“But your brother has not agreed to such a scheme, Miss Darcy,” which she said with some urgency as the men were leaving the card tables. Lizzy hoped that Miss Darcy would accept the fact that her offer had been declined, but she would not.
“For a long time now, Will has told me that once I had turned eighteen, I would be the mistress of Pemberley until such time as he took a wife. Therefore, I should feel free to invite my friends to our home.”
At that time, Darcy came and stood behind his sister, indicating that he was ready to leave.
“Will, the Gardiners and Miss Elizabeth are to visit the Peak in three weeks’ time, and I have tried to convince them that they should move up that date as the colors are nearing their peak.”
“Georgiana is correct, Mrs. Gardiner. One good storm and every leaf will be stripped off the trees. If it can be arranged, I would encourage you to do so.”
“I know they would like to do that, Will,” Georgiana continued, “but there are no accommodations at any of the inns. So I suggested that they stay at Pemberley.”
Darcy opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, and after an uncomfortably long pause, Mrs. Gardiner announced they would adhere to their original plans, but thanked Georgiana for her invitation.
Because Darcy had been caught flatfooted by his sister’s offer, he was aware that his response had been less than gracious. “Please forgive me for not responding immediately, Mrs. Gardiner. I was thinking that my sister and I would be in town and unable to welcome you. However, despite our absence, there is no reason why you should not stay at Pemberley. We have an army of servants to see to your needs, and they are happier when there are guests in the house.”
“Will, I believe if one of us was in residence they would accept our offer, so I shall go with them. You will be busy seeing to your business affairs, and London is rather dull at this time of year.”
Instead of everyone looking at the speaker, the ladies were all looking at Mr. Darcy to see what his reaction to his sister’s plan would be.
“Georgiana, there would be a lot of details to work out as I will have need of the carriage.”
It was then that Mr. Gardiner joined the party, and after being informed of Miss Darcy’s offer, he jumped right at it. With visions of fish practically jumping into his creel, he explained to Mr. Darcy that the carriage would not be an issue.
“I keep a carriage—not in town, of course, as the costs are prohibitive, but it only takes two days to make arrangements to have it brought in. If your concern is for your sister’s safety while traveling, I have a manservant who spent some of his youth on the boxing circuit. He is a handy fellow to have about when I go down to the docks.”
“It appears that all there is left to do is to work out the details,” Mr. Darcy said, all the while looking at his sister.
When Mr. Bingley took the seat opposite to her in the carriage, Georgiana was relieved because it forced Will to sit next to her, and in that way, her brother would not be able to stare her down. But the ride was merely a brief respite. As soon as they arrived at Netherfield, Darcy said good night to Mr. Bingley, explaining that he needed to discuss some of the details for their early departure with his sister.
As soon as she went into the study, Georgiana poured a glass of port for her brother. After handing it to him, he gestured for her to sit down, but said nothing. In Will’s case, silence was not a good sign.
Darcy rarely raised his voice as he considered it to be a sign of weakness. If one could not present an argument without shouting the other fellow down, then his case had no merit, and it would be a sorry day if he ever raised his voice to a woman. But he was unhappy with the latest turn of events, and he was trying to cool his anger.
“Georgiana, what do you think you are playing at?” Will asked in an even but stern tone. “And do not look at me like that. You know exactly what I am talking about.”
“Since the Gardiners already had plans to go to Derbyshire, it seemed the right thing to do. I really like them, and I am already quite fond of Miss Elizabeth.”
“This is about Elizabeth, isn’t it?”
Georgiana nodded. “I think you like her very much.”
“Well, this explains some things,” he said, standing up, and he started to pace. “Up until yesterday, Miss Montford could do no wrong, but now everything has changed. She cannot sing, speaks a language which is of little benefit to anyone, and has a nose which points to the left.”
“To the right,” and Will looked at her with a blank expression. “Her nose points to the right. Whenever she visits us, she always sits in the blue chair, and her nose points toward the street.”
An exasperated Darcy sat back down on the sofa and started to rub his forehead. He was getting another headache. As soon as he had departed the Bennets’ house, he had decided he must leave Hertfordshire immediately because he could easily have asked himself the same question: What did he think he was playing at? Despite having to leave for London in two days’ time, he had flirted with Elizabeth. It could not be construed in any other way.
“Will, you do not love Miss Montford,” Georgiana said, while moving to the sofa and putting her hand on his.
“No. I do not. But marriages between members of the upper class have very little to do with love. They are alliances made for financial considerations or dynastic or political reasons. Love may follow, but it is not the overriding reason for a man and woman to marry. You have been out in society long enough to know that.”
Georgiana was ready for this argument, as she had spent the previous night in her bedchamber thinking of little else.
“You have told me that the investments you made through Mr. Bingley’s financial advisor have provided you with handsome returns, so money is not the issue here. Nor is it politics, as you are a Whig and Sir John is a Tory. That leaves dynastic considerations. I understand you are the last male Darcy. If you do not produce an heir, I must leave Pemberley as David Ashton will inherit. Because of that, you have decided you must avoid doing anything that may affect my prospects in the event such a thing should happen. What we are discussing here is a matter of precedence—where my place at the table would be—below the salt as it were.”
