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“So much I have surmised. What on earth are you about?”

“Nothing, Uncle! Why does everyone accuse me of artifice?”

“It seems more than coincidence. And who is everyone?”

Realising her misstep, Elizabeth regrouped. “There was no scheme on either my part or his. Mr Darcy did not realise it was me. I registered at the agency in Mayfair under my mother’s maiden name.”

“Gardiner?”

“Frances Gardiner.”

“I suppose that is not a great sin, as it is your name, or part of it. I’m not sure if you are aware, but your mother registered you and Jane under the dual surnames of Gardiner Bennet—as if the Gardiner surname was anything to trumpet! We were able to convince her to drop that silly affectation by the time of Mary’s christening.”

Lizzy was not aware but thought it best not to concede this. She waited, looking penitent and hoping her uncle would understand her natural embarrassment in going into service.

Mr Gardiner seemed to get annoyed with himself for getting distracted. “However, given the rumours that circulated in Meryton, it was the height of folly to accept employment at Mr Darcy’s house. What were you thinking?”

“Oh, Uncle, I did not know Mr Darcy was my employer until I arrived at his townhouse. The colonel only told me that I would be reading to his cousin. I did not reveal my identity to Mr Darcy and I tried to leave gracefully after the first session, but his sister and cousin implored me to stay! His cousin had been searching for weeks for someone who could read Latin and Greek. Given Mr Darcy is blind, I thought I could keep my identity a secret. I just wanted to get a good reference so that I might obtain a proper position.”

Elizabeth did not add that she also felt sorry for Mr Darcy because she did not think this would help her case.

“So, Mr Darcy’s coming here is unconnected to your employment and was prompted by my letter?”

Now Lizzy saw herself cornered. She decided to stick to the truth, selectively. “Unfortunately, Mr Darcy did recognise me eventually, which was why I terminated the appointment early. It was the cameo you gave me, the one with Athena’s owl. Mr Darcy saw it at the Netherfield ball. I wore it one day to give me courage in reading the mathematics. Somehow the ribbon came undone and it came into Mr Darcy’s possession.”

Lizzy did not say she had lost it in Mr Darcy’s bed nor that he had kissed her violently when he discovered her identity. She could not bring herself to even mention the letter. While her imposture was within the bounds of legality, her forgery had certainly not been. People were transported or hanged for forgery, although generally in the course of trying to enrich themselves, which had certainly not been the case for her, quite the opposite. Lizzy could only hope that whatever Mr Darcy said about the letter was sufficiently vague that Mr Gardiner would not discover the substitution.

Mr Gardiner seemed mollified. “So, you left as soon as he became aware of your identity?”

“Yes.”

“And you were chaperoned at all times?”

“Y...yes.”

Reflecting, Mr Gardiner sighed. “You have potentially jeopardised my efforts to compensate you and your sisters for the damage to your reputations caused by the incident at the Netherfield ball, Lizzy. However, I understand your dilemma. Unfortunately, it would have been wiser to follow your mind’s first counsel in departing Mr Darcy’s employment immediately. Only the fact that he has come here of his own volition gives me any hope that we can end this debacle in your favour.”

Chastened, Lizzy nodded and retreated, dreading what else might come out as the situation evolved. What was Mr Darcy’s purpose in arriving? Did he intend to sue her at law for injury to his person? Did he wish to compensate her for the incident at the Netherfield ball after all?—despite destroying her Uncle Gardiner’s letter, she had no idea what her uncle had said to Mr Darcy during their first interview. Or could it be that Mr Darcy still wanted to get married? The latter seemed hardly possible after their altercation. Yet, he had hardly been well enough to leave his own bedchamber! For him to have come all this way merely for revenge seemed incredible. But she could think of no other reason why he had exerted himself in such a fashion. Lizzy dreaded that her intervention with the letter would be discovered, or worse still, that their kiss would be revealed. If her uncle thought the incident at the Netherfield ball was bad, what would he say about that? She shuddered, feeling like a stone had lodged in her gullet. Returning to the parlour she hovered anxiously behind her aunt who was still ministering to Mr Darcy.

