A twinge of conscience admonished her for allowing her own impatience to cause them undue anxiety. "Not to my knowledge. Mr Dash wood is, however, so unpredictable of late that one can never be certain when another tale of his exploits will circulate."
"I sensed in your letter that you hesitated to disclose all the information in your possession."
"I did not know how you would respond to the intelligence. And, indeed, Mr Darcy knows more particulars than I. Many of Mr Dash wood's alleged transgressions, I am given to understand, are so very shocking that my husband will not describe them to me. Merely from what I myself have witnessed, I would caution anyone who takes benevolent interest in Mr Dashwood to prepare for a distressing next meeting, for you will find him
much altered from the gentleman who entertained us at Norland. But you said in your letter that you have seen him since then?"
"He called upon us a month ago," Elinor said. "It was a very sudden visit — he arrived so soon after his letter stating his intention to come that he might have saved us the postage and delivered it himself."
"Do you recall the date of his arrival?"
Elinorand Edward exchanged glances "It was a Sunday — the sixteenth, I believe," Edward said. "I had just finished services."
"May I ask what errand brought him to you?"
"He wished to talk about Norland," Elinor said. "People and things I remembered from the period I lived there, or that I might have recalled others mentioning. He had recently explored Norland's attics and wanted to know the origin of some of the items he had discovered. Many were pieces that graced Norland's rooms until my father passed away, but that Fanny did
not care for. Others I had no memory of, and referred him to my mother."
"Did Mr. Dashwood call upon your mother, then?"
"Yes, and Marianne, as well."
"On the same business?"
"Yes. He also asked numerous questions about my father and our uncle Albert Dashwood — their temperaments and deportment, their voices and manners of expression, their interests and amusements — the essentials of their characters, I suppose. He enquired, too, about Sir Francis Dashwood, and whether Papa or Uncle Albert had spoken of him."
"Had he ever expressed curiosity on these points before?"
"Not to me, but of course we have had little previous opportunity for such conversations. I do not know whether he asked my brother about any of his Dashwood relations before John's death. At the time of Harry's visit, I thought my nephew had merely developed an interest in the estate and lineage he inherited, and I was glad of it. But seen in the light of your report
about this Hell-Fire business he's become involved with, I think we instead witnessed the infancy of an obsession with our notorious ancestor"
"In your letter, you said that he seemed different from what he had been at Norland just a fortnight earlier?"
"He did not look altogether well to me — tired, which I presumed to derive from the rapidity of his journey. Would you not agree, Edward?"
Her husband nodded and sat forward. "The fatigue left his nerves frayed. More than once, I startled him simply by walking into a room. I believe he also did not sleep well while he was with us. One morning at breakfast, he complained of a bad dream having disturbed his rest."
"Did you enquire into the nature of it?"
"No, nor did he offer it"
Running footsteps above drew their attention ceihngward. Several pairs of feet, small from the sound of them, sprinted across the room above. Peals of laughter followed.
Elinor smiled apologetically. "That would be Marianne and the children. They have been too long confined in carriages these past few days."
Elizabeth arched a brow "Marianne included?'
Elinor laughed. "Actually, yes. My sister possesses as much energy as any of them, and as little natural inclination to suppress it Though she comports herself with the dignity and temperance one would expect from a lady of her station, I think the hours when she dismisses the governess and plays with the children herself provide Marianne one of her greatest joys each day.
Elizabeth thought of the quiet, broken only by Georgiana's rehearsals on the harp or pianoforte, that encompassed the houses in which she herself lived. "It is welcome noise," she said "Are your own children among the party?"
"No, they are with our neighbors, the Careys. With Marianne's five, we were already so numerous as to require two conveyances; to bring our own children with us seemed unnecessary, especially given the additional trouble and expense of transporting ourselves home by public coach once our business is concluded."
"We also were not certain what demands might be placed on ourselves and our time in assisting Harry," Edward said.
Regardless of what had transpired between Harry and Kitty, Elizabeth sincerely hoped Elinor and Edward Ferrars might exert a positive influence on their nephew — for the good of everyone he came in contact with, if not for himself. "You said he enquired of you about Sir Francis. Were you able to satisfy him on any particulars?"
