Richard took a step toward William, extending his hands in a gesture of placation. “Will, you mentioned looking into your history – seeing what could be discovered of your parents. Have you had any luck? Might you try to get that business resolved, and then appeal again to Lady Catherine?”
“That is quite impossible,” William cried. “I can produce the handbag at once, if you would like to see it, but there isnothing remarkable about it beyond a small adornment bearing the letter W, which has led me absolutely nowhere, beyond inspiring Sir Thomas to give me the name Worthing.”
“And not a D for Darcy,” Lady Catherine drawled, looking rather smug. She began addressing Kitty again, when Mr. Chasuble cleared his throat and entered the room, appearing to notice nothing amiss despite the atmosphere of hostility. He nodded to Mr. Bingley. “Sir, before I take my leave, I wish to confirm that you want to proceed with the christening at six thirty?”
“The christening?” Lady Catherine brought a hand to her heart, aghast. “Is that not somewhat premature?”
“It is not for any babe, not yet,” Mr. Chasuble said cheerfully. “This gentleman has expressed a wish to be baptized himself.”
“What has been going on in this house, sir? Are you an intimate of Mr. Worthing? Can you have permitted such excesses and idiocy to prevail in a home with an unprotected young lady present? Two, in fact.”
Mr. Chasuble gaped at her ferocity, trembling a little. “Madam, Mr. Worthing is a gentleman of excellent character, and both of these gentlemen have been nothing but gallant to the young ladies present. They have been properly chaperoned by Miss Cardew’s governess, Miss Annesley.”
Lady Catherine went pale and her posture stiffened. “Miss Annesley? I beg your pardon, sir, but is this Miss Annesley a woman in her fifties, of repellent aspect and middling abilities?”
Mr. Chasuble shook his head. “Winnifred Annesley is a most refined lady, and the picture of respectability.”
“It is obviously the same person. Sir, take me to her at once.”
The three couples trailed behind Lady Catherine with confusion and curiosity as she followed Mr. Chasuble to the library, where he was just visiting with the governess. “Miss Annesley,” Lady Catherine cried as she stormed into the library.
The governess was shelving a few books when they all tumbled into the room. She froze at the sight of Lady Catherine, who shook her walking stick in a decidedly threatening manner. “Miss Annesley, where is that baby?”
Miss Annesley took a few staggering steps backward before colliding with a sofa and tumbled down onto it. Her shoulders sagged and she slumped backward, looking as if she would swoon. Mr. Chasuble and Kitty rushed to her aid.
Still holding Elizabeth’s hand, William took a step forward. “Lady Catherine, I must ask what all this is about?”
She ignored him, stalking closer to Miss Annesley, her bearing more frightening than Elizabeth had ever seen her. “Miss Annesley, twenty-seven years ago, you departed Number Thirty-Four Upper Grosvenor Street in charge of a perambulator that contained a baby of the male sex. You never returned. A week later, through the elaborate investigations of Scotland Yard, the perambulator was discovered in an alley outside of Marylebone but the baby was never found – and neither were you. I demand you tell me, Miss Annesley – where is that baby?”
Miss Annesley shook off the solicitude of her pupil and her admirer and approached Lady. Catherine is a posture of abject contrition. “Lady Catherine de Bourgh; I recognize you after all this time. I must admit with shame that I do not know where your nephew is.”
“Will you tell me what happened?”
“If it will be of any help, I will gladly tell you what little I recall, though it is unpleasant to speak of. I set out for a walk quite early that morning with my dear young charge. The streetswere relatively empty at that hour, a peaceful condition which I enjoyed for my morning exercise. I tarried in front of a display window of a shop at the end of the row, admiring a bonnet and considering whether it was worth saving up to purchase for my cousin, who had lately married and was owed a gift. As I began to move along, I passed a carriage that was being loaded with trunks borne out of a small hotel. A young woman sprang out from behind the carriage and struck me forcefully on the head.”
Miss Annesley reached up and brushed her hand along a wide scar at her temple. Lady Catherine moved closer and examined the old injury. “Did you see this woman? What did she look like?”
“It happened so quickly. She was fair and young, well-dressed but not wealthy, I do not think. I saw her reach for the baby and cried out, but then I must have fainted from the pain. When I awoke, I was inside a room at the hotel. A gentleman brought me inside and called for a physician to attend me – he had even paid the physician for my care – but he had gone away by the time I roused from my awful, bloody stupor. The physician cleaned my wound and stitched it up, after dosing me with laudanum. I again lost consciousness, and the next time I awoke, a ruffian in the employ of the hotel had entered my room with – with what I can only describe as nefarious intent. I fled – I fled the hotel, and indeed fled London entirely.”
Lady Catherine thumped her walking stick with indignation. “You fled London? Why did you not return to your employers?”
“I was quite out of my senses from pain and fear and shock, but I managed to somehow make my way to the home of my cousin. I walked nearly twenty miles, through heavy rain near the end of my delirious trek, and I was afflicted with a fever that nearly took my life when I reached my cousin. I had not apenny to my name, for my assailant not only took the baby, but also my handbag.”
Lady Catherine drew in a sharp breath as if she had been stung, and she looked at William in horror. He rushed toward Miss Annesley, grabbing her by both shoulders and causing her to cry out in alarm. “Miss Annesley, what sort of handbag was it?” He instantly released her, muttering a hasty apology, and then ran out of the room, into his adjoining study.
Elizabeth knew very well what her mother’s line of questioning must be leading to – this must have to do with her beloved aunt's son! Her heart beat faster as William returned carrying a large, weathered-looking leather handbag. A small wooden bauble in the shape of a cat hung from one handle, sporting a highly embellished W. “Miss Annesley, is your handbag?”
“It is undoubtedly mine,” she said, brushing one hand over the adornment.
“Mother!” William began to embrace her, but she shoved him away.
“Mr. Worthing, I am unmarried!”
At the back of the room, Mr. Chasuble began to cough as if he might imminently expire, and Mr. Bingley clapped him on the back.
Miss Annesley gestured toward Lady Catherine. “I believe it is her right, and not mine, to tell you who you are, sir.”
But before Lady Catherine could speak, Richard flew at William, giving a merry cry as he drew his friend into a warm embrace. “Cousin!” He released William, but rested his hand on his shoulder as he turned to address them all. “Lizzy, it is your lucky day – I daresay you have manifested this day into being, through sheer stubbornness and wishful thinking. Allow me to present your cousin, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.”
