The True Darcy Spirit (35 page)

But was she really so? She had given herself freely enough to James Eyre, curse him, and what of her feelings for Henry Lisser? Was she, in fact, the glorious, loving woman she seemed, or was she, in truth, fickle and false? Had she not fallen into his arms in rather an abandoned way? Was it love or scheming? She said she loved him, but…The thoughts tossed to and fro in his head. He knew the answer, but could not quite bring himself to accept it. The clock
struck; heavens, he was due in Soho Square in a quarter of an hour, he must hurry.

Cassandra found Camilla in nothing like a state of despair, for that was not in her cousin’s temperament, but she was worried about her sister.

“Bother Mr. Lisser. He is a charming man, no doubt, and certainly a handsome one, but he has caused us all nothing but trouble, as I have told Mr. Wytton, who is just back from Herefordshire.”

Mr. Wytton entered the room at that moment, pat upon his cue, yawning wildly. “Your servant, Miss Darcy,” he said to Cassandra. “You Darcy women live dramatic lives, I have to say. And Mr. Lisser is a good deal too free with his kisses, by all accounts, you in the shrubbery, Belle somewhere else.”

Camilla shot her husband an exasperated look. “You have it all wrong. Cassandra did not kiss Mr. Lisser in the shrubbery; she is not in the habit of kissing anyone in the shrubbery. That was Belle, who is all too prone to kiss young men wherever they are.”

“You are harsh on your sister.”

“I wish you would take this matter seriously,” said Camilla.

“Let Belle run away with her painter, for goodness’ sake, and then at least we will be done with her and with him.”

“Mr. Wytton!” exclaimed Camilla, sounding really annoyed now.

“What, my love?” And then, with an apologetic glance at Cassandra: “I am sorry; I am not to mention people running away. However, your family do it all the time, I expect hourly to hear that Alethea has run off with some unsuitable young man, leaving her groom practically at the altar.”

“I wish she would, but that is neither here nor there. We must somehow soothe Belle and restore her to a calmer frame of mind. Cassandra, it occurs to me that were you to convince her that there is nothing at all of a romantic nature existing between you and Mr. Lisser, then at least the jealous part of her emotion can be removed.”

“Will she believe me?” said Cassandra. “If she has worked herself into a state, I doubt that anything I say will carry any conviction with her.”

“I suppose Camilla is right?” said Mr. Wytton, eyeing Cassandra. “For, if you were to marry Lisser…”

“Cassandra does not wish to marry Mr. Lisser,” Camilla said with great firmness. “You must know that Mr. Darcy is in love with Cassandra; and I hear him on the stairs now, not a word about Cassandra and Mr. Lisser, if you please.”

Cassandra was struck by the very easy terms that Camilla and Mr. Wytton were on, their mutual attachment shining through their frequent disagreements and allowing both of them to speak their minds without in the least lessening the affection they had for one another.

Horatio came into the room, and Cassandra’s heart leapt to see him. He had eyes for no one but her, but he shook Camilla’s hand and bowed to Mr. Wytton, before crossing to Cassandra, taking her hand, and pressing it to his lips. “I had word from Miss Griffin that you were here and not at Soho Square. I trust, Cousin, that I do not intrude?”

“Not at all,” said Mr. Wytton, answering for his wife. “It is a family matter, after all. We were talking about Mr. Lisser,” said Wytton, looking intently from Horatio to Cassandra, and exchanging a smile of intelligence with his wife. “Belle is infatuated with him, it seems, and it will not do.”

Horatio frowned at the mention of Mr. Lisser. “That man! He causes nothing but trouble.”

Cassandra was about to come to Mr. Lisser’s defence, but a warning look from Camilla made her hold her tongue. Mr. Lisser was, in any case, more than capable of speaking up for himself, should the occasion arise.

Belle chose that moment to make her entrance. She was wearing a light muslin dress that floated about her, emphasizing her ethereally fair looks. Her violet eyes were big and full of tears; she greeted the visitors with a trembling lip and cast herself down on the sofa.

“Ophelia, to the life,” said Mr. Wytton. “Belle, you are a loss to the stage.”

That brought her out of her wilting pose, and she sat bolt upright, her mouth now pouting as she glared at her brother-in-law. “You do not know what it is to suffer,” she exclaimed in tragic accents. Then she cast a look of hatred in Cassandra’s direction. “You! I wish you had not come, you are no friend to me!”

