Too blinded by her internal agonies to see where she went, Elizabeth passed though the press in town and found herself on the waterfront, where grass gave way to sand. The salt breeze stung her tear-filled eyes and pulled at her bonnet, tugging her carefully arranged hair awry. She gazed out to sea, her mind numbed with outrage and pain.
"My dear, this will do no good. Please, come away from the water and sit with me."
Elizabeth turned to see a handsome, slender lady with kind eyes offering her arm. She let the woman take her arm and lead her to a bench.
"Has some man been treating you poorly, my dear?" the lady asked.
Elizabeth buried her face in her hands and felt tears returning.
"It is a man, is it not? Only a suitor can cause such pain. Who is 'e? What has 'e done to you?"
Elizabeth shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. Tears ran freely down her face.
"Is 'e a sailor?"
"No," Elizabeth managed. "We came here to be married and I —" she broke off, unable to continue.
The woman put an arm about her shoulders and patted Lizzie's hand. "This man, do you want to marry him?"
"I believe I must. Everyone thinks we eloped. If I return still unwed, I'll be ruined. My family..." She burst out sobbing once again.
"You must do nothing, my dear. Let us go to my home and think on what to do about this. My husband is away at sea, so will have quiet." She stood, urging Elizabeth up with her. Lizzie started to protest, saying that she could not impose, but the lady shushed her.
"Don't be silly, my dear. Now, how are you called?"
"I am Elizabeth Bennet."
"And I am Eleanor Romney. My husband is Mr. Romney, he is a first mate in the English navy. Now we have had the proper introduction and we can go have the English tea. This will make you feel better."
Lizzie gave her a wan smile, and they turned down the lane.
Darcy burst through the choir doors, desperately searching the crowd for Lizzie's white-clad form. Captain Newbury seized him from behind and Darcy wheeled to face him.
"What is this, Darcy?" the captain demanded. "What is this about your forcing that poor girl to accept you? Explain yourself!"
Darcy wrested his arm from Newbury's grasp and ran into the press, looking for Elizabeth. The captain was hard on his heels, and a moment later Darcy turned again as he heard steel being unsheathed.
"Explain your conduct, sir, or prepare yourself to fight," Newbury growled and pointed his sword at Darcy's heart.
"I have no time to explain, I have not a moment or she will be lost," Darcy cried. "Please, help me find her. We must wed, and today."
The captain stared hard into Darcy's pleading eyes. "First, tell me why. We will not stir a step until you do so, sir."
Darcy swallowed hard. "I pressed her to elope. No, I forced her to into this elopement. She refused my proposal and so I, in my arrogance, made her come with me, knowing that once we left, she would have no choice but to wed with me. I was utterly at fault, but now it is done and I must go through with it. She will be ruined else and I cannot have that. She is too dear to me."
Newbury lowered his sword. "I am disappointed in you, Darcy. It sounds that you don't deserve this girl, whoever she is, but it also sounds that you and she have no choice left." He sheathed his sword. "Come, let us find her and have this done."
Darcy ran through the crowd, but too much time had gone. She was nowhere to be seen.
Elizabeth sipped her tea in the Romney's pleasant sitting room. The walk and the necessity of being polite to this strange but charming woman had calmed her.
Mrs. Romney sat across from her, sipping sherry, seeming content to sit and watch her guest. Elizabeth sighed. She wondered where Darcy was, what he had done after hearing her ill-advised confession to the captain and seeing her abrupt departure from the Town Church. Was he even now taking ship back to England, returning to his life without her? She sighed again. So much for her resolution to go along with Darcy's plans quietly. It seemed impossible now, to spare Jane and the rest of her family the mortification of learning what had befallen her.
Mrs. Romney observed Miss Bennet's carelessly elegant figure and air of upset abstraction and thought her to be a very well-bred young lady indeed.
"So will you confide in me, Miss Bennet, or shall I go wild for knowing what is your concern?" she leaned in toward Elizabeth with a sly grin. "For you remind me very much of a girl I knew back in Saint-Malo. One day she ran off with a British naval officer and scandalized everyone very much."
Elizabeth blushed. "You — your friend eloped with a sailor?"
"She did. He came ashore to look for a deserter and, once he saw her, would not be persuaded to leave her alone. This girl's mother and aunts all thought he would be her ruin. But he brought her to this island and married her and she lives here to this day."
Elizabeth fidgeted with her cup. "But was she accepted as respectable, with such a start?"
"Here, so close to France, it is more understood, I think, that the relationships will not always be so decorous, no? My mother might yell at me, telling me that she will be ashamed to go to church with her neighbors knowing what I've done. But she will be back at mass in a week, and I know if the gossips task her with my ways, she can point to Maria's daughter, who had a baby just six months after her wedding. Or Philipa, who is shamelessly living with another man after she left her husband. These things happen all the time, but we ignore them so we can pretend everyone is behaving, but they are not, we know?"
Elizabeth lowered her eyes. "Perhaps in France, but if an English lady were to do any of those things —"
"That is nonsense. Your Prince George, he married Mrs. Fitzherbert, and she was a widow. The king told he he could not marry her, but the prince did. Was this not scandal? But the prince married her just the same."
"But he was forced to give her up."
"Only because she was Catholic. I think you are changing the subject. I am saying that scandals die, and even your scandal will not be forever. So tell me, how naughty have you been?"
Elizabeth burst into tears.