by Jane Angwin
Anne missed her father and suffered greatly, but she was not allowed to show her sadness or discuss her father when her mother was near. Only Mrs. Barrett knew the truth and the depth of her charge's despair, so she did her best to listen to the child and to provide the much needed compassion any child in mourning would require. Mrs. Barrett had lost her own daughter to influenza at a young age many years prior, and she felt it was her responsibility in life to be there for Anne and to help take away some of the sting of her horrid mother. In that small way, Anne was fortunate, and if nothing else, at least she had that.
Chapter Seven
Divergent Paths
Shaking his head to erase the unpleasant thoughts of Lady Catherine from his head, Darcy turned his thoughts to Georgiana. He closed his eyes, sighing deeply, wishing he knew what to do to help her through these difficult days since her near elopement with George Wickham and her narrow escape from certain ruination. He couldn't blame her for her innocent belief that a dashing man had admired her and declared his love, and he understood that she could not possibly realize that his motive was based on revenge against her brother and the prospect of realizing her dowry of thirty thousand pounds once married to her. "If I had not sent her away to Ramsgate with her companion, Mrs. Young, she would never have encountered my nemesis." He shrugged his shoulders, knowing that it was also his fault that he hadn't properly checked Mrs. Young's references before he thought her suitable as a young lady's personal attendant. Her references were stellar, but they were merely falsehoods written on paper, and he knew he should have made personal calls on those people who supposedly had written such glowing things about her. "But," he reminded himself, "how could I have known that she was in coordination with Wickham to secure Georgiana's affections and convince her to travel to Gretna Green to marry without my permission?"
Georgiana only had vague memories of Wickham being around their home when she was a young child, and as wicked as he was, he was quite charming, and he knew it was to his advantage to always be kind to her. Georgiana knew nothing of the tortuous relationship he had with her brother, nor why the man would wish to deceive her and lay claim to her sizable dowry.
George Wickham was the only son of the Pemberley steward, John Wickham, and he lived a decidedly different life than Darcy. He lived in a small cottage on the grounds of Pemberley with his mother, Cecelia Wickham and his father, John. John Wickham had been George Darcy's steward for many years, and his loyalty and dedication to the family was most appreciated and generously rewarded. He worked beside Mr. Darcy on all matters related to the operation and finances of Pemberley, and he was trusted completely. To honor Mr. Darcy, he named his son George when he was born, and his son was often allowed to join him during the day to play with the Darcy's son, Fitzwilliam.
As the boys grew older, George was keenly aware that he was not of the same status as the Darcy family, and he secretly resented that fact. He watched Fitzwilliam ride the best horses, wear the finest clothes, and receive lessons from the finest teachers, and it was difficult to hide his jealousy and disdain for the boy. Also, instead of climbing trees and chasing the servant girls with frogs as he did, he saw Fitzwilliam spending hours studying languages and practicing the pianoforte, riding his horse with his father, and painting with his mother in their private studio. He felt that all of these pursuits were worthless endeavors, and except for riding horses, all less than manly pursuits. He preferred mischievous activities, sometimes bordering on evil deeds, but with an uncanny ability to not be found out. He was able to charm his way out of his pranks, and much to his delight, he was even able to implicate William from time to time. Darcy's father was fond of George, and he either did not see the underlying treachery in George's personality, or he turned a blind eye to the boy's improprieties. William knew that it was useless to try to enlighten his father, as he felt certain that he would make excuses for young George due to his less than ideal and underprivileged circumstances, and so his behavior continued unabated.
When his steward, John Wickham became ill, and it was clear that his days were few, George Darcy promised him that he would make sure the boy was well taken care of. He promised that he would provide Mrs. Wickham with a position at Pemberley with good wages, and he would give George a Cambridge education and a proper living when the time came. When John died that Autumn, that is exactly what George Darcy did. Cecelia came to work in the Pemberley kitchen, and George was given a small room next to his mother. George was furious that he was relegated to the servants' quarters, and his behavior only worsened. Unbeknownst to his mother and to George Darcy, he began arranging odious trysts with the young servant girls and shopkeepers' daughters in Lambton, and in several cases, the young girls were forced to leave Derbyshire under mysterious circumstances. He was also thought to be stealing items from shops in Lambton, but no one wanted to implicate George Wickham for fear that George Darcy would not believe them, and so the number of ruined girls and the trail of thievery grew longer over time.
Young Fitzwilliam knew the truth of the compromised girls and their mysterious disappearances, and he even saw George with many of the stolen items, but when once when he did try to bring it to his father's attention, he was accused of being unfairly hurtful and having a young boy's vivid imagination. "No son of John and Cecelia Wickham could be anything but honorable, and you have judged him unjustly", his father admonished.
