Chapter 2.13
The Matlocks had no dinner that evening.
Colonel Fitzwilliam brought his mother home safely then hurried to his club. He needed company and entertainment to expel the memory of the horrible fight between his brother and his mother.
He blamed his elder brother entirely as much as he loathed his sister-in-law.
It was hard to believe that Thomas Fitzwilliam was such a weak man.
On further consideration, the colonel observed that his brother seemed not insensible regarding the young maid.
It was easy to guess that, finding so little warmth and passion inside his marriage, he turned his attention elsewhere.
Even more so, the colonel remembered hearing his brother mention Maud’s name several times during the last months.
Even then, he suspected his brother’s interest for a young, lovely maid but never opened the subject; he had been rather amused by it.
It was far from being a rare situation: most men with means, bound in a marriage of convenience, kept a mistress—or more than one.
Few men had Darcy’s good fortune to marry for love.
It was also true that few had Darcy’s courage—to follow their heart instead of the demands of family.
And yes, he was certain that his own parents would object strongly if any of them chose a wife below their position and connections.
In Darcy’s case, the earl expressed his disagreement but had little to say on the matter.
Darcy did not once beg for their approval, and nobody could deter him from marrying Elizabeth.
His mother had been more diplomatic—as always—and her affection for Elizabeth had grown, but that also happened because she had no choice.
Darcy would have preferred to cut the connection with them if they continued to disapprove of his wife, and that forced Lady Matlock to give Elizabeth the attention and respect she deserved.
If Darcy were a weaker man, the Matlocks never would have accepted Elizabeth; he was certain of that.
Therefore, the colonel could sympathise with Thomas’s reproach toward his mother.
Yes, everyone had approved of Beatrice and encouraged him to marry her.
She was no better and no worse than the majority of ladies in her position.
What the colonel could neither forgive nor find excuses for was his negligence and lack of responsibility in finding an arrangement that would have avoided such tragic events.
He also blamed his elder brother for his impertinence in handling the discussion with their mother, as well as his offensive comments regarding Elizabeth.
It was a very ungentlemanlike strategy, which would turn Darcy into his enemy if it were ever discovered.
Colonel Fitzwilliam was relieved when he reached the club; inside, there was a gathering of the most distinguished gentlemen of the ton, most of them appearing happy and carefree. And without a doubt, most of them had a similar situation in their lives but probably gave it little thought.
∞∞∞
Lady Matlock began to feel ill even before she left her elder son’s house.
She barely managed to walk from the main gate to her room on the arm of her younger son.
Once inside her apartment, she rang for her maid, changed into a nightgown, and fell against the pillows, sending word to her husband that she would not dine that evening.
She felt unable to have any conversation and only needed silence to think through everything that had occurred.
Her pain was as heavy as her sorrow and disappointment.
With equal surprise and concern, Lord Matlock received the information that his wife would not join him for dinner. She had always been the strongest supporter of rules and decorum, and she always behaved with the same manners she demanded of others.
He knocked on her door and waited to be invited in—as he had done for the five and thirty years they had been married. He found his wife pale, her eyes betraying a trace of tears, her beautiful features twisted by obvious suffering.
“What is it, my dear? Ellen, you are frightening me; you look truly ill. I will send for Dr. Harris at once.”
“Please stay with me, husband. I do not need Dr. Harris. I am as fine as can be expected under the present circumstances.”
“What circumstances?”
“Did Robert tell you anything?”
“No—he left for his club as soon as you arrived home. Is he the reason for your distress?”
“We must cease blaming him so readily. I did the same and most unjustifiably. It is Thomas about whom we must worry.”
“Thomas? What on earth do you mean?”
For almost an hour, Lady Matlock shared with her husband the knowledge she had acquired that day—a day that painfully changed many of her beliefs and deprived her of her pride in her son and the hope of a grandson.
If only a few days before the prospect of Thomas having an heir by a servant would have been horrifying and unacceptable for Ellen Fitzwilliam, Countess of Matlock, the realisation that the child existed and was tragically lost forever brought her unbearable pain and a sense of guilt that she could not overcome.
