Page 43

CHAPTER 43

Confronting the Earl

O nce everyone had a cup of tea before them, more a gesture to allow a moment’s composure than a reflection of actual need, Darcy broke the silence that had fallen upon the servants’ departure.

“Uncle, I told you in September that I would never marry the viscount’s daughter. Since then, I have learnt a great deal; most notably, that Miss Harriet Sedgewick was withdrawn from school earlier this summer after rumours surfaced of an affair with one of the grooms at the school she attended. It is also rumoured that she is with child although I suspect that the viscount intends to dispose of the child before forcing her to wed.” He let the weight of the words hang for a moment, allowing them to sink in, and he saw the earl blanch.

“Knowing that, even if I were not already wed, I would never have agreed to the match.”

“Damn you, Darcy,” the earl growled, his composure fraying.

“Why could you not simply do as you were bid? A connection to the viscount would have secured your place in the House of Lords. As your father-in-law, the viscount could have petitioned the Regent to elevate you, perhaps even to an earldom if not higher. Instead, you had to go off to Hertfordshire, and not only have you married a nobody,” he looked at Mrs. Darcy in distaste before turning back and paling further at the look on his nephew’s face, “but you have dug into matters that you should not have.”

Seated beside her husband, Elizabeth cast him a worried glance.

His jaw was tight, lips pressed into a hard line, and his hand curled firmly over hers.

The heat in his gaze left no doubt: he was furious.

Still, Darcy met his uncle’s glare without flinching.

“Because I did not want a title. Neither did my father, nor his before him. We have never chased titles or status beyond that which we already possess. There is nothing you could have offered that would have made me sacrifice my principles—or Elizabeth. I married her for love, and no pressure from you or anyone else would have changed that, once I met her.”

The earl’s face twisted in frustration, and his voice rose, cracking under the weight of something more than anger—there was fear there, too.

“The viscount will ruin me! He has discovered my dealings along the Irish coast. He knows I have been importing more than livestock. Without your marriage to his daughter to keep him quiet, he will see me hanged!”

Lady Matlock, who had remained silent until that moment, turned sharply towards her husband.

Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him, and her voice turned cold.

“What dealings, Henry?” she demanded.

He faltered.

“What precisely have you been doing?” she demanded.

“And why have you needed my father’s money to keep the estate afloat?”

A tense silence followed Lady Matlock’s question.

Bennet raised an eyebrow, his teacup halfway to his lips.

“Smuggling, I presume,” he said drily.

“I doubt sheep are so lucrative as to inspire this level of panic. It would have to be something rather serious to inspire fear of hanging. ”

Gardiner said nothing, but his gaze sharpened, taking the measure of the earl, as he waited for the earl to reveal more.

“So, this is what it comes to,” Livesay muttered, mostly to himself, recalling how often the earl, while still a viscount, had attempted to bully others at school; he found it interesting to see that he was now the target of a bully himself.

The earl, flushed and visibly sweating now, shifted in his seat.

His eyes darted between the faces in the room—people he had viewed as his inferiors—and found no refuge in any of them.

“I had no choice,” he said at last, his voice hoarse.

“The estate was bleeding money, the tenants were struggling, and your father—” he shot a glance at Lady Matlock, “—refused to lend any further support unless I proved myself capable of recovering the losses. The trade routes along the Irish coast were already being used. I merely…made use of what was already in place.”

“You trafficked in contraband,” Mr. Gardiner said evenly.

“What else? Spirits? Arms? People?”

The earl flinched at the final word.

Lady Matlock’s expression darkened.

“Henry. Tell me now.”

The earl looked away, shame creeping into the lines of his face.

His voice, when it came, was low and bitter.

“Merely spirits at first. French brandy, Irish whiskey—nothing worse than what half the peerage keeps in their cellars. But it was not enough.” He swallowed hard.

“Then came untaxed tobacco, rare silks—anything we could move quickly and sell high.”

Lady Matlock’s knuckles whitened around her teacup, but she said nothing.

“I told myself it was temporary,” he continued, the words coming faster now, as if their weight would crush him if he did not speak them quickly.

“Until the harvests improved; until the rents stabilized; until I could repay your father. But then the viscount found out. Rather than report me, he made demands of me.”

He finally looked at Darcy, his eyes bloodshot, his voice cracking.

“He wanted an alliance. He said if I arranged a match between you and his daughter, he would keep my secret and even help expand the operation under his protection. That was the price of my survival, and I?—”

He broke off, breath ragged.

“I agreed. I saw no other way.”

Lady Matlock sat in rigid silence, but her voice, when it came, was deadly calm.

