Chapter 13. Dinner at Matlock House
The command performance of supper with the Earl and Countess of Matlock was a regular invitation whenever the earl learned that his brother-in-law and nephew were in town.
As their carriage approached, the younger man grimaced; Matlock House was one of the few places where everyone insisted on calling him ‘Fitzwilliam’ rather than ‘William’.
The earl, James Fitzwilliam, never understood the man his youngest sister had married.
Their father insisted it was a good match when he sent his youngest daughter down the aisle with a dowry of thirty thousand pounds; but George Darcy never paid the respect due to his noble relatives beyond the public bows and precedence walking into dinner.
Worse, Darcy did not gamble or drink in excess though he did enjoy the company of women not his wife–few men of the ton did not keep a mistress or two during the long years of their marriage.
Matlock House was older than Darcy House and in need of some repairs and renovations.
The footmen wore uniforms that were old but well cared for–William noted that his aunt kept a good housekeeper to oversee the maids and their work.
William had known the butler all of his life and he always took time to ask after the man’s family.
Two sons had found positions in homes of William’s acquaintance with his recommendations.
Following his father into the parlour, William found his uncle, aunt, their two daughters as well as Aunt Catherine and her daughter Anne.
“George!” called the Earl rising from his chair and advancing. “I see you rescued Fitzwilliam from the countryside but why did you not bring Georgiana? How disappointing... I am certain the ladies counted on seeing her this evening.”
William spoke up, “Sir, my sister was tired after her lessons today. I convinced our father to allow her to remain with her governess tonight and rest.”
“You cannot hide the girl forever George!” called Lady Catherine. “You must allow me to take charge of her and provide her with a proper upbringing.”
“Nonsense,” Lady Edith answered. “Georgiana will do much better with me. Have I not raised two daughters who are noted in all of London society?”
“But neither is yet married and the youngest is twenty years!”
“And Anne has never been presented! How can you find her a husband if she has not even been presented at court?”
“Ladies! Please!” the earl thundered. “Our guests have only just arrived.”
George Darcy turned to his son and whispered, “As I told you, position yourself in the room and allow the Fitzwilliam parties to approach you one at a time to make their requests known to you. Promise nothing but to weigh their requests with proper consideration.”
William nodded and walked first to a sidebar to pour a finger of whiskey and then move to speak to Anne, his favourite cousin after Richard Fitzwilliam. George sent a footman to bring him a whiskey and stood his ground beside the fireplace.
“Such bad manners...” William heard the countess whisper to her daughters as he passed by with only a short bow.
“Nephew! Nephew!” called Lady Catherine as he drew close. “I must have your aide in recovery of my horses!”
William frowned at his aunt who in turn frowned and fussed, “Whatever has you in a foul mood this evening?”
“Forgive me aunt, I wish to speak to Anne.”
Lady Catherine instantly smiled and glanced at her rival sister-in-law with a triumphant gleam in her eye. “Certainly, Fitzwilliam. Anne, attend to your cousin’s speech carefully now.”
William sat on the sofa on the side of his cousin away from this aunt.
“How are you, Anne? Georgie and I have not received any letters from you since summer.”
Anne de Bourgh who did love her cousin above all other men as a dear brother, smiled at his thoughtfulness to seek her out first. “My mother decided that if I stopped writing to you for a time, it might bring you to Rosings to inquire after my health.”
“In just two more years you will have your majority and Lady Catherine can move to the dower house.”
“But then I should be alone in that great big house,” Anne replied. “Have no fear cousin; I am satisfied with my life.”
**++**
“Fitzwilliam, how do you find management of an estate? Is it to your liking?” asked Lady Edith as she approached the young man standing at the sideboard again and motioned for her daughters to join her.
He only took a small portion of whiskey this time, deciding that he needed to keep his head in this evening’s tense atmosphere.
“I find that I like the activity very much aunt,” William replied watching his father and uncle verbally sparring on the other side of the room. “It is gratifying to see the improvements in the land.”
“Yes, yes...” the countess replied. “It is important to improve the farms.”
She glanced significantly at her eldest daughter who grimaced but then asked, “Have you found Hertfordshire to be to your liking Fitzwilliam?”
“Yes, much better than town,” he replied honestly. “I imagine when I return to my new home next week that Georgiana and I shall remain there through next summer.”
“You will not come to town for the start of season next February?” asked his aunt, her obvious disapproval on her face.
“No madam,” he replied quickly. “I shall continue my efforts to improve my estate.”
The three ladies exchanged obvious glances, and the countess sighed as both of her daughters left their cousin to return to their seats.
“Turn your attentions elsewhere aunt,” William told his aunt. “I have no desire for wife from within the family circle.”
“It is proving harder to match the girls than I thought,” Lady Edith confessed. “They are bright, well-dressed and accomplished.”
“But their dowries are lacking now with the earl’s gambling debts.”
Pursing her lips, the countess asked, “How do you know this?”
“I hear talk at my club. Lord Humphries is interested in your eldest girl, but he hesitates for fear her dowry will include a mortgage or two...”
“Have you assured him they do not?”
“Madam, surely you would not counsel me to lie?”
“Something must be done!” the countess insisted. William glanced at his father who was standing with his hands clasped behind his back facing down the red-faced earl.