The earl, however, listened to the story with much interest and great preoccupation for his wife, but his feelings were different.
The subject was not at all strange to him.
He even remembered his brother-in-law Sir Lewis de Bourgh having an inclination for his wife’s maid.
The difference was that Catherine de Bourgh pretended to be oblivious to her husband’s weakness, and the named maid left the household to “take care of her old mother,” and they barely heard of her again.
At the gentleman’s death, the woman was left with a fair amount of money and a modest house in town, where she likely was still living.
To avoid scandal and gossip, Catherine had never opposed her late husband’s will.
Lord Matlock gently kissed his wife’s hand.
“I am very sorry for your sorrow, my dear. I can understand your pain, and I will make sure Thomas hears my opinion on the subject. What a strange twist of fate, though, that the maid was found by, of all people, Darcy and his wife. I wonder whether anyone else would even consider taking a strange woman into their house. Darcy has indeed changed since he met his new wife.”
“I am not certain whether he has changed or has always been a superior sort of man, and his wife only brought his excellent traits to the surface. It appears to be quite different in our son’s case.”
“Come now, Ellen, you cannot be so harsh on your own son for a mistake. Yes, he has been weak, but these sorts of accidents are rather frequent among the gentlemen of the ton.”
Lady Matlock’s eyes were lit with fire.
“Accidents? Leaving a servant with child then throwing her out into the cold? Throwing out your own child to die in the dead of winter? Letting my grandson die? He was a boy—did you know that? Is that an accident?”
“Ellen, please…you will make yourself ill if you do not calm yourself. I can understand how much you suffer, but it will soon pass. We cannot change what happened. And Thomas is no worse than any other of his peers. He is like any other gentlemen we know.”
“I am calm, husband. I just wonder whether you have lost your mind too. You keep repeating that it is a common situation. Does that make it better, or does it prove our failure as parents? Can you imagine Darcy behaving in such a way?”
“Let us not make such a comparison. We do not know how Darcy would have behaved if he had married as his duty required, nor do we know how his marriage will end. That he disregarded reason and failed to fulfil everyone’s expectations in his marriage is not necessarily praiseworthy.”
“Well, you should be content that your son followed reason and our expectations in his marriage. We were all delighted when Thomas chose Beatrice and so upset when Darcy decided to marry Elizabeth. We wholly approved of the first and rejected the second. And now we can all contemplate the outcome in both cases. Again, this proves what excellent advice and principles we provided for him and what good judges of characters we both are.”
“Ellen! That is grossly unfair!”
“We had the absurd arrogance to disapprove of Darcy’s choice of a wife!
Can you dare to compare Elizabeth with your daughter-in-law?
What kind of choice did your son make with our support and encouragement?
A woman who stands for nothing but vain appearance, useless education, and an unkind, selfish character!
You called Elizabeth a country nobody, but observe how much joy, happiness, and love she has brought to Darcy and Georgiana!
Watch her smiling countenance with the servants!
Then go and see your daughter-in-law’s treatment of her staff!
It is our fault as much as Thomas’s! But this will not remain as it is! I shall not allow it!”
“Lady Matlock! You should calm yourself before you do something unreasonable! We should better rest now and continue this conversation tomorrow.”
“Lord Matlock! Tomorrow will bring no improvement. Let us at least take responsibility for our wrongs! Can you not see how foolish are all our pretensions to superiority? We are no better than any others! We failed in raising our firstborn child as the honourable gentleman he should be.”
“Ellen, how can you say that?”
“How can I not? I had the arrogance to believe that my children would be better, not as bad as others! I foolishly believed that each would become a good example, not a shameful one! Can you not see how wrong we have been?”
“I strongly disagree with you. I have always been proud of my sons!”
“So have I, and it seems we were wrong! How is possible that Darcy grew up almost by himself and turned out to be such an excellent man, and our son is so deficient in character and generosity? Do you not see that this proves how little we mean as parents? We taught him nothing of consequence!”