Page 121

“As I was saying, Lady Elizabeth humbling you the way that she did will, I sincerely believe, be the making of you as a man, William. She has not made it easy for you, and she has forced you to look in the mirror at yourself with a critical eye. She has done you and all who love you a great service, my son, who I love with all of my maternal power.” As the relief flooded through him, seeing the rectitude of his mother’s words, Fitzwilliam Darcy, master of Pemberley, Darcy House and three other estates, wept in his mother’s arms for the first time since he had been a young lad as he released the tension that had been building inside of him for a long time.

He thanked God again, as he did every day, sometimes multiple times, that He had not taken her after Georgie was born.

Once he was done and had put himself to rights, he offered his mother his arm and they repaired to the family sitting room to join the rest of the Fitzwilliams, de Bourghs, and his sister, Georgiana.

Darcy made a very sincere and heartfelt apology to all present and was granted the same unqualified forgiveness by the rest of his family as his dear mother had.

His young sister hugged him tightly and again tried to beg his forgiveness for her part in the Ramsgate debacle.

Darcy quietly offered his sister the same advice that he had just received from their mother, to learn from but not live in the past.

“Richard and Andrew will be home on the morrow,” Lord Reginald Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Matlock informed his nephew. Like his younger sister, he believed that his favourite, if only, nephew had turned a corner, and things would be much better going forward.

“That will be perfect, I need to talk to them. I wrote to Richard wishing him joy on his betrothal to Lady Jane, but I would like to wish him thus in person,” Darcy informed his uncle.

“The news of my Richard’s betrothal is excellent news, but even better is that he has informed his commanding general that he is resigning from the Army and will sell out of his commission while he is in town organising the settlement,” an incredibly happy and greatly relieved Lady Elaine Fitzwilliam, Countess of Matlock reported.

Before Darcy could respond with joy, his Aunt Catherine remonstrated him.

“Your behaviour could have cost Richard his love, and you could have caused Andrew and Richard to lose ladies with dowries of one hundred five and twenty thousand pounds each!” she huffed but was not done, “not to mention that they are cousins to the royals!”

“Catherine,” Lady Anne intervened as she could always calm her older sister, “no harm was done, and the important thing is that Andrew and Richard are marrying women that they love and respect. That would have been enough had they been daughters of a poor country squire and their dowries were but one thousand each!” She looked at her sister, daring her to gainsay her words which Lady Catherine did not.

“Richard will not have to go back to the war!” Miss Darcy, who even before Ramsgate, did not speak much unless spoken to, exclaimed, then remembering herself, she clapped her hand over her mouth.

“You are not the only one in the family who is excited, Georgie; we all are. If I were not so tired, I would stand and dance a jig,” Lady Matlock said with a wink to her young niece. The image of the graceful Countess dancing a jig was enough for Georgiana to relax and smile.

“Speaking of settlements, there is a rumour going around that you have instructed Steveton to draw up an incredibly special one to be used should someone try to force you into an unwanted marriage. Is there truth to this?” Darcy’s uncle asked, his grin the largest Darcy had seen in too long, directed at him alone.

“It is completely true, and it is a solution suggested by his Grace, the Duke of Hertfordshire, as much more elegant than my mask of doom.” None present had ever believed they would hear him make sport of himself and so stared on in amazement.

“Here Uncle,” he withdrew a sheet from his pocket, “are my notes that I made when I met with the Duke to go eat my most humble pie.” The Earl of Matlock took the paper from his nephew and after reading for a minute, he whistled as he passed the sheet onto the group of ladies who were looking on in question.

“No protector in his right mind would ever sign this, William!” Lord Reginald said with a guffaw that filled the room.

“That, my dear family, is the whole idea. Steveton will have the final copy ready for me to view tomorrow. After that, it will stay on file with him and will be the only settlement I offer to one who sinks low enough to entrap me,” Darcy said with no little satisfaction.

“This is brilliant, William,” Lady Catherine opined, “when we see his Grace at the wedding, I will have to thank him. Utterly brilliant!”

“What time do you expect them tomorrow, Uncle?” Darcy nodded at his aunt Catherine in agreement then refocused on his uncle.

“They will leave Hertfordshire early and are riding, so I would say that they will be here by nine in the morning, in time to break their fasts. Would you like to join in the morning, Nephew?” he offered.

Darcy thanked his uncle for the invitation and gladly accepted it.

As he walked back across the square to Darcy House, he felt lighter than he had in many years.