1. Chapter 1 #3
“No, they would not. Some ladies do not even visit their own tenants, let alone their neighbor’s tenants,” Darcy replied.
“If I were in possession of my own estate, I doubt my sister could be troubled to take up the practice,” Bingley said with a roll of his eyes.
One corner of Darcy’s mouth tipped up in amusement. His friend had the right of it. Caroline Bingley was too selfish a person to give of her time in behalf of tenant families or engage in charitable acts of kindness.
Back in his bedchamber, Darcy sat down to relax a bit until luncheon. He saw that Jones had laid out some correspondence for him. He glanced through it and found a letter from his aunt, Lady Matlock.
Dear William,
I hope you and Georgiana are enjoying your visit with Mr. Bingley. We are all well. Things here in town are as they always are.
You did, however, miss your Aunt Catherine’s surprise visit.
She came to Matlock House annoyed that you had the nerve to be absent from your home just when she had come to make an unannounced call.
A call that probably would have lasted a week.
She, of course, wanted to spend time in your home pressuring you to marry A.
She knows I will not tolerate her nonsense, so she kept her visit here blessedly short. We saw her off the very next morning.
Speaking of young ladies of marriageable age, I know your uncle asked you to consider Miss L, but please do not feel pressured to do so, my dear.
Choosing your life partner is a very important decision.
Of course, your uncle and I are always here to assist you and offer advice.
However, you must make the choice that is right for Fitzwilliam Darcy and no one else.
Give my love to Georgiana.
With Love,
Aunt Sophia
Darcy smiled and looked at the letter again. His uncle had indeed encouraged him to call on Miss Langford. Her father and Lord Matlock were friends. Miss Langford seemed to be an intelligent young lady. She was also pretty, but Darcy was not in the least bit interested.
He appreciated his aunt’s support. Choosing a wife was a difficult business.
He supposed that was the crux of it: it was business.
He was to choose a young woman of the ton with connections and wealth.
Neither emotion nor affection entered into the calculation, yet the position she would occupy would be the most intimate part of his life.
Darcy was not at all sure he could allow a woman to fill that role when he did not even know if he could trust her.
Though his own parents had love and trust in their marriage, such a thing was rarely seen amongst the first circles.
Still, should not marriage be about more than just wealth and one's position in society?
Darcy sighed and shook his head. Perhaps it would be better not to marry and simply leave Pemberley to one of Georgiana's children.
He moved to the desk and took out pen and paper.
Dear Aunt Sophia,
Georgiana and I are indeed enjoying our visit here in Hertfordshire. Bingley is an excellent host, and his sisters remain in town, none the wiser.
I do feel fortunate to have missed Lady Catherine.
She appears to be laboring under the misapprehension that if she keeps insisting, I will eventually marry A.
However, that will not happen, and I have repeated this fact to her again and again.
I will not continue to have the same pointless conversation.
I will also instruct my staff to refuse her admittance.
As for Miss L, please give my apologies to Uncle. I am sure she is a lovely young lady, but I am not interested. When I take a wife—if I take a wife—I want to be certain of my choice. So, I thank you, Aunt, for supporting me in this. It means a great deal.
Your loving nephew,
Fitzwilliam Darcy
He sanded the letter, folded and sealed it, then put it with his other outgoing correspondence.
Darcy tended to be suspicious of gentlemen who promoted their daughters or sisters to him.
More often than not, the show they made of simply wishing to unite their family with his was just that—a show.
When he was a boy, the son of his father’s steward pretended to be his friend, though it eventually became clear that he was no friend at all.
Darcy was so young and innocent then, but it had been his first lesson in the dangers of misplaced trust—a lesson that had stayed with him.
He did not suspect Miss Langford's father of any underhandedness, but he knew there were plenty such fathers in the ton.
The fact that he had a friend whose father-in-law hid the truth of his financial trouble until after the wedding was a case in point.
Darcy's father taught him to use discernment not only in business but also in who he allowed close, since there would always be those who would seek to take advantage.
When Darcy inherited, the sheer number of women who made it plain they wanted to be the next mistress of Pemberley astounded him.
Of course, they were not interested in him.
Their focus was on what he had. Between the matchmaking mamas and their daughters, he began to feel like hunted game.
Then there were the people who came out of the woodwork with business opportunities and speculations.
Two acquaintances from Cambridge began seeking him out regularly at the club and at social events.
It was not long before they admitted to their goal of having Darcy finance a scheme of theirs.
When he told them he was not interested, they were not happy, but they did leave him alone.
Various men of business also approached Darcy in order to convince him to invest with them.
Once they realized he was no fool and they could not take advantage of him, they left him alone as well.
Having experienced avarice and dishonesty in so many forms, it was no wonder that he did not trust easily.