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Darcy nodded with a smile. He had many fond memories of his grandmother. She had moved back to Pemberley’s main house after his mother’s death and provided some desperately needed attention to him and Georgiana in the years immediately after.

Lord Henry returned to the original track of his story. “So Lady Edna was looking after your grandfather and your father was off making new friends, as was his habit... which unfortunately left Miss Julia Darcy largely to her own devices.”

Darcy started. He knew very little about his father’s younger sister except that she had married a French count and moved to the continent not long before his birth, only to die during the Revolution. “Where was Uncle James?”

“Oh, James Darcy was off at the university, buried in his studies as always. He never had any patience for socializing—always preferred a book to a dance. I remember your father joking that you took after your uncle more than him.” Henry was dismayed to see the melancholy that flooded his nephew’s face.

“Fitzwilliam, you must know that your father was exceedingly proud of you. He was never much of a student himself, but he was smart enough to appreciate the value of a keen intellect.”

Darcy looked marginally reassured but his uncle made a mental note for some future conversation.

“Well, to get back to my tale… We were a large party and Lady Harriet was a superb hostess, but with all the activities Miss Darcy got a bit lost in the mix. Her parents thought she was with her brother and George Darcy thought she was with them, I suppose. Julia was a sweet, innocent little thing—a bit like Georgiana, now that I think on it.” Matlock shook his head sadly.

“I’m not sure what you know about Lord Maxwell de Bourgh’s two eldest sons.

How my parents ever came to arrange for Catherine to marry Lewis, I shall never understand.

He and his elder brother, George, represented all the worst excesses of their circle.

Gambling, debauchery… and it was always a competition between the two, be it a fast horse or a game of faro. Or, unfortunately, a lady’s virtue.”

Will drew his breath sharply, suspecting what was to come next.

“It was a few weeks after the party broke up—the Darcys had stopped in London for a spell before heading up to Derbyshire for the winter—when Mr. Jonathan de Bourgh came to see them, quite unexpectedly. He was the youngest son and the best of the lot, to my mind.”

Darcy smiled to himself and murmured quietly, “Reverend Jonathan.”

“Yes,” nodded the Earl. “I keep forgetting that your father gave him the living at Lambton.”

Richard blinked, suddenly making the connection to Mrs. Gardiner.

Lord Henry finished his brandy in a gulp.

“Well, Jonathan de Bourgh had overheard his elder brothers joking about how George had won a wager between them by seducing Miss Darcy. Jonathan confronted them, but the dogs brushed him off; George de Bourgh was a married man and his poor wife had long since learned to live with his dalliances. Much as Catherine had to do with Lewis, I suspect, although she has never said anything.”

Darcy tucked that bit of information about Lady Catherine away for future consideration. For now, he was too interested in what had happened to the aunt he had never met.

“Jonathan de Bourgh explained all he knew to your father and grandfather. The man had courage, that’s for certain.

He had gone to his own father but Lord Maxwell had just laughed and said something to the effect that he was not to blame if Worthington Darcy was not man enough to look after his own daughter. ”

Lord Henry turned to his nephew. “It was Jonathan de Bourgh’s conduct through that whole miserable affair that prompted your father to offer him the living at Lambton.

No matter what his family had done, the man had such a certainty of principle, such bone deep morality…

but it was tempered by humanity. He came to the Darcys to apologize for his family’s actions and to see what he could do to help, although he had played no part in any of it.

He did not lay the blame on Julia as so many clerics would have done, but instead, he spoke to her with concern, recognizing that she had been an innocent targeted by a practiced, determined seducer. ”

Lord Henry sighed. “Unfortunately, Miss Darcy was still in the man’s thrall; George de Bourgh had spun some tale about his wife having an affair and a divorce being in the works.

Julia did not see him for months after Kent, but she continued to insist that the snake would come to her as soon as the divorce was finalized; they would marry and her babe would be accepted as legitimate. ”

Richard groaned and the Earl grunted in agreement. “As I said, he was a smooth, practiced seducer… and determined. George Darcy told me that he later learned that their wager was for a mare in foal to a racehorse they both admired.”