“My father is attempting to help my uncle now, but he will have to agree to hand over at least one estate without mortgage and agree to stop gambling before rescuing the dowries of your daughters.”
**++**
Before the supper, which William increasing dreaded as each minute passed, Lady Catherine asked for a private moment with her nephew.
“Fitzwilliam, I require your assistance in recovering my carriage and four that were left behind in Hertfordshire.”
“Aunt why were you in Meryton?” he growled.
Lady Catherine scowled but noticed her nephew was not intimidated by her expressions. “Anne and I came to see your new home; to visit with you and Georgiana.”
“Why did you not write first?” William asked. “I shall not issue invitations for some time yet and do not know if unexpected guests are good for my sister’s study regime.”
“Your sister’s study regime is exactly what I....” Lady Catherine stopped when she saw the steady gaze of her brother-in-law from across the room. “Your father abdicates all responsibility for his daughter. She should come live with me!”
“Georgiana is happy with me in Hertfordshire.”
“But what kind of people are you associating with? The day I was there, it was horrible among such low creatures.”
“Low creatures, aunt?” William asked with contempt in his voice.
“The same persons who rescued you from the side of the road! Who provided you with safe transport back to town despite your threats! Who cared for your driver when you struck him down in the road! I understand they are now attempting to save your team that foundered.”
“What’s this?” asked Earl Fitzwilliam stepping closer.
Lady Catherine waved her brother away but in his own home, the Earl of Matlock obeyed no one except occasionally for his wife.
“What has my sister done with her horses?”
“Aunt Catherine drove her horses to exhaustion Tuesday–when her carriage broke down two miles from my home; she blamed her driver and struck the man with her cane, leaving him bleeding on the side of the road. She abandoned her horses and driver when one neighbour offered to transport her to Netherfield where she stormed through my house and threatened my household. My housekeeper rightly had Aunt Catherine and her footmen removed from my house! Another neighbour kindly provided transportation for my aunt and cousin to return to London.”
“Yes, I know all that. Cathy and Anne appeared without trunks or boxes at my door and my stable kept the team and driver overnight before sending them off home the next morning. But what of her horses?” the earl asked.
“The front team foundered, and all four horses were in very poor shape–they were grass fed and not exercised before this sudden trip into Hertfordshire. A local gentleman is stabling the horses, seeing to their treatment and proper feeding.”
“Cathy! That team of bays is particularly fine! You promised me most faithfully to care for them properly when I sold them to you,” the earl fussed. “When horses founder, they end up at the glue factory!”
“They are just horses James,” Lady Catherine fussed. “More horses are for sale every day at the market.”
“But you do not have the funds to buy more horses, let alone the oats to feed the ones you own,” William argued. “Now you will have to pay the expense for the blacksmith saving the horses and the feed to keep them elsewhere while they heal.”
“It is a trifling sum–no more than ten pounds,” Lady Catherine replied. William wondered if his aunt had ten pounds in her accounts. She remained at Matlock house waiting until her sister-in-law would tire of her and send her back to Kent in the Matlock carriage.
“But the horses may never recover fully,” the earl said disgusted with his sister’s negligence.
“What is more important?” Lady Catherine asked. “A team of horses or the future of my niece?”
“Why are you so interested in Georgiana suddenly, sister?” the earl asked.
Lady Catherine leaned forward and whispered, “Since she is not George’s daughter, I thought it was time to move her from his negligent care.”
“What do you mean?” demanded William as he stood and looked down upon his uncle and aunt seated before him. He did not realize how much like his father he appeared when he was angry or how frightening.
“When your mother was increasing with your sister, she told us both that her husband was not the father of her expected child. The father was a friend of our family she had originally hoped to marry before your father’s proposal won our father’s approval,” Lady Catherine reported casually, glancing toward her brother and then toward her brother-in-law who stood silent and furious.
But rather than initiating a heated argument, the young man was merely disgusted with his relatives and laughed bitterly. The Earl of Matlock was unhappy to be the object of anyone’s laughter and Lady Catherine was embarrassed.
“Do you think your gossip matters to me?” he asked. “Do you think your words hurt me? Whatever your words here tonight, I know that my father cares deeply for both me and my sister.”
He walked over to his father’s side to form a united front. “Lady Catherine, my good father has entrusted my sister to my care–I asked for the opportunity to spend time with my only sister after my years at university. Would you deny me the chance to form a lasting bond with my sister?”
“Your sister will marry and leave you someday...”
“But she will always remain my sister. Would to God I could sever other familial relationships,” William said.
George Darcy smiled at his son and turned back to his brother-in-law.
“Matlock, this is my final offer to save the dowries for your daughters, hand over the estate of Gracebridge Manor and give up gambling; then I shall pay your mortgage on Matlock–I shall not hand over the money to anyone, but the bank and I shall require papers that secure the dowries without your ability to tap the funds again.”
“That was not what I asked for!” the earl argued.
George smiled and replied, “But with the great insult to me and my departed wife by her own sister and brother tonight, it is my price nonetheless.”
Now he turned to his son and said, “I believe I prefer supper at my club. Would you care to join me?”
“Certainly Father,” William replied before the two men walked away from the buzzing Fitzwilliam household.
**++**