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Thanks to the delay caused by Miss Millar, it was too late to see the sun rise, but the four walked up the path after the Duke’s huge footman had announced the summit devoid of anyone else and spent some time enjoying the view as the spring sun spread its warmth over the fields below.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

By the time Jane reached Longbourn’s stables, she threw the reins at the new groom. Unlike perfect Elizabeth, she did not know the man’s name, nor did she care what it was. He was only a servant.

Jane marched to the little wilderness on the one side of the park, where she would be hidden from anyone looking out of windows in the house, especially from Mr Bennet’s study. She paced back and forth trying to fathom what had gone so wrong. Why had she let her mask of serenity slip?

She realised she had much bigger problems. She had been rebuked by a duke, who, like so many men before him, had not been impressed by her beauty or flirting.

Was there nothing her mother told her that had been correct?

Could it be that some men, like the Duke and Mr Barrington, preferred women who were educated, intelligent, and accomplished, like Elizabeth and Miss Lucas?

Had Mama not told her that no man would ever be interested in Elizabeth because of her looks and intelligence?

It seemed that had not been true either.

Her immediate problem was what to do if her slipup was reported to Mr Bennet. If she was sent out to the cottage, then it was certain she would not be able to secure her future the way she believed she deserved.

There was nothing for it. She would have to wait for Elizabeth to arrive and apologise profusely and hope that she would not say anything about it to her father.

Jane’s only hope was in knowing that Elizabeth was not very comfortable around Mr Bennet yet, so it was possible the subject of her behaviour would not be raised between them. Even so, an apology was imperative.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Once an extremely enjoyable hour was spent atop the hill, the four riders made their way down the path to the base of Oakham Mount.

After Elizabeth and Charlotte were lifted into their saddles by the Duke and Mr Barrington, respectively, and again feeling the thrill of physical contact, they headed back towards Purvis Lodge rather than Longbourn.

At the gate leading into the paddock next to the stables, the men bid them adieu, and once they saw the ladies disappear around the side of the stables with the groom and footman following, they turned the horses towards Netherfield Park with Biggs behind them.

Thankfully for Jane Millar, her misbehaviour had been chased from the memories of the two friends who were revelling in the time they had spent with the men who were attracted to them.

When Jack assisted the ladies down from the two mares, he kept his features schooled when he noticed the dreamy looks on the countenances of both Miss Lizzy and her friend.

“I will walk home from here; it is less than a mile,” Charlotte told her friend.

“You may ride with us, and we will let you off at Lucas Lodge on the way to Longbourn,” Elizabeth insisted.

“It is an easy walk for me, and I do not want to be an inconvenience,” Charlotte averred. “You are not the only one who enjoys the exercise gained from walking.”

“It is no trouble at all, but come,” Elizabeth took Charlotte’s hand and led her into the house, “if it will make you feel better, I will request that you may ride with us. I am sure Aunt Maddie and Uncle Edward are in the sitting room enjoying a hot drink.” She pushed the door open; seeing her aunt and uncle, she gave her friend a triumphant look.

She made the request, and just as Elizabeth predicted, Charlotte was welcome to ride with them until Lucas Lodge.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

If Bennet were honest with himself, he would admit his excitement at seeing his daughters again, especially Lizzy. If only he could have her living at Longbourn all of the time.

Although she would be able to assist him and the steward in running the estate, Bennet was aware that thanks to the fact the girls’ dowries were in Gardiner’s name for the two older girls and Phillips’s for the younger two that he could not touch a penny of their money and use it for his own purposes.

He could not claim their horses and sell them for a pretty penny, because those too were in Gardiner’s name.

He had troubled himself to go to Hatfield and consulted with the solicitor there.

The man had told him before he had signed the additional agreement; he could have demanded his daughters returned with no penalty.

However, there was a breach of contract clause in the new agreement with a penalty of twenty thousand pounds if he attempted to renege on the agreement.

If he could not pay—which he had no way of doing—then he would be taken directly to debtor’s prison.

He should have read the full document before affixing his name to the damned thing.

Due to that enormous sum, he would die in gaol.

Because of that, he was stuck with the agreement in its current form. As the man in Hatfield had informed him, the only way to change it would be with the agreement of all interested parties, and he knew Gardiner and Phillips would never do that.

Hence, he would have to take what he could get.

Even if it was not near to that time now, under the new agreement, he had to approve of matches for his daughters until they reached their majorities.

It was small, but if one of them had a suitor at some point, it was possible he could parley that into some advantage for himself.

The sounds of a coach could be heard from the front of the house. Bennet needed to complete a page or two of his book, so he would join his daughters and Miss Millar in the drawing room soon enough.

Jane waited until Elizabeth alighted from the Gardiner coach. “Lizzy, will you take a turn with me in the park before we enter the house, please?” she requested.

Elizabeth could not think of a reason to refuse.

She looked at Mary expressively. “I will take a turn as well,” Mary decided.

She knew Lizzy wanted her close by. She turned to the two youngest Bennet sisters, Lilly, and Eddy.

“Come, let us all explore the park before we go inside. If memory serves, there is a swing below an oak tree.”

With all of her sisters as well as her cousins coming into the park, Elizabeth felt sanguine about accompanying Jane. “Of course, Jane, if we need to talk, we will create a little distance from the rest,” she agreed.

Once she was sure they were out of earshot of the group around the swing, Jane turned to Elizabeth.

“I do not know what came over me today. Please pardon my bad behaviour, and if, or when, I am in company with Charlotte, Mr Barrington, and His Grace, I will convey my contrition to them as well. I suppose some of what my mother told me every day, from the time I could remember, came to the fore without my realising it. I am truly repentant, Lizzy,” Jane beseeched.

Rather than admit she had not thought about the incident very much since it occurred, Elizabeth accepted the apology with grace and no recrimination.

“You seemed to be familiar with the Duke before this ride today,” Jane said. She relaxed with her amends being accepted; Lizzy would not report anything about the morning to Mr Bennet.

“The very first time I met him, I was six, visiting Aunt Maddie’s father and brother, as well as Uncle Adam’s family, in Lambton…

” Seeing no harm in it, Elizabeth gave Jane a synopsis of the times she had met His Grace, leaving out the part about tender feelings developing, beginning a year ago, once she saw how he treated her as an intelligent, equal person, regardless of her sex.

“And Jane, please note that he does not want his rank known to the general populous.”

Her sister did not need to say anything. Jane could tell there was something between them based on the way Lizzy glowed when she spoke of her interactions with the Duke. Who cared how old he was? He was a duke. “I will not speak of his title,” she stated, keeping her mask in place.

Soon enough all of those in the park headed into the house. Jane was deep in thought.

After they broke their fasts, Elizabeth met with her father and the steward to go over the progress in increasing the estate’s yields and profits.

There had been some increases in the past year, and the income was once again rising towards what it was before Bennet allowed it to fall so precipitously.