Chapter Sixteen
London
Lady Matilda Fitzwilliam, the Countess of Matlock, leaned languidly against the doorjamb and eyed Darcy with a look that would have made Rebecca proud.
“You are fortunate, my nephew, that Phillip remains, in his heart, a man of God. If it were Richard’s rival you were sheltering, I daresay you would be deceased before dinner. ”
Darcy looked up from the letter he was composing in the spacious library of his uncle’s house. His aunt – a woman only three months older than himself – managed to chasten him with a disappointed shake of her head. He smiled ruefully.
“I have no wish to disoblige the household. It is only for a day or two; he has nowhere else to go since his mother has turned him out of her house. I confess, I feel rather responsible for Edward.”
Lady Matilda screwed up her face. “Why? I pity his situation, naturally, but surely you cannot blame yourself.”
“He arrived unexpectedly – and in a pitiful state – about an hour ago, when everyone else was away from home; I thought by now I might have conceived some way to phrase it prettily for you, but I must speak candidly,” Darcy said with a sigh.
“About a fortnight ago, Edward sought my counsel, and I am not proud of how I spoke to him. I disapproved of Miss Steele, for even after a quarter hour in her company, I had a sense that she makes the Bennet sisters uneasy. I refused to speak to his mother on his behalf, to aid him in informing Mrs. Ferrars of his engagement more gently than it was done last evening.”
Lady Matilda scoffed. “She is a horrid woman – can you really think it would have made any difference?”
“It is impossible to know and pointless to speculate,” he replied with a frown.
“But I am sorry for how I behaved toward him. Having been so thoroughly admonished by Miss Elizabeth at the ball, I thought only of avoiding any interference in the romantic entanglements of a friend, as I had done in separating Bingley from Miss Bennet.”
“Ha! It seems to me you have interfered, Darcy, and wronged Miss Bennet a second time. By discouraging him from keeping his promise to Miss Steele, you have set him on his foolhardy course of courting Miss Bennet, who clearly dislikes him. How could you, when Phillip claims to admire her?”
The countess turned and smiled into the corridor, and a moment later Phillip stepped into view. “Whom do I claim to admire, Tilly?”
“Jane Bennet. I say claim because I have seen little evidence of it, for every time we are in company with her, I find you conversing more with her aunt.”
“Her aunt is very pleasant, as is her sister, their hostess, and from what my brother and sister tell me, all their kin in Hertfordshire. But you know I delight in female companionship; I am the only man in this family not perpetually spoiling for a fight.” Phillip kissed his stepmother on the cheek and moved into the room with a jaunty step.
“I shall remember you said that,” the countess drawled. “You are very cheerful today.”
“I have every cause to be. I spent an hour at breakfast with my girls, as the rest of you hedonists remained abed at a most luxurious hour of the morning. I have sent flowers to Miss Bennet, for though last night’s ordeal was distressing for her, my own path is now clear.
And I have just come from Mr. Franklin’s office – I shall be of great service to Richard today, and I could not be better pleased for him. ”
Lady Matilda again peered out into the corridor. “Good afternoon, sir. I trust you are settled now, and your room is to your liking? Excellent. Darcy is here – composing his last will and testament, I presume.”
Darcy frowned at his aunt’s impudence and then tensed as Edward Ferrars stepped into the room. “I must thank you all for your generosity. I have scarcely unpacked, if I am for Kent in a day or two.”
Phillip looked rather smugly at Edward. “Kent? An unusual choice of destination for a wedding trip.”
Edward shifted uncomfortably. “Miss Steele is to remain in London with her friends; at her request, we shall not meet again. Darcy has been good enough to write to your aunt on my behalf, as I understand she has yet to appoint a replacement after the sudden passing of her parson last month.”
“I mean to send an express detailing your circumstances and informing her that you shall arrive on Friday. If she is satisfied with your meeting, she may agree to delay the appointment until you have taken orders, or perhaps she may know of some other situation that would suit,” Darcy told his friend.
“I shall have opened Darcy House by the time you return, and there you shall be welcome for as long as you require.”
