Page 29 of Shields and Roses

"No," he replied with a smile, pulling a carefully wrapped box from his coat pocket and handing it to her. "I was waiting for you."

From another pocket, he pulled out a penknife and handed it to her. Carefully, she cut the twine securing the paper wrapping. Removing the wrapping, she found a delicate box made of very light-colored wood that had been carved with a chain of roses around the sides and one large one in the center of the lid.

"The box itself would be an elegant gift," Madeline said. "If I know Lizzy, she will consider it a treasure on its own."

"I agree," said her husband, "and if that is just the package, I cannot wait to see what Captain Fitzwilliam considers to be the true treasure."

"Do we dare?" Madeline said mischievously, holding the box out in her open hand. "Perhaps our eyes will be blinded by the beauty within."

"We must chance it," he answered. "After all, how could we carry off credit for the gift if we give it to Lizzy sight unseen?"

Madeline used her fingernail to unfasten the delicate latch on the box. Carefully, she lifted the lid.

"Oh, he was so very right about this belonging to Lizzy," she gasped.

"She will love it," her husband agreed. He took the box so that she could use both hands to carefully lift the contents.

It was a set comprised of a necklace and earbobs created of gold filigree, beautifully formed and richly decorated. Madeline carefully drew the primary piece out of the box. The necklace was sized to lay comfortably with the focal point resting just below the notch at the base of the neck. The central pendant of the necklace was a small shield ornately shaped like those often found on funerary hatchments. Centered within the shield was a diamond formed by four thin bars of faceted jet. Centered within the diamond was a rose carved from a single, deep-red garnet. The pendant was suspended from each of the upper corners of the shield. Short, delicately twisted lengths of chain alternated with filigree roses designed to lay flat against the neck and be displayed to best advantage. The earbobs were each formed by a smaller garnet rose fixed to a tiny gold shield suspended from a twist of chain.

"There was no way he could give this to her himself," Edward said, gently touching the garnet rose in the necklace.

"And no way, once he saw it, that he could not," Madeline agreed.

"How will we explain giving this to her?" he asked. "Jane will be jealous and the other girls may expect similar gifts when their sixteenth birthdays roll around."

"We will think of something. We have to. This belongs to Lizzy."

Edward nodded, already busy considering ways to explain the elegant gift. At least they still had almost a month to work it out. Madeline was too busy admiring the fine workmanship of the necklace to worry about the whys and hows. She would set her mind to the problem later.

~o~

Richard looked through the small packet of letters that had finally reached him after weeks in transit. That was the way of things out here. He might go for several days without anything and then get all his letters in a single batch. He examined the handwriting on each missive. Hmm, one from his father, one from his godfather, one from Will and one from his cousin Anne. He decided to open the last one first. Letters from Anne often involved problems with her mother. Best to get the bad news out of the way.

Dear Richard,

I hope you are well and as safe as is possible, cousin. I worry about you off on foreign shores leading your men from battle to battle. Most of all, I wish you were back here. It may not be safe with Mother around, but at least there would be no one shooting at you or swinging a sword at your neck. Do try to stay alive, please. I hate to think of what Mother would accomplish without you available to oppose her.

Life here at Rosings goes on as it usually does. I know I have said this before, but please thank your father again for having put Mrs. Jenkinson and Polly in Mother's way when she was hiring my governess and personal maid. It is so nice having two people I can trust so close to me. I think I should have run mad stuck living under Mother's rule without their help. It sometimes amazes me how much Mrs. Jenkinson and I have been able to manage without Mother even suspecting. One can hide all manner of studies under the guise of a French lesson, it seems, if the one you are trying to fool does not speak French.

We even managed music and dancing lessons under her very nose, figuratively speaking. I may have only ever played the ratty old pianoforte Mother installed in Mrs. Jenkinson's room so she could "practice" and prepare to perform for company, but I can play. Most of the practice Mother's informants heard was me learning, while Polly stood guard at the door.

Your father's idea of sending me the phaeton while insisting that driving out would be good for my health was simply brilliant. With Mrs. Jenkinson, Polly or both as companions, I can go anywhere in the neighborhood and often find a secluded glade in which to learn the latest dance steps without being discovered. I even sometimes meet my neighbors, under careful chaperonage of course, which makes life a little more interesting and fun.

Unfortunately, Mother has come up with another of her plans to dominate her family and control things that are none of her business. She has decided that I am to be married to our Darcy cousin, thereby giving her the excuse to install herself at Pemberley even if she is not to have any say over Georgiana. It seems she felt insulted by the terms of Uncle George's will. She now discusses the marriage as something she and Aunt Anne planned in our infancy. Warn our cousin, please. I like him as a cousin, but I have no desire to marry him and even less desire to give Mother continued control over my life and future household. I have never been on writing terms with him and if any of her spies discovered I had sent a letter to him myself, Mother would consider the match settled.

I have also found out a little bit more about that Collins fellow. I told you a few months ago how Mother conducted a rather secretive interview with him. When she finished speaking with him, she sent him off to parts unknown in her shabbiest carriage. At first, we could find out nothing of where they had gone. Over time, though, Polly has been working on the driver, teasing bits of information out of him in seemingly casual conversations in the servant's hall. We knew Mother had sponsored Collins to turn him into a clergyman and that he had been ordained. It appears she also found him a position as curate. Once we learned that, Polly was easily able to find out where. Mrs. Jenkinson had one of her nephews check out the man and his position.

For starters, they say Collins is an idiot. Plain and simple, no argument from anyone. Worse yet, he does not appear to realize that about himself. He considers himself an authority on all matters relating to the church and has no hesitation about saying so. In fact, they say he can hardly stop speaking, even when silence would be more appropriate. The odd thing is that he pretends not to even know my mother, let alone be indebted to her for his position. Mrs. Jenkinson's nephew said it was clear the man was lying, but the lie seemed out of character for Collins. He is not strictly truthful in other things, but he did not seem the type to hide a connection of such consequence as my mother. He must be acting on her orders although it is unclear why. We have notified your father and I expect he will hire someone to watch Collins, but I thought you should know as well.

Please be sure to visit when you are next in England. Mother would think it a triumph in her battle against your father and I would just be glad to see you safe.

Your fond cousin,

Anne

Richard finished reading the letter with a smile, although some of the things Anne told him made him worried. A letter to Will was definitely in order. He needed to thank him again for the superb saddle anyway. It would be just like Aunt Catherine to try to get her hooks into Will by citing an arrangement with his mother. According to Richard's father, things were finally settling down at Pemberley as Will's grief softened and he became more comfortable in his new role. The warning would also be a good excuse to send a letter to Georgiana with the little trinket he had found for her in that last market town. The necklace was nowhere near as fancy or valuable as the one he had sent to Lizzy. All the same, it was pretty and far more appropriate for a young girl, being just a medallion of delicately carved wood on a simple braided cord. He would have to package it up and write the letters today, before they got orders to move on to someplace where he might not be able to send mail.

~o~