Darcy nodded, saying nothing, as he was afraid his voice would crack. He had a little sister no longer. She was an adult with full powers of reasoning and persuasion, which had lain hidden because of the playfulness of her manners.
“If I were not a consideration, would you marry Elizabeth Bennet?” Georgiana asked.
“No, I cannot,” he said, shaking his head. “You must understand that there was no mistaking my particular attention to Miss Montford during the season. Our names have been linked together in the newspapers. To withdraw at this point would be dishonorable as she would be acutely embarrassed.” After taking a drink, he added, “It is too late, Georgiana. It cannot be undone.”
Georgiana stood up. “I am very tired, and we have an early start.” After refilling Will’s glass, she concluded by saying, “You do understand she will know. Oh, I am sure it will never be discussed openly, but Miss Montford will know you do not love her,” and she went quietly out the door.
When Georgiana awoke, it was nearly 10:00, and she quickly called for Mrs. Brotherton. Her brother would not be happy that she was so late in getting ready.
“Miss Georgiana, Mr. Darcy departed hours ago, but he left you this note.”
Dear Georgie,
After thinking about our plans, I decided that it made no sense for you to go back to London, only to return to Netherfield in a few days. I will have Macy gather whatever she thinks is necessary and will send it to you by way of the Gardiners, and I will ask the Gardiners to use my carriage. Although I am sure they own a fine conveyance, I will rest easier if I know you are in our carriage. I will also send Mercer with you.
I know that last year you were alone at Pemberley after Mr. Ferguson’s wife died, and I remember your words. “Yes, I will be alone, t
hat is, if you do not count Mr. Jackson, Mrs. Bradshaw, Mrs. Reynolds, the grooms, the maids, the footmen, etc.” Besides, I am quite confident that you are capable of executing your responsibilities as mistress of Pemberley.
Please instruct Belling that he is to see that Mr. Gardiner is properly outfitted and that he should send one of the grooms who is familiar with all of the best fishing spots. I suggest Avery or Cubbins. I doubt the Gardiners ride, and the only comment Elizabeth made about riding in my presence was that she manages not to fall off the horse. Therefore, I think it will be sufficient for you to have Belling take them into the District by wagon, but Mrs. Bradshaw will need to prepare a simple repast for them to take with them.
You should meet with Jackson, Mrs. Bradshaw, and Mrs. Reynolds as soon after your arrival as possible as they will need sufficient notice to provide for our guests. I will post a letter to Jackson as soon as I arrive in London, and he will inform the staff.
Regarding last night, I have one more thing to add. With rank comes privilege, but it also comes with responsibilities as well as a code of conduct.
Love, Will
P.S. Bingley is to bring the Crenshaws to Netherfield, but he has promised he will not do so until you are safely on the road to Pemberley.
Georgiana laughed at her brother’s comments. He was confident in her abilities to host a party for a grand total of three people, but felt the need to provide instructions anyway. As to Will’s business in London, since she could do nothing about the situation with Miss Montford, she would not think about it. Instead, she would enjoy the company of the woman he really loved.
Darcy left Netherfield as the first rays of the sun came over the horizon, filling in the spaces in the greenery with bursts of light. Next to the note he had addressed to his sister, he had left another for Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst as he had not taken proper leave of them the night before. Although he did not like Caroline and was easily annoyed by Mrs. Hurst, they knew how to keep house for their brother, and there was something to be said in praise of management skills because, with the Crenshaws’ arrival, that was about to change.
Darcy did not understand why the ten-year-old twins, Gaius and Lucius, were not in boarding school. “There isn’t a housemaster in the whole of England who would tolerate such behavior for one minute, no less years,” he had told Bingley, who had nodded his head in agreement. Ever the pleasant fellow, Bingley had explained, “My hands are tied. I can offer Diana my advice, but I cannot force her to do anything.”
“Why not?” Darcy thought. “I am being forced by convention to do something I do not want to do,” and then he put his head in the corner of the carriage and went to sleep
When Darcy arrived at the London townhouse, he found his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, waiting for him. As close as he was to Bingley, it was his cousin whom he thought of as his brother. They were the same age, and as children, had spent long summers together at Pemberley or at the Fitzwilliam estate in Kent or, better yet, at the seaside in Weymouth where the Darcys maintained a villa.
“Richard, you are a sight for sore eyes,” he said, patting his cousin on his back. “What brings you to London?”
“You seriously do not know?” he asked, laughing. “You sent me this extraordinary note,” and he held it out so that his cousin could see that he had brought it with him, “in which you wanted to know post haste if there was a ‘hullabaloo’ when our grandparents had married. Allow me to read it:
Richard, My thanks for your continued service in keeping the Corsican corporal from our shores. It would be an inconvenience to be invaded by the French.
Having lived with our grandparents for many years, do you remember if they ever mentioned a hullabaloo when they married? Old Norman stock v. upstart Anglo-Irish? Any of that? Your immediate response will be appreciated.