“What fustian,” said Mr. Wytton impatiently. A furious look from Camilla silenced him; Cassandra knew that she must keep control of herself; were she to look at Mr. Darcy, she was sure they would both burst out laughing, and Belle would be genuinely hurt.

She went forward, and knelt down beside Belle, who tossed her head away, biting her lip and gazing steadfastly out of the window.

“Listen to me, Belle. Everything I ever said to you about Henry Lisser is true. He is a friend and a colleague and that is all. I have never been in the least in love with him, and I never shall be.”

“How can you tell such fibs! I saw you at the theatre, yes, and so did you, Mr. Darcy, and you were mighty distressed by it as well. Would he have been so angry,” she said, appealing to Camilla, “if he had not seen with his own eyes how close their heads were, how intimately they sat and spoke.”

“You saw us at the opera,” cried Cassandra, “and that is the reason for all this? I never heard anything so absurd.”

“You were in the box, alone with him, you spoke and looked at no one but him.”

“Nonsense. We were accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Hopkirk—no, stay, they were late, they arrived just as the orchestra was striking up the overture.”

“Which is precisely when you fainted,” said Camilla. “Was that not so, Mr. Darcy?”

“Yes. That is, I did not exactly notice…”

“No, for you were as shocked as I was by the way that Cassandra and Henry Lisser were carrying on,” Belle said, with another sob.

Cassandra’s patience snapped. “Carrying on, indeed! Don’t you dare say such things about me.” She rose swiftly to her feet, and
turned, eyes blazing, towards Horatio. “And you thought the same? Shame on you!”

Her bubble of happiness had burst. The joy with which she had greeted the fresh day had blown away in a cloud of misunderstanding and jealousy. Was his opinion of her really so low? What had last night meant, after all? Had he kissed her just because he thought he might take advantage of her, that she was clearly willing to kiss any man who came within her orbit? What proof had she that he had any real affection for her at all?

“Upon my word,” she flung at him. “I am not sure there is anything to choose between you and Lord Usborne, in your beliefs as to what kind of a person I am.”

Mr. Wytton had folded his arms, and was watching the scene with an air of evident enjoyment. “Please continue,” he said, when Cassandra fell silent, and stood there, her breast rising and falling, and her eyes sparkling with rage and tears. “You look magnificent, and this is as good as a play.”

Horatio, who had gone quite pale under the onslaught of her attack, was about to speak, even though Camilla was shaking her head at him, but he was forestalled by the door opening and the butler announcing, “Mr. Henry Lisser. I said as how you weren’t at home, madam, but he said he could hear you were, and Mrs. Burgh, too, and he wouldn’t be denied. He is an extremely forceful gentleman, I may say, but if you like, I will summon Charles, and we shall see him out.”

“No, no, it is quite all right,” Camilla said.

The butler gave Mr. Lisser a darkling look as he admitted him into the room, and withdrew.

Cassandra had never seen Mr. Lisser look more striking or dashing. And the effect on Belle was magical; she was transformed into an eager, glowing girl, her radiant eyes smiling at the painter as he held the centre of the room, glancing round with an arrogant look at the circle of Belle’s transfixed relations.

“I think I should address myself to Miss Belle’s father,” Lisser said. “However, I understand he is at present in Derbyshire. So perhaps I can speak to you, Mr. and Mrs. Wytton, about this?”

“About what?” said Mr. Wytton evenly.

“I wish to ask for permission to pay my addresses to Miss Belle, and to ask for her hand in marriage.”

Belle gave a whoop of delight and cast herself into her lover’s arms. Mr. Wytton sighed, and Mr. Darcy shook his head.

“You will of course want to know something of my station in life, and my prospects, and my ability to support a wife.”

“Stop there,” said Mr. Wytton. “This is all very fine, but it is out of the question. I know that I speak for Mr. Darcy. I am sure you are a most excellent painter and all that, but there is such a difference…In short, it is not a match that anyone in the family will sanction.”

“May I be permitted to finish?” said Mr. Lisser, with an hauteur that Cassandra had never seen in him before. A suspicion was beginning to form in her mind, and, by the swift look that Mr. Darcy gave the painter, in his as well.

“I go in England under the professional name of Henry Lisser. My name is, in fact, Heinrich von Lissa, and I am a younger son of Prince von Lissa, of Brunswick—”

Belle gave a little scream, and looked for a moment as though she were about to faint again.

