Elizabeth’s chest was heaving. She felt like she was going to faint.
“I was so wrong,” he repeated once more, and Elizabeth briefly thought she was crying, but then realised it was only the rain.
“Let’s go inside. You need to keep your wound dry.”
They walked side by side, both their steps weighed down by different things.
*
“Let’s play a game,” Charlotte proposed that afternoon when they had all gathered in the Blue Room.
“What do you suggest?” Elinor asked politely, while Pratt announced, “I don’t feel like it.”
Charlotte glared at him. “Something fun.”
Elizabeth heard Colin’s sigh next to her, and she pressed her lips together to hide her amusement.
“Hide the thimble?” Lady Louisa proposed shyly from where she was sitting next to the Baron.
“Thimble rigging!” Pratt fired back enthusiastically.
“I thought you didn’t feel like playing,” Lady Genevieve said accusingly.
“Let’s vote,” Charlotte suggested.
Most guests voted for hiding the thimble, and Pratt returned to his armchair to sulk.
“All right,” Isabella said, “someone give me their thimble and I shall hide it.”
“Why do you have to be the one to hide it?” Oakley teased her.
“Because I know everyone present in this room; all the other ladies are too kind, and they will try to avoid inconveniencing anyone by selecting a too difficult hiding place, whereas some of the men might not follow the rule that the thimble needs to be somewhere where it can be seen without moving furniture or opening drawers.”
“I see. So you’ve appointed yourself arbiter.”
“Someone has to undertake these difficult tasks.” Isabella shrugged as she affected a put-upon expression.
“Very well, you all heard my wife. Now, someone hand her a thimble.”
“What does the person who finds it get?” Elizabeth asked as she handed Isabella her thimble.
“Nothing. He or she is the winner and gets to hide the thimble for the next round. Oh, my,” Isabella exclaimed as she lifted the thimble to see better. “E and C. Would that happen to be Elizabeth and Colin?” She teased, and Lizzie felt her face heat.
All the women gathered around Isabella to admire the Duchess’s golden thimble. Elizabeth glanced at Colin, who was wearing his bored-but-arrogant expression, and then, as she looked away, she saw the Corporal staring at the thimble as a muscle in his jaw twitched. A stricken-looking Amelia noticed it too and quickly left the room.
“Did you purchase this, Talbot, or did you send Stevenson out to get it, be honest!” Stone asked, and Pratt laughed.
Lady Genevieve frowned and straightened in her seat.
“Not only did I purchase it myself, I was also the one who instructed them on exactly what I wanted it to look like,” Talbot replied, not a trace of insecurity in his voice.
“I’m surprised that you didn’t get your wife something more extravagant, Your Grace,” Lady Genevieve said with a false smile, “like a bracelet or other jewellery.”
Elizabeth imagined herself ripping out a handful of the woman’s black hair, and it made her feel better.
“A good gift is purchased with the recipient in mind. My wife enjoys needlework; she’s quite the artist with a needle and thread, actually, and she appreciates useful gifts. I wanted her to think of me every time she used it, and as you can see, she always has it on her person, which I hope translates into thinking of me a lot,” Colin said conversationally. “Now, Lady Isabella, do we need to leave the room for you to hide this, or?”
The rest of the afternoon was spent rather enjoyably: everyone laughed a lot as they searched for the thimble over and over again, and afterwards they were so tired that they decided that the men ought to sit for the women to paint them, which resultedin even more laughter, since some of the paintings didn’t even resemble humans, let alone the men in question.
