Page 111 of A Life Diverted
Wes was introduced to the rest of the family. He had met Andrew, Richard, and Jamey previously. Although he had not met William before, he did know him by sight.
His father’s—he knew his mother had been forced to follow her husband’s directions—actions had cost him a courtship, but in hindsight he owned the truth.
He had not loved the lady—he was not sure he liked her much; it was an alliance his father wanted to bolster their position in society and to gain another ally in the House of Lords, so Wes could not repine the family’s defection.
When he looked at the three betrothed couples present, Wes saw the obvious love between them and decided then and there he would not be induced to court a woman again unless he too found what they so obviously shared.
Marie had been pushed toward Sed Rhys-Davies by his father, using his daughter to bolster his position in society.
He would always love his parents, but he could not repine the price his father was paying for the cruelty he had visited on his late sister.
It was sad that they would never know their granddaughter—he felt badly for his mother, but as long as his father’s pride was an obstacle, she would be stuck where she was—but he knew the situation they found themselves in now—ostracised from society—was entirely of his father’s own making.
“What do we call you?” Tommy asked. “Uncle? Cousin?”
“Just Wes, Tommy,” Wes responded. “Just like you address the rest of the younger men without a prefix before their names.”
“You are like me, the youngest in your family, are you not?” Tommy verified.
“Yes, you are correct,” Wes confirmed.
“How old are you? I am ten,” Tommy enquired.
“I am two and twenty,” Wes averred.
“You and William are the same age. Did you know him at University?” Georgiana interjected.
“We were not at the same schools, Gigi,” William informed his younger sister. “I, like Andrew, Jamey, and Richard, went to a good school—Cambridge—while Wes went to Oxford.”
“As those who go to the inferior and newer Cambridge know, Oxford is more than one hundred years older,” Wes countered in the good-natured banter of rivals.
“Older does not mean better,” Andrew joined the fray.
“Peace, young men,” Bennet interjected. “Do not pick on Lizzy’s uncle because he had the misfortune of not studying at Cambridge.”
“I know when I am outnumbered,” Wes capitulated playfully. “Do any of you Cambridge men know how to play chess?”
“We all do,” the Prince informed his former brother-in-law.
“Mayhap after church on the morrow we can have an Oxford versus Cambridge competition?” Wes suggested.
The challenge was happily accepted by the Cambridge men who knew they had both Darcys as their secret weapons.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Gardiner requested to meet with Darcy after he washed and changed out of his travel attire. “Is there news about my investments?” Robert Darcy asked.
“No, it is not about your funds, rather about a new employee of mine,” Gardiner responded. “For some months now, a new trainee clerk has been working in my employ—one George Wickham.”
“What manner of lie did young Wickham tell you to gain a position of trust in your business?” Darcy asked.
“Actually, he told me the whole, unvarnished truth from his theft in York to his fraud in Staffordshire and everything in between,” Gardiner related. “He had a genuine desire to change, to make a better life.”
“Just do not turn your back on the young man,” Darcy warned.
Gardiner proceeded to tell Darcy all, including the test he had engineered and all about the honest work ethic George Wickham had. Darcy was disbelieving at first, but he knew Gardiner would neither prevaricate nor exaggerate.
“I am amazed, as this news is the last I would have expected to hear about George Wickham,” Darcy owned.
“Do not misunderstand me; both his father and I would like nothing more than to see him succeed in an honest life. I will write to my steward and inform him of what you have told me. I will reserve judgement until more time has passed.”
“You will hear no argument from me, Darcy,” Gardiner stated.
“Given his past, I understand why you are not ready to embrace his changes as permanent. Although I am sceptical as well, I will give him every chance to succeed. I will also give him enough rope to hang himself if he is not genuine. That being said, I believe he is sincere in his desire to make meaningful changes to his life.”
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Paul Bingley was exasperated. His niece—his ward—was incapable of change or of learning the error of her ways. As much as he preferred not to speak ill of the dead, he was not happy with his late sister-in-law, who had planted the nonsense about rising in society in Caroline’s head.
He found one effective way to bring her to heel—withholding her allowance.
Money had become the biggest stumbling block between them.
