Page 8 of In the Eyes of Lord Lingley

“Not like that!” he grinned as he mounted, and the roan turned in a tight circle in an attempt to throw him. When that did not work, he bent his neck and tried to bite his boot. “That will do, Caligula. He is very affectionate.”

Lingley snorted and led the way down the drive at a walk to warm up the animals. When they reached the road, they let them run the two miles into Meryton. At the outskirts of town, Lingley pulled back on the reins and slowed them to a trot. Fitzwilliam’s mount was still full of piss and vinegar, but he listened to his rider and slowed as well.

The townsfolk had gathered along the street to watch him arrive, and Lingley acknowledged them with a nod as they went. “Ferdinand, I do believe we are on parade,” he called, and his horse immediately altered his gate into a high-stepping prance as they proceeded down the hard-packed road, much to the delight of the denizens who cheered wildly.

∞∞∞

“MARY! Mary-Hannah! Where is that foolish child?” Mrs. Bennet demanded, waving her handkerchief in distress. “We will be late! Where could she have gone?”

“It matters not,” Mr. Bennet rubbed his brow between his eyes. “She does not need to be there. She announced an engagement before all the town. I will take whatever he offers, and we will have peace at Longbourne. Surely Kitty might accompany one of her sisters…”

“Oh yes! My dear Lydia invited—”

“NOT Lydia!” he roared, startling her into dropping her handkerchief. “Never will one of my girls be given over to the questionable auspices of the likes of George and Lydia Wickham!”

“But, Mr. Bennet! How cruel you are to your own daughter!” She sniffed away an imaginary tear.

“Come, Mrs. Bennet, we cannot be late,” he held the door for her to proceed him and then assisted her into the carriage where the Gardiners awaited them. With a knock, the horses pulled against the braces, and they slowly creaked forward with a deep groan of ancient wood and leather. The carriage had been his grandfather’s, but he saw little use in spending funds on a new one when he could use them to purchase more books for his library and port to quench his thirst; at least what monies he could wrest from his wife’s greedy paws.

“You must ask at least five cows,” Mrs. Bennet instructed wildly. “Lizzy married a mere gentleman, and he paid six! Surely a viscount must wish for an excellent wife. If we do not convince him of her worth, then he may drop her!”

Mrs. Gardiner, who was aware of his lordship’s family, unlike her silly sister, held her peace. It would do no one any good to mention that the title he held was a courtesy one only and that he would one day be the Earl of Ashford and then the Marquis of Trenton when his uncle died. She worried for her niece’s wellbeing.

“This is what I get paying two cows for my wife!” Mr. Bennet groused. “Look at you, Gardiner! You paid four cows for your wife,”

“Five,” he corrected.

“And she gave you intelligent sons and daughters! Only my Lizzy took after me in that area. The rest do not have a cogent thought between the four of them in a fortnight!”

“Mr. Bennet!” his wife screeched.

“Oh, look!” Mr. Gardiner declared, leaning forward to better see the crowd. “It seems that entire county has gathered to see your triumph. No one could have imagined that a daughter of Longbourne would marry so well. Even with Darcy’s £10,000 a year, such a thing ought to have been impossible.”

“Jane ought to have dissolved her engagement,” Mrs. Bennet moaned. “Such beauty and serenity— wasted on the son of a tradesman with only £5000 a year! It is not right! How much do you think a viscount is worth? He ought to have married Jane! I am certain that he fell in love with her at the wedding and is throwing himself away on Mary out of despair! If he cannot have the one he truly wished, at least he can worship her from nearby. It is everything romantic.”

“Hush, sister,” Mrs. Gardiner urged as she looked about at the gathering. “Imagine how insulted the viscount might be by such speculation.”

Mrs. Bennet pouted but held her peace as her husband smirked at them all. They stepped out into the green, where a stone table with two seats had been erected around the time of the Conqueror, at least according to local legend. There was a whispering in the crowd, and people began to point and titter amongst themselves, drawing the attention of the Bennets and their family.

“MARY-HANNAH, YOU UGLY GIRL! WHAT ARE YOU HIDING UP THERE FOR?” Mrs. Bennet yelled at the top of her lungs as her daughter quickly hid herself behind the curtain of the Phillips’ sitting-room window, which faced the green. “COME DOWN HERE AT ONCE! AT ONCE, I SAY! MR. BENNET, MAKE HER OBEY ME!”

“Mary,” Mr. Bennet called above the laughing crowd. “You are a fortunate girl to have caught the eye of such a man. Come join us. All the girls in the village envy you.”

“They mock me!” Mary cried, just loud enough to be heard.

“They would change places with you, every one of them.”

The crowd was distracted from the mortifying scene by the arrival of the two gentlemen from Netherfield and especially the quick-stepping dance of the Viscount’s horse, which caused gasps and clapping as he drew close. With a click of his teeth, the mount reared back and held a rampant pose and bugled a battle cry, while the sun glinted off his shimmering coat. The crowd roared its approval as he came back to earth, and the Viscount swung down to the ground where they both bowed to the Bennets. The cries of amazement were deafening, but the flash of movement at a window above them drew the Viscount’s eye and he fought a grin as he spotted the deep brown eyes of his little runaway.

“Such an entrance!” Mrs. Bennet squawked, holding her handkerchief to her breast. “Such a handsome man! Our dear Mary would have been here, sir, but she is such a hard worker that we could not convince her away from her tasks! She is determined to—”

“That industrious girl is likely gathering thatch to fix the roofs of her father’s cottages!” One of the neighbors called out.

“I believe she was teaching the maids about milking their new cows!” Another cried.

“I swear that I saw her washing the windows of her aunt’s apartments,” a snide voice added.

“Enough,” Lingley demanded, silencing the crowd for a moment. “Shall we begin?”