Chapter Twenty - Two

Everyone is an eavesdropper

Hi everyone! It's going to be nine years since I first started this story and since it refuses to leave me alone, it's only fair that I share what only exists in my head with all of you - may it offer you the same escape that it does me.

February 9th, 1808

'Really Mama', Alina said crossly, 'One would think men have no brains at all, the way you are teaching me to ensnare their attention and regard. Is it truly so easy to entrap a man - do these 10 things in chronological order and any man of your choice will be putty in your hands? We cannot be the first ones to discover these supposed shortcuts to a man's heart, why is there no manual on this, I would rather read it than that odious Fordyce's Sermons.'

'Why am I not surprised that you are vocalising every thought in your head?' Lady Alexandra sighed. If she didn't know that her daughter would jump at any sign of weakness from her and take it as an opportunity to end this very necessary lesson, she would have laid her head down on her writing desk so that Alina wouldn't argue with her anymore. Alexandra had tried her level best at presenting herself as a formidable figure but Alina was simply too old now to learn to irrationally fear her mother's wrath. She would obey Alexandra - only because her Father threatened to revoke the many undeserved privileges she got - but she would not do it without questioning almost everything she was asked to do. And Alexandra did not have the answers to many of her questions - except that things had been done in a particular way since she could remember but that did not hold much water with Alina.

Though she could have outsourced some of Alina's lessons to any lady more patient than she, but after the Miss Price debacle, she found herself rather reluctant to entrust her child's safety into another's hands. And she doubted that a governess could fill in the gaps in Alina's education as efficiently as a Countess in the limited time that they had. Alina's education was lacking in the exact areas that would make her an attractive prospect on the marriage mart and she'd had to delay her society debut to next season so she could fill the gaps in her skills, bearing and conversation. Even though Alexandra didn't particularly relish the prospect of countless arguments and questions that left her with a headache until Alina's farewell wedding breakfast (which she was looking forward to with fanatical enthusiasm), no daughter of hers would be entering the shark infested waters of the ton without the proper tools to kill those sharks and eat them for breakfast.

'I am not aware of a book on the subject', a cheery voice interrupted Alexandra's rather violent fantasies and she looked up to see Lord Wentworth and Georgiana entering the morning room, hand in hand. Georgiana was looking up at him in adoration as he spoke. Join the club Georgie, Alina thought bitterly as Lord Wentworth blithely continued, blissfully unaware that he had the regard of two of the three females in the room. 'But there must have been dozens, even hundreds of articles devoted to 'ensnaring a man's attention and regard' as you called it,in the gossip sheets you so adore reading. Can you tell me, in good conscience, that you haven't stumbled upon such a piece numerous times in your passionate perusal of the details of the ton's latest scandal?'

'Since I have no intention of inspiring regard in a man, I haven't paid much attention to such articles at all', Alina said primly, lying through her teeth. She had read, and re-read such articles with concentration in the hopes of one day getting the chance to try them on Niklaus' but she couldn't admit that to the man himself, could she? She also didn't want to admit that she had been reading her mother's gossip sheets religiously after she had professed a complete disinterest in the sordid going ons of London to the entirety of her family and their guests at dinner the previous week.

'You're not an accomplished liar at all, Miss Fitzwilliam, I'm afraid', Niklaus shook his head at her in mock reproach. 'And you must make all efforts to become one at the earliest, if you are to survive a season amidst the harpies of the ton.'

'We really don't need you to make the prospect of socializing with the Ton any more unpleasant than Alina already considers it to be, Lord Wentworth', Alexandra said wryly. 'Now, where is Fitzwilliam? I believe I asked him to join us to help Alina with her waltz lesson.' Her mother impatiently motioned Georgiana to the pianoforte, and the young girl relinquished Lord Wentworth's hand with some reluctance to do as her Aunt bid her to.

'He's been unfortunately detained in the village with your husband and sons, and so now I'm in charge of both the waltz lesson and the lovely Georgiana', Niklaus winked at Georgiana but she didn't smile as he expected, rather a look of horror replaced the look of adoration on her face. His attention was quickly diverted, however, when Lady Milton clapped her hands.