When he refused to give her money for unnecessary clothing, she unleashed a tantrum of epic proportions and then took herself to a dressmaker and ordered a large number of dresses, telling them to send the invoice to her uncle.
By providence, Paul’s wife, Henrietta, picked up a dress at the same store a day after Caroline’s extravagant order.
When the proprietor thanked her for the massive order, Mrs. Bingley told the lady, in no uncertain terms, that her husband had not authorised their niece to charge on their account.
She berated the woman for accepting an order from a young lady without first checking with her guardians.
The order was cancelled forthwith, and the small cost incurred was deducted from Caroline’s allowance. The dressmaker was told that unless Miss Bingley was accompanied by Mr. or Mrs. Bingley and they authorised the charge to their account, they would not pay any of those bills in the future.
Word spread quickly among the merchants of Scarborough that if they granted Miss Bingley credit, it would not be covered by her guardians. This cut off any avenue for Caroline Bingley to place orders for unneeded and excessively ostentatious gowns in her preferred colour—burnt orange.
The Bingleys did not mention anything to Caroline, hoping she would learn a lesson from her coming embarrassment.
A week later, Miss Bingley, nose in the air, flounced into the dressmaker’s shop for her fittings as if she were the Queen.
She came very close to an apoplexy when she was told her order had been cancelled and she was not allowed to charge anything to the Bingleys’ account.
For someone who dreamed of rising in society, Miss Bingley’s behaviour was that of a shrew; her language that of a sailor.
She was evicted from the shop, and after being refused at four other stores, she stomped off—the poor maid having to run to keep up with her—to return to her uncle’s house in high dudgeon.
Before she could scream as she desired, her aunt and uncle sat her down and explained the way forward. She would behave like a lady in their house with decorum and respect, or she would forfeit her allowance—one week’s worth at a time—until such time she changed her behaviour.
After four infractions which cost her a month’s allowance, Caroline understood her guardians were serious. She would have to work on Charles to remove her from their custody. Unfortunately for her, her brother had neither the inclination nor the authority to do so.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
“Father, may I have some of your time?” William asked after being admitted to his father’s suite by the valet, Snell.
“You know I am always available to you, William,” Darcy returned warmly.
“I have fallen in love with Lizzy, and now that I know her true rank—a Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , she is too far out of my reach—especially with the stipulation the King has made to marry a Prince or Princess—and it is breaking my heart,” William lamented.
“William, I love you dearly, but sometimes you can be a dullard,” Darcy retorted jocularly.
“Do you jest at my sorrow?” William asked.
“No son, not at your self-inflicted pain, at your wilful blindness,” Darcy averred seriously.
“To what do you refer?” William attempted to understand.
“Let me ask you a question. Since Lizzy was informed of her true parentage and heritage, has she behaved any differently toward you or any of us?” Darcy asked.
“No,” William owned.
“So, this is all in your head,” Darcy pointed out. “You are assuming she will think you below her because you used to—albeit many years ago—think her below you. Is your love for her so weak you are willing to give her up without a fight?”
William sat in silence for a minute or two as he assimilated his father’s words. “No, I love her with all of my heart and soul,” William admitted.
“Then why are you already adopting a defeatist attitude and giving up a year before she comes out?” Robert Darcy asked his son pointedly.
“The King will have to approve of her suitor,” William stated, changing direction slightly. “And what of the new law that one must be a certain rank to marry a prince or princess?”
“Yes, and what of it?” his father asked.
“You are not a duke and I am not a marquess; how will the King consent to a mere gentleman as a suitor for his granddaughter—a royal princess? He will not make an exception to his new rule,” William tried to explain his rationale to his father.
“Do you think your Uncle Freddy—who has seen the attraction between the two of you as plain as day for some time now—disapproves of you, William?” Darcy answered with a question of his own.
“No, I suppose not, but…” William started to respond when his father held up his hand.
“How many times have you heard the Prince tell us how his father will not interfere as far as Lizzy is concerned due to the guilt the King feels after forcing the divorce and the marriage to Princess Frederica on him?” Darcy pushed.
“Many times,” William acknowledged.