All's Fair in Love and War and Death

by Anne Morris

  “I am so glad that I have met you,” declared Lady Emma. “So many of my friends have left for their country estates or house parties. It is getting awfully warm in London.”

  “Shall you not retire to the country as well?” inquired Elizabeth.

  Lady Emma leaned forward then. “I believe Mamma has this idea that there might be some last minute inspiration from some gentleman for my hand if we stay. Besides, Maurice is here, and I have enjoyed his company this Season.”

  “You are blessed to have a brother,” remarked Elizabeth.

  “Two brothers,” asserted Lady Emma.

  “I have sisters,” offered Elizabeth.

  “You mentioned one, she must be an older sister because you discussed how she had returned recently from a trip to a friend right before you came to London,” guessed Lady Emma.

  “Yes,” agreed Elizabeth. “But I have three younger sisters.”

  “Three younger! I have three older sisters,” Lady Emma grinned. “I am the youngest of six children. The doted-on baby, but the bane of my mother. I cause her no end of worry and anxiety. But I believe I share that with my oldest brother, Viscount Watt, as he also shows no signs of ever marrying.” Lady Emma put her fingers to her lips and looked skyward before relaxing her pose. “Maurice is to be forgiven if he never marries. Second sons do not have to.” Emma’s smile changed though as she looked at Elizabeth.

  They spoke about their sisters and compared the four in the earl’s family with the five in the Bennet’s. There were differences, of course. Being the daughter of an earl as opposed to the daughter of a gentleman of a small estate, meant there must be differences. The Fitzwilliam daughters had all been presented to the Queen, and they had come to London each spring for the Season. It was a trip Mrs. Bennet had long wished to take, but Mr. Bennet had never allowed, as he had never desired it.

  Girlish squabbles among sisters are the same in any family. And either the Countess Langley and Mrs. Gardiner found enough to talk about, or they were well bred enough to enjoy each other’s company, but the tete-a-tete between the two young women continued almost until the gentlemen joined them. It was when Elizabeth had remarked that the gentlemen seemed long at their port that Lady Emma looked at her with a somewhat sly grin.

  “Captain Martel is a good friend of Maurice’s, and Darcy is a cousin,” she explained. “They could speak for hours before they remember to come back to us. It’s not as if there hasn’t been a lot to discuss recently with Perceval and now Lord Liverpool.”

  “Have you known Captain Martel long?” asked Elizabeth.

  “I believe ever since my come-out,” answered Lady Emma. “And I know far too much about Cousin Darcy.” She had a resigned tone to her voice.

  “You sound as if he is more exasperating than interesting to you,” remarked Elizabeth.

  “I suppose he is,” was her forthright reply. “We were often thrown together. Do you have cousins close in age?”

  Elizabeth remarked she was sad to say that she did not know such a thing.

  “I must tell you, Miss Bennet,” Lady Emma looked at her new friend with an impish smile, and Elizabeth realized that there was a dimple on one side of Emma’s mouth, “that he is very rich, my Cousin Darcy. He is rather handsome, don’t you think?” Elizabeth did agree on that point; he was a handsome man from what she had seen during their short discussion in the drawing-room and then observing him at the dining table. “There are many young ladies and their mothers who think he would be a magnificent catch as a husband,” continued Lady Emma.

  “I imagine his holdings are extensive? He has property?” asked Elizabeth.

  “Oh yes, Pemberley is delightful. It is up north in Derbyshire,” explained Lady Emma. “And he is, as I said, worth a great deal of money. But no one has been able to catch his eye. Mamma thought at one time that she might marry one of us off to him. And there is another aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who has a daughter, Anne. She and Darcy are only months apart in age. Aunt Catherine has never given up on the idea that Darcy and Cousin Anne should marry, but Anne is a foolish, sickly creature; I don’t see why anyone would want to marry her!” There was something about the way that Emma expressed that sentiment which reminded Elizabeth very distinctly again of her sister, Lydia, even though she now knew her new friend was three and twenty and not fifteen.

