Dawn Of the Dreadfuls (2010) by Hockensmith Steve

Author:Hockensmith, Steve [Steve, Hockensmith,]
Format: epub
Publisher: Quirk Books
Published: 2011-01-14T19:14:40.453000+00:00

"Yes, Papa."

"There's a good girl."

Mr. Bennet stepped up into the phaeton and inserted himself between Lord Lumpley and Jane. It looked to be an uncomfortably snug fit.

"Good-bye, Lizzy!" Jane called as the carriage rolled off. She had to lean around Mr. Bennet and Lord Lumpley to wave at her sister and, Lord Lumpley being Lord Lumpley, that called for quite a bit of leaning indeed. All Elizabeth could see of Jane's face were her eyes, as big and round as a pair of blue buttons.

The shyest, gentlest of the Bennet girls was on her way to a town filled with disapproving prudes, a lecherous nobleman on one side, a sword on the other.

Elizabeth found herself worrying far less about the unmentionables lurking along the road than the possibility that her sister might very soon die of embarrassment.

CHAPTER 23

"I MUST TAKE MY LEAVE as well, Miss Bennet," Capt. Cannon said as the baron's carriage rolled off up the drive. "But I find your father's suggestion an excellent one, and I leave it to the lieutenant here to arrange for musketry instruction, if you so choose. Limbs! Bow to the lady!"

The Limbs did as they were told, then whisked the captain away as he barked out "Hut two, hut two-on the double now!"

Elizabeth and Lt. Tindall stood silently for a moment in the shadow of the great house.

"Well," the lieutenant said.

"Well," said Elizabeth.

Another moment passed.

"Miss Bennet?"

"Lieutenant?"

"Would you be offended if I were to speak frankly?"

"That depends on what you might say."

"I see."

Another long pause followed.

Eventually, Lt. Tindall drew in a deep breath, as if gathering his strength for some powerful exertion. Which he was.

With an effort so apparent Elizabeth thought at first he was about to sneeze, the young soldier forced himself to speak.

"I apologize for my earlier coldness, which was not intended as a slight, only I find myself, in all honesty, distressed, having discovered your sister to be, in the brief time I had to become acquainted with her, a young lady of exceptional qualities, none of them having anything to do with fighting and killing, and it pains me quite deeply to see her forced into a role so alien not just to her whole sex but to her tender spirit in particular, and it is, in addition, galling to find that your father's obsession with the unmentionables and the savageries of the East should result in your sister's most intimate connection with a man of such patently low morals as the grotesque satyr who owns this estate, and furthermore... have I said something amusing?"

Elizabeth, to her own surprise, was smiling. For the first time, she found herself almost liking the man.

"No, nothing amusing," she said. "Gratifying. Perhaps you could show me the way to the gunnery or whatever you call it, and we might talk further."

The lieutenant nodded and stretched out an arm toward a row of tents lining one side of the lawn. "This way."

They walked away from the house side by side.

"I appreciate your candor, Lieutenant," Elizabeth said.

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