Page 18 of A Good Memory is Unpardonable (Frolic and Romance #2)

A Proper Introduction

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Chapter One

Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam to Fitzwilliam Darcy

10 June 1812

D ear Darcy,

I just had word from Bowser about your fall.

Bloody awful luck! Yet if my batman’s intelligence is accurate and my calculations are correct, you were at least two days abed with a broken leg when you wrote your last letter and you mentioned nothing of this.

The famous Darcy pride at work, I presume, but do not expect others to be so discreet about your misfortune.

Half the county will have heard of it by now.

I assume you have brought in none but the finest surgeon to tend your leg, but of course you will not heed his advice to keep weight off it till it is properly healed.

I’ve no doubt you will possess a dashing limp and measure a full two inches shorter on one side by the time I return from France, but there be no man in England who could be less disadvantaged by such a handicap than yourself.

All jesting aside, I am very sorry to hear of your troubles, particularly at a time of year when you will most wish to be about the business of the estate.

Pemberley’s crops and lambs will thrive without your oversight, but you will be hardly fit for decent company after spending a full two months in bed.

It is a pity we had sent Georgiana to Ramsgate this spring, for she could have provided some relief to your present state.

Perhaps you will have to take up your quill again for some amusement while you recover.

I heartily wish you a speedy and complete healing.

All is well here, if such a thing can be said of war.

I’ve the good fortune to be stationed some miles back from the worst of the fighting, and there is word that we may be sent to Lisbon or Porto soon to aid in settling the city after the recent attacks.

I confess, I would relish that assignment.

They say the sun is warm and the women even warmer, so perhaps I will be able to send you a rather cheerful letter when I write again.

I fear this must be short if I am to make the post, so I will detail some of the fighting for you, of the sort the broadsheets never report, in my next letter.

Do try your best to be a good patient, Darcy, for much as I have claimed to begrudge you your impressive stature, I shall not be appeased if you make yourself crooked just to suit me.

Perhaps I will send a separate note to Mrs Reynolds to keep you well sedated with brandy for the next couple of months.

Better yet, find something useful and challenging to pass the time, and I do not mean horseback riding.

Fondly,

Richard

Fitzwilliam Darcy to Charles Bingley

12 June 1812

D ear Bingley,

Please convey to Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst my appreciation for their kindness.

I cannot think of a more useful gift in my infirmity than a box of French fashion plates and ballroom sketches as preparation for the far-distant day when I shall presumably undertake to redecorate Pemberley.

The embroidered cushion is being put to effective use, though, and Harold sends his regards.

I am more intrigued by your own news. Your father would be proud to hear you mean to purchase an estate at long last. Have you spoken to my agent?

I shall post a letter to him immediately, with directions to assist you in all matters.

Would that I could tour the estates with you myself!

In addition to the rents and income produced by the property, be sure to inspect not only the main house but all the accessory buildings and tenant dwellings.

And do not by any means fail to look over the management of the fields.

It may be that you will need to make repairs to any suitable property, but it will not do to leave such intelligence until after the purchase is made.

As to my present condition, I have not left my bed in a fortnight, and I am becoming more restless than I ever was in my life.

A board is strapped to either side of my right leg, and a devilish rope is looped round my ankle and secured to the foot of my bed.

Carter, my family surgeon, assures me it will help the bones knit properly without bends or misalignment.

I, however, am positively assured he learnt medicine at the knee of a Spanish priest. I have refused more laudanum, for its hallucinatory effects far outweigh any benefit it may have in pain relief.

I have mostly been reading to distract myself, though my tastes for new books and even my old favourites have soured somewhat.

You may advise Miss Bingley that Georgiana has come away from Ramsgate earlier than expected, so any hopes of a reunion there must be deferred.

The situation there was wanting, so I brought her home the very day of my accident to enjoy the rest of the summer and prepare for her expected first Season.

No, she is not to come out until next year, but Lady Matlock desires to take her in hand, and I think the situation will do her much good.

Convey my felicitations to your sisters, and please assure Miss Bingley that I would be honoured to be received as a guest when you secure a property. Perhaps I will be on my feet long before you make a purchase, and I will be able to look forward to touring it with you.

Regards,

FD

Lady Catherine de Bourgh to Fitzwilliam Darcy

6 June 1812

N ephew,

I was most put out when you declined to attend me this Easter.

Still, being a reasonable woman, I consoled myself with the knowledge that you would undoubtedly come in May after Georgiana had been settled in her establishment.

I suppose there was nothing to be done about Fitzwilliam’s assignment, but I protest your judgment that he could not have been recalled for my Eastertide service.

My word commands respect from the highest quarters.

No general would refuse my request if made in a timely manner, and I shall not forgive you for preventing me from writing.

However, that is nothing to this recent insult.

What respectable gentleman disregards his previous engagements and throws all caution to the wind, such as you have done?

A fall from your horse, indeed! I should have expected such behaviour from a callow youth, not a man of seven and twenty years!

And now I suppose you will claim to be bound to your chair for some months to come.

Such is the way of so-called gentlemen these days, but in my day, a man fastened a stake to his ankle, took up a cane, and kept to his duties.

I shall expect to see you at Michaelmas, if not sooner. Know that I intend to write to Fitzwilliam’s regiment to have him recalled for a month’s stay, for I greatly depend upon both of you. I shall not be disappointed again.

(Hereon affixed the great seal of)

Lady Catherine de Bourgh

Private Diary of Georgiana Darcy

8 June 1812

T oday I went outside.

It felt lovely, the sun on my shoulders.

I told my maid I was only keeping to the portico, but the moment I was out of the house, I could not help it.

I ran for the opening in the hedgerows, where I could be assured of being utterly alone.

Then I peeled off my bonnet and just spread my arms and let my face shine up to the sun.

For a second, I was warm everywhere, and with my eyes closed, the sky was even brighter against my skin.

And then I felt so terribly guilty that I tied my bonnet down tight and sneaked back to the house.

How could I enjoy something so simple as a sunny day when Fitzwilliam is suffering so?

Would that our places were reversed! I think few people would be troubled if it were me in that bed, but all the world seems to stop without Fitzwilliam to drive it forward.

He has been urging me to play my pianoforte.

He even lied that he could hear me from his bedroom, and that it would cheer him as well, but I know that was just him trying to make me feel better.

I should find comfort in the things that have always made me happy, he says.

But he does not take that advice himself, for his books are piled unread beside his bed and his chess board sits untouched on the table.

I think he has really been more ill than he will allow.

I cannot say for certain, as I have rarely been admitted to his sickroom.

But surely, he would be reading voraciously if he were able, and it quite makes me afraid that he has not asked for more books.

I am told he is mostly just sleeping and petting that ugly old drover dog, Harold.

Harold refuses to leave his side, and Fitzwilliam has given him a fine embroidered cushion beside his own pillow.

I thought the dog must be wanting some time outdoors, so I tried taking him for a walk myself, but he only sat squarely on his haunches and made me drag him up the street. I suppose he does not like London.

Neither do I. I look forward to the day when Fitzwilliam is well enough to return to Pemberley. Perhaps there, he can grow strong again and I can forget this last month, like a bad dream.