A Question of Admiration Read online

  A Question of Admiration

  A Pride and Prejudice Variation

  Anna Lockhart

  Clara Willoughby

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Coming soon from Daisy Chain Publishing

  Author’s Note

  Also from Clara Willoughby

  Chapter 1

  “Oh, Mallie! Can you believe it? Can you even begin to believe our terrible luck?”

  The coach that Elizabeth Bennet’s aunt hired to bring her and her dearest friend to London was only just entering the city as the sun started to set, a fact that made Elizabeth more than a little nervous. Aunt Molly Gardiner, the wife of her mother’s brother, sent the coach to collect Elizabeth and the Bennet’s charge, Joshua Mallard, early in the day so they could all attend dinner together at her uncle’s club before he left for business. Their early arrival in London was meant to assure that Lizzie and Mallard would have plenty of time to change into some of the proper city clothing that Aunt Gardiner chose for them. Instead, Mallard had wasted precious time unpacking and packing his trunk again, a process that seemed to take hours and resulted in such a delayed departure from Meryton, they seemed to be racing the sunset the entire way.

  Now that they were almost at Uncle and Aunt Gardiner’s home in Cheapside, Elizabeth glanced down at their less formal Meryton frocks, and she knew they could not possibly attend an elegant supper with the richest families in London looking the way they did. It came as no surprise, however, that Mallard was not the slightest bit concerned.

  “Come now, Eliza! How could you wish to dress like these London bores? You are worth ten of them, with their dull dinner conversation and dreary frocks. I am sure Aunt and Uncle Gardiner will not be the least bit concerned by our appearance.”

  Elizabeth always appreciated that her best friend remained confident in the face of the most sure of negative odds. But she feared that London might take some of the wind from Mallard’s sails.

  “I fear that you undervalue the pretension of the London crowd, Mallie. You have never left Meryton, my darling. You do not know what acts of cruelty these people are capable of committing.”

  Mallard could not hide the hearty laugh he was about to have at the expense of his best friend, though it was almost entirely shared with both kindness and concern.

  “Eliza, you were in London one time when you were a child. Surely you do not remember the behavior of people that have perhaps even passed on from this good earth. In fact, I will promise you the first dance at our first ball if you can remember the name of a single person you met in London when you came here last with your father.”

  Elizabeth frowned at Mallard because she knew he was correct. It had been almost twenty years since the Bennet family was last in London and in truth, she remembered little of their time there. Her sister Jane would likely remember more, but as Jane was in Paris with their grandmother studying music, Elizabeth did not have time to ask before she and Mallard left for their visit the Gardiners. Instead, she was forced to rely on Mr. Bennet’s memories and he had the endearing, though occasionally distressing, habit of casting a sunny light upon those days when Mrs. Bennet was still with them.

  She was just about to give Mallard a playful slap on the arm when the coach came to a stop. Elizabeth thought they were at her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner’s home, but when she looked outside, she saw they were instead in the center of Cheapside. Mallard was distracted by the sights outside of his window and seemed not to notice they had even come to a halt, sudden though it may have been. Elizabeth poked him in his side.

  “Elizabeth!” he shouted, swearing under his breath. “That hurt!”

  “Oh, hush, Mallie! The coach has stopped and we are not at Auntie’s yet. Ask the coachman why we have stopped!”

  Elizabeth could see that her friend wished to say something smart in return but he was just as anxious to reach their final stop as she.

  “I say, coachman! Why are we stopped here?” he called out the window. The driver did not step down from his perch. He only raised his voice loud enough for his riders to hear.

  “There is some foot traffic ahead preventing us from passing the street. No carriages in or out until it clears. If you want to walk the rest of it, I can deliver your things when the road opens up again,” he called down in a voice that sounded similar to that of Mallard’s departed father. Elizabeth saw a bit of sadness in her friend’s eyes and she knew he was lost in a memory that he would not share with her. In order to prevent Mallard from a public display of emotion, she answered for both of them.

  “We will, indeed, walk. Should you arrive at my Uncle and Aunt Gardiner’s before we do, please let them know we shall be along soon enough.”

  Then Elizabeth took Mallard’s hand and led him from the coach. Together they pushed through the crowds of strangers gathered in the streets, all of them busy with somewhere to go yet distracted by the carts and shops that surrounded them. Elizabeth did not remember the area but she did have the meticulous directions her Aunt Molly drew up for her, which made it quite simple to journey the streets and pathways of Cheapside. They were almost close enough to the Gardiner’s home to touch the door when two young women stepped out of a flower shop and directly into their path. Though he did his level best to avoid them, Mallard walked into both of them as if he had been aiming for them all along.

  “You fool!” one of the ladies cried. “I know that you Cheapside people are ignorant and rude but at the very least, I thought perhaps you might be able to walk in a straight path with little trouble. I suppose I was wrong.”

  The second lady sneered behind her handkerchief though she was truly doing little to hide her disdain for Elizabeth and Mallard. While she knew it improper, especially as she was new to London, Elizabeth found it quite impossible to hold her tongue.

