Pentalogue
“Welcome to the world, Benita!”
“That's a Spanish name!” snapped a thoroughly shocked Fitzwilliam Darcy to his cousin, General Richard Fitzwilliam.
The general looked at his cousin as seriously as he could manage with his beautiful newborn baby and lovely wife to distract him.
They were all gathered around the birth bed, men and women, thus proving beyond any doubt that the Meryton women were both impervious to the normal rules of propriety, and that their husbands would agree to nearly anything.
It was always best to be cautious with a Meryton woman, and nothing had ever gone wrong from following their advice.
Without batting an eye, the general said, “A bet is a bet, Darcy!”
Darcy's shock deepened, and he thundered, “YOU NAMED A CHILD ON A BET!”
Receiving no reaction, he continued, “It is one thing to marry a woman on a bet, but to name a child on a wager is beyond the pale, even for a Bennet!”
He looked at Mrs Fitzwilliam, shaking in mortification. “I cannot believe even a Bennet would make the name a child is stuck with for life on a wager.”
Mary Fitzwilliam looked steadily at her brother Darcy, and carefully opened her mouth to answer him reasonably.
Unfortunately, she had no more discipline than her sister Lizzy, and she burst out laughing.
That left the other Bennet sisters laughing as well, and their menfolk joined in, having long ago learned it was usually for the best.
After what seemed quite a long time to Fitzwilliam Darcy, his sister Georgiana took pity on the poor man and reached into a basket on the side table.
“Oh, Fitzwilliam, you are so lovable I just want to kiss you.”
With very seldom much gap between such a thought and the inevitable action, she planted a big sloppy smack on his cheek, which left the rest of the ladies laughing… at least those not doing the same to their own husbands… which, when you get right down to it was none of them.
Georgiana handed the letter to her brother with a smile.
May 4, 1784
Anne Darcy, Pemberley, Derbyshire
Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Rosings, Kent
Dear Cathy,
I cannot believe I allowed you to best me in this matter. It is unaccountable that I should have been caught flat-footed by you of all people. I will grudgingly give you the respect you are due, but as your loving sister, I may scratch your eyes out next time I see you.
At any rate, a bet is a bet, so the boy will be named Fitzwilliam, and you are welcome to try to marry your daughter off to him when she comes of age—but I warn you.
I will be prepared. I will raise the stubbornness son ever to come out of English parents, and you will not beat me again.
He will be the densest, most taciturn, and most immovable man alive.
Try your best, Cathy. By the time you try your wiles on him, that name you stuck him with will have given him at least fifty black eyes, and he will be quite the match for you.
With that name, he'll probably even end up taking fists for the Matlock boy's misdeeds, and he will be as tough as a horseshoe.
Not only that, I’ll teach him that he should marry for love from the moment he notices girls are different until I drag him down the aisle with some woman you have never heard of. Love—HAH! BEAT THAT!
Best you find someone else for Anne, as 'Fitzwilliam' will be impervious to your machinations. Test him at your peril.
Your 'loving' sister,
Lady Anne Darcy