Chapter 9 Alternate Arrangements #2
“As I said—according to you, Uncle Matlock, and everyone else—I am the man that must fix everything in the Darcy, Fitzwilliam, and de Bourgh families. Malcolm has the French Disease and will die soon, so we need the heir, who is currently a prisoner in Paris back—my problem! Over the last six months the viscount has gambled away an enormous fortune that Uncle did not catch soon enough, even enough to break the Matlock finances—my problem. The son of my father’s steward is trying his best to sink our family’s reputation because I will not support his profligate lifestyle—my problem.
My aunt, who should have known better, borrowed far more than she can repay from a disreputable lender—my problem.
Miss Bennet is the daughter of an insignificant country squire who could not be bothered to teach his progeny basic manners; nor teach his wife not to entrap young men—my problem.
And that is just the start. I have worked from dawn to midnight for the last fortnight, trying to arrange things so something will be left of this family and its holdings when I return, and I must defer this important business to listen to you rave incoherently—my problem! ”
The last was said emphatically enough that he would have smacked the floor if he had her walking stick.
Lady Catherine gasped, and started to reply, but Darcy held up his hand to forestall whatever tirade she was planning.
“The last straw, and I mean truly the very last straw, was the loan you took out to redo your gardens and build a folly. A folly! Those were a stupid idea when they were in fashion, and they have not been so for decades. The only thing a folly has to recommend it, is that it is the most perfectly named extravagance in the world. Folly indeed. I might have managed everything else, but that was the end of it. You have no idea how precarious your financial position is because you will not listen to anyone. The Earl had no idea how precarious his position was because he could not be bothered to check his eldest son. All of this has landed on my head, because I care, though I wonder why.”
Darcy paused for a second, then sat forward in his chair, staring at his aunt, trying to get her to comprehend.
“Understand this and understand it well! I am marrying Miss Elizabeth Bennet because of you! I would not have just abandoned her to her fate, as I am a gentleman. If our family’s reputation had been pristine and our finances secure, another way could have been found, but marriage to me specifically was the only option that would prevent the vultures from descending on this family for a time. ”
The lady was sitting gasping and staring, not at all certain whether to lash out or listen, though listening was never her strong suit.
Darcy leaned forward and tapped her knee most impertinently.
“This is important! Let us dispense with my nuptials, which are cast in stone. Instead, let us return to my earlier question that you blithely ignored. What does Anne want? More importantly, what does she need?”
“She needs to do her duty to her estate, and she wants to marry you.”
Darcy just shook his head, unable to deal with such obstinacy.
“Did you imagine that Anne and I never discussed this, all these years? I can understand your tendency to think so because we did not—until a few months ago. I was always afraid you might stage a compromise, so I always had a male cousin with me to watch my back at Rosings.”
Catherine made no effort to contradict her nephew since he was right.
“All right, you have my attention. What does Anne want or need, in your opinion?”
Darcy leaned back a bit. “It is not my opinion that matters. What she wants is simple. I already fulfilled her first need, and it was easier than you might think.”
“Which was?”
“She wanted someone to listen and try to understand her point of view. Much to my shame, it took me a decade to do so, but I did eventually.”
“All right! So, you listened to her whining. Shall I give you a sweet?”
Darcy just shook his head in frustration. “It is not whining, and you know it. She is the least complaining person I know.”
“All right, what does she want?”
“She wants to get married.”
Lady Catherine gasped. “Why did you not say so? We can arrange to get rid of this Miss Bennet somehow. My rector was intending to marry one of the Bennet girls, and he will follow instructions. He can have her, and you will be free to marry Anne. Your reputation will be restored when we explain it. So long as both you and Miss Bennet are married, we can work on why it is not to each other.”
Darcy sighed. “Anne does not want to be married to me. She says we are, and I quote, ‘both dour, bad-tempered, shy, and aloof.’ She says, and I agree, that the two of us married would multiply our bad tendencies, because they overlap so much. She needs someone who has strength where she has weakness, and vice-versa.”
Lady Catherine harrumphed. “I can see you are working your way up to some sort of surprise. Get on with it!”
“What Anne wants is simple. She wants a husband who is generally happy, content, and of a naturally cheerful and amiable disposition. It does not matter if he is slightly less serious than a gentleman should be, because she has seriousness to spare.”
“Is that all?”
“No, just the beginning. She wants a man who is cheerful all or most of the time. She wants a man who is flexible—not so set in his ways that he is immune to amendment. She thinks that her upbringing was so constrained that she does not even know what possibilities life holds for her, so she wants a man flexible enough to explore their options and work it out in a mutual partnership.”
Lady Catherine huffed. “That sounds frivolous to me. If she wants to do that, she can go to town and fend for herself.”
Darcy sighed. “No, that is not all. She hates to see the estate that was her father’s, grandfather’s, and great-grandfather’s run into the ground. I showed her your finances, in detail, and it pains her to see it wasted.”
“I do not see how that is any of your business.”
“And yet, you want me to help you every Easter, and you want me to own Rosings, whether it is my business or not. May I finish?”
The lady nodded in bad tempered agreement.
“She would like to restore Rosings. Have you looked at Sir Louis’ will lately?”