  “I know that you London people are superior and unpleasant but at the very least, I thought perhaps you might be able to summon up a bit of civility for a fellow human being. It is quite obvious I was wrong. Now, if you would not mind stepping out of our way, we have somewhere to be.”

  Mallard laughed with such joy, several other people on the street turned around to see what could possibly be so humorous. Both of the women, who had only a moment before been so arrogant and rude, appeared to have been stunned into silence by Elizabeth’s words. The four of them remained locked in a staring contest when a tall, fastidiously dressed gentleman stepped out of the same flower store the ladies had left a moment before.

  “I say, what is this? Did someone call a meeting of the most lovely ladies in all of London… and you?” he said, staring at Mallard as if he were some sort of gollum. The woman who spoke so cruelly to Elizabeth did not appear to be amused.

  “Coulter! Why have you taken so long? We have been forced to stand on the street speaking to these Cheapside… well… people, I suppose, though I have yet to see proof of it. If we do not get away from here, my dress will be ruined by the smell of this wretched place.”

  “Your dress was likely ruined when the fabric touched your skin,” Mallard said under his breath so only Elizabeth could hear. She suspected it was why the gentleman remained cordial.

  “Miss, allow me to introduce myself. I am Coulter Arrington of the Arringtons of Bath. And you are, my dear?” He reached out for Elizabeth’s hand and while she could not quite place the sourc
e of her feelings, she had the immediate sensation that to touch him was to invite misfortune into one’s life.

  “I am Elizabeth Bennet and this is my dear friend Joshua Mallard. We are from Meryton, in London to visit with my family for a time. I fear we have only just arrived, however, and must be on my way before my aunt begins to worry.”

  Mr. Arrington held on to Elizabeth’s hand for longer than was appropriate and when he kissed it, his lips lingered just long enough to make her uncomfortable. She could also feel the anger radiating off her friend as he seemed to anticipate how Elizabeth was feeling.

  “Yes, let us go, Elizabeth, before we miss dinner,” Mallard interrupted. Before they could depart, a young boy came out of the flower shop, carrying an arrangement of roses, which were most expensive in London. As he ran past, Mr. Arrington reached out and snatched a flower from the bunch, then handed it to Elizabeth. She hastily tried to return it, but the boy was gone.

  “Sir, you should not have…”

  “Nonsense,” he said with a smirk. “I paid for those flowers and I may do with them as I wish. Perhaps I shall visit you sometime, Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”

  “No! I mean, that is not necessary. I am sure you have plenty of ladies to call upon,” she said, looking back at the two progressively irritated women behind him.

  “Then what is one more? Until then, Miss Bennet! Come now, Caroline. Louisa. We will be late to dine with your brother.”

  Elizabeth and Mallard watched them depart in both fascination and repulsion, two emotions that Elizabeth could have done without given their very recent arrival. Mallard shook his head, incredulous.

  “If everyone in London is as unpleasant as those three, we are in for a most interesting time here.”

  Elizabeth could not help but laugh.

  “Come now, Joshua,” she said, mimicking the snobbish voice of Coulter Arrington. “Let us away before Aunt Molly sends Uncle Gardiner to search for us.”

  Chapter 2

  Before Mallard could even knock on the door, Elizabeth’s Aunt Molly flung it open and pulled her favorite niece into a hug.

  “Oh, my dear! Where have you two been?” she cried directly into Elizabeth’s ear. “When your coach arrived without you in it, I expected the worst! Oh, but now you are here. Thank goodness. Thank goodness!”

  Elizabeth kissed her Aunt Molly on the cheek with a laugh and then gently pulled away.

  “We are fine, I promise. We got delayed by the crowds in the street and the driver suggested we walk. Where is Uncle Gardiner?” she asked as her aunt led them inside. The Gardiner’s home was lovely and eclectic, filled to the brim with unique treasures they gathered from their many travels. Elizabeth only wished she might have a house of her own as lovely one day.

  “Your uncle, the beast, has gone to Glasgow ahead of time to meet with a different client. I assure you, he wished he could be here for your visit, but his departure was unavoidable. I fear you will only have me to entertain you,” Aunt Molly said with a flourish and a bow. Elizabeth and Mallard both cheered her grace.

  “You are more than enough for us, Aunt Molly,” Elizabeth said happily. “If we even do half of the lovely things you wrote of, we will have the best time imaginable!”

  “Indeed,” Mallard, full of excitement and unable to sit still, chimed in as he tested out his third chair in the drawing room. “What excitement do you have planned for us tonight, Mrs. Gardiner?”

  “Please, you must call me Aunt Molly, Joshua. And tonight, I thought we might join some of my dearest friends for a concert. I hear the music is quite unusual, so be sure you do not let your father know of my corruptible influence. He will never allow you to visit me again.”

  Elizabeth and Mallard could hardly contain their excitement, which worked out for the better as they had arrived so late in the evening, it was almost time to leave. Within an hour, the pair of friends were dressed up in their finest, all cheerfully approved of by Aunt Molly. The night passed by in a whirlwind of delicious food in a stranger’s kitchen, odd brews of rum punch that tasted of pure heaven, and music unlike anything Elizabeth and Mallard had ever heard before. By the time they returned to the Gardiner house, they were exhausted. Deliriously, joyfully, and deeply exhausted.