“The hell you say!” exclaimed Darcy.

Lord Henry shook his head. “I suppose the best that could be said of them is that at least they did not put it in the betting book at White’s where everyone and his brother would see it.

” All three men grimaced as each of them could recall other instances in which reputations had been lost through just such an action.

“Miss Darcy was soon brought to admit the liaison, but it was much longer before she would accede to her lover’s poor character.

” The Earl sighed. “I’m sorry to say it, Darcy, but, though your grandfather was an extremely kind man, he was…

ineffectual. Even had he been in the best of health, he did not have the force of character to press the de Bourghs to make any sort of reparations.

Lady Edna might have, but Lord Maxwell and his elder sons had no respect for women, least of all the mother of one whose weakness they had already been exploited. ”

Will spoke thoughtfully. “I never heard much about my Grandfather Darcy. Grandmama was such a force of nature that I suppose I always assumed he was of similar disposition. ”

Lord Henry grimaced. “No, though he did manage to keep George Darcy from challenging de Bourgh to a duel, though how, I will never know. Perhaps that was Lady Edna’s hand as well.

I’ve never seen George so unnerved as he was then.

He was furious, of course, but also… bewildered, is the best way I can think to describe it.

Once, when we were at university, I remember joking with him that he seemed to drift through life like a prince in a fairy tale; he had never been touched by any great tragedy or hardship.

Everything seemed to come easily to him—he was born a wealthy man, set to inherit a thriving estate and a well-managed portfolio of investments, he made friends everywhere he went, and the ladies swooned under his gaze…

“Well, the fact that someone like de Bourgh would have the unmitigated gall to seduce George’s own sister, a Miss Darcy of Pemberley, and show no remorse… I can only suppose that it was quite beyond his realm of experience.”

Lord Henry sat quietly for a moment, contemplating his old friend, but eventually shook his head and returned to his story.

“Well, anyway… the Darcys returned to Derbyshire and then, after Christmas, we got word that the entire family would be spending some months at their estate on the Isle of Man. I forget the name…”

“Druidale,” Will offered softly. “Near Derbyhaven.”

“Yes, that’s it. The islanders are supposed to be incredibly insular, but somehow the Darcys had their loyalty. Lady Edna chose wisely—not a whisper of Julia’s confinement ever got back to Society.”

Will suppressed a small smile, knowing the story.

One of his ancestors had married a daughter of the Earl of Derby and she had brought Druidale into the family as part of her dowry.

The Darcys had proven to be far more considerate landholders and gradually won the loyalty of the inhabitants through the establishment of a school and a consistent liberality toward those who farmed the crofts.

Meanwhile, Matlock continued his own tale.

“I didn’t know any of this at the time, of course—I remember being utterly stunned when George Darcy confided in me some years later.

They put it out that the family gathering was due to old Mr. Darcy’s poor health, and indeed, he did pass away within the year…

but not before his only daughter gave birth to a healthy bastard.

Miss Darcy continued to believe that her lover would come to her and insisted on calling the babe George in his honor; you Darcys always were a stubborn lot. ”

Henry sighed. “For better or worse, she was enlightened by the man himself. A few weeks after the babe was born, Miss Darcy was encouraged to go for a walk along the shore to get some fresh air; by some evil twist of fate, George de Bourgh had come to the Isle of Man for a hunting party and Julia recognized him from afar. I’m sure we can all imagine what happened next: she called out to him, proclaiming her love and devotion, assuming that he had come to her at last. I’ve no idea what George de Bourgh’s feelings were, but he began mocking her loudly to his companions, scoffing that she was nothing but a courtesan he had once had, down on her luck and looking for a wealthy mark.

George Darcy did not go into detail when he told me the story, but I gathered that Miss Darcy was so distraught that her maid practically had to carry her home. ”

“Son of a bitch,” muttered Richard.

“Indeed,” agreed his father. “For better or worse, de Bourgh managed to leave the island before the Darcys could track him down. I cannot say I was sorry to hear he had been killed in a duel a few years later; given how he lived his life, I’m only surprised it took so long.