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Lady Susan had suffered the tragedy of one stillbirth and one child who died within weeks of being born. The Duke of Richwood and his wife had been blessed with 14 children and all of them had survived birth and their infancy. This was rare to the point of being almost unique. To have saved one of their children from an accident had heightened significance.

“Can you say more?”

“Do not pass this on, but there was an accident on Piccadilly. The building that was on the site of the new Egyptian Hall was being demolished to make way for it. Part of that building collapsed into the street. It was a miracle that no one was crushed. But horses with both carriages and wagons were out of control. Louisa, not yet six, managed to get separated in the panic. A wagon was about to shed its load and she would have been crushed, Miss Elizabeth rushed into the street and dragged her away before the worst could happen. But like I said, that is for your ears not the rest of the Ton.”

Lady Susan nodded absently while joining the dots.

“She was the niece of a tradesman at the time, difficult to know how to respond appropriately.”

“Exactly. The Duke and Duchess wrote a note of heartfelt thanks but did not initially maintain the connection. I chose to continue to correspond with the young lady.”

“Now that the uncle is ‘acceptable’ you are repaying the debt?”

“I understand why you would see it that way but it is just I find her an impressive young lady.”

“What are you not telling me?”

“She has agreed that I could introduce her to society but she wants as many introductions to ‘ladies of letters’.”

“She is a blue stocking?”

“Completely. What is interesting is that she confessed to two long conversations, no three, with Darcy.”

“Long conversations?”

Lady Maria recounted the breakfast, ballroom and supper conversations.

“Darcy is rarely comfortable in the company of women, especially those with marriage on their mind.”

“That is the thing. I do not think either of them considered marriage. Miss Elizabeth did not know of his relationship to the Earl but had heard enough about him to understand he was never going to be interested in a simple country girl. Her own words. Because she is anything but a simple country girl. She made no effort to hide her ties to trade, she talks about the taint or even the stench of trade.”

“My word!”

“I know, but she has seen it, suffered it for years. She is not wrong. But because of her remarkable candour there was no way Darcy would see her as suitable. As a result, with neither of them having to project a false front, they were able to have three detailed conversations. And as you heard, on subjects rarely discussed between the sexes.”

“Is there a connection between them? Being the niece of a Baronet, however recent and whatever his antecedents, changes things.”

“That is why we are talking. She does not realise her increased eligibility and still harbours a visceral disdain for many of the gentlemen in society.”

“Visceral disdain is strong Maria.”

“I know, but that is what I have to overcome. She assisted her uncle with his business, because of his injuries. One of the consequences of this is that she was propositioned once at 17 and twice more when she was 18 to be a gentleman’s mistress.”

Lady Susan winced.

“She has been straddling the two worlds for how many years?”

“Four. She is intelligent, well read, extremely proficient at maintaining ledgers, and frankly is rough round the edges.”

“You are painting quite the picture Maria.”

“She has no patience for the elegant verbal games of the Ton. Someone will thrust a snide, belittling, verbal poniard and her response will be to try and cleave them in half with a verbal broadsword. Her temper when aroused is, I am not sure what the right phrase is. But having heard how she responded in Hertfordshire I do not know whether to be frightened or excited to experience it here in town.”

“You sound positively giddy!”

“I cannot really explain it Susan. I find her a breath of fresh air, a terrible cliché yet true. And remember, her intemperate outbursts were both in front of Darcy. It did not stop him from intimately conversing with her mere days later.”

“He likes her temper?”