Page 65

Richard eyed her, not for the first time trying to fit together his previous image of the Viscountess with the lady he was now facing.

Shaking his head a little, he turned back to their hosts.

“To summarize, Dunn and a small cadre of Matlock’s most trusted servants are escorting Ashbourne and his valet to Scotland as we speak, under the cover that he suffers from tuberculosis.

The Earl is sending a specialist to tend him, but Tolmach holds out very little hope. ”

The four were silent for a time, considering the painful death that the viscount was likely to suffer, as well as the irresponsible behavior that had led to it.

Eventually Darcy offered, “Well, it’s not unexpected, is it?

I would not wish such a miserable fate on anyone, but frankly my sympathies are for Lady Alameda and her son. ”

“No, it is just as you say.” Richard sighed. “Except that the earl fears the disease will pass to Reggie and wishes to make me his heir.”

“Oh!” breathed Elizabeth in astonishment, even as she noted that her husband did not look particularly surprised.

Alameda spoke tiredly. “Really, Richard—I would be very happy to take Reggie and retire to Ravenswood forever, as long as Ashbourne is kept away. My social ambition has been quite burnt out of me.”

Richard shook his head grimly. “It isn’t so easy as that. For the title to pass over your son, it would take a Royal injunction proclaiming him mentally incompetent, and that would stay with him for the remainder of his life.”

Alameda paled. For all her assumed worldliness, until this moment she had not comprehended the full implications of her father-in-law’s plans. Suddenly she was swept by a wave of exhaustion. “Forgive me, but this is all rather overwhelming.”

Elizabeth had been wondering how much more the other woman could take. She went to help her guest stand and spoke gently, “Of course. You’re still recovering and should rest. We can discuss it more in the morning.”

The Viscountess quietly expressed her thanks and then excused herself. She was glad to see her son curled up in her own bed and spent a long time watching him; when she did eventually fall asleep herself, it was not terribly restful.

The others removed to the Darcys’ private sitting room. The door had barely shut when Richard burst out, “Dash it all—I will not have that lad’s life destroyed before it even begins! I talked to him a bit tonight and he has none of the meanness and spite that Edward thrived on even as a boy.”

Forgetting his previous concern, Will poured out another glass of wine for his cousin and handed it over.

“And besides, I belong in Whitehall, not snoozing my hours away in that blasted gentlemen’s club they call the Lords, regardless of what Papa wants,” grumbled Richard, accepting the glass.

Darcy eyed his cousin speculatively for a moment and then asked carefully, “What is it exactly that Uncle Henry wants from you?”

Richard threw himself into an armchair and stared morosely into his glass.

“Not surprisingly, he has had to pay out a great deal of money to cover Ashbourne’s debts over the years, even more than I had suspected (and that’s saying something).

My father rightly fears that even more obligations will come to light when it becomes known that the viscount is deathly ill. ”

Richard paused to take a large swallow from his glass.

“The earl has determined that I must marry very well so as to refill the Matlock coffers. He appears to have finally accepted that you will not sacrifice Georgiana on that altar and is even now assembling a short list of heiresses whom I am to select among, just as soon his banker has verified their families’ financials. ”

Darcy remained silent. Not so many months ago, he would have considered the Earl’s thinking to be justifiable and perhaps even well-reasoned. Since Elizabeth, however…

Perhaps not surprisingly, it was Lizzy who responded first, and then it was with a decidedly teasing tone. “And this is your affliction? A terrible fate, indeed!”

Richard was forced to smile. He knew Elizabeth was well-aware of his feelings for Mrs. Collins, and it lightened his mood considerably that she was so confident in his loyalty to her friend that she could joke about the situation.

“Indeed—I fear that I’m failing in my duty as second son by not salivating over my brother’s position. ”

He sighed and allowed his empty glass to dangle from his fingers. For all of his easy manners, he was not one to express his innermost feelings. However, if ever there were confidantes perfectly designed to help him attain his heart’s desire, they were before him.