  “Well, I shall take the hint,” asserted Elizabeth, “and be on my guard against falling in love with Mr. Darcy.”

  “I like you too much to see you hurt,” said her new friend. “And besides,” Lady Emma leaned over in a gentle whisper. “I believe that Maurice admires you, very much.”

  It was just at that point when the gentlemen entered the room.

  ***

  The colonel and Captain Martel came to sit with Elizabeth and Emma. There was a small discussion as to whether the ladies wished to sing for the group while coffee was served. Both Elizabeth and Lady Emma declined. Elizabeth looked over to see how the other gentleman in the room was occupied. Mr. Darcy remained in discussion with her Uncle Gardiner. She imagined they had found some topic earlier and continued it despite coming back to join the ladies. The Countess poured tea, but then suggested cards. The tables were set up; the issue then became who was to sit at what table for they were a group of eight, but would split into two.

  But the party remained divided in the same fashion since the gentlemen had returned. The colonel, his friend, Elizabeth, and Lady Emma made one table, and the four others sat down at another.

  It was a delightful evening; Elizabeth could not have wished for better companions. There was nothing about the colonel that she found wanting, though Elizabeth felt sorry for Mr. Darcy. Once or twice her eyes migrated over to the other table, and she thought about a young man who had been brought in to merely make up the numbers. She did not know why the Earl was not in town. He could prefer the country, or he might be in poor health. The Earl of Langley could have estate matters to attend to; Elizabeth did not know. But the Countess needed a partner and it seemed her nephew, Darcy, was to fill that void even if to a young man of his age and station in life, he might think it a burden, rather than a pleasure to sit in a drawing-room and play cards with his aunt and a married couple he had only met that evening.

  Elizabeth empathized with this Mr. Darcy for all that he apparently was a great man in his own right, despite not having the prestige of a title. Lady Emma had told Elizabeth that it was his mother who was the daughter of the former earl and that the present Earl Langley was his uncle by blood. Such a connection was prestigious indeed.

  With all that Lady Emma had shared, Mr. Darcy seemed a confident man, wealthy in his own right, satisfied with his life, his station, and a man who would marry well when he chose. Especially if he eschewed the choice of his cousin, an earl’s daughter. Mr. Darcy might marry very well indeed. From what Emma had told her, he was a man who knew his mind and would take action when needed. But Elizabeth had not had much time to interact with him to form her own opinion; she could only view him from a distance and formulate an idea of his character based on Lady Emma’s pronouncements.

  The ride home to Gracechurch Street was a whirlwind of conversation. Mr. Gardiner had much to say about the company that evening. He had found the Countess, the Colonel, Mr. Darcy, and Captain Martel all worthy and estimable companions. While he understood the unstated reason for the visit (that there was an admiration by the colonel for his niece)—he discussed his respect for Mr. Darcy who was intelligent and well-informed.

  “Well Eliza,” Mrs. Gardiner had said after her husband had finally drawn breath. Mr. Gardiner perhaps did not get the opportunity for society with his business making him keep late hours. “You came to London, and we had this idea that we would entertain you, but you have turned that on its head. You are entertaining us instead. But my evening’s conversation has been just as I anticipated.”

  “What do you mean aunt?” Elizabeth looked a little confused as she could not exactly anticipate
her aunt’s thoughts.

  “We have, all of us, suspected an admiration on Colonel Fitzwilliam’s part, which is why the introduction to his mother and sister. Marriage in our station in life is not just about two people, but it is also about family connections. I was honest and shared the nature of your father’s estate and the size of your dowry: that there are five of you. I still fear that unless he did very well, a colonel, and the son of an earl, must marry with some consideration for money.”

  “I appreciate your thoughts,” replied Elizabeth as the two women said goodnight to Mr. Gardiner and climbed the stairs to bed. “Nevertheless, I enjoyed meeting Lady Emma. It is pleasant to expand my acquaintance, and I appreciate you asking me to visit and my chance to get away. I have, perhaps, been too much at home and brooding a little too much since my mother’s passing. Our society has changed, though Meryton society has not.”