'Though less than ideal, we'll proceed with the practice', Lady Milton said but her upcoming instructions were lost forever as Mrs. Thomas knocked on the open door of the morning room. 'What is it now, Mrs. Thomas? I've been interrupted continuously since the morning and I won't have it!'

'My Lady, I'm afraid it cannot wait, some of the wives on the estate have come to blows over the farm fair, the tangle cannot be resolved without your intervention', replied calmly, unmoving in the face of her mistress' reprimand.

Alina was pretty sure that her mother cursed under her breath but she couldn't be too sure. 'Very well, Alina, Lord Wentworth, Georgie darling please carry on without me. And Georgiana you are not to leave these two alone under any circumstances, do you understand?'

'Mother!' Alina exclaimed, shocked. But her mother had already left. Alina looked at Niklaus to see his reaction but his face gave nothing away, he only smiled at her in expectation. 'Well, Miss Alina, it wouldn't do to disappoint your Mother, especially today, would it? So, without further ado, may I have this dance?'

Lord save her from this man, Alina thought savagely as she walked briskly to stand before him.

'No, no', Niklaus berated her. 'Come closer.' Alina obediently moved a few steps closer to Niklaus. 'Good, now give me your hand'. Alina could hear her heart thudding in her ears as Niklaus gently held her hand in his. 'The other one goes on my shoulder.'

'I have danced the waltz before, my Lord', Alina groused, as she placed her hand on his shoulder, holding it gingerly with the tips of her fingers. 'This is practice.'

'Really Alina, I am not a China doll, I won't break if you hold me tighter', Niklaus said exasperatedly. 'Here, hold it like this', he placed a hand on her shoulder and gripped it gently as if to demonstrate, his thumb accidentally brushing the bare skin of her collarbone. Alina knew, she just knew that a ugly flush would soon be making it's way up her chest to spread over her neck and face so she decided acting angry was her best option. She grasped his shoulder in a tight, almost painful grip. 'There, are you happy now?'

'You know that it is bad form to frown and gripe angrily at your dance partner, right?' Niklaus said, his tone wry as he slid a hand to hold her waist. She could feel the warmth of it through the multiple layers of cloth she wore, some of which were very thick mind you -'Why does it have to be you?', Alina groaned, hoping to distract herself from his closeness. 'It was supposed to be Fitzee teaching me today.'

'I'm a much better teacher than our dear Fitzee', Niklaus grinned as he elegantly led Alina around the room in a waltz, graciously helped by Georgiana playing - a rather rousing tune more suited to an energetic country dance - on the piano.

'No, you're not', Georgiana interrupted. 'Fitzee, is the best.' She pounded the keys rather than played, and didn't seem to have any intention of slowing down the tempo of the music. 'My Lord', she added, as if an afterthought.

'My apologies, Miss Darcy', Niklaus replied sombrely, but his eyes twinkled. 'I did not mean to offend you or your brother.'

Georgiana merely grunted in response and increased the tempo, a feat Alina didn't think should have been humanely possible.

'I didn't think the waltz was supposed to be quite so fast', Alina gasped as Niklaus twirled her expertly, keeping up with the beat set by Georgiana effortlessly. He seemed to be rather enjoying Alina's discomfort but she didn't have the breath to berate him, all her energy was focused on keeping up with him.

'I'm not sure which one of you is the more disgruntled one', Niklaus chuckled, looking between Alina and Georgiana. 'The mutinous look on her face seems very familiar to the one that graced your countenance with great frequency when we were children.'

'Cannot you use your words to tell her to slow down?' Alina bit out, the scowl on her face so eerily similar to Georgiana's that Niklaus' lips twitched. 'Georgie' she yelled, 'Play a little slower please!'

'No', Georgiana replied, crossly. 'If you want to dance with him, this is the best you'll get! Why do you even want to dance with him? We could have waited for William. And aren't you supposed to only dance the waltz with the man you want to marry? Do you want to marry Niklaus instead of my brother then?'

