Page 53 of Shields and Roses

"You are such an arse sometimes, Will," Richard said quietly. "Although it sounds like you have finally learned your lesson. What happened with Miss Rose?"

"I could not find her. Not that night and not later, no matter how I searched. No one seemed to know who she was."

"Well, who introduced you?"

"The father of a boy I knew from Eton introduced me to the gentleman with whom she was speaking when I first found her. Lord Sheldon then introduced me to her."

"Sheldon?" Richard asked. "Lord Sheldon's family name is Rose. Did you not know that?"

Darcy looked at his cousin in disbelief. "It is?" he asked.

Nodding, Richard replied, "I am fairly certain it is. If I remember correctly, Lady Sheldon has some family connection to the Damasks as well."

Darcy groaned and buried his head in his hands. "Of course," he said. "That makes more sense. But why would your father not know or not tell me that he knew Lord Sheldon's family name? He gave me directions so I could send a letter, but I never received a response."

"You asked Father for help?" Richard confirmed.

"I did. He stayed at Pemberley over Christmas to spend time with Georgiana and me. He told me he was unaware of any family named Rose in the neighborhood and he also said he was not sure how to locate Lord Sheldon. Why? Why would he mislead me?"

"We will have to ask him that sometime, although I have my suspicions. So, you have been trying to find Miss Rose here in London?"

"Well, I first saw her in London, and Bingley thought she would probably return to attend the Season. She had mentioned something about visiting here after the first of the year during our dance, so here I am. Bingley has been keeping me company while I have attended more events that I ever thought I would in a lifetime."

"And no sign of her?" Richard chuckled.

"Actually, I saw her for a moment at a party three weeks ago. At least, I think I did. I was dancing with someone else at the time, the daughter of the host, no less, so I could not immediately run and talk to her. When I tried to find her, she was gone, and no one recognized her name. I am thinking I must have somehow gotten it wrong."

"What do you mean. You were introduced, correct?"

"Well, yes, we were, but there was a noisy incident nearby when someone fell into the punch bowl and I did not really hear Lord Sheldon finish telling me her name. I had overheard her talking with him earlier and he called her Elizabeth Rose, so I did not worry about the noise. Lately I have been wondering if I misunderstood…" his voice trailed off.

Richard shook his head and looked at his cousin with amused pity. "You have told me she is intelligent, witty and lovely. Tell me more. Is there anything that would distinguish her from any other intelligent, witty and lovely woman? Anything absolutely unique to her by which you could identify her without her name?"

"Absolutely unique? Hmm. Well, I suppose there are many women with an elegant figure, beautiful brown curls and lively green eyes," Darcy was looking down at his hands and totally missed the look on his cousin's face. "Wait! The necklace! She said she wears it on all formal occasions. I have never seen anything like it - the pendant is a gold filigree shield with a garnet rose in the center."

Richard burst out laughing so hard Darcy thought he might fall right out of his chair. He chortled and gasped for breath.

"What is it?" Darcy asked, a little offended by the reaction. "What is so very funny?"

"Oh, Will, you are an arse sometimes," Richard finally gasped out.

"What do you mean? Do you know who she is? Who?"

Fighting to bring his laughter under control, Richard took several deep breaths. "Yes, I know her," he finally said, grinning broadly. "You would already know her yourself if you had not been so very stubborn. Your mystery woman is Miss Elizabeth Rose Bennet.

Chapter 31: Meeting

To Darcy, time slowed down, and the room seemed to fall absolutely silent, although, in actuality, Richard was still gasping a little for breath and trying to control the impulse to laugh again. In that odd moment of silence, nothing made sense and, at the same time, everything did.

Finally, he spoke. "Are you certain? I thought Miss Elizabeth Bennet was a strawberry blonde."

Richard snorted. "Whatever gave you that idea? None of the Bennets could be considered strawberry blonde."

"Every time I have seen Miss Jane Bennet, she has been with a young woman with strawberry-blonde hair and the two appeared to be interacting as sisters might."

Richard shrugged. "She must be a friend or relative I do not know. You have seen for yourself that Jane's hair is a light golden color, and I think Lydia's is very similar. Kitty's hair is darker, but definitely tends to brown, not red. Elizabeth and Mary both have dark brown hair. Trust me, I know that necklace you described and where it came from. It, along with the matching earbobs, would only be worn by Elizabeth Bennet."

"Oh," said Darcy, looking a bit deflated as he tried to make sense of what Richard had said. "Hmm, that must have been Miss Mary that I saw with Miss Elizabeth the time at Hatchard's. Bingley never described her to me, so I assumed she was a blonde like Miss Bennet as well."