in distress. Lady Rebecca perched on the arm of her chair and laid a hand on Elinor’s shoulder. “I shall not pretend ignorance – your sister has painted quite a picture of John Dashwood’s character. Even if she has exaggerated somewhat, I believe he must be a veryunpleasant fellow. He broke his word, given to your father on his deathbed, when he promised to look after you.”
“Yes,” Elinor sighed. “I have long been resigned to the certainty that his wife wishes nothing to do with us, and will impede any effort of his on our behalf. But I cannot say that he deserves to lose his home.”
“He shall not be entirely desperate; he has had ample time to make Richard some alternative restitution to settle the debt, but now Richard means to take possession of Norland. In exchange, he has offered John Dashwood a small manor he owns in Scotland. The place is in a sorry state and shall require some repair, but I understand his wife comes from a family of fortune, and so it is hardly hopeless for them.”
“Oh.” A smile quirked at the corners of her lips as she imagined her proud sister-in-law exiled to Scotland, but Elinor quickly pressed her lips together.
Rebecca gave her a gentle nudge and a charming smile. “He has done it foryou.”
“For me?”
“He admires you, obviously! And it was within his power to exact some justice on those who wronged you, and your mother and sisters. And now… perhaps you may someday be mistress of Norland?”
“Oh,” Elinor gasped. “But he would surely not wish me to accept him only for Norland….”