Niklaus burst out into laughter, his steps faltering as Alina felt a rather unbecoming blush staining her cheeks and neck. 'It's like a window to the past', Niklaus smiled, his dimples showing. 'She is so much like you when you were younger.'

Alina used the hand on his shoulder to smack him as she slowed to a stop. 'Don't lump me in with you, old man, I'm only seventeen.' She began to let go of his hand with regret, dancing the waltz with Niklaus had ended before it had even begun but he brought it to his lips and placed a delicate kiss on her hand. She wore no glove since she was at home, and she could feel the hot imprint of his lips on her skin directly. Really, did he want her to melt into a puddle of good at his feet?'

'Dear Lord', Lady Milton exclaimed, clutching Mrs. Thomas' hand in excitement. They both were watching Lord Wentworth and Alina from behind a tapestry in the morning room. No one except the Lord and Lady Milton knew of the strategic holes in the tapestry and the wall of the rose parlour that allowed one to see into the morning room from the adjoining rose parlour. 'Do you think he likes her?'

'My Mr. Thomas really doesn't like him much at all, to be honest, my lady', Mrs. Thomas commented. 'He much prefers Master Darcy, I mean Mr. Darcy to Lord Wentworth for the young mistress.'

'A woman should never put all her eggs in one basket', Lady Milton said sagely, her wise words in contrast to the desperate way she was plastered to the wall in the hopes of hearing some of their conversation. They had heard Georgiana's strong rebuke but Alina and the Earl spoke in frustrating low tones.

'Ughhh, Nik', Alina grimaced as she pulled her hand from Niklaus grip and Lady Milton wanted to strangle her, she could feel her hands curling into claws where she stood. 'Do not kiss my hands.'

'Yes', Georgina added loudly. 'Don't kiss her hands, only my brother can kiss her! Because he is going to marry her!'

And now Lady Milton wanted to strangle her niece too. Really, what with slapping Catherine and those shark based metaphors of hers, she was really becoming quite violent as she prepared her daughter for her debut.

'Don't kiss her', she repeated again, slowly and loudly, almost as if she thought Niklaus was deaf or dicked in the nob.

'Really', Lady Milton whisper yelled. 'Does no one in my family understand the meaning of propriety? And who is going to marry these two if they continue behaving like loud mouthed fishwives?'

Mrs. Thomas stifled her laughter behind her hand as they both watched the drama unfold.

'I didn't kiss her', Niklaus replied, cursing himself inwardly for not being able to control himself from getting involved in this senseless conversation. He had had no intention of being involved in an argument with a twelve year old when he woke up in the morning but things at Milton Hall rarely happened as one expected. There was usually a girl involved and she knocked all your plans on the head.

'Georgiana', Alina sighed, ending all this conversation about kissing. 'You really must apologise to our guest, you have been very rude to him.'

'I wasn't being rude', Georgiana replied pertly. 'I was merely safeguarding my brother's interests. And I will not apologise for it.'

Niklaus burst into laughter. It was beyond entertaining to see Alina deal with a mini version of herself. This was the most fun he had had in months.

'See', Georgiana pointed to him. 'He is clearly fine, he is laughing.'

'Yes', Alina agreed. 'He is laughing because he is too nice to take offence at your words but if it had been someone else, I doubt they would have been so easygoing. You must apologise.'

'I just don't want you to marry him instead of my brother', Georgiana muttered. 'But I believe I should not have said it to his face, especially after I had already made the waltz too fast to dance to.'

Niklaus turned his face away to hide the tears prickling his eyes as Alina struggled to control her own grin.

'Georgiana', she said softly as she walked to the girl's side. 'Upon my debut in society, I will be dancing with a great many men and just because I am dancing with them, doesn't mean that I will marry them. Even if it is the waltz.'

'Oh, we'll see about that, young lady', Lady Milton whispered aggressively from her hiding place.