Mr. Wytton’s eyebrows rose. “Indeed? May I ask why you choose to pass yourself off under another name, and why you are in England, working as a painter?”

“I am an artist, this is my profession, and it will remain so. My father is a nobleman of ancient lineage, with a very great interest in the arts, and he is himself a fine painter. I would have pursued my career in my native land were it not that as a student, I became active in politics, revolutionary politics.” He paused. “I do not know to what extent you may be aware of the situation at present in my country? On account of my activities, my presence was unwelcome, despite my father’s influence at court, and I had to absent myself; in short, to flee the country, in order not to be imprisoned, or possibly worse.”

Belle clung to him even more intently.

“As to fortune, I have some money of my own, and I am earning a
good living from my brush, and I will be happy to lay out my exact financial position to Mr. Darcy’s man of business. As to birth, we are in the
Almanach de Gotha,
and can trace our ancestors back to Charlemagne’s day; that cannot be a bar to my marrying Belle.”

Here he looked down at his fair companion with such doting affection that Cassandra was moved to the heart.

“You are fortunate, Belle, to have inspired such feelings in a man like Mr. Lisser,” she exclaimed.

All the tension had drained from Mr. Darcy, who was surreptitiously trying to slide his hand around her waist, but she moved away from him. He had misjudged her, and she could not forgive him.

Camilla, smiling with relief and pleasure, was apologising to Mr. Lisser. “Why did you not say earlier?”

He gave her a rueful smile. “Do you know, it is something like in the fairy tales? It was heartening to see that Belle loved me for myself, despite my lowly rank. But now I am no longer a frog, but a prince, and all it needs is for me to kiss the princess!”

“Later will do,” said Wytton. “Well, this is a red-letter day, the last of you five Miss Darcys has found herself a husband, and I hope, Henry, if I may call you so, that you will enjoy the happiness that marriage to Camilla has brought me. My love, ring the bell, and tell Rivers to bring up a bottle of champagne, so that we may drink a toast.”

Cassandra told herself that she was truly happy for Belle, and she strived not to show what a bitter cup she herself had drunk from. “You will have to brush up your German, Belle,” she said, with an effort at levity. “Miss Griffin told me that languages were the only study that you had any inclination for.”

Horatio was looking at her with a worried expression, ashamed that his mistrust had so dimmed the radiance there had been about her when he came into the room only a short time before. How could he ever have doubted her, or his own feelings for her?

He watched Cassandra, making a valiant effort to enter into the general rejoicing as she congratulated Mr. Lisser; then he felt a gentle touch on his arm. Camilla was beside him, and addressing him in a low voice.

“Have you asked Cassandra to marry you?” she said bluntly.

He coloured. “Why, no, because last night—oh, you have not heard about last night? You have, a note from Miss Griffin? Then I do not need to tell you about it, but I had not the time or the opportunity, then, for that dragon of a woman drove me from the house. And besides…”

“Cold feet?”

“Certainly not,” he said, haughty and ill at ease.

Camilla gave him a little push. “Go on, then. Do it.”

“Do what?”

“Propose.”

“In front of all these people?”

“Witnesses,” said Camilla. “You will be unable to back out of it.”

“I do not wish to back out of it,” he said resentfully.

“Then do it.”

He looked at Cassandra’s bleak face, and took a deep breath. “Cassandra,” taking two long strides that brought him to her. He sank on one knee. “My dearest, Cassandra, I love you. Will you accept my heart and my hand?”

There was a moment’s complete silence, and then Cassandra, her eyes alight with joy, put out her hands to haul him up and, in true Belle style, flung herself into his arms.

“Oh, better than the play,” said Wytton, applauding. And as the door opened, he cried out, “Rivers, two bottles of champagne, if you please.”

Rivers wasn’t bringing in the champagne, but another visitor, in the shape of Mrs. Shawardine. She stood on the threshold and surveyed the scene through her
face-à-main,
a weapon she had deployed to devastating effect for most of her life.

“Well! What may I ask is the meaning of this? Who is this young man entwined with Belle? I never saw such a thing, in the morning, and in public! And Horatio, why are you holding on to that young lady in such an inappropriate and affectionate way? Who is she, do I know her? She has a great look of the Darcys about her.”