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Darcy was tingling with anticipation. The Bennets had arrived in town the morning after the wedding and were at Bennet House just across Grosvenor Square, and his mother and sister were back at Darcy House where they belonged.

The house felt so much lighter with them in it, especially with his newly self-confident sister.

Lady Anne and Miss Darcy were in their chambers washing the dust of the road from their persons when Killion knocked in his study door holding a salver that had a note on it.

Darcy broke the seal of the Duke of Hertfordshire and with no little trepidation opened the missive.

Mr. Darcy,

If it is convenient for you, could you please come to Bennet House at two o’clock this afternoon.

Sincerely,

Lord Thomas Bennet, The Duke of Hertfordshire

It was short and to the point, and Darcy hoped that this was the day that he would receive the forgiveness he craved from the very lady for whom he had a tender regard, but he did not want to assume anything.

He would just have to wait until he walked across the square to find out what the Duke wanted to meet with him about.

After all this waiting, it was these minutes that seemed to pass very slowly.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

At last Wickham received good news from one of the waifs, he reported that the Bennets had arrived at their townhouse that very morning.

Now he could have the family watched in earnest to learn the lady’s schedule.

Before he could celebrate, the boy who had reported they had arrived told him that he had been close enough to hear two servants discussing that the family would soon return to ‘something shire’ for a ball and that they would not be at the house to stay until early March for a ‘coming ball’.

Wickham’s first instinct was to strike the bearer of the bad tidings, but he restrained himself.

He needed the boy and his friends if he was to glean the information that he so desired.

Rather than punish him, he gave the beaming lad a shilling and told him to inform his friends that they were to start regular rotations so that no one boy would be noticed continuously hanging about the environs of the house.

“At last, I have some positive news to report to the Spaniard ,” he told his paramour, leaving out the not so good news part.

“I am so happy to hear that, George. The sooner we put this cesspool behind us the better,” Karen Younge stated with a look of distaste.

She had bought into Wickham’s delusion that this was a fool proof plan and was counting the money that they would receive after paying Withers and álvarez.

What she did not know is that her lover’s plan was to take the money and disappear, leaving her behind.

He wanted young maidens, not an old piece of leather like Karen Younge.

He would have all the money needed to have a stream of them at his beck and call.

He was spending the money in his head, as he always did when he hatched one of his hair-brained schemes, long before he had any in hand.

Mrs. Young was only six and twenty and for the most part still had her looks.

The truth was that she was never married.

She had adopted the ‘Mrs.’ appellation as she believed it gave her a certain gravitas that an unmarried woman did not have.

She was too blind to see that Wickham felt nothing for her beyond what he felt she could do for him.

She had lied to herself so much that had he told her about his true feelings for her, the chances were that she would not hear it.

An hour later Wickham was standing before álvarez in his office. “The Bennets arrived today, Mr. álvarez.”

“Zat is at least the progress,” he said, “’ow long before you able to ‘ave plan?”

“One of the boys heard that until sometime in March the family will not have a set schedule as they will be attending some events that are outside of London,” Wickham saw the scowl on the Spaniard’s face.

“My source says that they will then be here for the remainder of the season. I will have the lads in rotation going forward, by early April we will be able to act.”

“You ‘ave until tenth day April. Either you bring girl, or you no live!” Wickham understood that there was no room for negotiation in the man’s decree. At least he was still alive and had two months left to complete his mission.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

All three Darcys were seated in the music room.

Georgiana was playing the new Broadwood grand pianoforte that her brother had gifted her when she had turned fifteen.

Like her mother, Miss Darcy was a very skilled pianist. Surprising to all the talent had skipped Lady Anne’s sister, Catherine.

As much as the lady claimed that she would have been a ‘proficient had she learned’ the instrument, the truth was that she, at but ten years of age had given up her lessons in disgust as she just did not have an ear for music, all of her claims to the contrary notwithstanding.

Thankfully the kinder, nicer version of Lady Catherine de Bourgh very seldom made such outrageous claims any longer.

While his sister softly played, Darcy showed the note to his mother. “William,” she said after reading the short missive, “this is your chance to start over with Lizzy. I will share something with you now, and I can only pray that you will not be in high dudgeon after my disclosure.”

“Mother,” he said as he took her hand, “no matter what, you know that I love you too much to be angry at you.”

“When we visited Longbourn the first time after Richard’s betrothal…

” Lady Anne proceeded to inform her son that Lady Elizabeth had been willing to forgive him then and inform her aunts that he was to no longer be publicly ‘punished’.

She also revealed her own reaction and requested that the lady hold off, and her reasons why she had made the extraordinary application.

On completion of the recitation, her son sat very still.

When he spoke, his answer was neither vituperative nor was it acerbic.

His mother had anticipated a harsh reaction, yet she did not receive even a mild rebuke.

“Mama, you were completely correct in your judgement. I cannot but agree,” his mother let out an audible sigh and squeezed her son’s hand in appreciation of his response.

“As I was then, it is highly probable that had there been little or no consequence, that I would have rationalised that I had done nothing so very bad and would not have been forced to confront my shortcomings. So no, Mother, I am not angry. I know that what you said was because of your love for me and always wanting what is best for your children. You knew that I needed a jolt to make me see the truth, that I needed to make meaningful and real changes, and were willing to risk my displeasure so that I would have a chance to become the man that you, my honoured, late father, and the rest of the family knew that I could be. Your love for Georgie was the reason that you begged me to check Mrs. Younge’s characters.

I know that your motives are pure, and I can only be ashamed of my past behaviour and wanton blindness. ”

“William, your reaction to what I told you is ample proof that you have addressed all of Lizzy’s reproofs and amended your behaviour,” she smiled at her son with all of her maternal love and pride shining in her eyes.

“When you put the needs of others ahead of your own desire, by deciding not to attend us to Longbourn and the wedding, I was sure that you would succeed. When Lizzy told me what she wanted to do, I felt that it was not yet time to take the pressure off of you. You know what Elizabeth says about the past do you not?” He nodded with a small smile.

“Well then, let us pledge, all of us Darcys, that we will honour that credo and move forward looking to the future. Yes, all people need to learn from past missteps, but it is not necessary to live in the past. Our decisions can change our todays and tomorrows, but there is nothing that any of us can do to change the past.”

Darcy stood and hugged and kissed his mother and sister before asking Killion to bring his hat, gloves, and coat for the short walk across the square in the direction of what he hoped would be a new beginning with the Bennets.

On being admitted to Bennet House, Darcy was relieved of his outerwear by the butler, Thatcher, who then showed him to his Grace’s study where the Duke was waiting for his caller.

The Duke’s study was a little larger than his own and like his, contained shelves with many tomes on them.

After politely refusing refreshment and extending the usual pleasantries, the Duke, as was his prerogative, opened the conversation.

“Mr. Darcy, the reports that we have received have impressed us greatly. It seems that you took my Lizzy’s set down to heart and are a better man for it,” Lord Thomas said with genuine feeling.

“The fact that you are now the hero to many members of the Ton who are bachelors, especially Lord Granville, is an added benefit for you, I am sure.” The Duke said the last with a smile.

“I thank you, your Grace. I appreciate your kind words more than I can express. However, the changes that I have made, am still making, were not to impress anyone, but for me to become the man that my parents always believed that I would be.” Darcy delivered the message unambiguously, that he had not made cosmetic changes for appearance.

“As to my being a hero , it is you who deserve the credit, your Grace. As you never gave me leave to disclose the source of my information, I have had to live with the credit of it when it rightly belongs to you.”

“Believe me, Mr. Darcy, I am very happy for you to receive the credit and accolades.”