Lady Catherine gasped but shook her head.
“It says that Rosings passes to Anne on her twenty-fifth birthday if she is married, or her thirtieth if not.”
“If you had married her, it would all be yours now. It is not too late.”
“You are right and wrong, but I digress. Let me tell you the rest of Anne’s wishes.”
“If you insist.”
“She would like a husband who is kind. That is her most important characteristic, and to be honest, I am not a naturally kind man. For certain, I am dutiful. I take care of my estate, my tenants, the local villagers and even the poor. I see that that my community prospers, and all is done as a gentleman ought—but I am not a naturally kind person. You and I share the Fitzwilliam kindness defect. I am trying to learn to do better, and perhaps my new wife will somehow help me, but it is a struggle for me, while it comes as naturally as breathing for some.”
Catherine grumbled, but was prevented from asking any more, because she was trying to work out what her nephew was getting at.
“Enough of that. Back to Anne. If you recall, she wants a husband who is kind, courteous, and amiable. It would help if he were a man accustomed to living with disagreeable women, since we have a surfeit of them at Rosings, and she is not inclined to ship her mother off to the dower house unless she becomes desperate—Anne’s words, not mine! ”
Lady Catherine scowled fiercely but Darcy continued. “And, since she would like to save her ancestral home, it would be nice to have a husband with money.”
“What are you getting at?” she asked angrily.
Unperturbed, he continued relentlessly, “Let me ask you something. Take yourself out of the question for a moment and think realistically about Anne’s desires.
She is an admittedly sickly girl, though I believe she will grow out of that as soon as she is not coddled.
She wants a man with money. With the size and scope of the hole in Rosings finances, it needs to be a man with real money.
So, let me ask: what would a man, with that kind of finance want with Anne? ”
Lady Catherine at least had the grace to give the question its due, and finally, after several minutes, said, “It sounds like you are describing a man with new money. A banker or tradesman or something like that. He would want Rosings, even if it consumed all his capital, because he would move directly into the landed gentry. He will naturally assume he can make it profitable. His children would be gentlemen. If he bought an estate without a high-status wife, it might take two or three generations, but by marrying Anne, he could speed the process—”
With a gasp, the lady’s ears finally caught up with what her mouth was saying, grabbed her chest with her fists. “What have you done?”
“I have done nothing, aside from introducing two people and getting out of their way. I happen to know a man who met all her criteria, who had recently been disappointed in ‘love’ to the extent that he gave up on the idea altogether. He resolved that a wealthy man could not depend on such fleeting emotions, since he was as likely to be taken advantage of as not.”
Much to his surprise, Lady Catherine jumped to her feet as if she might run out the door, grabbing a battle axe on the way. “I repeat! What have you done?”
Darcy stood up and stared her in the face. “I have done nothing. On the other hand, Anne, who is well past her age of majority, has taken charge of her own life”
“What do you mean?”
Darcy glanced at the clock. “If things went to plan, as of twenty-three minutes ago, Rosings has a new master. You might want to return to Kent to welcome the happy couple: Mr Charles and Mrs Anne Bingley.”
The lady gasped in shock and leaned forward. “You are a snake in the grass. You have destroyed this family. You will taint Rosings with the son of a tradesman!”
Darcy was not intimidated. “Where do you think that last loan you took came from. You are using trade money to build nonsense on the estate. My friend will use trade money to restore Rosings to what it should be. Your pretensions do you no good. You would be best served by getting on his good side, but since he has a sister that is just a younger version of yourself, I am certain he has the skills to weather any storm you can throw.”
“You are just like all the rest. You think a woman cannot think for herself,” she replied angrily.
“To the contrary,” he replied calmly. “I find little difference between the sexes when I think rationally. Anne can think for herself quite well and has taken charge of her life. She is late to the game but making a courageous choice and I applaud her for it, and you should too since she is simply emulating your own stubborn independence. Georgiana has made a few girlish mistakes, but she is much smarter now than anybody gives her credit for. Aunt Margaret is twice as capable as Uncle Hugh, and the less said about the soon to be departed viscount, the better. Even my future wife, as much as I despise the circumstances of our marriage, is cleverer in many areas than most of the men I went to Cambridge with. I have no strong opinion about male versus female—but I do have an opinion about clever versus stupid. I am fed up with the latter, including my own, and anxiously awaiting evidence of the former.”
“You will pay for this. I shall not recognise your new wife.”
“So be it. I will be gone for months. When I return, you are welcome to reestablish contact or not as you choose.”
Lady Catherine jumped up angrily, called loudly for the butler, demanded her carriage post haste, and left, running as fast as possible to see if she could somehow disrupt the abomination that had already occurred at Rosings.
Darcy shook his head, wondering if he had finally managed to move one problem off his plate and onto his friend Bingley’s. He could only hope!
It suddenly occurred to him that he was, in a small way, happy he was getting married. He could not in any way imagine how insufferable the level of fawning would be for Caroline Bingley once her brother was master of such a significant property.
With a grim chuckle, he returned to his desk and his toil, wishing to ensure that everything was done properly for a voyage of three to six months, or the very real possibility he would not return at all. Travelling into a war zone was never a capital idea.