Chapter Twenty Five
The next morning when Lord Matlock arrived with his wife, his heir, and his heir’s wife, Elizabeth quickly decided that she liked the older gentleman. He was bluff and friendly, and quick witted while serious.
She understood more of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s manner from him.
Lady Matlock had a more skeptical attitude towards her, and Elizabeth rather suspected that she would have received most pointed questions from that woman if Darcy had not been present and already known to fiercely defend her.
The viscount and his wife were clearly of the fashionable set, and at one point his wife offhandedly said that Elizabeth’s dress was stylish but not made quite to the present mode.
Elizabeth said, “I have had many dresses made in the towns about here, to supplement the few that I had made in London.”
“Oh, but all of the best dressmakers are in London!” The viscount’s wife, Lady Cecelia said, “Surely Mr. Darcy gave you enough pin money for that.”
From the way that both Lord and Lady Matlock immediately looked towards Darcy when their daughter-in-law said that, Elizabeth was even more confident that he had made something in the nature of a threat to ensure good behavior.
Elizabeth made a point of looking at Darcy with a smile and saying, “Oh, you cannot blame Mr. Darcy in this—he positively encouraged me to go shopping—but I was not yet quite ready to go on a great shopping expedition. It takes time, you know, to do properly. And I was quite busy in London. But I have made a virtue of this by buying from the local dressmakers and praising them. I have received a great many pieces, and some local friendship.”
“Yes, but to really be fashionable,” Lady Cecelia insisted, “one must always buy from London.”
Lord Matlock put a hand on his daughter-in-law’s shoulder and said, “Yes, yes dear, but—”
“I am not insulting Mrs. Darcy. Everyone knows that. Oh, I so wish that I could go to Paris every year, like everyone did before that awful revolution. Even today, the Parisians are so much more fashionable than we are. You can see it in every magazine or fashion plate that is smuggled in.”
“Do cease to worry,” Elizabeth grinned at them.
“I have made Mr. Darcy promise to only become angry at his relations on my account if I give him leave to do so first. You see, I had made him promise before I agreed to marry him that he would see to it that I was treated with respect. I have seen the pain it can cause someone to be treated poorly by the family they married into. But I do not worry about that at present, and my sense of honor is not nearly so prickly as that of my delightful husband. I beg you to speak a little more freely—we are family, and I cannot stand too great formality amongst family.”
“Humph,” Lord Matlock said. “That is hardly how we usually do it.”
“Might I ask, what is Lady Catherine ordinarily like—” Elizabeth said. She shrugged. “I am most curious. The one time I met her was under extraordinary circumstances.”
“Confident. She always is extremely confident in all her opinions,” Lady Matlock said. “And yet, somehow, even more confident than that.”
Elizabeth laughed. “I hope matters will one day be patched with her. From that description I rather think I would enjoy the acquaintance.”
“I wish,” Lady Matlock said, looking towards her own husband with what Elizabeth thought was amusement, “you to have all the joy I have in the connection, and more.”
Lord Matlock smiled at his lady. “I confess my sister can be difficult, but we do love her. I hope to convince her to offer an apology—might I write to tell her that you said so much? I think she would not be opposed to reconciliation. Even she knows that while one might tilt against the windmills, charging the tides themselves is without purpose.”
“By which you mean to say,” Elizabeth said, “that she will have a natural curiosity as to how Mrs. Darcy manages the kitchens and staff. Even though, of course, the bearer of that title is wholly unworthy to it, and far inferior to the candidate that she had proposed.”
Lady Matlock laughed, and Lord Matlock’s grin widened. “I dare say,” he said, “that I shall like you.”
“That is my hope,” Elizabeth said. She looked up at her husband’s face to make sure that he was not unhappy with the course of conversation, though she could feel from how he held himself on the sofa next to her that he was by no means tense.
He was smiling. “I of course expected that all my family would come to like you. You are likeable, after all.”
Georgiana had an expression of anxiety, as she knew that they would come to talk about her in time.
“But do freely ask any questions you might have about our marriage,” Elizabeth said with a smile.
“I had several inducements to matrimony—but I think that if he had not loved my children already, none of that would have mattered. I assure you that I am not a fortune hunter, because first I did not hunt for it, and second—”
“Oh, Richard told us all about that,” Lord Matlock said.
Elizabeth laughed. “Is he the most suspicious of your children?”
“The most pragmatic,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said for himself.
“Well then. Let me just say, I am delighted to be married to your nephew due to his character, his loveliness with my children, and his, ah—general delightfulness.”
Elizabeth looked at Darcy with a mischievous smile that made him chuckle.
“Darcy laughing! In company?” Lady Matlock said. “A miracle truly has happened. And what do you have to say about why you married her? How did it all come about?”
“Elizabeth is an excellent creature, and I am blessed beyond measure that she accepted my offer. That is my true opinion.”
Lady Cecelia returned to what was her favorite subject, based on what Colonel Fitzwilliam had said when Elizabeth begged him to describe his family.
“But Mrs. Darcy, you must dress in a London mode. When the season comes you must let me take you around to my dressmakers. Do promise that you will not spend all your pin money on Derbyshire dresses.”
“I can promise that I will not, as I must buy books with the money. You see Mr. Darcy settled book money on me, not pin money. This is specified in the legal documents.”
Lady Cecelia looked aghast and insisted once more that Elizabeth must attend on London dressmakers with her, which Elizabeth duly promised to do.