To prepare the boy for a higher education than most young sons of trade were allowed, George Darcy arranged for William's tutors to work with him to learn to read and do his numbers along with William. The boys spent a great deal of time together in the Pemberley classroom, but George found it tedious and preferred to be elsewhere during his lessons. William's ease at learning and his greater intelligence further infuriated George, and he greatly disliked being compared to him in this way, but he knew that he far excelled in other ways that William could not compete with. Wickham had wit and charm and could easily converse, where William was quiet and introspective. Wickham was cunning and manipulative, where William was honest and moral. Wickham could turn the head of any and all pretty girls, where William was shy and polite. With these talents, Wickham knew that his path in life would be much more exciting, but to not appear ungrateful, he pretended to take interest in his studies and to bide his time until he could go out into the world on his own.
When it came time for Fitzwilliam to leave Pemberley for his studies at Cambridge, as he promised John Wickham, George Darcy sponsored the Wickham boy to be admitted too, and he attended and received the same coveted and prestigious education alongside his own son. While the young Darcy studied diligently and took his education very seriously, George squandered his great opportunity, and he amused himself with extracurricular activities, drinking and gambling away his generous allowance, and sleeping during the day instead of studying. He barely made it through to commencement, but his cleverness and charm duped many naive classmates to write his papers and take his exams, by escorting them to the darker side of Cambridge at night, plying them with ale and introducing them to women of low repute in the dingy pubs along the River Cam.
When the two men graduated, they went their own separate ways, Darcy hoping to not see Wickham again. Wickham immediately left Cambridge bound for London, and Darcy felt certain he would undoubtedly seek out the drinking establishments and gambling halls of Town to make the acquaintance of same minded reprobates and to cultivate grand schemes of fortune.
Darcy returned home for a short time to make arrangements for his Grand Tour, an educational rite of passage for wealthy young Englishmen after completing matriculation. The tour was intended to expose these young men to the polite society of the European continent, where they would enjoy different cultures, food, languages and the pleasurable activities pursued by young men on their own with plenty of money and time on their hands.
Along with Foxworth, Burns and Kelly, three of his friends from school, Darcy embarked on his tour which was intended
to last approximately three years in length, each of them taking their personal valet with them. They sailed across the English Channel from Dover, disembarking in Calais, France where they purchased three coaches, one for themselves, one to transport their luggage, and one for their manservants. They traveled South spending a few days in many of the small villages, and a week in the larger towns of Amiens and Beauvais, finally arriving in Paris. Darcy had studied the French language as well as French art since a young child, and it was his desire to immerse himself in the French culture. He preferred to visit the art galleries, the museums and the beautiful monuments of the city, but Kelly and Burns were more attracted to the nightlife that Paris offered. He and Foxworth accompanied them to the various cabarets and cafes, drinking fine French wines in the brasseries, and thoroughly enjoying the company of beautiful Parisian women, quite unlike the ladies back at home in England, but Kelly and Burns spent so much of their time in Paris staying up all night and sleeping during the day, that while Darcy enjoyed it for a time, he quickly tired of the self-indulgent debauchery that occupied his companions. He set out with Foxworth most days, indulging themselves in fencing, riding, and even learning new dances, including the waltz that was popular in Paris, but considered much too risqué in England.
They traveled outside of Paris to the exquisite Palace of Versailles, the recent marriage site of Louis-Auguste Dauphin of France to the Austrian Archduchess Marie Antoinette. On another excursion, they journeyed to Orleans, and then further south to the Loire Valley in central France to visit the beautiful Chateau de Chambord to examine the chateau's magnificent French Renaissance architecture. They also sought out the family of Brisbois at Chateau de Reneaux, a friend of one of Darcy's French history professors at Cambridge. Theirs was a pleasant visit, with a tour of the grand estate and a fine and pleasurable dinner with the Brisbois family, who had owned the property for well over 150 years. It was a pleasing evening speaking French and sharing stories of Reneaux, and Darcy's and Foxworth's ancestral estates of Pemberley and Maidstone. They were invited to spend the night at the chateau, a privilege afforded to few, and the next day, Brisbois escorted them further South to visit the illustrious Madam Louise LeFontaine Dupin to enjoy one of her staged comedies at the magnificent Château de Chenonceau on the Cher River. This , above all else, was one of the highlights of Darcy's stay in France.
After three months in Paris, the four young men traveled East, spending some time in Dijon and Lyon, and then across the Swiss border, to Bern, Laussane, and Geneva. There were relatively no good coach roads through the Alps to Italy, so in order to accomplish the near impossible crossing, it was necessary to disassemble their coaches and continue on horseback from Martigny in Switzerland across the Great St. Bernard Pass, to Aosta, Italy, but Darcy and Foxworth, the more sensible of the group, elected to leave their friends at the Swiss border and instead traveled by coach with their valets to Nice in the south of France where they loaded their coaches onto a ship and sailed across the Mediterranean to Livorno.
From there, they leisurely traveled across Italy to meet up with their friends in Venice for the Winter Carnival season. They were intrigued with the crowds of foreigners from all over the continent, enjoying lavish street extravaganzas and constant entertainment, complete with masquerades, gondola regattas, operas, gambling, and, of course, the notorious Italian courtesans, a large draw for most young Englishmen on their Grand Tour. They stayed in Venice through the spring months, and then traveled South through the Tuscan cities to Florence for another month, the city of great museums and the famous works of DaVinci and Michelangelo, and then on to Rome, the final stop on their journey where they would spend at least a year.
