by Leenie Brown
Gabe smiled. “That is what I like about you, Gardiner. You have always dealt honestly with me. Never a late payment. Never a suggestion of a hidden deal. Would that all businessmen were as you are.” He returned to reading and the room fell silent again until he had finished. “It looks to be sound, but I agree. It is never a poor idea to take a precaution on something such as this. I wish to keep you as a friend as well as a business associate, and that can only be done if we both do our own thinking and assuring.”
“Trust with verification.” Gardiner’s smile was as wide as Gabe’s.
The fact that these two men seemed to be cut from a bolt of the same cloth was reassuring to Tom. He needed his money to be handled carefully. His future happiness hung in the balance. And if he were being completely honest, he hoped that that future was not too far off. If he could see a steady return, he could, with Miss Eldridge’s assistance, calculate when he might be free of his debt and ready to leave every remaining facet of his past behind him as he moved forward unfettered.
“I will have my solicitor look at this as soon as possible, and if all is as it appears, it will be returned to you signed with all haste.” Gabe offered the document to Waller. “I do not speak out of turn, do I?” He asked his companions.
Tom shook his head. “I trust you.”
“As do I,” Waller agreed, looking up briefly from the papers he held.
“You will, of course, read this?” Gabe nodded toward the papers Waller held.
Tom chuckled. “I would not wish to inform Miss Eldridge I had handed over my money without carefully scrutinizing the details.”
“Miss Eldridge?” There was a curious twinkle in Gardiner’s eye.
“She has been assisting me with my books.” Tom’s ear burned slightly with the admission, but not because he was seeking help from a female. No, it was his need to seek any help at all in matters he should understand which caused his discomfort.
“A lady with a keen mind! There is nothing better,” Gardiner said. “My wife is such a woman, as are a few of my nieces.” He scratched his cheek as he contemplated something. “Do you know Mr. Darcy?”
Tom shook his head and shrugged. “I have heard of him, but I do not know him.”
“This Miss Eldridge is a gentleman’s daughter?”
“She is, although she has been left to her brother’s care.”
Gardiner nodded. “Sadly, that is not as unusual as it should be, but I only asked to make certain this young woman was of the same circles as my niece, Elizabeth.” Gardiner’s expression grew serious. “She is settling into her role as Mrs. Darcy very well. There is no reason for me to ask this but for selfish reasons. She has always lacked friends who were as bright as she was, and I thought if, sometime, this Miss Eldridge could meet my niece, it might be good for Lizzy. Of course, I do not know what Miss Eldridge is like, so I cannot say for certain they would get along well just because they both possess keen minds.”[1]
“It would be something to consider,” Tom agreed as he accepted the lease agreement from Gabe and began to look it over while Mr. Gardiner spoke to Waller and Durward about the building and his nieces.
“This also looks thorough to me,” Tom said when he had completed his perusal of the document.
“Then it is just a matter of having my solicitor look over the documentation and for us to look over the building. I had hoped to find a warehouse first and then a store, but if you say this place has a good bit of storage, then perhaps the warehouse could wait a few months. I can tolerate my current situation for a time.” Gabe pushed to his feet with the help of his crutch.
“My carriage is out front, Mr. Gardiner,” Tom offered.
~*~*~
“It is a very good-looking building,” Tom said later as he sat in the Eldridge’s drawing room. “Waller is considering taking up residence in the home above the store. It would not cost him more than he pays now where he is, and it would give us someone to watch over the establishment.”
“And it all rests on Mr. Durward’s solicitor’s approval of the agreement?” Robert asked.
Tom nodded. “I could be earning back my losses in a very short time.” That was the most thrilling bit. “I will not have much to do with the running of the business, of course. I shall leave that to the tradesmen with experience.”
“You seem eager to begin,” Robert said with a laugh.
“I am,” Tom admitted. He sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly. “I am eager for a very specific reason.”
“What is that?”
“I cannot begin to consider taking a wife until I have repaid my debts or am well on my way to repaying them. I wish to leave my entire past behind me, you see, and those debts are the final reminders of who I once was.”
“Other than the leg,” Robert inserted.
Tom nodded. Even if his leg did heal to the point of never causing him pain again, he would always have the scar on his thigh. His brow furrowed. “Did you tell your sister about the gash on my leg?”
Robert shifted uneasily. “No, I was at a cockfight. The… um… surgeon must have spoken to her about it.”
Tom tipped his head and studied his friend. “You do not know?”
Robert clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.
“Then, I shall have to ask her. Did you say she would be home soon?”
That made Robert squirm even more. There was something Tom’s friend was not telling him.
“I could not say how soon she will return. I only know it will be before dinner.”
“She saw it?” That was the only explanation which would cause Robert to squirm as he did.
“Saw what?”
Robert was not meeting his eyes. Tom suspected he had hit upon the true way in which Miss Eldridge knew of his injury.
“The gash on my leg.”
“She may have.”
“May have or did?” Tom pressed.
“I cannot say.”
