Rebecca nodded, tears of rage pricking at her eyes as she realized she would have to admit defeat. And then the hidden servants’ door opened, and Emily balked at the sight of Rebecca’s companions. She hastily tucked a note into her pocket.
“You, there – I saw that,” Richard cried. “A letter with a green seal – Darcy favors green wax in his correspondence. Ah, Mr. Worthing, I suppose.”
Emily gave Rebecca a look of panic, but Rebecca nodded to her. “You may hand it over, Emily. It seems the situation has taken a turn.”
Even so, Emily offered it directly to Rebecca, and Richard hovered over her as she read it.
Rebecca,
My beloved and I are departing Wildewood today for Scotland. Stall their arrival here until we have at least made it north of London, if you can. Tell our family I am sorry, and that I love them all dearly, but it is for love I am resolved to wed. They will love him too, once they come to know him as I do. Should they wish to celebrate my marriage, and myupcoming birthday, I expect we shall reach Pemberley on our return journey by the twenty-eighth, or perhaps the day before. It would be a lovely place for a reunion, unless Mamma will receive us at Rosings. One last thing – you might tell her, and Jane, that I have found Catherine Cardew, my half sister.
All my love and thanks,
Lizzy
Jane reached for the letter and examined it curiously. “She knows.”
Richard wrapped his arms around Jane and drew her close. “What do you mean, darling?”
“She does not sayDarcy.She calls him her beloved – I should expect Lizzy to be laughing at signing her name Elizabeth Darcy already.”
Rebecca nodded thoughtfully, then turned and saw Emily lingered near the door. She gave the girl an arch look, and a wave of dismissal. “It is possible. I would not have expected her to still be at Wildewood three days later. Perhaps he did confess the truth to her, and she took some time to consider.”
Jane shook her head. “But how could she forgive such a thing?”
Richard took the letter and examined it, “At any rate, you are right, my love, that we should bring this to your mother. We must speak to the family and make a swift plan of action to recover her. I ought to have spoken up the moment my old friend confessed the truth to me, and I daresay our aunt shall flay us both side by side, Rebecca.”
Lady Catherine’s rage was heard from one side of the house to the other, and plans were rapidly put into motion for her immediate departure to Surrey. Rebecca received another sound scolding, and even her mother berated her for allowingElizabeth to endanger herself so recklessly. Only Lady Anne was sympathetic, and once she had recovered from the shock of Mr. Darcy bearing another name entirely, she insisted upon accompanying her sister to Surrey. Lady Catherine would not hear of it.
Jane’s insistence, however, won her mother over. She wished to meet her half-sister, and Lady Catherine hoped that Jane’s gentle, sensible tranquility would help Elizabeth see reason. Richard was enlisted to accompany them, not only for safety but to talk some sense into his friend, if he could be reasoned with and made to abandon his pursuit of Elizabeth.
As Jane and Richard prepared to travel, Lady Catherine demanded another private word with Rebecca. She was to once again be locked in her room while her aunt went after Elizabeth, and Lady Catherine escorted Rebecca back to her chambers with a rough hold on her arm.
When the door closed behind them, Lady Catherine released her grasp, fairly shoving Rebecca down onto the chair by the window. “If there is anything else you know of this Mr. Worthing, as he is apparently called, now would be the time to tell me, before I make any further discoveries in Surrey. If you are withholding anything, any detail at all, it could be vastly to Elizabeth’s detriment. Indeed, there is much more than that at stake.”
“I gave you Lizzy’s letter, did I not? You cannot imagine me to still champion their cause after discovering the truth of his identity. He is a liar and a fraud!”
“I am not asking what youthinkof him – I am asking what else youknowof him,” Lady Catherine snapped. She held a haughty posture as she slowly paced the room. “I am aware of the suspicions you and your mother have held about him, the interest his falsely given name inspired. Your aunt, my poorsister, heard of it – I recall you inciting that particularly harmful brand of curiosity, nearly the moment we arrived in London.”
Rebecca scoffed impatiently. “Can you blame me? My whole life I have heard of my tragic lost cousin, and then Richard befriended a man called Will Darcy.”
“Idoblame you! You have caused my poor sister considerable distress over it – did you not see how she crumpled when Richard revealed that lout’s true identity? She might have been spared that disappointment, and whatever speculation gave her false hope.”
“It could not have been prevented – not by me, at any rate. It was Richard who invited him to stay with us just when he knew you were coming to London.”
“And he shall answer for it, mark my words! But you have been in my daughter’s confidence – if there is anything she told you about that awful man, anything that indicates what he may be after – some grasping connection to Pemberley….”
Rebecca shook her head. “It was not like that. I think he was rather embarrassed that his chosen alias was a name of such unexpected significance in our family. Surely the scrutiny must have made him fearful of exposure. Besides, I only saw him in company with Aunt Anne once or twice. If he meant to pretend to some connection, he might have sought her out more, or at least said he was the right age to be Fitzwilliam.”
Lady Catherine’s eyes flashed with something ominous. “He did. I had thought him too old to be Fitzwilliam, given that he had just finished university at the time he met Richard. When I interviewed him as a prospective match for Elizabeth, he informed me that he was sent to school more than a year early.”
“So, it could be him?” Rebecca shook her head, confusion and frustration battling with her impulse to be ever at odds with her aunt.
“Or it could be another lie, meant to correct his initial miscalculation. I can think of no other reason for him to approach a member of this family under such a guise – and they met not three miles from Pemberley.”
“Well, wicked as I now believe him, I can at least tell you that I never heard anything from him or from Elizabeth about claims upon us as kin – nothing beyond a wish to marry into the family.” Rebecca narrowed her eyes at Lady Catherine, wondering what her aunt meant by exhausting such a tedious subject. “You have doubts – you fear it might really be him.”
Lady Catherine curled her lips with distaste. “It cannot be!”
