Chapter 2
“You asked to see me, Mr Hurst,” Richard Fitzwilliam stated when he met with his friend’s father in a reading room at Cambridge.
He could not imagine why Mr Hurst, who Harry—he knew he had reverted back to Harold, but to Richard he would always be Harry—said was a civil servant, was calling on him at the university.
“I did. If it was just my son who had given me a glowing report of your abilities, I would not have approached you yet, as his opinions could be biased given the close friendship he has with you and your older brother. However, I have received reports from many other sources, and you are exactly the man who would enhance those who work for me,” Hurst replied.
“I am joining the Royal Dragoons as a second lieutenant, especially now that the war with France has commenced. With all due respect to you, Sir, I have no desire to sit in an office and examine paper on my desk all day,” Fitzwilliam responded firmly.
“That, young man, is not what I do, nor is it what the men and a few women who work for me are about. I need your solemn promise, on the threat of being charged with treason, that you will never repeat what I am about to tell you, not even to Lord Matlock. I know you are a man of honour, so I worry not that you will go back on your word if you give it.”
Fitzwilliam was intrigued. At the very least, what would it hurt if he heard the man out? “You have my word of honour; I will repeat nothing without your express permission.”
“Like much of what we do, having offices in those of the Navy Board is what we want others to see. We serve the crown directly but let me begin with this. If you are looking for glory, this will not be for you. However, it is service of the highest order. It began…” Hurst told the younger man all from the time King George II started the clandestine organisation until the present, listing some of the principal operations in which they had been involved.
As hard as it was, Hurst told about how Fitzwilliam’s late uncle used to be the commander of the group.
He did not gloss over the reasons for Lewis de Bourgh’s dismissal and his title being rescinded.
Once he had told all, Hurst sat back and allowed the young man to absorb what he had been told.
“My Aunt Catherine never told any of us that her husband had been stripped of his title.” Fitzwilliam shook his head. He knew his father’s older sister did not always have a close relationship with the truth, but this was beyond the pale.
“That is not all she hid. The shame got too much for her late husband, and he killed himself while hunting. From the reports we have, it was an obvious suicide, but to avoid losing the de Bourgh properties and holdings, your aunt paid the beaters, gun bearer, and gamekeeper to swear it had been a tragic accident,” Hurst repeated.
“She could be arrested and tried for fraud if this became known.” Fitzwilliam paused as he remembered something Mr Hurst had said close to when he had told about his late uncle.
“There was not a word mentioned of an attempt to kidnap Prinny, or that it had been foiled. And you say that Harry is one of your operatives? I was always convinced he was not the soft, indolent man who was easily foxed.” He took a moment to cogitate again.
“If I agree to come work for you, as you said, directly for the crown, will I not be in the army?”
“My son told me that he believed that you were the hardest to fool regarding his persona, and he was sure you did not think he was who he presented himself as. That is one of the reasons I want you to work with us. As far as the army goes, you will join the Dragoons, but as a captain. After your initial training, you will be seconded to work at the Navy Board to ostensibly be a liaison officer coordinating with the navy,” Hurst revealed.
“May I have a sennight to consider your offer before I make my choice? It has been some years now that I dreamed of being an officer in the regular army. However, serving King and Country was always very important to me, and it seems that I would be doing that in a much more direct way. That my name would not be known, like yours was not when you foiled the plot against the Prince of Wales, does not discourage me.”
“That is a reasonable request. I will wait to hear from you. Send a note to Mr Hurst at the Navy Board in Somerset House. All it needs to say is yes or no. I hope it will be the former, as I believe you would do very well with us. By the by, had I thought you a glory hound, like your late uncle, we would never have had this discussion.”
“Mr Hurst, may I tell my father the truth about his late brother-in-law?” Fitzwilliam requested.
“Not at this juncture. Perhaps at a later date the disclosure may be made. I look forward to hearing from you. I know that Harold would be happy to have you with us. There are very few he can talk to about his double life.” Hurst stood and shook the younger man’s hand.