From the look on his friend’s face, Robert was telling the truth. However, Tom was certain Robert’s inability to clarify had little to do with whether or not he knew the answer and a great deal to do with not wishing to divulge any further information about his sister.
“You must not ask her,” Robert begged, putting to rest all of Tom’s questions. “Please.”
“Very well, I will not ask her – for now,” he added just to taunt his friend as he wondered just how much of his person had been exposed to Miss Eldridge while he was ill. A smile curled his lips. There was one person from whom he could likely gain his answers. His man had been with him. Surely, his valet would know more information about his time at Robert’s estate than his friend would since Robert had not been there. “I am grateful for her assistance no matter how unclothed I might have been when she rendered it.”
“And I must apologize once again for leaving you.”
“I believe that is the first time you have apologized,” Tom said. “Other than in that letter you wrote to me when I was at Mansfield.”
Robert shook his head. “Perhaps it is the first time I have spoken the words to you, but I promise you that I have been reprimanded and required to repent of my actions many, many times. My sister thought it reprehensible – as it was – and will not allow me to forget my lapse in good sense.”
“She is very caring.”
“That she is. Take today, for instance. Do you know where she is?”
Tom shook his head.
“Shopping with a friend.”
How was shopping a demonstration of a lady’s caring nature?
“And do you know what she will buy for herself?” Robert continued.
“I am certain I do not know.” If she were like most ladies, it would be dresses, bonnets, lace, gloves, and so forth. But Robert’s sister was not like other ladies, and he knew that she had put limits on her purchasing to save money. She had told him about her retrenching.
“Nothing. Not one thing. But she will purchase needles and thread and
likely some small gift for Mrs. Johns and Olivia.”
Tom’s brow furrowed. “Who are Mrs. Johns and Olivia?”
“Friends she has known since she was in leading strings.” Robert stared off toward the window. “I should not allow it, and I would not if my sister were not as determined as she is, but she visits them often – on her own, although I am invited to visit as soon as Mrs. Johns is well enough.”
This Mrs. Johns must be the friend Miss Eldridge was visiting the day he saw her dressed as a maid. He should not pry. She had been very clear about not wishing to tell him why she felt it necessary to visit them as she did. But there was one thing he just could not do without knowing.
“How did she become friends with someone who lives in that part of town? I mean it is not the poorest section, but it is not here.”
“The Johns’ were our neighbours before Mr. Johns had his accident. They have only been reduced to living as they are since. Mr. Johns’ heir was only so generous since there were debts that needed settling. I do not wish to speak ill of the dead, mind you, but Mr. Johns did enjoy a new set of clothes.”
And Olivia, Miss Johns, was reduced to taking in students. Things were beginning to make sense to Tom.
“Why will your sister buy needles and thread?” He was nearly certain he knew the answer.
“Mrs. Johns takes in sewing, and Faith helps her when she visits.”
No wonder Miss Eldridge had been so concerned about his venture with Gabe. She witnessed the effects of over expenditure every time she visited her friend. If he had thought it was important to settle his debts before taking a wife before he had learned this information, he knew that it was doubly as important now, for he knew that the lady to whom he hoped to present his offer needed to see that he would not be like Mr. Johns.
* * *
The Gardiners and Darcys in this book are the Gardiners and Darcys from Two Days Before Christmas, A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Leenie Brown ↵
Chapter 12
“My brother tells me you have settled on a building for part of your venture,” Faith said as she took her place across from Mr. Bertram in the line of dancers.
She had not wanted to accept the invitation to this soiree tonight, but Robert had refused to attend without her. Her tears from yesterday evening seemed to have brought out all of his brotherly instincts – and despite his tendency to argue with her, as well as what she would call his lackadaisical approach to his future, he was not completely without some sort of proper sensibility.
She had been lectured in the carriage that she was to dance as often as asked. He would not be housing her forever, and she must begin searching in earnest for a husband. Then, clever boy that he was, he immediately sought out Mr. Bertram upon their arrival and announced he had a bit of a headache starting so he was not certain how long they would be staying.
If a girl was to be saddled with a numskull for a brother, then Faith hoped that all such girls would be as fortunate as she and be graced with a loving dunderhead.
“We have.”
The smile of achievement that spread across Mr. Bertram’s face and lit his eyes caused her to sigh silently. She had done a good thing in giving him her blessing for this business undertaking for it appeared to have lifted the burden of his debts which he wore.
“I am glad to hear it,” she replied.
He tipped his head slightly to one side, his brow furrowed.
“Truly,” she assured him.
That returned his smile to his face just as the music began. For the duration of the set, they spoke in snatches about things of little significance – flowers, the weather, the crush of people, and so on. It was perhaps the longest and best conversation about the mundane things of the world in which Faith had ever taken part.
“I fear I will not be able to offer another set to you,” Mr. Bertram said as they made their way from the floor. “Unless, of course, you do not mind strolling in the garden rather than dancing during the set.”
He was limping more than usual. His leg must be hurting him most grievously. He had performed admirably while dancing, even if his hopping and skipping had been a trifle awkward at times when he began favouring one leg over the other.
