At last, a letter from Darcy. It was stiff and formal in tone, with no hint of the friendship we once shared. However, he has offered me the sum of three thousand pounds to relinquish all claims to the living, both now and in the future, and I have accepted his terms. With three thousand pounds I can pay all my creditors and have some fun into the bargain.
Matthew called round and I told him it was my turn to treat him. We went to Vauxhall Gardens on the strength of my future riches, where we drank rack punch and followed the garishly dressed women into the dimly lit walks. There was plenty of fun to be had with them and we took full advantage of it.
At last we tired of them and returned to the more brightly lit areas. As we returned to our booth, a woman close by caught my eye. She was evidently a courtesan, well dressed and extremely beautiful, with thick dark hair and almond-shaped eyes. She felt me looking at her and turned towards me. She smiled, and I smiled back. She made some excuse to the man she was with and slipped out of her booth. I turned into one of the secluded corners of the Gardens and she followed me.
‘Well?’ I said.
‘Well?’ she said.
And then I kissed her and she kissed me back fervently, and we were soon lost to the world. At last, our hunger satisfied, we began to dress ourselves. She began to talk. She was witty and lively, mimicking her protector and saying she was tired of him. He was old and fat and she had a mind for someone younger. I told her, regretfully, that she was above my touch, even with my newfound funds, and she said that she was rich enough to settle for no more than a set of rooms for a while if I had a mind to take them for her.
We settled the thing then and there. She went back to the booth, where she told her lover their affair was at an end, and then went home with me, where we proceeded to enjoy ourselves some more, and then to learn something about each other.
‘Belle,’ I said musingly, when we lay back on the bed together. ‘A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.’
‘It is,’ she said, then she began to laugh.
‘What’s the matter?’ I asked.
‘My real name’s Gerty!’ she said. ‘Gerty Bertwhistle!’
We rolled on the bed, laughing, and could not stop. At last I wiped the tears from my eyes and said, ‘Welcome, Gerty, to my humble abode. May you always make me laugh as much as you have tonight.’
‘And may you always be as young and handsome as you are tonight,’ she said.
‘I’ll drink to that.’
She joined me in the toast and we did not fall asleep until the bottle was empty.