After some minutes of silence, Richard began, “I was called to the War Office to receive my first civilian assignment; I am to serve as attaché to the British ambassador in Spain; the envoy leaves on the tenth of July.” He blushed a little to hear their sincere congratulations, but continued determinedly; “Mrs. Collins shall have mourned her husband for six months by then, and I had thought that we might marry in a small ceremony without too much fuss and then leave for the continent together.”

Elizabeth expressed her approval as warmly as one might expect, and Richard was rapidly convinced of Darcy’s support as well, although his cousin’s response was more practical. “How much of this did you tell the Earl?”

Angered by the memory, the knight sprang from his seat and went to stand at the fireplace, bracing his arms against the mantel and kicking the fender.

“All of it, not that it did me any good. He barely listened—he was too eager to lay out his own plans for my new life. Young Reggie is to be declared mentally deficient; he and Alameda shuffled off to some remote Irish hovel. And I… well, suffice it to say that the widow of a country curate with no connections or wealth of her own is not at all the sort of bride he desires for his son, heir or not. And said heir is certainly not to be off risking life and limb on the continent, regardless of the reason.”

The three were silent for a time, each considering the situation, until Richard finally spoke again, this time more quietly.

“I could have handled it better, I admit, but I had hoped that my own news might lift his spirits—certainly my father needed something . I had…” His voice caught and he paused for a moment before continuing, “I had hoped that he would be happy for me.” Richard feared he sounded like a sniveling little boy desperate for his parent’s approval, but if anyone could understand it was the couple currently looking at him with such heartfelt sympathy.

In the end, a plan was remarkably easy to agree upon. Darcy pledged to assist his cousin however he could, beginning with the application for a special license.

The Countess was expected to visit Derwent House the very next day, and Richard was relieved to have the opportunity to talk to his mother away from the Earl. They all hoped that Lady Eleanor would be of help in negotiating a truce between father and son.

Regardless of his mother’s response, Richard would ride for Bath directly after seeing her. Bashfully, he admitted that, although he was certain Charlotte returned his affections, he had not yet actually spoken the words that that would bind his honor to their engagement.

Elizabeth’s eyes twinkled but she refused to disclose anything that her friend might have confided to her.

Lady Eleanor proved to be remarkably sympathetic to her second son’s preference.

She had spent time with Mrs. Collins while visiting Miss de Bourgh’s new establishment in Bath and had been pleased to find an unpretentious, sensible woman who was far more concerned with getting Anne’s household in order than taking advantage of that lady’s connections to raise herself in Society.

If Eleanor’s support for Richard’s position was also propelled by a growing affection for her grandson and a more complex emotion that combined guilt, pity, and a fledging fondness for her daughter-in-law, no one minded at all.

Richard’s visit to Bath proved successful and, less than a fortnight later, the Honorable Sir Richard Fitzwilliam and Mrs. Charlotte Collins were married in a quiet, solemn ceremony in Bath, followed by a small breakfast at his cousin’s house.

The bride wore black bombazine trimmed with white lace and her young son giggled happily when his new stepfather tossed him in the air while they waited in the garden for the carriage.

Although forced to accept the match, the Earl of Matlock attended the wedding under duress and was determined to resist the lady’s charms. However, all his years in Society had not prepared him for the sensible woman whom his younger son had chosen.

It would take Lord Henry some years to treat Mrs. Fitzwilliam as warmly as he did Mrs. Darcy, but the foundation was laid when he observed the unstudied warmth with which Charlotte greeted her childhood friend.

The Darcys accompanied the newly wed Sir Richard and Lady Charlotte Fitzwilliam to Hertfordshire while the Countess escorted Lady Alameda and Reggie to Matlock.

The Earl returned to London, hoping to forget his family’s refusal to obey him by flexing his political muscles in the waning days of the parliamentary session.

The Fitzwilliams’ reception in Hertfordshire went much as Elizabeth had predicted to her husband.

Sir William Lucas was stunned to near silence by his new son-in-law’s pedigree and not even Sir Richard’s determined charm could induce the other knight to speak more than a few words before being struck dumb once again.

