Page 52 of Fortuitous Encounters

“Ready!” he replied, having not had so much fun in years.

“Now,” Lizzy said. “I shall need some… ah… facts! Nature abhors a vacuum, so we need to throw some red meat to the dogs.”

“That may be the most mangled saying ever,” Mrs Redgrave laughed.

Elizabeth shook her finger, and finally said, “All right, Mr Darcy. Prepare to be interrogated. Now, in this process, you may say ‘yes’, or ‘no’. Understood?”

“Yes?” he replied confusedly.

“Question one: Do you have a competence sufficient to support a wife?”

“Actually, I am… that is—”

“Ah-ah-ah. Yes or no!”

“Yes” he replied, finally getting into the spirit of the thing.

“Do you make at least… say… four hundred a year… maybe more?”

“Actually… I make … well… ah… yes.”

“Excellent. You are getting the hang of it. Do you expect to inherit an estate?”

“Ah… No.”

“Are you here specifically to support Mr Bingley in some way—education, moral support, and so forth?”

“Yes.”

“Could you pass for a steward if you had to?”

“Yes.”

“Are you attached, betrothed, promised, engaged, etc.”

“No.”

“Are you presently in want of a wife?”

“Not… specifically.”

“All right. Stick to that and leave the rest to me. By the way, ‘not specifically’ will become ‘no’. Gossip does not deal well with subtlety.”

“I leave my fate in your hands, madam,” he intoned seriously.

“Do it up slightly less brown,” she laughed.

She shared one characteristic with the tall and admittedly very handsome man. Just like him, she was having her most diverting evening in years.

Darcy turned to Mrs Redgrave. “I think you very much for making a stranger welcome, madam. If you’ve no objection, I should like to reward you a bit, and Miss Flora and Master Simon as well.”

“I should be honoured, Mr Darcy, and we are at your disposal should you require aught else.”

Darcy dug into his waistcoat and handed some coins to the young mother. “You have done me a great service. I shall not instruct you, but I would hope this guinea for you, a shilling for Flora that you might save for a treat, and twopence for a treat now.”

She gasped, since he had just given her a month’s wages, but was in no mood to argue with some toff who could no doubt afford it.

Darcy handed another twopence to Simon. “Excellent job, young man, especially since you were never here.”