"No," Elinor replied. "Sir Francis died over thirty years ago. By the time I reached an age where one has memories of anything my father and Uncle Albert never spoke of him, or had any reason to. I suggested Harry ask my mother, since she would be able to recall a period when Sir Francis was still alive. I do not know the outcome of that interview, but Mama is upstairs. Shall I call her? I am certain she would be pleased lo make your acquaintance."
Elizabeth wished very much to speak with Mrs. Henry Dashwood but hesitated to impose on the older woman. "I would not wish to disturb her if she is resting following your journey."
A team of horses galloped across the ceiling.
"I somehow doubt my mother rests just now," Elinor said.
Edward left to retrieve Mrs. Dashwood As the ladies waited, Elinor advised Elizabeth that she had not informed her mother of the extent of Harry's transformation or made any mention of the Hell-Fire Club. I did not wish to alarm her until I had spoken with Harry myself," she explained.
"I will not reveal anything that might distress her," Elizabeth promised
Mrs. Dashwood was a pleasant woman of about five-and-fifty, with grey hair turning silver and laugh lines around her keen eyes. She greeted Elizabeth warmly upon their introduction, expressing genuine delight at finally meeting her.
"Elinor has spoken so favorably of you, Mrs. Darcy, that I have looked forward to knowing you since Harry announced his engagement to your sister. I am sorry their marriage will not now take place."
"Unfortunately, it was necessary for Kitty and Mr. Dashwood to part ways''
"It must be of some comfort to your family that they discovered their incompatibility before the wedding vows were spoken, I was surprised to hear the news, as he talked so ardently of her when he visited. But these things do happen with young people "
Though Elizabeth and Darcy grew more relieved with each passing day that Kitty had escaped a permanent alliance with Harry Dashwood, Elizabeth had little inclination to discuss the broken engagement. She yet lamented her lapse of judgment on the point of Harry's character, and it rankled her vanity that she had allowed herself to be so deceived.
"I understand Mr. Dashwood also spoke of other matters with you during his visit to Devonshire?" Elizabeth asked.
Mrs. Dashwood smiled softly in recollection "Yes. He wanted to hear about my husband, Henry. I was so pleased by his interest. Other than naming Harry after his grandfather, John and Fanny didn't seem to give Henry two minutes' thought before he died, and none afterward. Harry met his grandfather few times; John and Fanny visited Norland just often enough to
insinuate themselves into Uncle Albert's will. That he wished to hear about Henry now encouraged me to hope that he had grown to be a man worthy of the name he bears."
"Mother, Harry asked me whether Papa or Uncle Albert had ever spoken of Sir Francis Dashwood. Did Harry pose the same question to you?"
"He did. I could not tell him much. Sir Fra
ncis was a distant relation who had been involved in some sort of scandalous affairs that became known to the public a few years before I met your father. I was only about sixteen at the time, and living far enough removed from London that I was ignorant of the details. The only time Henry ever spoke of it later was to assure me, while we were courting, that anything I might hear about his
famous relation had no connection at all to the sort of man he was, and that he hoped to always conduct himself in a manner that would place his honor, integrity, and respectability and above question.
"That's all I ever heard of Sir Francis for years. To both your father and Uncle Albert, he was an embarrassmem better left undiscussed. Then one day, shortly after we moved in with Uncle Albert at Norland, a delivery arrived quite unexpectectedly from West Wycombe Park — Sir Francis's estate. It was a large mirror, with a letter from Sir Francis asking Uncle Albert to keep it for a while."
Elizabeth recalled the looking glass that Harry's footman had struggled with when she had accompanied Kitty to his townhouse to break their engagement. "I think perhaps I have seen that mirror. Has it a Greek design?"
