Happy Saturday, everyone! New chapter, right on time! This one takes place right where the other one left off. Thanks, A Pencil In Her Hand, for reading this over. Enjoy, everyone!

…But not quite, because Felicity wasn't in the habit of fainting.

"I apologize…we were just leaving," she stammered out. She took Polly by the hand and nudged William away from the door, trying to be inconspicuous. However, that was hard to do when you've just unlocked a secret vessel at a wedding reception. How do I get myself into these things? Felicity asked herself. It didn't help matters that the person who had found them looked like a very dignified, sophisticated young gentleman from who knows where. Wait…his accent. It was British. Her mind was turning in a hundred directions, but she was still able to recognize a British accent. It sounded like he was trying to subdue it, but certain pronunciations gave him away.

"I didn't mean to startle you, but I saw you run in here and became curious," he said, half-smiling.

"My brother is also curious, I'm afraid." She nudged the secret door closed with her foot. William was slightly bug-eyed after his discovery and he ran away from the stranger and his sister to one of his mates, probably to tell him everything. Felicity sighed.

"My name is Eliot Jackson, by the way," said the man with a slight bow. Felicity looked at him suspiciously as his head was dipped, but changed her expression as soon as he could see it again. She took her own quick curtsy.

"Felicity Merriman. Elizabeth is my best friend…we're here often," Felicity said, trying to explain further her reasons for sneaking around. She hoped that the stranger wouldn't tell anyone what had transpired. Wasn't it enough that she knew she had done wrong and she'd try not to do it again? A lecture wasn't necessary. Or at least, that had always been her argument when she was eleven.

"Elizabeth is a charming girl. I've known her for a while." Felicity couldn't help herself from looking suspicious this time.

"Oh, really? She's never mentioned you." Was it just her, or did Felicity see him color slightly? He touched his cravat like it was bothering him.

"Well, we were never great friends. Just acquaintances." Felicity heard loud conversation in the other room and craned her neck away from her confronter. The party was coming to a close, and everyone would be looking for her.

"Begging your pardon, but I must go. Pleasure meeting you, Mr. Jason. I mean Jackson. Mr. Jackson. Goodbye!" With that, she scurried out the door before she could get into more trouble.

"Felicity Merriman," Mrs. Merriman was saying to her daughter as she hung up her bonnet. They had just gotten home from the party and William had apparently told her everything. Felicity would have to remember to strangle him later. "What were you thinking of, dashing off and exploring at a time like that?"

"The little ones dashed off first," she pointed out. "I couldn't have let them get into trouble, now could I? Besides…I met someone new." Mrs. Merriman perked up with interest.

"Oh, really?" She liked to keep tabs on who was coming and going in the town. Felicity nodded. She noticed Ben slinking around the corner to his room and made her response extra loud.

"Oh yes. Very handsome young man." The footsteps halted in the hallway. Felicity giggled to herself.

"Indoor voices please, Felicity. But that's excellent. If you think a man is attractive, that must mean some great change has taken place." Felicity rolled her eyes.

"I'm not that odd, Mother. I believe he was British," she added as an afterthought. Her mother was silent for a moment, then sighed.

"Things are changing so much since the war ended. I still can't say I feel comfortable around the British, except for Elizabeth's family, of course."

"I agree, but he said he knew the Coles."

"Are you trying to make a point, Felicity?" Felicity was taken aback.

"No, not really. Just that…well, things are changing." With that, Felicity left her mother. Her plan to make Ben jealous was backfiring, as such plans often did. That was, until he fairly leaped from the hall in front of her as she was walking to her bed chamber.

"Are you out of your mind?" he asked in a conspiratorial whisper. Felicity almost laughed.

"Well, probably. But what are you referring to?" She actually enjoyed it when Ben got angry, because he wasn't violent but it always reminded her that he had spirit, like she did.

"I'm just surprised at you. You're in it for spending time with British men?"

"When did I ever say I liked him? Actually, as pleasant as his manners were, I sense a strange air about him. He's not telling me everything, but then we only talked for five minutes. I doubt I'll see him again. Don't get your feathers in an uproar." She batted at the shaking feathers on his hat to make her point and then turned away.

"Someday you're really going to get yourself in trouble," Ben called to her ominously from the hallway. "But I can't say I'd be sorry. I think that's what it would take to get you to see reason." Felicity swerved around.

"Reason? Don't talk to me about reason. Don't forget that you're the one who broke your contract and ran away to join a fight my father considered you too young to take part in. And as I recall, I saved you from that situation."

"Are you going to hang that over my head your whole life? I was seventeen and stupid."

"Well, now you're thirty and stupid, which is worse. You can't see what's right in front of you. In fact, you can't even get on your feet and you're still living on my father's charity." She knew the words were evil as soon as she said them, but she was absolutely put out with Ben and now that she thought about it, she always had been. He had always been one of those rebellious types as a boy. Now he was the kind of man that you wanted to trust, but weren't sure if you could or not. He had his moments of brilliance, of kindness, of spirit that sent Felicity into odd ecstasies and made her wonder why she had ever forgotten about the crush she'd had on him for years. And then he'd sink into the sullen part of his nature, which had only gotten worse after the war, and she fairly wanted to trash him. But she couldn't say all of that, not in an articulate way in that chilly passageway. Not with Ben six inches away and glowering at her while she gave him her own perfected eat-dirt-and-die look. Not with her heart pounding madly away because she was angry and six inches away from him.

"Alright then," was all he said, quick and low. Then he broke that gaze and left her alone. Felicity turned into her bedroom and shut the door as quietly as she could, even though she felt like slamming it. No matter what everyone thought, she was older now, and trying to be more ladylike. She'd struggled with it since she was a little girl and now that she was a woman, people seemed to forget that she had ever aged. They still saw her as the headstrong ten-year-old with her head in the clouds. Now she was twenty-three. Her head still took vacations to the sky, but her feet were planted on the ground. Or were they? If confronted with a problem she really couldn't handle, would she break? She almost wished that she could be tested. At the same time, she feared that the test had already begun.

The first question she had to answer?

Who was Ben...who was he really?

And the dreadful second question…

Who was she?

Ahhh, the plot thickens. Sorry for such a short chapter, but I thought that was a good place to cut it off. I may take a bit longer posting the next chapter because I'm busy getting out of school for the summer! :) I'm also getting deeper into Ben and Felicity's personalities, so I want to take some time and figure out some interesting plot lines. As always, reviews and suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Have a great weekend!