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“Welcome to Hatchard’s. If you need any assistance please ask any member of staff.”

Elizabeth wandered off, Daisy following her, leaving Harriet to inform John Hatchard himself that he had just gained a large new account.

“Lady Napier can only be described as a voracious reader. We will set up an account today and I will return tomorrow with one of Lawrence’s young men. All accounts are to be sent to him, where they will be settled in a prompt manner.”

A voracious reader who paid her bills promptly? This was everything a shopkeeper wanted to hear, especially a bookseller. Elizabeth spent several pleasant hours browsing the shelfs. Within minutes of entering the shop she knew this would be a regular indulgence. Perhaps not weekly but definitely more than once a month.

Their secondary purpose to this specific visit, getting Lady Napier known to society, was also a success. Between Hatchard himself, as well as Harriet, plenty more members of the Ton got to match the face to the name of Lady Napier.

--

“William, the Darcy name seems tarnished at present.”

While Darcy did not want to admit to his sister that this was the case, there was no denying it.

“Without going into the details, Bingley did me an immense service several years ago. I have known that the connection was not helping me, or you, but I could not cut the tie. Yes, it would have been easy, but doing what I felt was the correct thing was more important than the easy thing. Sadly, that has proven to be naïve.

“The final straw was the arrival in town of carriages bearing the family name, and the basis of the family fortune. You had the misfortune to meet and converse with Miss Bingley. You know as well as I that this is the last thing she would be honest about. Once the jokes started comparing the carriages to the family members, both of them were finished.”

“Jokes?”

“The only Bingley at the Tavistock Ball was a carriage. There are variations but they are all on that theme.”

He saw Georgiana stop herself from criticising Miss Bingley.

“You do not have to say it, I know what you are thinking. The good book warns us that you reap what you sow.”

He drew a line under the issue.

“Where this leaves us is the point you made a minute or so ago. The behaviour of Miss Bingley has been sufficiently poor that we have been dragged down as well. We must spend the rest of the season redeeming the name Darcy. You are blameless although some of the work will fall to you. The one good thing is that you decided to make your curtsey to Queen Charlotte this season. With the Earl and his family there, and other peers happy to support them, and therefore us, it will not take long for things to return to normal.”

“Do you truly believe this, William?”

“I have not made this easy for you. The one thing I would not do is expose you to ridicule. The Earl is known to several senior nobles, I am sure there will be at least one Duke present on the day. And Aunt Susan is close friends with Lady Jersey, even although they are a generation apart. You have nothing to fear, you will be surrounded by family and friends. This public display of support will silence those who think it funny to slander the Darcy name.”

Chapter 21

“I did not realise that it would reflect so poorly upon me.”

Francis Carlisle was trembling in front of her mother. She had thought her mother about to strike her when she first entered the parlour. The paper had been thrown at her with disgust and she saw the latest gossip piece. She, together with the rest of her backstabbers, had been named and shamed. Now this was the gossip pages so it was only initials, but these initials all matched the group that was known to socialise together. They had the gall to reference the last visit Caroline Bingley made in society, a call upon Miss C. of Upper Brook Street, even although she was the joke of the Ton.

“What were you thinking being at home to that woman? A woman who was the laughing stock of all of our friends and acquaintances.”

Francis did not want to confess the truth and was struggling to find an appropriate answer.

“I am sure it was for nothing else but to gloat one last time. Was it worth it? Answer me!”

“I am sorry mother.”

“You are sorry? How am I to show my face on New Bond Street again? Do you know what will really make you sorry? Living in genteel poverty as a spinster. Get out of my sight. I will talk to your father as to what we are to do with you. We will decide and deal with you, we will not leave the unpleasant task to your brother when your father passes.”

She looked at her crying daughter with disdain.

“The Darcys are grandchildren of the previous Earl of Matlock. The nobility protects its own. Did you or any of your idiotic friends not think they would retaliate? The Bingley family dragged the Darcy name into the mud. Caroline Bingley, and the rest of you, were made to pay. The word will be round the Ton within weeks; do not threaten the Darcys, remember what happened to Caroline Bingley. And Francis Carlisle. And the others. Maybe you should all be sent to a small cottage on some remote estate, all eight of you, spinsters together? Somewhere in the remote Highlands of Scotland, or on the Atlantic coast of Ireland.”

They had thought themselves protected. They mocked the weak and cozied up to the rich and powerful. Yet all it took was a few Bingley carriages to be seen in London and they were all ruined. When she shared the reason for their downfall, Francis Carlisle and the remaining six, all ended up hating Caroline Bingley for the rest of their lives.

It was not until weeks later that Elizabeth heard that the downfall of the group was seen to be an act of revenge by the Darcys. Just for a moment she was miffed, annoyed that one of those at Netherfield Park should be getting the credit. However, it was only a matter of minutes later that she understood this was perfect. There was no blame being cast upon Lady Napier.