Second Glances: A Tale of Less Pride and Prejudice Continues (Tales of Less Pride and Prejudice) (7 page)

“Sir James’ estate. I spent as much time there as in my own home when we were growing up, and it is the only place to which I will even consider ceding preference over Turnley.”

She looked thoughtful, and Mr. Brooks expected her to ask more about Sir James’ estate. That she did not, he thought admirable, but as he was unsure of what it portended for his friend’s chances with the lady, he continued to pursue the subject, sharing a few boyhood reminiscences intended to cast Sir James in the very best light. Kitty smiled, seeming content to listen to his stories, and Mr. Brooks enjoyed sharing his fond memories until their set ended.

Kitty proved a great success. A pretty lady, having been seen dancing with two highly eligible bachelors, as well as being known as a sister to the Darcys, ought to be a success, and while rumors of an insignificant dowry caused a few interested parties to turn away, it did little to stem her popularity. Perhaps this was because she displayed no shame about it, but more probable was the conviction that Mr. Darcy, if Miss Bennet were to make an advantageous match, would sweeten the deal.

Sir James counted himself lucky to secure her hand for the last dance, especially as she could have so easily sat it out had she wished to avoid him. Little did either know that Mr. Bingley had intended to dance with his sister, he being a great one for dancing and Jane having tired of the exercise long ago, but upon seeing a proper suitor approach, he tactfully hung back. Kitty was in excellent humor: the first time Sir James had yet seen her so, and her conscious blush as he took her hand reassured him ten-fold that he had found precisely the right lady for him. As images of her established at Teggington began to form in his mind, she disarmed him by saying: “I understand from Mr. Brooks that you are quite in the habit of hazarding the life and limbs of your innocent victims, Sir James. My encounter with you was thoroughly unexceptional.”

“He told you that?” he replied, taken aback.

“Most certainly. He related to me, in great detail, the circumstances in which you trapped him in a hole in the ground, dug specifically for that purpose, resulting in a broken leg.”

“But he was the French infantry, and I had to stop him from charging the hill!” he exclaimed in his defense. “Besides, the fall did not break Simon’s leg.”

“No, he said he broke it on a ladder fashioned by you to extricate him from the trap.”

“Well, yes, but it was very good of me to think of providing such a thing, even if I failed to execute the construction very well. I was only nine, you know.”

“Old enough to know the repercussions of dangerous games.”

“And it was I who ran to get help!”

“I should hope so! Mr. Brooks seemed to think the story rendered you a very good chap indeed, but I think it a sorry tale of rescue when the so-called hero causes all the trouble in the first place.”

He blinked, disbelievingly, and then flashed her one of his most charming smiles, “You think me a scoundrel, Miss Bennet?”

She would not look at him directly. “I think you are trouble, Sir James, and for whatever reason you have alighted on me as your next target.”

His smile faded. “You will not be convinced that I am truly interested in your welfare.”

“I cannot imagine why you should be,” she asserted.

“Can you not?”

She blushed and looked away again. “I beg you, sir, to not make me the object of your teasing.”

“And I, again, assure you, Miss Bennet, that I am in earnest. Why not turn to Darcy for an account of my character? You surely will believe his good report of me.”

“I would, if he had one to give. Both he and Miss Darcy speak of you fondly, Sir James, there is no doubt of that, but they also both describe you as an oddity. You yourself admitted your eccentricities.”

“I will not deny them,” he said vehemently. “I was never one to quail at the notion of being exceptional. In fact, I have always rather relished the notion.”

“But you cannot deny that such behavior is calculated to make those around you uncomfortable!”

“Indeed, I do deny it! Nor has anyone ever suggested that my company is anything less than excellent. I have always made friends easily.”

“A more telling question would be if you kept them.”

He was thoroughly nettled, which was a most uncommon state for Sir James. “Do you not have the evidence of your own eyes to attest to that fact?”

“Oh, I cannot count family friends. They are quite a different matter.”

“Miss Bennet, you are determined to cast me in the worst possible light!”

She looked surprised. “No indeed! I am only attempting to persuade you not to trifle with my feelings.”

“And I am trying to persuade you that I have no intention of the sort,” he declared, throwing caution to the wind. “On the contrary, Miss Bennet, I would like to court you!”

She laughed uncomfortably, studying her feet. “This is precisely what I mean!”

“How so?”

“Why would a gentleman like you be interested in an impoverished young lady, only just emerged from the schoolroom? I am not considered as intelligent as my sister Elizabeth, nor a learned as Mary, but I hope I am not such a fool.”

“Perhaps you will explain to me, Miss Bennet, why a gentleman, such as myself, would make sport of a lady in the guardianship of my friend. Such behavior is unheard of!”

“But you are an eccentric, Sir James! You choose not to allow such rules to regulate your conduct.”

He knew not what to say to such illogical assertions as Miss Bennet was casting his way. Never before had he encountered someone so determined to dislike him, and though he was tempted to represent the evidence in his favor, as well as provide some instruction on deduction, instinct told him his explanations would not be received kindly. As Kitty had only become increasingly heated throughout the course of their conversation, he let it lapse into silence and tried to just enjoy dancing with her, but his mind insisted upon brooding. It was clear he would need to employ more unusual means than a mere declaration to convince Miss Bennet of his honorable intentions. Though they were an outrage to reason, he did not begrudge her her doubts. In fact, after being long accustomed to almost every young lady he met taking any friendly overture as a precursor to a proposal, Miss Bennet’s reluctance was a refreshing change. He fancied she did not, in truth, think so very ill of him as she professed. To quote the bard, “The lady doth protest too much,” but whatever her deeper feelings might be, he was determined to change her expressed opinion, and as he said to Mr. Brooks later that evening, “When she does look upon me with affection, I am sure to be certain it is sincere, and not just the maneuverings of a fortune huntress.”