  She stopped by her door. “The prospects before us as you mentioned, are limited, and we are not likely to marry well. I fear that that was the reason behind Jane’s disappointed courtship with Mr. Taylor. He thought her pretty and a gentleman’s daughter, but there was no money, no real money in marrying her. So he had to set his eyes elsewhere and wrote pretty words to someone else.” Elizabeth opened her chamber door. “I had no idea Colonel Fitzwilliam was the son of an earl or that he would admire me when we met. I was only thinking of the present moment and the evening before me. Do not fret. I have few expectations, so shall not have dashed hopes if the Countess does not approve of me, or if the Colonel stops calling.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Mrs. Eyers came to visit in the afternoon and was excited to hear about the dinner the evening before. She knew quite a lot about the Earl of Langley’s family, and her eyes sparkled with interest to hear about the colonel’s marked attentions towards Elizabeth.

  “You could do no better, you know,” Mrs. Eyers observed. Mrs. Gardiner agreed which Elizabeth thought was undoubtedly true, though her aunt’s admonishments about marriage being between families had struck her forcefully. Elizabeth had pride in being a gentleman’s daughter, but how much pride would the earl’s family place in her, or her father, for being a country gentleman? Marrying into such an illustrious family had not been something she had ever considered and required some thought.

  But time to think was something Elizabeth would not be permitted to do as the gentleman who had been under discussion came to call with his sister. It was a short and polite call; the subject of which was how much everybody had enjoyed the evening, and how much everyone had enjoyed each other’s company. The colonel went away and took his sister, who expressed kind and sincere words in parting.

  “We will have to see how these things play out,” was Mrs. Eyers’ advice. There were other invitations which Elizabeth had to look forward to, but not so many that she could consider turning the two before her down. Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner still had dinner with their set of friends to plan as well. Elizabeth’s society was expanding.

  A note came from Lady Emma the next day pleading with Elizabeth to come riding with her on the morrow. As she had no excuse, Elizabeth accepted and actually looked forward to it. She wondered if anyone else who was to come—as in the colonel—or if it was merely to be Lady Emma and a chaperone.

  Elizabeth was surprised when Lady Emma brought Mr. Darcy to the door to fetch her for a ride in the park—one of those fashionable activities that members of the ton indulged in, but which Elizabeth had never participated in.

  Lady Emma dominated the conversation with various comments about this and that as Mr. Darcy drove his carriage with the two women on either side of him. Elizabeth was curious as to why Mr. Darcy was with them, and the colonel was not. Had she fallen out of favor with him already? But Elizabeth did not want to ask such a question outright.

  Lady Emma had said in her note that she desired Elizabeth’s company. Emma struck Elizabeth as being the sort of person who determines, within five minutes of meeting a person, that she wishes to be friends with them. Lady Emma must have decided that for the rest of the Season, Elizabeth Bennet was to be her special friend as Emma found her new and exciting.

  Elizabeth wondered what it was about her that was so very different from the array of people which this earl’s daughter knew or had met in London in her many Seasons. Lady Emma had an odd variety of questions to put to her. Elizabeth finally decided that they stemmed from an idea that country life was different from city life.

  “Have you always lived in London?” Elizabeth finally asked her new friend when there was a pause in Emma’s inquiries.

  “Papa has always enjoyed London, so I’ve spent a great deal of time here. Is that not true Darcy?” The young woman looked at her cousin.

  “It is,” Darcy agreed. He had not yet spoken a great deal on their drive.

  “The Countess said the estate is in Hertfordshire. As I consider it, I recall some neighbors mentioning Langley,” said Elizabeth.

  “I should have thought that such a place as Langley was known in all of Hertfordshire!” teased her companion.

  “I have not really traveled outside of my own little town,” admitted Elizabeth. “I have been to visit my uncle and aunt here in London twice before. But that is all.”

  “I am surprised that a gentleman’s daughter has had so little experience of the world,” remarked Mr. Darcy.

  “My father is a bookish man who does not choose to leave his estate or his study,” explained Elizabeth.

  “You know I am a country girl too,” exclaimed Lady Emma as she leaned forward to seek Elizabeth’s eyes.