  Elizabeth could hardly wait to see what the next day held.

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  “I can not believe you made me leave the comfort of a warm bed to walk out here in the cold,” Mallard grumbled, his eyes half-closed from the lingering pain of the rum punch. Elizabeth had her sketchbook under her arm as she and Mallard walked the streets of Mayfair, the morning sun shining softly on the lovely houses that lined the streets.

  “You can sleep anytime, Mallie. But this sunrise will only come once in your lifetime!”

  She heard her best friend groan in annoyance, as he often did when she was expressing one of her more artistic impulses, but she also knew she was lucky that he followed along with little complaint.

  Well, perhaps more than a little.

  “You do understand that most sunrises look quite similar, especially when you live in a place like this. They probably pay to ensure a proper sunny sky every morning,” Mallard said through a yawn. Elizabeth gave her friend a playful push.

  “Do not be like that, Mallard. Perhaps one day I will live in a place like this,” she said, not believing it entirely.

  “One day I will be a famous writer and I will buy you every house on this street,” Mallard answered as he pulled his coat a little tighter against the cool morning air. Elizabeth gave him a quick kiss on the cheek as they approached a small park toward the end of the road.

  “There, Mallie! The perfect place to sketch.”

  He rolled his eyes and was about to voice some extreme displeasure until he spotted a bench in the center of the park.

  “Ah, the perfect place to sleep!”

  As soon as Elizabeth made herself comfortable on a bench with a perfect view of her favorite home, Mallard rolled up his jacket and lay down next to her, his snoring echoing through the park the minute his head hit the makeshift pillow. She loved her best friend more than just about any other person in the entire world, except for her father and aunt and uncle, of course. But there were days she wished Mallard were more interested in the finer things in life. He would be content to sit in a pub, jotting down his stories and trying to convince someone to buy him an ale. It was not what Elizabeth wished to do with her life. She dreamed of dinners with royalty or just lovely visits with proper ladies in London. She certainly did not intend to sketch the homes of others with her sketchbook resting on her friend’s head.

  “Surely, there must be better places for such an accomplished artist to practice her craft.”

  Elizabeth looked up as soon as she heard the deep, soothing voice tease her from above. At first, she could not see him, as the sun shone behind him, blinding her. But when her eyes finally cleared, she was shocked to see a handsome, fancy dressed gentleman looking upon her. She took a moment to gather her thoughts, so she did not answer with something she would regret.

  “Given my work today, sir, I believe my desk is perfectly in keeping with the skill of the drawings practiced upon it. But your compliment is appreciated.”

  She expected him to leave at that, but instead, he lingered.

  “I thought I knew every young lady who lived in this area of London but I do not know you…”

  Elizabeth was not sure what more he wanted. She was left only to agree with him.

  “Indeed, you do not. Nor I you. The reason for that being that we have never met. The day is still young yet, however, so you have a chance still.”

  He laughed at her cheekiness.

  “Well, in good faith then, allow me to introduce myself. I am Fitzwilliam Darcy and it is a pleasure to meet you, mysterious stranger,” Mr. Darcy said as he held out his hand. Elizabeth offered her own in return.

  “Mysterious, no longer. Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”
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  He held her hand to his lips but did not kiss it and Elizabeth was surprised at her disappointment.

  “A greater pleasure still. I fear I am late for an appointment but perhaps we will see each other again one day soon. My regards to your desk.”

  And with that, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy disappeared into the morning crowd that was gathering to make their way to work. The noise of the people walking by awoke Mallard at last and he sat up on the bench with a stretch of his arms.

  “I say, Elizabeth, could you not ask these people to lower their voices? My is still aching.”

  Elizabeth laughed as she handed Mallard his coat from her lap.

  “You missed something quite interesting while you napped away the morning. I met a gentleman named Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.”

  Mallard did not look impressed.

  “Am I meant to know him?”

  “You may not, but I assure you, Aunt Molly will have plenty to say about him.”

  The mention of Elizabeth’s aunt perked up Mallard with haste.

  “Do you think she would have tea and biscuits? And jelly? And that bread I love from the bakery here?”

  Elizabeth could only shake her head at her dear friend and laugh.

  “If you carry my sketchbook, we can get the bread as we walk home.”

  Sometimes, the simple things were the most lovely.

  Chapter 3

  Two mornings later, Elizabeth discovered that she was just as terrible at tolerating her rum punch as Mallard. Every night since they arrived in London, Aunt Molly took the pair to parties and the theatre and concerts, places where they were served fine food and strong drink in abundance. Elizabeth abstained at first, but soon they were in the company of actors for a traveling theatre company and to turn away their offers of homemade spirits seemed rude. As such, when Elizabeth woke with a head that felt full of diseased bats, the smell of breakfast from the dining room threatening to raise the contents of her stomach all of the floor. But she also knew if she did not join the rest of the household, Mallard would never let her forget it.