Lady Lucas managed the meeting with admirable composure, and if she did express amazement that Charlotte had managed to capture not just one but two husbands well above her station in life and at such an advanced age, at least she did it in private.

Elizabeth could only dream of such discretion from her own mother but, not surprisingly, she spent most of the visit cringing at Mrs. Bennet’s rancorous discourse.

Lizzy had hoped that her mother might be able to maintain some modicum of civility when the Fitzwilliams visited Longbourn, but Mrs. Bennet was far too upset to be restrained.

That Charlotte Lucas had not only stolen away Mr. Collins, a man who had rightly belonged to one of her daughters, but then had the audacity to give birth to a son (a feat that Mrs. Bennet herself had not been able to achieve) had rankled.

For her to parade that child, now Longbourn’s heir, and a new husband (the son of an earl, no less!) through Longbourn was insupportable.

As a result, Mrs. Bennet’s uninformed polemics on the unfairness of entails combined with her usual nerves and flutterings to make Longbourn extremely uncomfortable, even for those who had been raised there.

Thankfully, Charlotte knew Mrs. Bennet’s ways and met all her slights with steady courtesy. Richard might have taken offence on behalf of his new wife, but much of his visit was spent in Longbourn’s library with its master.

In contrast, Mr. Bennet was very pleased by Charlotte’s new husband.

He had learned to respect Colonel Fitzwilliam when that gentleman had assisted in the matter of George Wickham, and their subsequent interactions since Elizabeth’s marriage had only cemented his opinion.

With such a mother and stepfather, Thomas began to have hope that his heir might actually grow up to be a sensible and well-informed master for Longbourn.

In the end, the visitors’ departure from Meryton was greeted with relief on both sides.

The residents of Longbourn hoped that once the object of her wrath was removed from sight, Mrs. Bennet’s nerves might subside to their usual level of volatility.

The Fitzwilliams had been invited to stay at Derwent House upon returning to London and were happy to have some time to themselves before leaving for the continent.

The Darcys left for the sanctuary of Pemberley with relief all around, as well as an unexpected addition to their party.

Lydia had been home for nearly two weeks when the Darcys arrived in Hertfordshire.

Her manners were better and she was not quite so silly as she had been before, but her fundamental nature could not change; she was just as gay and outgoing as ever.

Mrs. Bennet delighted in hearing all about the young ladies attending her favorite’s school and soon seemed to know every detail about their families and concerns.

It was Catherine who had grown markedly less insipid during the sisters’ separation and she found herself unwilling to spend her hours listening to Lydia’s gossip.

As a result, she sought Elizabeth out on the very first morning after the Darcys’ arrival and begged for permission to visit Pemberley.

“Please Lizzy? I’ll be quiet as a mouse and do anything you want—put me in a maid’s closet and have me scrub pots—just please don’t leave me here with Mama and Lydia for the summer!

I swear I’ll be fit for Bedlam before another fortnight passes! ”

Remembering all the times that the Gardiners had provided her with a refuge from Longbourn’s tumult, Elizabeth was sympathetic and in short order it was all arranged.

The trip would prove especially beneficial for Kitty as Mr. Darcy had engaged one of the foremost portraitists in Europe to spend a month at Pemberley taking Elizabeth’s likeness for the gallery, in addition to some other less formal poses for the family.

Although the gruff man was as eccentric in his character as he was serious about his art, Miss Bennet’s unassuming enthusiasm (such a contrast to the insincere and patronizing tributes so often showered upon him by London’s ladies) could not but charm.

Kitty would never produce any truly great works, but he was not averse to occasionally looking over her shoulder and providing some suggestions on brushwork and composition.

By the end of the summer, Kitty had produced a respectable series of watercolors depicting various flowers native to Derbyshire that she bashfully presented to Lizzy.

Mr. Darcy arranged for the cabinetmaker in Kympton to make frames and the genuine admiration her work received when Elizabeth hung them in her study did more to raise Kitty’s self-confidence than any admiring glances she had ever received at an assembly.