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“Surely you must see that it would be irresponsible of me to not codify all the above, do you not? As uncomfortable as it is to contemplate my mortality, I would be derelict in my duty should I not do so,” Hertfordshire explained gently.

“I can do no less than to make sure that you and your sisters will be well and truly protected. If I did any less, I would not be able to live with myself. Lizzy, look at me.” He waited until she lifted her magnificent emerald-green eyes to look directly at him.

“Of course, my prayer is that you and I have many happy years together; this is a ‘just in case,’ not an ‘I think it will happen soon.’ Do you understand my love?”

“Yes, Archy, I do. It does not mean I like thinking of you not being with me, but I see its necessity. You are such a good man to think of everything to make sure we will all be safe. As you said, we will make as much as we can of the time, which I pray will be decades, that He grants for us to share,” Elizabeth stated fervently.

“As do I, Lizzy.” Almost forgetting her uncle and his solicitor were seated in the study, the Duke was about to lean over to capture her lips, but he stopped himself when one of the men cleared his throat.

He flushed with embarrassment and sat back in his chair.

“Are there changes needed to the contracts, and would you prefer Phillips looks them over first, or may I instruct Mr Marylebone to make the final drafts?”

Gardiner looked to his niece, who shook her head, indicating there were no changes needed from her side. “I believe you may have the final drafts created. Phillips and I will sign them as soon as he reaches Falconwood,” he allowed.

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

The day before the departure for Falconwood, Elizabeth, accompanied by a large group of ladies which included her soon-to-be cousin, the Duchess of Bedford, Ladies Matlock, Anne, and Jersey, as well as Madeline Gardiner, Charlotte, and Anna, descended upon Madame Chambourg’s shop in Bond Street to have the final fitting for the creation Madame had come up with for Elizabeth’s wedding gown.

The group was watched with envious eyes as Miss Bingley, dressed in what she believed was the height of fashion, stood not far from the shop of which she was not a patron.

She had tried many times to be accepted as one of Madame Chambourg’s clients.

However, she had failed each and every time.

She recognised the peeresses, but the rest of the ladies were unknown to her.

From where she was when she spied them, it seemed like the unknown ladies were on friendly terms with some of the leaders of the Ton .

It was then she realised that two of those she had initially not identified were none other than Lady Anne and Georgiana Darcy.

They were part of the group which entered the exclusive shop.

She knew that based on her friendship with the Darcys, this was her chance.

“If some unknown nobodies can be admitted to Madame Chambourg, then so can I,” Miss Bingley said aloud as she stalked across the road towards the shop into which she desired to be admitted.

Miss Bingley waited outside for a few minutes.

When everyone seemed too busy to pay attention to the door, she marched into the shop as if she belonged there.

“It is so good to see my friends, Lady Anne and Georgiana,” she cooed before the door was closed.

She was banking on Lady Anne not wanting to make a scene.

“Do pardon me for being a little late to meet you at Madame’s shop. ”

“ Lady Anne, did you invite that walking fashion disaster to meet you in my store? ” Madame asked in her native tongue, knowing Lady Anne was fluent in French.

“ No Madame, I most certainly did not, ” Lady Anne replied in flawless French.

During her language lessons at the seminary she attended, Miss Bingley had not paid attention and could only say a few words, enough to bluff that she was proficient, so she could not follow the conversation, especially at the speed at which the ladies were speaking.

She would have censured the lady who worked at the shop for speaking in a language she could not understand, but as Lady Anne was also speaking it, Miss Bingley would not dare.

“ Who is this over-dressed peacock, Aunt Anne? ” Elizabeth asked in perfect French, sounding like a native speaker.

Miss Bingley thought that the lady who addressed Lady Anne was a seamstress or the like, and she understood enough to know she had been insulted. “How dare you speak of your betters in that way? I will have you sacked on the spot,” she blustered.

Seeing the other ladies, even Anna was about to correct the awful woman’s mistake; Elizabeth shook her head. “ No, ” she told them in French, “ allow her to make a fool of herself. I have a feeling Madame or Aunt Anne, or both, will put her in her place for now .”

There were nods from both ladies.

“‘Ow many times ‘ave I refused you entry into my shop?” Madame Chambourg demanded harshly of the intruder in her heavy French accent, her arms akimbo. “If you ever enter my shop again, I will ‘ave you thrown out into the street!”

“But I was invited here by one of the leaders of the Ton , and a very good friend of the Bingley family, Lady Anne Darcy,” Miss Bingley prevaricated. “She requested I come and assist dear Georgiana…” She closed her mouth with a clack as Lady Anne speared her with a look of disdain.

“You call yourself a lady, and you stand before me and my friends dissembling with no conscience! How dare you! You are a friend to no member of my family. My son is your brother’s friend, not yours.

Never allow me hear you address my daughter as anything but Miss Darcy ever again.

In fact, do not speak to her at all. The only time you have been to our estate or home is when you have invited yourself.

“I tolerated your atrocious manners for my son and your brother, but if you dare show your face at my estate or house, you will not be admitted. Approach me in public again, and I will give you the cut direct. We all will.” To make her point, Lady Anne turned her back, as did all of the other ladies in the shop.

Miss Bingley ran out of the place as if one, or all four, of the horsemen of the apocalypse were chasing her.

Once she was gone, the ladies enjoyed a good laugh at her expense.

“As diverting as that was, we need to have the fitting still,” Madeline reminded the ladies. Her eyes were smiling.

Caroline Bingley did not stop running until she reached her brother’s carriage, which had been waiting for her just off Bond Street.

She had miscalculated in the worst way and had been cut by some of the leading lights in the Ton , from a duchess on down.

She ordered the coachman to make all haste to Hurst House on Curzon Street.

Her brother, sister, and brother-in-law were seated in the drawing room. “We must leave London at once,” Miss Bingley screeched.

“The season is not over, and you want to leave London?” Bingley grinned. “Is the sky falling? This is most unlike you, Caroline. What causes you to desire to depart Town?”

“We must! We must!” Miss Bingley shrieked.

“Caroline, come to my sitting room. I think we need to speak,” Mrs Hurst told her nearly apoplectic sister. She led her up to the sitting room in the master suite. “Now Caroline, sit and tell me what has you so frightened.”

A half hour later, Mrs Hurst rejoined her husband and brother. “We must leave London with all speed, and not for a short while, but I would say three years at least. Caroline has ruined us all or soon will…” Mrs Hurst related what she had managed to draw out of her sister.

“Did I not say that harpy would ruin us?” Hurst barked.

“It is not the time for recriminations now, Harold; we must away. There is no time to lose. Without us in Town, the scandal will fizzle out, but we need to keep Caroline away, so she does not reignite it,” Mrs Hurst opined.

“I will go see Darce; he will fix this…” Bingley stopped when he saw the look in his older sister’s eyes.

“Charles, she was cut by the Duchess of Bedford, the Countesses of Matlock and Jersey, and Lady Anne, just to name a few. With all due respect to Mr Darcy, he can do nothing. Let us not dally; we need to leave this very day!” Mrs Hurst insisted.

Bingley deflated when he saw the truth in his sister’s words. “We will depart as soon as may be,” he capitulated. He went to issue orders to his coachman and valet. He stopped at Caroline’s chambers to make sure her maid was packing.

Within two hours, Hurst House had been closed, and the occupants were on the Great North Road on their way to Scarborough.

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

The next morning a convoy of coaches departed London for the four plus hour journey to Falconwood.