She smelled cloyingly of roses and some sort of powder.
“What a splendid idea!” she smiled approvingly, then turned to the auditorium to make sure everyone had seen their intimate interaction.
*
When the Corporal and Miss Hawkins, accompanied by Mister Powell and Miss Woodhouse, stopped to greet Talbot’s party in the Gardens, Colin took one look at Elizabeth’s dress and thought to himself,That is not a dress, that is a bayonet.
He remembered poring over the fashion plates he had impulsively purchased one day, months ago.
Love lies bleeding,he correctly recognised the colour.
“Stone has been asking for you,” Powell told him. “He’s in the dining area.”
“We’re just on our way there,” Talbot replied, wondering what his friend needed and trying not to stare at the bayonet aimed at his heart.
“It’s your fault I’ve lost a large bet at White’s,” Stone said when he pulled him aside later.
“Haven’t I taught you anything? I’ve told you a thousand times not to gamble. How can it be my fault?” Talbot asked impatiently.
“I bet on you and Hawkins’s sister marrying, and now that she’s engaged to the Corporal, I have to pay up.”
Colin couldn’t feel his legs.
Should I call for Doctor Cooper again?He wondered.
“Clever girl,” he said sincerely, confused by the pride he was feeling. “It’s a good match for her.”
“All I care about is my money,” Stone grumbled.
I seem to be getting worse,Talbot thought, now truly worried for his health.
*
The banns for Elizabeth’s wedding to Harding started being called on the second Sunday in June. Colin’s health wasn’t getting any better. Nowadays, he had trouble breathing and often felt like a noose was being tightened around his neck.
Despite struggling with his mysterious ailments, he tried being the better man and penning a congratulatory note to his (former) friend several times, but each time ended up tearing what he had written into tiny pieces, fortified by the anger he felt whenever he remembered their last conversation.
One evening in the second half of June, he decided to attend the Pearsons’ ball in order to regain a sense of normalcy, but unfortunately ended up spending the night stewing in anger and indignation at being ignored by a certain set of dimples.
As he offered empty, practised responses to Lady Helena and their friends’ questions, he never took his eyes off the newly engaged couple. He stared daggers at Elizabeth’s fiancé’s proprietary hand on her waist during every single dance (for she only danced with the soldier now!), and he hated her from the bottom of his heart.
How dare she ignore me, a duke!He thought angrily.
Colin observed people continuously approach the happy couple throughout the evening to offer their felicitations, and noticed the increasing strain on Elizabeth’s face. During a pause between the dances, Harding went to the card room (to gamble with money he does not possess, Talbot thought reproachfully),and Elizabeth quietly slipped away into the cloakroom he’d seen when he’d entered the dance hall.
Talbot (rudely) interrupted Lady Helena mid-sentence and glanced at his pocket watch.A quarter to eleven,it read.
“Lady Helena, would you be so kind as to gather as many of your friends as you can and when the clock strikes eleven, come into the cloak room.”
“Why?”
“It shall be a fun game,” he told her pointedly, and her eyes shone with glee.
“Mind, be quiet as you approach, but make sure to enter abruptly,” he warned.
Colin entered the cloak room quietly and leaned his back on the closed door. His heart was beating in his throat, and there was a whooshing sound in his ears. The two of them were completely alone.
Elizabeth’s back was to him. She appeared to be pressing her forehead against the glass of the window. Her gloves lay discarded on the small table next to her.