"Yes — with carvings of athletes round the whole frame. Uncle Albert didn't know what to think. He had never known Sir Francis well and had cut off communication altogether when the scandals broke. He was still trying to decide what to do with the mirror when we received word several days later that Sir Francis had died. The death itself came as little surprise — he was in his seventies, and by all accounts had lived an immoderate life — but it left Uncle Albert in a quandary over how to dispose of the mirror. He wrote to Sir Francis's heir to make arrangements for its return. But the heir, believing the mirror to have been a deathbed gift by Sir Francis in an attempt to polish the memory he would leave behind, exhorted Uncle Albert to keep it and sent with his reply a portrait of Sir Francis in his youth by which to better remember him. So now poor Uncle Albert had a huge looking glass and a full-length portrait to constantly call to mind a dead man he had been quite happy to forget during his life."
"What did he do with them?" Elinor asked.
"What could he do with them? He couldn't return them to West Wycombe without delivering an enormous insult along with them, he couldn't get rid of them, and he couldn't bear looking at them. So he stuck them in the attic, and none of us ever thought about them or Sir Francis again."
At least, not until Harry found them. It seemed that his discovery of the portrait had awakened in him some dormant predisposition to vice that he and his ancestor shared. Elizabeth remembered the conversation between Harry and Professor Randolph on the day Harry had first called upon Kitty. Would that meeting the archaeologist had never inspired Harry to explore Norland's attics! Sir Francis could have remained forever in obscurity, where he belonged.
The stampede above had ceased sometime during Mrs. Dashwood's narration, enough so that the ladies in the drawing room were able to hear a carriage pull up. Minutes later, the arrival of Mrs. Robert Ferrars was announced.
"Lucy calls upon us already?" Mrs. Dashwood remarked to her daughter. "She must want something."
Lucy entered, sans Regina for the first time Elizabeth could recall having seen her. Free of the excess weight, she swept into the room like a cat pouncing on a mouse. She dropped herself beside Elinor and put a hand on her arm. "Elinor, I am so glad you're at home. The most— Oh!" So intent had she been on her mission, that she hadn't taken notice of the room's other occupants. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Dashwood. And Edward. Oh — And Mrs. Darcy! I didn't expect anyone but family might be here. Especially you, I mean — you know, since the sad business between Harry and Miss Bennett."
"Regardless of what has transpired between Mr. Dashwood and my sister, I continue to regard his family with esteem," Elizabeth said.
"And we think the same way of you, to be sure. Well, you all would not believe what has just happened! Elinor, I knew you were in town, and I hurried here straightaway to make sure you didn't hear the astounding news from someone else!"
Elizabeth could not help but reflect that Lucy seemed very thoughtful in this regard. Whenever bad news circulated, she could be counted upon to deliver it most expeditiously to anyone remotely interested.
"What do you think our sister Fanny has done? I'm sure you could never guess, so I'll tell you. She has disinherited Harry! Her only son! I am beside myself with shock. My heart just breaks for him." As if to illustrate the fracture, she brought her hand to her chest. "Doesn't yours?"
Elinor's face registered astonishment, but at least she and Edward possessed information about Harry's recent conduct that lent Lucys announcement context. Poor Mrs. Dashwood appeared completely bewildered.
"Fanny has disinherited Harry? Whatever for?"
"For his profligate behavior She has been threatening it for weeks, but today she signed the papers with the solicitors. He'sstill got Norland, of course, but he won't see a penny of the rest of his father's estate or Fanny's own settlement after her death. Two thousand a year, yanked right out of his grasp!"
"What profligate behavior?"
"Mother," Elinor said gently, "there have been rumors….out of fairness to Harry, I did not want to repeat them even to you, until I could determine their veracity."
"Rumors? They are more than just rumors!" Lucy exclaimed. "Why, all the ton is talking about his drunken soirees, and his mistress, and the Hel—"
"Yes, I am sure they are," Elinor said.
"Mistress?"
"Oh. Mrs. Dashwood, Harry's the most infamous rakehell in London nght now! Why, he—"
"Our Harry?"
"Well, yes, our Harry! Who else would I be speaking of?"
"And Fanny has cut him off?"