They took several rooms near the Piazza di Spagna, where so many English stayed that the locals called it the ghetto de l'ingles, which translated meant the English Ghetto. Darcy often mingled with the local artists at the bottom of the Spanish Steps nearby, and he paid several to produce etchings of the steps and the beautiful Trevi Fountain recently completed to take home to his sister. He marveled at the beauty of the city, and as he planned to be in Rome for many more months, he had spent a leisurely month, taking his time to explore various sections of the city. He felt that of all the places they had journeyed to, the incomparable city of Paris and this remarkable city most warmed his soul. "Someday, if I am so fortunate to find a wife that would appreciate and enjoy the cultures of these amazing places, I will bring her to the continent on our wedding trip," he mused. "Foxworth has been a worthy companion, but the romance of these cities would be far better experienced with a new bride."
It was in the second month of his stay in Rome that he received the letter from home that changed everything. The letter was from his cousin, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, the second son of his mother's brother, the Earl of Matlock, advising him of the serious decline of his father's health and his strong suggestion to return home at the earliest possible time. Darcy quickly made arrangements to leave and said his goodbyes to his traveling companions. It was an excruciating journey back to England by ship, and he hoped that he was not too late to see his father alive.
After what seemed like an eternity, he finally landed in England and was met in Dover by his cousin, Richard. "Thank you for meeting me here, cousin. What news have you about my father?"
As they hoisted Darcy's trunks onto the back of the carriage Richard had brought to the dock, he looked at Darcy and said "It is quite dire, Darcy. You have arrived in time, but we have no time to waste." And with that, they journeyed from Dover to Pemberley, a long and difficult trip, and the two close cousins, who enjoyed each other's company as if they were brothers, shared little, if any conversation. They at last arrived in Derbyshire in a little over a week's time and were able to spend a few short weeks with George Darcy, an hour at a time, attempting to glean from him the important details of the running of his great estate.
Much to their great surprise and trepidation, they also learned that he wished to appoint them both as guardians of his young daughter, Georgiana. At first, they balked at his thoughts on the matter, saying that they were not at all equipped to deal with the needs and delicate requirements of a young girl, but he remained firm, saying that he felt there were no finer individuals to care for her, and that between the two, they would make the best decisions and plans for Georgiana's future life in his absence.
George Darcy passed away quietly in his sleep, and Fitzwilliam Darcy became the heir and Master of one of the largest and most prestigious estates in England at the young age of only twenty years. The heavy weight and seriousness of this responsibility greatly altered his young life forever.
Chapter Eight
A Cottage in the Woods
The following years were difficult for Darcy. He had much to learn about running the grand estate of Pemberley, and he had no time to enjoy life as a young and single wealthy English bachelor. He spent every day with his new steward, Robert Grover, going over the books and traveling through his vast property meeting all of the tenants that lived on the land.
He was up at dawn every morning, riding his horse through the various pastures, inspecting the fences and noting the repairs that were required to keep the animals in and the poachers out. He rode through the woods and followed streams he had not known about before. He discovered an old hunting cabin that his father had obviously built that still had signs of his father's last hunting expedition, and he was glad to know that it was there if he ever felt he could resume the leisurely pursuits he had enjoyed before his father's passing.
Riding on through several fields of sheep and wildflowers bordering the woods, he found a small path leading to a small cottage tucked far in where it couldn't be seen or found unless you knew it was there. It was a charming structure in good repair, and when he entered it, it took his breath away. It was decorated with lovely furnishings, beautiful rugs, and a huge stone fireplace that still had remnants of ashes from its last use. There was a separate bed chamber with a la
rge canopied bed, covered with a white coverlet, obviously his mother's choice. There were embroidered pillows that she had done with meticulous stitches depicting the cottage, Pemberley, and her beloved dog, Penelope. But the one that stood out to Darcy was a small simply stitched pillow of a lavender field, sewn with nothing but lavender threads. He picked it up and smelled it, and the scent of lavender was strong. "Mother must have put her perfume on this pillow," he thought. I wish I could take this back to Pemberley with me to calm me when I am disturbed, but it really needs to remain here where Mother intended it to be." He put it back down on the bed and returned to the main room. As he looked around, there on the mantle over the fireplace, he saw several miniatures that Charron had most likely painted. He walked closer to see the beautiful face of his mother, and the kind but strong face of his father. Beside them were the likenesses of Georgiana and himself when they were just young children. "This must have been a special place for Mother and Father to escape from their respective responsibilities," he thought. "How like them to have somewhere like this to spend special uninterrupted time together. I will not touch a thing here. This is a secret place that only I will know of, and it will be theirs for eternity." He sadly hung his head, greatly missing his parents and feeling the weight of being in the world alone without their guidance.