“Lady Catherine, excellent!” Phillip grinned.
During his years as a parson, their aunt had attempted many times to persuade him to take the post at Hunsford, for she seldom had a clergyman last more than a year in her parish, but Phillip had always politely declined what he knew would only cause strife in the family.
She would not be an ideal patroness for Edward, but the employment would still signify an improvement from his present condition.
“Until his journey to Rosings, Mr. Ferrars shall be our guest,” Lady Matilda said brightly.
Darcy could see Philip’s morality warring with his own personal feelings, but his good breeding won out.
“You are very welcome, sir, and I wish you every success with my aunt. You must excuse me, but I have only returned home to collect some papers for our solicitor, on some business of my brother’s. ”
Phillip had retrieved the documents in question, and he glanced down at them with an impish smile. “Indeed, if you do not take orders, I may know of another solution to your plight, in Scotland.”
“Scotland?” Edward stammered.
“Yes, my younger brother, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, inherited a small property there from our great uncle. Surely you have heard of my brother’s dealings with John Dashwood.”
“I have.”
“Well, Richard will not render the man completely homeless, and nobody could be so wicked as to force him to reside permanently with your mother. My solicitor had some doubts about the legalities of the matter, with Norland being left to your poor young nephew, but the estate appears to indeed be Dashwood’s rightful property to gamble away, as he did.
Richard has given the man a reasonable period to make him some alternative restitution, and now wishes to collect what is owed to him.
But he has very generously offered him the Scottish pile as a gesture of goodwill.
Perhaps you might join your sister and her husband there; they shall surely be in want of assistance with the repairs required to make the place comfortable. ”
Phillip’s tone was even and amiable, but his triumph was evident to Darcy. So, too, was Edward’s dismay. Darcy felt a pang of pity for his friend, that his family should face yet another fracas on the heels of Edward’s crisis.
Phillip excused himself, and Lady Matilda pursued him, peppering him with questions about Richard’s new acquisition. Left alone with his dejected friend, Darcy hastily completed his letter and dispatched it and then invited Edward to have a drink with him.
For a quarter hour they spoke chiefly of Lady Catherine, the vicarage of Hunsford, and how Edward might present himself to advantage. And then, Mr. John Willoughby was shown into the library.
“Good afternoon,” he said cheerfully. “I was told I would find you here, Ferrars. I completed my valuation of your late father’s collection yesterday, though I had no opportunity last evening to present you with the bank draft.”
He handed Edward a cheque, and Edward gaped as he accepted it. “Five hundred pounds – but surely this is too much!”
“My mother was quite adamant, and I wholeheartedly agree. Forgive me, but if your circumstances are distressed… but I cannot think it charity, when there are many rare volumes and first editions that will fetch us a fine price in the shop. No, I think it just what is fair. And after the events of last evening, perhaps your relations need not know, if it is a greater sum than they are expecting.”
Edward nodded and tucked the cheque into the breast pocket of his coat and then shook hands warmly with Willoughby.
Darcy was a little surprised at the friendly ease between the two gentlemen, for he had considered Willoughby as yet another of Miss Bennet’s suitors.
Feeling it the civil thing to do, and with considerable curiosity, Darcy invited the man to join them for a brandy and a game of billiards.
“I have no talent for the game, though I am always perfectly comfortable in a room full of books,” Willoughby replied. Darcy motioned for his companions to sit, and then poured them each a small glass of brandy.
When they were all settled, Willoughby congratulated Edward on his chivalrous display at dinner. “It was very well done of you to defend Miss Steele in the face of your family’s ire, very well done, indeed. Tell me, how fares your lady after that shocking scene?”
Edward nearly spilled his brandy down his shirt as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
He cleared his throat but did not lift his gaze from the fire that blazed in the hearth.
“I saw her this morning. She is greatly distressed that my family will not welcome her amongst them, and in light of my imminent disinheritance, she has chosen to release me from our engagement. Her new friends have apparently advised her that she can secure a better match than myself, and in truth they are likely correct. I cannot imagine her as a parson’s wife. ”
Willoughby raised his eyebrows. “You mean to take orders?”