"Utterly! Said her mother did the same thing to Edward without half so much cause, and she weren't going to allow her son to embarrass her any further. Why, she hasn't set foot outside her door these three weeks at least, 'cause she knows folks are whispering behind her back."
Edward shook his head in disbelief. "Poor Harry."
"Oh, Edward — do forgive me. I didn't even think how you must feel! Of course this must bring up dreadful memories."
Which would not, Elizabeth suspected, prevent Lucy from continuing to talk about it ad nauseam. She began to feel her presence an intrusion, and pondered some means of making a graceful exit so that the family might discuss this news in privacy.
"Unlike Edward, whose younger brother benefited from his loss," Elinor said pointedly. "Harry has no siblings. On whom did Fanny settle her fortune?"
Lucy actually stopped talking long enough to catch her breath "Well," she said slowly, "now that's the other part of the news I find so incredible, you see. As you said. Harry has no brothers or sisters, and of course Fanny wants to keep the money in the family. So she gave it to Regina."
"Regina?" Elinor said.
"I was as surprised as you, I tell you!" Again, she placed her hand on Elinor's arm "But really, who else could she leave it to? Regina is her niece, and she and Fanny have become so intimate this season. Why, Fanny adores her like the daughter she never had!" She sighed dramatically and turned toward the rest of her listeners. "We feel guilty, of course, about Regina's
gaining from Harry's misfortune, but what is one to do? It's better that the fortune stay within the family than go to an outsider. And if leaving it to Regina can provide Fanny with some measure of comfort to ease the pain her own son has caused her, why it's nothing short of our duty to accept it."
"Indeed." Elinor said dryly.
"Is the bequest irrevocable?" Edward asked.
"I'm afraid so. As of this morning, Fanny retains only a life interest in it. How it pains me to say so! Believe me, I wish it were otherwise, so that she might have an opportunity to reconsider if Harry reforms. I tried to talk her out of it, of course, and urged her to at least reflect longer on her decision before signing the papers. But it is done."
Lucy's professions of conscience were as believable as they were s
incere. Elizabeth had to give her credit: All these weeks, she'd thought Lucy schemed to acquire Harry's fortune for her daughter merely through the conventional means of a marriage between them. But instead she'd managed to win the money without sacrificing Regina to what would surely prove an unhappy future. And with this sizable increase to her dowry, Regina could now catch a better prize in the marriage market, thus further increasing her fortune.
"How did Harry take the news?" Mrs Dashwood asked.
"I don't know. Fanny was on her way to Pall Mall when I left her. I'm sure he must be devastated — anybody would be." She sighed once more and rose. "Someone should offer him sympathy, even if he don't deserve it. I shall go. Better for him to be with family at a time like this. It was good to see you all, even if the occasion was the sharing of such unhappy news. Good-bye!"
With that, she blew out of the room as quickly as she had blown in, a sudden summer shower that fleetingly deluges those caught beneath it before moving on to drench another unwary party.
In the stunned silence that followed her departure, Elizabeth also rose. "'I apologize to you all for having long overstayed my welcome. Doubtless, you wish to continue discussing this matter in private."
"I'm sure none of us considered your presence an intrusion, Mrs. Darcy," Elinor reassured her. "And I suspect Lucy appreciated the opportunity to play to a larger audience."
As her driver assisted her into the carriage, Elizabeth reflected anew on what a mess Harry Dashwood had made of his life in just a few short weeks. He'd lost his fiancee, half his fortune, and many of his former friends, gaining little more than infamy in their stead. Well — infamy and a paunch more at home on a man twice his age. She recalled Darcy's description of Harry preening before his elaborate mirror when they'd first met him. What did
Mr. Dashwood see when he looked at himself in the glass of late? Could a man who once had taken such trouble over his appearance really be satisfied with the image now reflected?
Perhaps, she mused, that is why he'd ordered the looking glass packed up and carted back to Norland — his vanity could no longer suffer it. And so the mirror's London season had come to as abrupt an end as Harry and Kitty's engagement, and for identical cause: Mr. Dashwood's unbecoming alteration. With Mrs. Dashwood's narrative still fresh in her mind, Elizabeth
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