'And gentlemen often kiss ladies' hands after a dance', Niklaus added. 'It is a gesture of appreciation towards your dance partner and both parties do not have to be married or affianced for it.'

Lady Milton now wanted to strangle everyone in the morning parlour but she didn't see how she could return so quickly from stopping and resolving a supposed passionate fistfight on the estate.

Georgina ignored Niklaus completely.

'But I heard Aunt Milton discussing with Aunt Vasilisa that one only dances the waltz with the men one considers as serious prospects for marriage', Georgiana complained.

'Georgiana Darcy', Lady Milton hissed. 'Are all the girls in this family eavesdroppers?'

'Well, since this is only a practice waltz, you can rest assured that I am not considering Lord Wentworth as a serious marriage prospect, he was merely helping me and stepping in for your brother', Alina explained.

'I wonder why Niklaus even returns to our house each year', Lady Milton moaned. 'He is certainly treated better by all of the Ton than the girls in our house.'

'I believe he prefers this so called mistreatment to the fake posturing of the ton', Mrs. Thomas replied. 'At least he knows the girls are being genuine.'

'I'm sorry, my Lord', Georgiana sighed, so low that even Alina couldn't even hear her, and she was standing next to her.

'I couldn't hear you, Georgie', Alina said sternly.

'I'm sorry, my Lord', Georgiana said, with much ill grace.

Niklaus accepted the bad humoured apology with much grace. He had excused himself and he was about to leave the room when Georgiana stopped him with a shout of his name.

Lady Milton almost banged the wall in frustration. Ladies did not shout!

'Yes, Miss Darcy?' Niklaus smiled at her, hoping to regain some of her favour.

'I just wanted to say', Georgiana had flushed an alarming puce shade. 'Well, I don't want you to marry Allie, since she has to marry my brother, like I have already stated a lot of times today.' Niklaus nodded his understanding. 'But, that is to say', Georgiana paused, wringing her hands in her lap. 'That is not a reflection of my sentiments towards you.'

Alina's brows rose in surprise. This apology was going better than she expected.

'I think fondly of you', Georgiana continued, her face resembling a tomato. 'And you clearly like our family. So, if you indeed wanted to marry into the family, I would request you to consider me instead of Alina.'

'Georgiana Darcy', Alina gasped. 'Are you proposing marriage, you, you are twelve!'

'What is happening?' Lady Milton sputtered. 'Is this a dream? Have I over imbibed spirits at breakfast? Our family cannot be so crazy, surely!'

'I believe we have just witnessed an indirect proposal, my lady', Mrs. Thomas chortled. 'Oh my, I am going to remember this day till the end of my days.'

'I'm merely making my position clear', Georgiana said loftily. She got up gracefully from the piano and approached the door where Lord Wentworth stood, speechless after being proposed to by a twelve year old after being soundly berated for dancing with her cousin. 'We did not get the chance to dance, my lord', she said imperiously as she held up her right hand. 'But I believe I deserve a gesture of appreciation nonetheless.'

'My pleasure, Miss Darcy', Niklaus said, leaning down to kiss her hand. 'It has been a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I will remember your words most assuredly and I must thank you for your regard.'

'Yes, of course', Georgiana said as she smoothly guided him out of the room and shut the door behind him. 'I wish you a good day!' she exclaimed through the door.

She turned back to look at Alina. 'He is so handsome!' she giggled.

'Georgiana,', Alina said. 'You know that Fitz will kill me if he finds out you proposed to Niklaus in front of me, right? I don't know what he will be more angry about, your frequent recriminations towards a man of a much higher status than either of us or your impromptu proposal of marriage?'

'Do you think it was his first proposal of marriage?' Georgiana asked curiously, completely ignoring Alina's worries. William would forgive her anything, she knew. She had her elder brother and surrogate father wrapped around her little finger.

'Yes, it was', Niklaus said from behind Lady Milton and Mrs. Thomas. Both of them were startled and looked at him in reproach, with a matching pose of their hands on their chests.