He was impressed that Fitzwilliam’s shake was firm and strong.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Five days later Fitzwilliam sent a note to Mr Hurst that simply read ‘Yes.’
A few days before their graduation, Fitzwilliam was with his slightly younger cousin in their shared sitting room. The Hurst heir was with them as well, as he had come to visit and would remain to witness his friend’s and Darcy’s graduation.
In addition to wanting to witness his friend end his studies and see Hilldale, who would arrive with the brothers’ parents on the morrow, Harold had come to express his pleasure at his friend accepting the offer to work for the organisation run by his father.
He would find time alone with Fitzwilliam later; now he needed to concentrate on the conversation.
“William, you must tell Uncle Robert the truth about the parasite,” Fitzwilliam insisted.
“Your father never did him any favours by giving him expectations which will never be met, and please explain who you help by cleaning up after him? I do not know why you do not allow me to teach him a lesson.”
“I would prefer you do not discuss family business with Hurst here,” William Darcy responded haughtily. He hated his faults being pointed out to him.
“Since when can you not discuss Wickham unless out of my hearing? Did you forget we used to speak of the wastrel when we were all at Eton together, and again during my final year here?” Harold drawled.
His devil-may-care attitude was on display.
“Think about it, Darcy, what of those he hurts when you are not there to try and clean up after him?”
“Let us both speak to Uncle Robert,” Fitzwilliam suggested. “Has he confirmed that he and Gigi will be here for the graduation? Or is he feeling poorly?”
“Father wrote that he will arrive in time to witness me graduate from his alma mater. He is determined to attend even if the doctors advised against a longer journey.” William paused. “His health is one of the reasons I have not said anything to him about Wicky.”
“He is your father, and you know him and I do not. However, I can tell you that my pater would be rather disappointed in me if I withheld such pertinent information from him by thinking him too frail to hear it,” Harold opined.
“Harry here, has the right of it. Uncle Robert would not be pleased if he discovered you were coddling him,” Fitzwilliam agreed.
“Darcy, I remember, more than once, you stated in my hearing that your father would be very upset if the Darcy name was blackened. Is that not correct?” Harold queried.
“Indeed, what has that to do with the parasite?” William returned.
“Whose name do you think will be associated with George Wickham’s bad deeds?
What do you think those who he steals from or the young maidens he meddles with would prefer?
” Harold asked. “Let us face it, that is what he does when he runs up debts he has no intention of paying, yet you did nothing but pay them on his behalf, thus enabling him to keep doing what he does.”
William Darcy was silent for some minutes, and thankfully, the other two men allowed him time to cogitate without bothering him.
He hated being proved wrong, but he could not ignore Hurst’s words because he was correct.
In cleaning up Wicky’s messes and not saying anything to Father, was he not as culpable as the dissipated, profligate libertine?
As much as William wanted it to be otherwise, there was only one answer: yes, he was.
“I will speak to Father, and I will tell him to apply to Richard to verify my words if he needs to. Thankfully, I have been keeping the markers that the bastard signed for and never intends to pay. I can take Father to see two young ladies, barely out of childhood, with whom the seducer meddled,” William said resignedly.
Before the three men could canvass the subject any longer, there was a knock on the door which led to the hallway.
“Come,” Fitzwilliam boomed.
The door opened and a first-year that the cousins had befriended, Charles Bingley of Scarborough, entered the sitting room.
Bingley was just under six feet tall, two inches shorter than Fitzwilliam and three less than Darcy.
He had strawberry-blond hair and was very keen to please.
He was not as muscular as either of the cousins, but they had discovered he was a very good pugilist and was passable with the foil.
Where the cousins both enjoyed chess—the younger a more proficient player than the older—Bingley hardly played.
He had related that he was the middle of three.
His older sister was three years his senior, while his younger sister was a little more than two years his junior.