  “The daughter of an earl can hardly be called a ‘country girl,’” Mr. Darcy asserted with a bemused tone to his voice.

  “No! Really!” protested Lady Emma.

  Elizabeth thought that their experience of country life had to be quite different just as their experiences growing up had been unique. The daughter of an earl and the daughter of a small country gentleman must have had vastly different encounters, and formed distinct observations about life. Elizabeth was rarely on horseback, but Emma stated it was her favorite country pastime. If Elizabeth had to admit it—she was even a little afraid of horses.

  But Elizabeth appreciated that Lady Emma saw only similarities and not differences, at least that day, and argued with her Cousin Darcy about them. Elizabeth thought it showed that her friend was arguing for Elizabeth’s chances with Colonel Fitzwilliam and that it showed loyalty for her brother’s affections.

  The topic of why the colonel was not with them finally came up. Mr. Darcy made some comment which her new friend took offense to it and which seemed to indicate to Lady Emma that Darcy did not like his task of having to escort the ladies to the park.

  “Why! You shall have to do it again tomorrow as well!” cried the young woman.

  “I will?” Mr. Darcy returned.

  “Yes! You are a gentleman, are you not?” It was a question but also an accusation.

  “Yes,” he answered. The hesitation in his voice indicated Darcy was well used to Emma’s antics, and he was wondering what she had in store for him.

  “Well, as you are a man of leisure, I shall need another escort tomorrow,” she asserted.

  “What is Fitzwilliam up to tomorrow?” asked Mr. Darcy.

  “Same as today. He has been called away to his general,” answered Lady Emma. But not all of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s friends were busy with the War Office; some of them were in the park.

  “I know those men, Captain Mallory and Captain Hale,” declared Elizabeth as she noted them on horseback.

  “Are you the sort of young woman who is only acquainted with officers?” charged Mr. Darcy with a particular quirk to his mouth.

  “No,” Elizabeth replied. “I believe I see Mr. Follet over there.” She pointed out a young man in a carriage with a red-haired lady beside him.

  “He’s a newcomer, just arrived in Town recently. Follet has been soliciting introductions. I’ve wondered if he doesn’t thin
k himself above his station.” Darcy paused. “Are these the only type of people in Town you know?”

  “They are the only people I know,” answered Elizabeth. “These are the only people I have been introduced to. If you are going to sneer at the people I know, then you must include yourself in that category for you are one of the people I have met since coming to London, Mr. Darcy. For I knew nobody besides my aunt and uncle before I came.”

  “Hear, hear,” cheered Lady Emma at Elizabeth’s little speech. They could not whisper at each other because Mr. Darcy separated them, but Elizabeth felt an inclination, just then, to ask her friend if Darcy was always so stuffy and arrogant, but she held her tongue. They drove on in an uncomfortable silence.

  “Why did you come to London?” Mr. Darcy asked out of the blue after they had ridden together for a few minutes without even Emma breaking the silence.

  “To visit my uncle and aunt,” answered Elizabeth.

  “It is not because you are desperate to find a husband?” pressed Mr. Darcy.

  “Darcy!” declared his cousin with a sharp cry which was very unlike her usual entertaining and pleasant voice.

  “How about Fitzwilliam?” he pressed.

  “How rude!” asserted Lady Emma in that same voice.

  “Why did you come to London, Mr. Darcy?” asked Elizabeth, turning to look at him and stare at his face, though he was looking forward so she could not catch his eyes.

  “My friends are here. The delights of the Season,” he began.

  “Can you assert that you come without ever considering that you might not find your partner in life here?” interjected Elizabeth.

  “No!” Mr. Darcy answered vehemently.

  “So then why do you accuse me of having nefarious reasons when it is within bounds for you to do so, and when I already said I was visiting family?” argued Elizabeth.

  “Bravo!” cried her friend.

  “I hope you do fall in love,” continued Elizabeth, “so I can throw your denial back into your face, Mr. Darcy.” She had liked him up then, but Elizabeth was having second thoughts now.