Chapter Eighty-Five
Having now been given leave to propose to Miss Bennet, the Colonel was wracked by indecision. Should he make a formal speech, or just tell her what was in his heart? Should he kneel down, or would that make him look like a fool? Should he dress formally, or wear his uniform?
His mother heard him pacing about in his room and muttering to himself, and she soon became concerned. Was he ill? Finally, she accosted him. “What is troubling you so, Richard? No, you need not deny it; I have known you too long to be mistaken.”
He shook his head and looked away, but finally muttered. “It is Mary.”
“Miss Bennet, do you mean?” Her voice was stern.
“I suppose I must still call her Miss Bennet, but to me she is Mary.”
“Have you proposed to her yet?’
“No, and that is the dilemma!”
“I do not follow you.”
“How did Father propose to you, Mother?’
The Countess shook her head. “That will not help you, Richard. Ours was not a love match, you know. We came to love one another, but it did not begin that way.” She smiled to think of the shy Viscount who had all but stuttered out a proposal. “Does she care for you, Richard?”
“I think so.”
His mother heard the indecision in his voice, the uncharacteristic self-doubt. “Would you like me to ascertain this?”
The Colonel hesitated. It was no real man’s trick, to send his own mother into the battle before him!
The Countess understood his reluctance and said, “Think of me as a spy in the enemy camp.”
The Colonel laughed aloud. “Very well, madam; go forth and espy the encampment!”
***
That very afternoon, the Countess went to call on her niece. After the pleasantries were exchanged, the Countess got right down to business. “Elizabeth, is your sister fond of my son?”
Elizabeth stared at her aunt by marriage and then began to laugh. “Did he send you here to ask that?’
The Countess, as usual, found Elizabeth’s laughter rather infectious and joined in. “Well, I volunteered my services.”
“Honestly, Aunt Ellen, we are just wondering why he is taking so long to come to the point!”
“So she would accept him?”
“She would accept him even if it meant following the drum!”
“Oh! Well, that is wonderful!”
“She has had a tendré for him since they first met.”
“But she does know that she would not have to follow the drum, does she not?”
“She does; he told her early on of the estate left him by his aunt. Heavens, Aunt Ellen, tell him to just get on with it. William has already written to my father and obtained his consent.”
The Countess was back in her carriage in five minutes’ time. And half an hour after that, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam was announced.