Yours, Will
“Not exactly teeming with details, is it? I must know the purpose of this letter.”
“You could have written to me, Richard. Considering your military obligations, I did not expect your response to be hand delivered.”
“I was looking for a break in the monotony, and I was owed considerable leave. I am so tired of sitting in a camp in Kent sticking my tongue out at the Frenchies on the opposite shore. I thought it would be exciting to be an artillery officer shooting off very big guns, but we keep our powder dry and wait. If there wasn’t such a scarcity of heiresses, I would seriously consider selling my commission. But enough about me. Why do you need to know this information?”
“Answer the question, and I promise I will tell all.”
“Agreed,” and Richard began. “I could not remember hearing anything about a hullabaloo, so I stopped at Mama’s on the way here. She had the whole story on the tip of her tongue. Our grandfather, Robert, who was not an earl at this time, married Charlotte Denby, who gave birth to Aunt Catherine, but died a few years later. Following his first wife’s death, Robert went to London in search of a second wife, which is where he was introduced to eighteen-year-old Marie Devereaux. When her parents got wind that a romance was brewing, they sent Marie to live with relations in Rouen, but Robert followed her there, and they married in secret. But it did not stay a secret for long because she got pregnant with my father.
“Apparently, when the marriage was revealed, there was no hullabaloo. It was closer to an explosion. Marie was cut off from the family entirely—no money, no visits. Unlike the Darcys, the Devereauxes had remained Catholic and were appalled that their daughter had married someone who was neither Norman nor Catholic. They actually had their sights set on her marrying the Earl of Arundel, the heir to the Duke of Norfolk, the highest peer in the realm, and a Catholic to boot.
“The Fitzwilliams sent emissaries to negotiate a peace. Over the decades, remaining Catholic had done nothing for the Devereaux finances, and their Norman laurels were all that was left to them. So the earl offered them a gift of five thousand pounds; it was refused. But when he increased it to eight thousands pounds, all was forgiven. According to my mother, Marie and Robert married for love and stayed in love. Neither had any regrets.”
“So Marie was prepared to risk everything to be with someone from an Anglo-Irish family that lacked the ancient ties to the monarchy that set these Norman families apart.”
“It was risky for our grandfather as well,” Richard answered. “Although Marie joined the Church of England after her parents had died, at the time of her marriage, she was a Roman Catholic. Two generations earlier, George I, the first of the Hanoverians, had ascended the throne in order to keep it from the Catholic Stuarts. It was a touchy time, and so I say bravo to both of them. But why did you need this information?”
Darcy went and poured a glass of wine for both of them and shared with his cousin the burden he had been carrying around for so many weeks.
“I have fallen in love. Head over heels. Walking on air. Can’t think of anything else type of love.”
“I gather we are not speaking of Miss Montford?”
“No. The lady is the sister of Miss Jane Bennet who will marry Charles Bingley in December. She is the daughter of a gentleman farmer.”
“Ah, I see. The purpose of your letter was to find out if you would be betraying your Devereaux ancestors by marrying someone who is so far beneath your station in life.”
“Those are not the words I would have used, but, yes, that is the question. There are damn few of us left. Only a handful of families are more than half Norman, but I am also the grandson of an earl. How would such a marriage affect Georgiana’s prospects?”
“You want my advice? Well, here is what I have to say: ‘bol-locks.’ Bollocks to the whole bloody nonsense. My commanding officer is the youngest son of a duke, and he could not find his own arse with a map. But because of who his father is, I must take orders from him even though he might possibly get my men killed. And look at my brother, Antony, Lord Fitzwilliam, who has not been in his wife’s bed in a decade despite the lack of an heir. Both are pedi
greed. The only problem is, they can’t stand each other.
“Will, you know better than I do that the world is changing. We have rich merchants with chests full of coin, and dukes and earls with little money, and because of this, great changes are happening right under our noses. Sons and grandsons of earls are marrying the daughters of merchants, and that is the way of the future. You are uncomfortable with a possible alliance with a family not of your rank because you are in the vanguard. But be brave. Your children, no matter who the mother, will have to face even greater changes.”
“Before I met Charles Bingley,” Darcy said, “I had reservations about what you just described or what Sir John Montford calls ‘the upward migration of the servile class which threatens England as much as the French.’ However, that is not my main concern. What about Miss Montford?”
“I gather you feel committed to her because you spent so much time in her company during the season, and because of that, there are expectations?”
Richard walked over to the window and looked out into the street. He had no good news for his cousin, as he had heard Sir John Montford speaking of Darcy at White’s, the conservative Tory men’s club, of which he was a member. As an officer in the King’s army, it would not do to tweak the nose of his monarch, as Darcy did every time he dined at Brook’s, the liberal Whig’s men’s club.
“What did Sir John say?” Darcy asked.
“‘Darcy. Damn good sort,’” Richard said, lowering his voice in imitation of Sir John. “‘Terrible politics, but a capital fellow. He will make someone a fine husband,’ and then he winked at his company.”
A Wife for Mr. Darcy Page 8