'I've been coming here for years. Did you really think three boys stuck inside because of the rain would not have explored all the hiding places in the house from top to bottom?' he shook his head at Lady Milton, smiling mischievously. 'And you are not much better at lying than Alina, Aunt Lexie', he patted her shoulder as if to soothe away the sting of her words and bent to look through the holes in the tapestry.

Lady Milton and Mrs. Thomas looked at each other over his head in shock, really they were no match for this generation of youngsters at all, and joined him in looking into the room.

'You can really see everything', Niklaus observed. 'I know all young men being granted audiences with Alina will be sent to this room.'

Lady Milton didn't know what to think or say. She had wanted to evaluate his interest in her daughter and see if there was anything more than friendship between them but Niklaus gave nothing away. She disliked playing her hand when she had no insight into her opponent's feelings but she had no choice.

'Nik', she said quietly. 'I'm going to be honest with you. I believe my daughter is infatuated with you. If you do not reciprocate her interest, I request you to maintain your distance from her and do nothing to encourage her regard. Let her be free to explore her other options, without her preference for you clouding her thinking.'

Niklaus turned to look at her. He said nothing, just stared into her eyes, as if he was reading all the thoughts in her head. He sighed, as if he had come to some conclusion. 'I understand.'

He then resumed his position near the tapestry, with his hands behind his back. Lady Milton patted his head. 'Thank you, Nik.'

Alina sat next to Georgiana on the piano bench in the next room, blissfully unaware that she had been outed by her mother to her crush.

'Georgiana', Alina said quietly. 'Lord Wentworth is a very close family friend and he overlooks the familiarity with which we treat him, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't deserve the respect we would offer to anyone else in his stead.'

'I apologised already, Allie', whined Georgiana.

'Yes, but do you understand what you did wrong, my dear? You cannot berate a guest , make him feel unwelcome, act as if he doesn't exist or play tricks on him.' Alina said softly as she took Georgiana's hands in hers. 'Lord Wentworth is kind and understanding but let's not take advantage of his good nature.'

'I understand', Georgiana huffed.

Niklaus' hand trembled as he brought it up to touch the wall gently. It was not surprising that he felt emotional at Allie's words. Fitzwilliams had an uncanny ability to bring his feelings to the surface, especially Richard and Alina.

'Did you do all that because you were worried that he was taking Fitz's place or because you liked him?' Alina asked, gently squeezing Georgie's hands to let her know it was alright to share her true feelings.

'A mix of both', Georgiana replied sheepishly. 'I truly do want you to marry Fitz and come to live with us at Pemberly and be my sister forever. And I like Lord Wentworth, he is very charming and beautiful.'

'I'll always be your sister, silly', Alina smiled. 'I don't need to marry Fitz for that. I will treat you as a young woman of sense and confide in you. Fitz and I have no understanding as to our marriage, I don't believe either of us has an inclination to marry the other, so please sabotage my chances with other men because of it. You might miss out on a perfectly good brother because of it!'

Georgiana's face fell. 'You need to promise this, Georgie, since you are extremely devoted to your brother's cause', Alina said, giving her a warning look.

'I promise that I won't sabotage your chances with other men, but I cannot promise that I won't root for my brother to win your hand', Georgiana allowed.

'It's not a competition, Georgie', Alina said as she pulled Georgiana to her side and put an arm around her shoulders. Georgiana snuggled into her and threw her arms around her waist. 'I still want William to win', she sighed just as Lady Milton said - 'Oh, but it is, my darling, you'll find out that it is.'

'We're all going to be lizards in our next life', Niklaus smiled as he bowed to Lady Milton and Mrs. Thomas. 'I must take your leave now.'

'What is this about lizards?' Lady Milton was flabbergasted.

'Just something Alina wrote to Michelle', Niklaus explained. 'Eavesdroppers become lizards in their next lives.'

'Really, this girl', Lady Milton breathed. 'She will be the death of me, mark my words.'

YES, GIRLS, BOYS AND NBs, I AM BACK.

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