Page 122 of Pride, Prejudice & Wicked Pleasure

Stepping away from her once more, he replied, “Such speculation is of no consequence. My situation has changed as well.”

She pulled one long glove off an arm, then the other, before closing the distance between them. “Indeed?”

He took another step back and came upon the door behind him. “I am in love. Madly, desperately in love. As such, I cannot continue in my capacity as mentor.”

He wished she could have said the same with regards her position, but he kept this bitter thought to himself.

She stopped and now looked down upon the floor.

“I am sorry to have disappointed you,” he said drily.

Her gaze flew to him. “You have not disappointed—not in the least! You have, as ever, proven to be a man of superior character. I only pray that I have not disappointed you.”

He did not know what to make of her words and watched in bewilderment as she sank to her knees before him.

“Forgive me for having doubted your constancy,” she said with moisture in her eyes.

Unable to bear seeing his love before him in such a manner, he, too, knelt.

“Forgive me for not having come forward before,” she continued. “Perhaps one day we shall laugh at our comedy of errors. Oh! I hope it will be so and soon!”

She tore her mask asunder. His heart leapt upon seeing her lovely countenance, her eyes shimmering with pained relief. He wanted nothing but to clasp her to his bosom but was slightly paralyzed by his own nascent realizations.

“I have been your student all this time,” she said. “I ought to have confessed it earlier, only fear of how you should then perceive me, fear of losing your love made me a coward. And then jealousy—I had never thought I could fall victim to that ugly emotion—it compelled me to fix upon this final lesson to test—oh! I am almost too ashamed to admit it—”

“This was your contrivance? Not Abby’s?”

She nodded. “Abby played no part. The arrangement was mine, though I ought not have. I see now the foolishness of it all.”

She looked down at her clasped hands. He began to understand the odd questions she had leveled at him. Carefully, he removed his hat and then his mask. When she looked up, there were no signs of shock.

“How long have you known?” he asked.

“Since Pemberley. Rather, I began to suspect and attempted to corroborate my suspicions at the Lilac Cottage.”

His mind reeled with the information. He had never been discovered before.

“It was your handkerchief,” she supplied. “And that of your sister’s. Identical handkerchiefs, both embroidered by your mother.”

He could not have predicted such a small article would lead to his unmasking, but a more important revelation commanded his attention.

“And you pursued this lesson because you thought I had an attachment to you—a student of mine?”

“Is it not silly beyond belief? I was jealous of—myself! I ought to have believed your professions of love and saved myself much pain! Only…I know not why I entertained these doubts that you might have been partial to another woman—your student—though it was me. The events of this year have certainly humbled me and made my flaws plain. I hardly know myself.”

She looked once more at her hands. His relief complete, he grasped her hands between his and brought them to his lips.

“Darling Lizzy! You must never doubt my love or devotion. Ours is a comedy of errors indeed. Your jealousy is not unfounded. I was, as you suspected, partial to my student—exceedingly partial. And here you have bested me with the truth when it is I who ought to have confessed, for I have known your identity longer than you knew mine. I had every intention to make a clean breast of it all and feared you might not wish me for a husband when you knew my role. Then I was made an idiot by jealousy, for it seemed you were partial to the man who was your mentor.”

She was stunned. “We were each of us jealous of ourselves? What delightful nonsense! And I had thought we were two of the more intelligent samples from our species!”

He did not share in her humor on the situation, but he enjoyed her smile.

“But how did you know who I was?” she asked.

“I knew shortly after our first encounter at Trenwith House. You, the student, nursed a cold that first lesson. The following day I called at Hunsford Parsonage and discovered Miss Elizabeth Bennet to possess the very same cold.”

Her mouth fell open.