Chapter 1 #3
Once armed with receipts and letters of acquittal, Darcy applied for a writ of capias ad satisfaciendum.
Since he had seen Wickham engaged in a card game at a coffee house on High Street, the magistrate was swiftly able to arrest Wickham.
Naturally, the rogue did not have the funds to pay his debts; indeed, as he was removed from the coffee house, several other players were incensed and demanded he immediately pay them his debts of honour.
The magistrate ended up giving Darcy a list of four men and the amounts Wickham owed them, in case he wished to add those debts to the tally.
Darcy arranged to do so and soon had the satisfaction of learning that Wickham was under lock and key at the local spunging-house.
After a few days he would be taken to the Debtors’ Prison in Dover Castle.
Darcy’s action, removing Wickham from society in this way, was contrary to the usual understanding of the Gentleman’s Code and Darcy would be paying the prison upkeep fees for the rest of Wickham’s life.
Still, Darcy could not see how it made sense to allow the man the freedom to slip away from debts and ruined women in one location, only to spring up somewhere else, just as handsome and charming as ever, where he could incur more debts and ruin more women.
It was not tenable—especially not when ladies like the Bennet sisters or even his own sister could be the reprobate’s next victim.
The next day, Darcy and Georgiana went to Pegwell Bay again. This time, the three Gardiner children promptly came up to Georgiana and begged her to come help with the day’s sandcastle. She turned her eyes to her brother, asking if she may, and he said, “Of course.”
He then made his way to Mr Gardiner, who was watching the children’s sand play with a smile. He did not notice Darcy’s approach until Darcy’s shadow fell onto the older man; then Mr Gardiner bounded up from his blanket, and the two bowed.
“My dear, allow me to introduce Mr Darcy,” he said. “Mr Darcy, my wife, Mrs Gardiner.”
The lady rose and curtseyed to Darcy’s bow, and the two exchanged compliments. Then Darcy asked, “Sir, if I may speak with you in private?”
They moved several feet away. Darcy informed the man that Wickham had been arrested for his debts. “No place with so many soldiers could be deemed entirely safe, sir, but I wished to assure you that there will be no harm to your nieces coming from that particular individual.”
Mr Gardiner looked amazed but pleased. He started to thank Darcy, thought better of acknowledging aloud that Darcy had removed Wickham, himself, and then floundered about what he could say.
Darcy shook his head. “No need to thank me. I only did what was right on behalf of everyone in the nation, truly.”
“What you did was extraordinary, sir,” Mr Gardiner insisted. “And on behalf of everyone in the nation, but myself and my family in particular, I thank you.”
As Mr Gardiner returned to his wife, Darcy perched on a boulder where he could supervise Georgiana from several yards away.
This time, Miss Bennet and Georgiana were seated near the Gardiner daughter, cheering on the little girl’s efforts to build a sandcastle all by herself.
In the meantime, Miss Elizabeth was closer to the water, with the two Gardiner sons.
The boys were darting about, and Miss Elizabeth was of course in motion of some kind—he kept his eyes squarely on Georgiana, but he could see movement from the corners of his eyes.
Darcy was pleased at the evident delight on his sister’s face, and he was surprised and pleased to hear both her and Miss Bennet speaking as well as laughing, although their murmuring voices remained unintelligible against the background noise of the ocean and the Gardiner boys.
Not so Miss Elizabeth’s voice. She called out to the boys in such clear, bell-like tones, he heard every word.
And she always had interesting things to say—imaginative things such as, “And what, pray tell, is the name of the kelp monster?” and informative things such as, in response to a question, “This is called a common periwinkle. See how the spiral is similar to the whelk, but the shell is much smoother?”
She was singularly fascinating.
The next two days, Darcy sent his sister to the bay with her governess and several footmen; he had much to do, as he was starting a new project with his man of business.
Mr Staniels was the most discreet and capable gentleman with whom he had ever had the pleasure of dealing.
Thanks to him, Darcy’s life was made much simpler in many important ways, but also in a relatively unimportant one: Darcy was able to enjoy the game of chess again.