“I am not a walking stick,” Faith whispered, “but you may lean on me if you wish.”
“I am certain I can make it to where I left my cane,” he assured her with a smile.
“Do you even think it wise to walk in the garden? Would your leg not do better if you were to rest it?”
“You sounded very much like Mrs. Durward just now,” he replied with a laugh.
“I promise not to instruct you to sit by the fire.”
“Very well, then, shall we adjourn to the card room?”
She shook her head. “My brother has made me promise to dance as often as I am asked. I fear he might not think I was doing as he requested if I disappear from the ballroom. However, I would not be opposed to a short stroll of the garden and perhaps a small rest on a bench during some other dance tonight.” It was almost as close as she dared come to declaring her feelings for him, there was one more thing she could say in that regard. “I was sorry to have missed your call yesterday.”
They had reached the edge of the room, near the door to the corridor, and with a look over his shoulder, he led her into the hall.
“My brother…” she protested.
“Might be out here. I did not see him in the ballroom just now,” Mr. Bertram replied with a grin.
“You know very well that he is not out here.”
Mr. Bertram only shrugged in response, and Faith had to admit that she was not at all displeased to be walking here with him instead of standing in the ballroom waiting for some gentleman to ask her to dance. There would be someone. There always was. She was no wallflower. Not even when she wished to be a wallflower rather than dancing with an unpleasant partner.
“Durward is arranging for a shipment of goods to be delivered to our store next week. Pardon me,” Tom added as he stumbled and hopped once from bad leg to good leg after bumping against a gentleman.
The accident was her fault, and she should feel some remorse. However, she could not find it within herself to regret the way he had been looking at her rather than at where he was going.
“No harm has been done,” the gentleman said.
“None at all,” one of the ladies beside him agreed.
Faith expected to continue walking down the hall, but they did not.
“Are you Mr. Darcy?” Mr. Bertram asked.
“I am.”
“Mr. Tom Bertram. And this is Miss Eldridge,” Mr. Bertram said in introduction.
“It is a pleasure to meet you even if it was by accident,” Mr. Darcy replied with a smile. “May I present my wife, Mrs. Darcy, and her sister, Miss Kitty Bennet, to you?”
The customary niceties of greeting were exchanged and once again, Faith expected to continue walking but Mr. Bertram did not move.
“I have had the pleasure of meeting your uncle,” Mr. Bertram said to Mrs. Darcy.
“Uncle Gardiner?” the lady asked in delighted surprise.
“Yes,” Mr. Bertram replied. “I have entered into a bit of an investment with him.”
Mrs. Darcy laughed. “That sounds like Uncle Gardiner. He is always conducting some sort of business.”
“He is much like my friend,” Mr. Bertram looked at Faith and added, “Mr. Durward.”
“Then he must be lovely,” Faith replied.
“My sister is in town visiting our aunt,” Mrs. Darcy continued. “Perhaps we will cross paths again.”
“I would welcome it,” Tom replied.
“Do you do any charity work?” Mrs. Darcy asked eagerly.
Next to Faith, Mr. Bertram shook his head. “Currently, I do not, although my friend Mr. Edwards has attempted to bring me along when he goes to Mr. Gardiner’s warehouse. However, Miss Eldridge does some private charity work, even though she would not call it such.”
&
nbsp; “You do?” Mrs. Darcy had not lost an ounce of animation, if possible, she might have gained some.
“I am not certain I do,” Faith glanced at Mr. Bertram.
“Oh, she does,” he said firmly. “However, she would call it doing what was necessary.”
“That is such a good way to say it. Helping others, whether friend or stranger, is not a luxury.”
Mr. Darcy cleared his throat, and Mrs. Darcy blushed, though her eyes seemed to sparkle even more than before.
“I have found charity work quite to my liking,” she said apologetically, “and I find it hard to believe anyone else does not find it so.” She opened her reticule and withdrew a card. “Miss Eldridge, this is likely too forward, but I would be pleased if you would call on me.”
“She will question you about your charity work,” Mr. Darcy cautioned Faith, who could not help noticing the pride in the man’s eyes when he smiled at his wife.
Faith accepted the proffered card. “I would be happy to call, but there is not much to tell.”
“Then we shall just have tea,” Mrs. Darcy replied.
“It was good to meet you,” Mr. Bertram said before he once again led Faith down the hall.
“Mr. Gardiner is the gentleman with the building?” Faith asked.
Mr. Bertram nodded.
“Mrs. Darcy seems nice.”
“Her uncle thought you and she might find you have some similar interests.”
Faith’s brow furrowed. “You spoke of me to Mr. Gardiner?”
Again, Mr. Bertram nodded. “He knows you have helped me with my finances, and it seems Mrs. Darcy is also an intelligent lady. So, he thought perhaps you might suit each other.”
“Is that why you introduced me to them?” She wasn’t certain if she was pleased by this or not.
“Yes. Was that wrong of me to do?”
She shook her head. “I am uncertain.”
“I apologize if I overstepped in my desire to see you…” He pressed his lips together.