Page 68 of A Lady's Beloved Novelist
“He continues to lie!” Cecil sneered.
“Oh, really?” James folded his arms and stared him down. “I suppose that whilst making up this story, it never occurred to you that you should have tried to find out what my latest book is about.”
Andrea could see the fear in Cecil’s eyes. He was back in unknown territory, and he was going to have to make every step count for fear of putting a foot out of place.
“Francis Griffith’s partner is proven to be a coward. He is described an awful lot like you, and it even goes into detail about how he tries to sabotage Francis’ chances at finding love. Now all of these traits point towards you, and yet you are claiming to Lady Andrea that you are the main character?” James scoffed as he asked the long question. “If you had really written this, why would you have set yourself up like that when all you are trying to do now is deny similar actions?”
“You are being clever, you are using my own book against me,” Cecil persisted. Andrea wished that he would simply yield and that he would come clean and stop with the lies. But it appeared that no such thing was going to happen.
“But Cecil, how would I be able to use your own book against me if the only advance copy you sent out was to Andrea?”
The room was suddenly completely silent. Nobody dared to speak. Everyone simply watched on as Cecil seethed.
“I think I have heard enough,” her father was the first one to speak up.
“I will not stand for this man to disrespect me anymore,” Cecil said. He shook his head vigorously and clenched his fists.
“Then why do we not settle this like real gents and call for a duel?” James asked.
“You are not being serious?”
Andrea found herself just as horrified as Cecil at his request. No longer able to tell if he was bluffing or not, she found it all rather terrifying.
“You have taken everything from me, Cecil. You are trying to pass off my works as your own, and you have stolen the woman that I intended to marry. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain from duelling you.”
Andrea could not keep the smile from her face. It was a declaration of his love to her, even if it was still wrapped up in a threat to someone else.
She winced at the thought of him actually having to duel Cecil though. It could be his demise. Andrea glanced around the room to see that her mother and aunt were also staring at the two feuding men with concern. If they were not careful, they were going to end up with someone sustaining serious injuries on their grounds.
“I…I cannot be party to such a barbaric way of sorting through the issue at hand,” Cecil said. He was laughing nervously, though Andrea noticed that he was beginning to take a few steps backwards. “I cannot and will not allow this to happen.”
“There is nothing barbaric about this. If you were a true and brave gentleman, then you would stand up for what you believe to be right. But you have stolen my valour and painted over it with your lies. Everyone in this room can now see the coward that you are.”
“You would not duel me, we were once friends.”
“Why are you moving away?” James asked. He was gesturing to the fact that Cecil had now taken a few more steps back towards the door.
“Sir Cecil?” Andrea’s father asked. She could see how the presence of her father intimidated the cowardly man.
Nobody said a word. They were locked in an intense kind of duel of their own. Andrea let her eyes dart from James on one side of the room, and then back over to where Cecil was poised. He looked as though all he needed was one final urge to leave the room and he would be gone. James finally made the move. He took two steps forward indicating that he was more than ready to duel Cecil.
“You can have her!” Cecil squealed as though he were a small girl. He then rushed for the door, fumbling with the handle before flinging it open and rushing through into the hallway. Andrea sat in complete shock at the cowardice that she had just witnessed firsthand. She could not quite believe that he had been so quick to defeat without even one sword needing to be drawn.
She was not the only one who sat in a state of shock. Andrea glanced around to see that both her parents and her aunt were also staring at one another in bewilderment.
“I cannot say that I was expecting the man to give in so easily,” her father finally remarked. He chuckled to himself as though he had been watching some sort of play and simply commentating on it. But the reality was that it had all finally worked, and there was no longer any place for Cecil’s pretence in their presence.
“I cannot believe that it took you so long to realise that he was actually lying to us,” her mother said. She shook her head and stared disapprovingly at her husband.
“Oh, I understood a long time ago the kind of man that we were dealing with,” he said. “I just thought that it was more interesting to investigate what he was lying about.”
Andrea could not believe that her father had just been stringing them along the whole time. She knew how stubborn he could be, and so she realised that once he had understood that Cecil was lying, it was too early to admit that he had been wrong at first.
“We were wrong,” her mother continued. “That is the truth of it, and it nearly had awful implications for our daughter.”
“I know.” Her father was much more serious now as he spoke to her mother, “I cannot believe we almost made such a terrible mistake.”
It was perhaps the first time in a long time that she was seeing some accountability from her father. He was clearly embarrassed, but Andrea was surprised at just how much he was now admitting it.