When Dr Gordon arrived an hour later, he dispelled Finn’s anxious concerns that the master had suffered a minor heart seizure. Dr Gordon thought Darcy had merely swooned from overexertion. However, he warned that Finn’s anxieties were not misplaced and that continued careless disregard for Darcy’s new limitations could very well result in just such an outcome. He believed it would be the height of folly to attempt to return Darcy to Mayfair after his recent episode and asked Mrs Gardiner if she had a spare bedchamber.

Provision of this was not immediately possible. The two small rooms near the attics—meant for upper servants—where the Gardiners had housed their elder nieces on holiday, had been let out after Mr Bennet’s funeral to two gentlemen boarders. Only the early departure of one of these gentlemen had enabled Lizzy to join the household in the new year. But in a whispered conversation with her aunt, Lizzy quickly volunteered her room, saying she could easily sleep on the couch in the parlour.

Thus, it was determined, Mr Darcy was dosed with laudanum to be carried upstairs by Finn, Farley and Mick—the three of them struggling up the narrow stairs. Then Farley was sent back to Mayfair in the Darcy carriage to retrieve some of the master’s effects. Once Mrs Gardiner had settled everything to her satisfaction, she sought her husband who was entrenched in his study, attempting to ignore his home invasion.

“What can this mean, Edward?”

Mr Gardiner related Lizzy’s story to his wife, then sighed, feeling he had been remiss in his guardianship of his niece. “I had it in my diary to go to Mayfair again next week to check if Mr Darcy had returned from the Continent,” he continued. “I can only assume that he intends to do the right thing and settle some money on Lizzy that can be put towards her dowry.”

But Mrs Gardiner, who understood Mr Darcy’s physical condition a little better, having attended more closely to her niece’s stories of her days in his service, could not think that Mr Darcy would have exerted himself to such an extent merely to come to terms with Mr Gardiner. It was her belief that Mr Darcy might very well be in love with her niece, may even have been so in Hertfordshire. Even in his incapacitated state, a marriage between them would have to be better than Lizzy continuing in her current occupation. The only caveat that Mrs Gardiner could think of related to Mr Darcy’s condition. If his illness was contagious and might affect her niece’s own health, then the marriage could not be worth it, regardless of his riches. However, she said nothing of this, merely nodding and letting her husband know that she would get his dinner on the table belatedly.

Thus, the uneasy situation continued for several days. Mr Darcy awoke during his first night in residence, groaning in terrible pain and gasping that he could hardly breathe. Anticipating this likely event, Dr Gordon had left laudanum with instructions on its administration. But it took three doses administered over several hours by Finn to get the master comfortable again. After Darcy finally nodded off, Finn gratefully lay down again on the trundle bed next to him.

When Mrs Gardiner knocked on the door in the morning, having got her husband off to work, Darcy was deep in a narcotic-fuelled slumber, snoring his head off. Finn was still catching up on missed sleep, but he got up and pulled on his dressing gown to answer the door. With the trundle bed out, there was not an inch of floorspace to spare in the room, and Finn could only slide through the half-opened door to talk to the lady of the house. He thanked her gratefully for her offer of a tray for himself and another for Mr Darcy, when he should wake.

After breakfast, Finn offered to mend some of Mr Gardiner’s clothes as a way of thanking Mrs Gardiner for her trouble. After initially declining, Mrs Gardiner gratefully accepted upon Finn’s insistence that he was quite at a loose end. The Gardiners had not replaced their second footman when he had decided to return to Ireland at Christmas. For a small increase in her wages, Sally now had to do double duty. It was difficult to get everything done. The Windsor chair was installed on the landing for Finn’s comfort.

Thus, the status quo continued until Friday when a note from Mary arrived, begging one of Mr Gardiner’s periodic visits to Longbourn. This had the much-harassed Mr Gardiner tearing his hair out. Although these visits were generally petitioned regarding some extraordinary estate decision, Mary had not explained the circumstances in her letter as she usually did. The thought that the request might have arisen from some other, more confidential quarter, particularly relating to his youngest nieces and the presence of the militia in Meryton, kept Mr Gardiner awake on Friday night. He had already warned them once, very sternly, after becoming aware they were abusing his leniency in allowing them to visit their Aunt and Uncle Philips in Meryton.