“You allowed a criminal enterprise to grow under your stewardship, endangered your family’s name, and tried to barter your nephew’s future like coin in a ledger,” she said, her voice growing in anger with each mention.

“Worst of all, you attempted to have Georgiana ruined to guarantee Fitzwilliam’s compliance, did you not?”

“You sent Wickham to Ramsgate,” Fitzwilliam said, standing and facing his father directly for the first time during this confrontation.

“You knew Georgiana was there, and you paid him to entice her to an elopement to give you leverage over Darcy.” Up until this moment, he had been content to watch, but seeing his father seem to shrink with each accusation only served to make him angrier.

“I expected to help my estate and family survive,” the earl snapped, his desperation apparent.

“I expected my family to stand by me as I strove to make it stronger. But you have brought these strangers in, these men who do not matter, and feel that you can stand here and condemn me? What happened to family loyalty?”

Darcy rose to his feet, his expression cold and resolute, his hands clenched tightly at his sides.

“You made your choices, Uncle, and now, you will answer for them. Shall we send for the magistrate?”

“You cannot,” the earl cried.

“I would be hanged. ”

“What else would you have me do?” Darcy asked.

“I cannot condone your actions. You would have forced an unwanted marriage on me, you attempted to ruin Georgiana for your own purposes, and I can hardly imagine what would have happened had I not prevented that knave from absconding with her.”

“Darcy,” the earl pleaded, but a slash from his son's hand prevented further words.

“I do not wish for a public scandal,” Fitzwilliam said to his father. “And I have spoken to my brother. He has already spoken to the Regent to see if all of this can be handled quietly.”

“Handled how?” the earl asked, shock clearly written on his face.

“Your trial and punishment for your crimes,” Gardiner said, speaking for the first time. “You are not the only one with connections, and I have been able to speak to the Regent myself. He also does not wish for it to be known that a peer has been involved in smuggling, and he has agreed that, with a full confession, you will be held in the Tower of London for the rest of your life. The viscount will be a separate matter for Parliament to deal with.”

“So, I am to rot in prison?”

“Yes, Father,” Fitzwilliam replied. “We will let it be known that you are ill, and my brother will take your place both in society and in Parliament. You will have enough funds to ensure that you have food and clothing, but none of us will visit you. Still, it is a better fate than Wickham, who due to his actions, faced a firing squad last week. You sent him to Hertfordshire to spy on Darcy, did you not?”

The earl blanched at the thought of such a punishment, momentarily grateful that he would not be the one to endure it. Yet, as he considered the grim reality of life in the Tower, he could not help but wonder if Wickham had, in some twisted way, escaped the harsher fate .

There was a knock at the door, and Viscount Ashworth strode in. “It is done,” he said, nodding towards the others in the room. “Father, you have until tomorrow at noon to present yourself before the Regent. If you do not, there will be no possibility of avoiding a scandal, for he will have a warrant issued for your arrest. There will be no deals, no contacting any of your connections to get you out of it. The Regent has declared you guilty of high treason.”

With those few words, the earl sagged in his seat. He did not protest but instead allowed his firstborn to lead him out of the room and into the waiting carriage. His elder son would ensure he arrived at Kensington Palace the next day. Lord Matlock could hardly argue with so many against him.

The others sighed with relief, glad that it had transpired more easily than they might have expected.

“I believe he was genuinely worried about what the viscount may do, and if he approaches any of us, we can repeat what we know about his daughter. My son will ensure his father cannot write to the viscount and that he appears as expected tomorrow,” Lady Matlock said after several moments had passed.

“While I cannot celebrate my uncle’s actions, or the punishment that will go along with them, I am relieved that this whole episode is finished. Bennet, how long will you remain in London?” Darcy asked.

“A few days longer,” he said. “It is hardly worth coming so far if I do not remain for at least a few days, and I have heard much about this library of yours.”

The others in the room laughed at his jest, pleased to have cleared the air of at least some of the tension.

“Then we invite you all for dinner on Wednesday night,” Darcy said, looking at Elizabeth, who nodded. “Aunt, will you invite Ashworth so he might meet Elizabeth?”

“Of course,” she replied. “Would you have me invite others? ”

“With your husband so ill?” he asked with a knowing wink.

This drew another laugh, and soon, everyone but Bennet departed, leaving the couple nearly alone.

“I will be in the library,” Bennet said with a glance between his daughter and her husband of less than a week. “Show Elizabeth around the house, for I am certain she is eager to see it.”

With a grin, Darcy called for a servant to show Bennet to the library. Once he was gone, he turned to Elizabeth. “Come, my dear, and allow me to show you the family rooms.”

She accepted his offered hand. “I shall follow you wherever you lead, my dear.”