He had two chess boards set up in the library of Pemberley, two smaller boards in Darcy House, and an easily transportable board that he travelled with.
Staniels somehow had room in his office for four chessboards.
The two men had to exchange letters often because of various investments and projects, and so they also played multiple long-distance games by writing at the bottom of each letter one or more chess moves.
Staniels was exceedingly clever, and he won almost a third of the games against Darcy. It turned out that Darcy did not mind being defeated, and he did not mind long-running games—as long as he did not have to sit around and wait for his opponent’s move.
This new project he outlined to Staniels was…
unusual. Darcy knew that what he was asking Staniels to do could be viewed negatively, but Darcy was determined to do everything with meticulous care and upright motivations.
There would be no risk of besmirching the reputations of innocents.
Purchases would be made, properties would be leased, servants would be hired and trained, monies would be invested in the funds, invitations would be sent—but all by Staniels.
Darcy’s involvement would remain unknown.
The second day of work on the new project was finally over, and Darcy relaxed with a happy smile at the accomplishment. He heard the butler greet Georgiana, who had apparently arrived back at Seaview Cottage, and he eagerly moved to greet her—but stopped when he saw the tears in her eyes.
“What has happened?” Darcy asked, instantly concerned.
“Nothing at all,” she said. “I mean, I had a very pleasant time with the Bennets and the Gardiners. But they told me that tomorrow is their last day here at Ramsgate. They promised to be at the Bay tomorrow, but they have to leave earlier than usual because of washing and packing.”
Darcy smiled, “Would you like me to ask Mr Gardiner if one or more of the ladies or children may correspond with you?”
“Oh, Brother, would you? That is a marvellous idea!” she said.
“Who is it you wish me to ask about?” Darcy asked. He assumed she would wish only to exchange letters with the oldest Gardiner child; he expected that, in her reticence, she would prefer not to attempt to keep in touch with the Bennet ladies, who were quite a bit older than her.
“I would most like to correspond with the Bennet sisters, and I would love to send little pictures, stories, and such to Miss Susan Gardiner, even though she is so much younger than I am.”
“Very well,” Darcy said. “I will go with you, and I will exchange cards with Mr Gardiner, and I will ask if you may write to Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, and Miss Gardiner.”
The next morning, Darcy stuck to their plan, and Mr Gardiner immediately informed Darcy that he was in trade; he said, "I run Gardiner Emporium, which stocks high-quality textiles from all over the world.” Darcy nodded, since he had heard this from Jameson before he had even met Mr Gardiner.
He still held out his card to Mr Gardiner, whose expression changed from hesitant to surprised to pleased.
The man took Darcy’s card in exchange for his own, which was printed on high quality paper.
“Please, call me Gardiner,” he said. Darcy reciprocated, and Gardiner then happily agreed to allow the correspondence.
“I should tell you that the Bennet ladies will return home soon after we leave. But if you write to me at Gracechurch Street, I will give you their direction once I have obtained permission from their father.”
Darcy nodded, and they settled down with Mrs Gardiner to watch the ladies and the children building their last misshaped shell-decorated sandcastle of the holiday.
Darcy kept his eyes trained on his own sister; let it never be said that he had no self-control.
He could not help but hear all the voices, but the only time he glimpsed Miss Elizabeth was when Georgiana ran up to her as they were saying goodbye.
Georgiana had tears in her eyes, and she seemed to give Miss Elizabeth the longest hug.
He saw them nod to one another, and he wondered if they were promising to write.
He looked away, feeling a bit emotional as well.
I must do something to ensure that Georgiana has opportunities to meet girls and young ladies her age, he determined. He was not certain how he would go about it, but it was a project worth doing.
He had been working so hard on his latest project, but the fact was that everything was now in place, and it only needed time—quite a lot of time, as it happened—to mature.
That meant he was wishing for a new project to distract him from the wait.
Finding friends, or at least discovering opportunities for Georgiana to find friends, seemed a very worthy endeavour.