Lord and Lady Matlock looked at each other, and then Lord Matlock said to his wife, “I admit it. I do. You have won your bet.”
The woman had a satisfied air in reply.
“The bet?” Darcy asked.
“It is certainly a love match,” Lady Matlock said. “And I wish you both all the happiness in the world...” She sighed. “But now that we are all acquainted, Georgiana, what were you thinking?”
The young woman flushed and retreated into the seat. “I, well…”
“Madam, my sister feels her errors keenly,” Darcy said. “There is no necessity to remind her of them.”
Lady Matlock stared at Georgiana. “And what are we going to do about you? Richard, what if you married her? You always say that the reason you don’t marry is that you need an heiress, and that they are difficult to find. If you married Georgiana, it would end any scandal about the child.”
“By Zeus, no!” Colonel Fitzwilliam exclaimed. “I am twice her age, and her cousin.”
Georgiana looked at Colonel Fitzwilliam with an expression of disgust at the thought.
“Oh, nonsense,” Lady Matlock said. “Half my friends married a man three times their age. That does not signify.”
“And who also were brother and sister, like the pharaohs of Egypt, I imagine?” Colonel Fitzwilliam said.
“There is nothing wrong with keeping estates and wealth closely tied up in the family. And if you are bothered by the thought of the child—”
“By Zeus, mother. I am her guardian. I accepted the duty from my uncle to care for the interests of his daughter in the best way I could. Not to use her to gain my own fortune. By Zeus!”
“Well then what are we to do?” Lady Matlock said, “She cannot secretly have the child here, and if she disappears for some months everyone will assume that it was to have a child—the talk would make it impossible for her to ever marry anyone of worth. The only choice then is for her to marry now. And there could be no one so eligible as you.”
Elizabeth stood and put a hand on Georgiana’s shoulder. “Why do you not ask Georgiana what she would wish to have done?”
“Her?” Lady Matlock said dismissively. “She is too young, and she has already proven that she does not have sufficiently good judgement or character to be trusted with a decision of such import.”
“You mean to have her marry without having any choice in the matter?”
Lady Matlock replied, “She already chose to marry, I only mean to choose the partner.”
“Ah. A miniscule difference. It is well known that women generally are indifferent as to the identity of who they shall marry.”
“Please don’t argue,” Georgiana said. “I will marry if you say I must, but—”
“We already discussed this,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said. “And no, you do not need to marry anyone. The plan, mother dearest, is to do nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“At all. Let matters take their natural course. Call a doctor and a midwife when it becomes necessary, tell all the world that we have a scandal within the family, and that they may avoid us if they wish to. I believe, however, it is Mr. and Mrs. Darcy who will have worries on that account.”
Lady Matlock ground her teeth together. “No, no, no. Georgiana, surely you wish to be married one day. That is not—we can try to hide the child, but—”
“You may hide me if you wish, but I will never banish my own child, nor lie to them about my connection to them.”
“Darcy, are you and your new wife with child yet?” Lady Matlock then asked. “Perhaps we could pass off Georgiana’s child as yours. Maybe the younger twin?”
“Lord,” Elizabeth said. “I have heard this suggestion before, but I had not expected it from a serious source. Not only would Georgie not participate in such a scheme, neither would I.”
Lord Matlock laughed, and he pressed his wife’s shoulder, “It is not going to happen. A little scandal never hurt anyone.”
“It certainly has.”
The only reply from Lady Matlock’s husband was an insouciant shrug.
“This is badly handled,” Lady Matlock said with thin lips.
“You mean to have her with you at Pemberley, with the bastard child? You will force the neighborhood to acknowledge them?—Georgiana, can you not see the selfishness of your actions? The way that they will affect everyone. Why not simply marry Richard, and—”
“No, mother,” that officer replied. “Even if you browbeat Georgiana into it, I know my duty.”
“And I know my duty as well,” Darcy said. “If someone does not wish to be connected with me, I can do very well without their friendship or connection.”
“But you are the chief landowner in the area,” Lady Matlock said. “You know that it is not such an easy matter for your neighbors.”
“That is a difficulty for those of my neighbors who wish to avoid me,” Darcy replied.
“I am sorry for any difficulties that I will cause to others. However, this is what we shall do. It is not a matter of dispute. Your help or advice in how best to act on this policy would be appreciated, but the policy itself will not be changed. It is my duty to support Georgiana, and I will fulfil my duty as I see fit.”
Soon after Lady Matlock gave up the effort, she settled into talking to Elizabeth in a more generally friendly manner, sharing stories about the long connection of the Fitzwilliam family and the Darcy family—Lord Matlock’s grandmother had been a Darcy.
There were tales of Christmas parties, of long summer visits from one house to the other, and of course, always, the insistence on doing what was appropriate to maintain the place of the family.
Georgiana went to the piano to play, encouraged by both Darcy and Elizabeth, and for a time the conversation fell silent to listen to her magnificently perform a piece from Herr Beethoven.
After she finished it, Georgiana blushed at the applause from her family and then asked Elizabeth to join her to sing while she played, and Darcy with a happy smile asked for a rendition of Robin Adair, telling his relations as he did so that this had been the first song that she sang for him.
With a laugh Elizabeth said, “I sang it for Emily, to put her to sleep. It was the Bluebells of Scotland that I sang for him.”
“Yes, well, you must sing that as well, afterwards,” Darcy replied, without being at all upset by that reply.
Elizabeth looked at her husband with a warm glow in her heart as she began to sing for him.