“Indeed, she does not seem to be one concerned with wealth at all. She made no attempt to conceal the very small nature of her dowry, and when I brought up Teggington, she pressed me not a bit for those details which would determine its size and status.”

“But she did inquire into my antics as a child?”

Mr. Brooks looked confused. “Not at all! I shared with her a few stories, but only those that showed you in the best light.”

“Like my digging a trap for you to fall into?”

“I spoke of how you came to my rescue when I had broken my leg!”

“Which she interpreted as an example of lifelong foolishness.”

Mr. Brooks said consciously, “I did not mean it in such a manner. I am sorry, James.”

“I know you did not, Simon. You always mean well. Nevertheless, I am now confronted with something of a predicament. How am I to convince her I am in all seriousness, when she will not believe her own senses? Perhaps I will speak to Darcy, for he may know the way to win her. After all, he succeeded with her sister, did he not?”

“Yes, but he is Darcy, after all. Can you imagine the lady who would reject him?”

Sir James laughed. “I don’t know; if he had made a muddle of a first impression upon his wife, as I have on Miss Bennet, then perhaps his gentlemanly status would have undergone similar attack.”

A ball – once the music stopped, the champagne consumed, and the guests dispersed – lives on in the conversations of those who attended. Such events cannot be complete until thoroughly discussed. It carried on that night in Curzon Street, Georgiana and Kitty waiting only until they had rid themselves of excess finery to meet, by appointment, in the private parlor adjoining the latter’s chambers, neither lady having the slightest inclination for sleep. Kitty was effusive in her praise of Mr. Brooks, more than compensating for her earlier lack of attention by regaling Georgiana with a precise account of anything in their conversation that could possibly be of interest to her, but never once did she mention Sir James. Georgiana listened attentively, as Kitty passed from Mr. Brooks to the decor, expressing her admiration for the flowers, and then drifting from this or that lady’s gown to the fare, all without once touching upon the subject of greatest interest to her audience, until finally her patience expired.

“Yet what of your partners, Kitty? You danced every set, and twice with Sir James, and yet you say nothing of him?”

Kitty blushed, “I was fortunate to have many amiable partners.”

“Many amiable partners!” repeated Georgiana, disbelievingly. “Is that all you have to say, when one of the most eligible bachelors in town paid you such particular attention?”

“Is he?” she asked nervously. “I assumed he was well to do, but I know nothing of his fortune. Surely he is not as rich as Mr. Darcy?”

“I do not know for certain,” replied Georgiana, musingly, “but I imagine he is similarly situated. Teggington is not as valuable an estate as Pemberley – about 7 or 8,000 pounds a year, I believe – but he has rather vast shipping interests. He was always intrigued by such matters, and Fitzwilliam says he has amassed quite the fortune.”

“Oh dear!” cried Kitty. “It only makes everything all the worse!”

Unsure of how to respond to this odd pronouncement, Georgiana could only ask: “What does?”

“You would not understand!” was the tearful reply.

“That may be true, but I thought we had no secrets from each other?”

Kitty said nothing.

“Whatever it is that has been bothering you, Kitty, I cannot force you to confide, but are you sure it would not be a relief to do so? It will not be harder for you than it was for me to acknowledge my mistake in regards to Mr. Wickham. Whatever you have to say, it cannot be that bad,” Georgiana said softly, her head turned downwards.

“Oh! Forgive me, dear Georgie,” Kitty gushed, “and do not think for a moment of that hateful man! Can you believe I must spend the day with his wife? What a dreadful time we are sure to have. Of course I will tell you all. It is really very trivial, and not at all worth mentioning, which is why I had not bothered.”

“Something to do with Sir James?”

Kitty scowled. “Yes. I am afraid so.”

“What could it possibly be?” Georgiana wondered aloud. “You and he do not share a previous acquaintance, do you Kitty?”

“I would not term it an acquaintance, but we have encountered each other before,” came the grim reply, and Kitty proceeded to relate the precise circumstances upon which she had first been made known to Sir James Stratton. “Of course, I had no notion who he was. When he entered the drawing room the other day, I thought I would surely die of mortification.”

“I can imagine! This explains so much, Kitty. Yes,” she nodded vehemently, “it all begins to make sense to me now.”

Kitty looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“I have been wondering at his determined interest in you, upon such short acquaintance, but anyone who has ever known Sir James could easily predict that the lady he would fall in love with would be one he nearly ran down with a carriage. It seems just like him, you see.”

Kitty stood and declared hotly, “He is not in love with me!”

“But my dear Kitty, I am certain he is. He as good as told me so himself as we danced!”

“This is more of his nonsense! Oh! I wish he would let me alone!” she cried. A moment passed before she dared to ask, “What exactly did he say?”

“I asked him why he was so interested in you, as he had been asking me all about your tastes and pursuits. He laughed and said he had known from the moment you met that he wanted to marry you.”

“Marry me! He must not! What a ridiculous notion!”

“What is so ridiculous about it?”

“Why should a baronet take any interest in a girl like me? I think he says such things just to provoke me. He kept asserting his admiration, but I refused to believe him,” she said stubbornly.

“I hope you did not say so to him!” said a shocked Georgiana.

“Yes. Of course I did!”

“Kitty, do you not see that questioning his professed intentions in such a way is casting doubt on his very claim to the title of gentleman? Why would a man such as he – and he is a very good man, Kitty, if a bit reckless at times, just ask Fitzwilliam – torment a lady in such a way? True gentlemen do not behave in such a manner, only rogues.”

Kitty had turned rather pale at this recital. “I did not mean to offend him, but how else am I to take such nonsense? It makes no sense at all! Who am I to capture his interest?”