Chapter 46
Chapter Forty-Six
The morning of the funeral for Andrew Fitzwilliam, Viscount Ashburn, was bleak, with rain drizzling steadily and a thick fog clinging low to the ground.
The carriages carrying the four gentlemen from Matlock to the churchyard moved slowly, their drivers cautious with the limited visibility.
Only a handful of brave souls ventured out to pay their respects, for the dismal weather had discouraged many mourners from attending.
By the time the service concluded, the fog had begun to lift, albeit slightly, revealing a grey and sombre landscape.
As the day wore on, the rain eased, and a steady stream of neighbours from the surrounding estates began arriving at Matlock.
Ostensibly, they came to pay their respects to the family, though it was clear many were equally eager to gather whatever scraps of gossip the occasion might offer.
Knowing this, Lady Julia and Elizabeth kept the conversations polite but shallow, deftly steering interactions towards pleasantries and swiftly guiding each guest through their visit without appearing rude.
At last, the appointed hour for calls came to an end, and the butler was instructed to refuse entry to any further visitors.
Throughout the afternoon, the gentlemen had deliberately stayed clear of the parlour where the ladies received their callers, leaving them to manage the parade of curious neighbours.
When the final guest was shown out, a maid was sent to invite the gentlemen to join the ladies for refreshments.
While Lord Matlock tried to delay joining the ladies, the other gentlemen insisted upon it.
As soon as the door was closed and everyone was seated, Lord Hawthorne wasted no time addressing the matter at hand.
“Silas, what in the devil is going on here? My daughter returned to my house a month ago with little understanding of the situation. Half the servants in this house are borrowed from your nephew’s estate, and I am hearing rumours in town that you cannot pay your bills.
Now your eldest son is dead, and from what I understand, you knew he had been taken prior to receiving word that he was dead. ”
At this last statement, every head in the room turned sharply towards Lord Hawthorne. The air grew tense at his revelation; no one else had heard this piece of information before now.
“Servants who go unpaid for months are rarely loyal,” Lord Hawthorne continued, his voice measured but laced with meaning.
“Even if they remain in your service, it is not for love of their employer, but because they know they will have a roof over their heads and food on their plates.” He leant back slightly, his sharp eyes fixed on Matlock, as if daring him to respond with anything but the truth.
“What?… How?” Lord Matlock stammered in surprise.
“What do you mean Father knew Andrew had been taken?” Fitzwilliam barked out.
“Late last night my messenger arrived. He learned you received a note Tuesday afternoon that you immediately crumpled and threw onto the floor of your study. As soon as I received Richard’s note asking us to come for Andrew’s funeral, I sent a man to London to see what he could learn.
Your servant handed my man the note that was still on your floor, since there was no maid at Matlock House to clean up after you,” Lord Hawthorne retorted.
Lord Matlock rubbed his hand across his face in surprise and exhaustion.
“Yes, I received a note from the men Andrew owed money to on the same day that Richard discovered him. They were demanding that the money be paid immediately, and I was trying to put the funds together when I received Richard’s note.
It is my guess that something happened that resulted in his death, for I do not think they meant to kill him. ”
“Silas, you fool, do not attempt to play these damnable games with me!” his father-in-law thundered, surprising everyone in the room.
“You know damn well that is not what the note said, and neither did it come from Andrew’s creditors.
They are asking for the money you owe, money that was lost when your ships carrying slaves to the Caribbean or to the Americas were either sunk or captured by privateers.
We know everything already—that for the last several decades Matlock’s wealth has come directly from the slave trade.
That despite your arguments in support of abolition, you were secretly funding ships that were carrying slaves from Africa to the Americas.
That since the Slave Act was passed, with your support, you have continued to fund these ships and perpetuate the ill that is slavery. ”
“I… I,” Matlock stammered, seemingly unable to complete a thought.
“We also know that Aunt Catherine was a part of this, and that the investment you tried to sell me and Hargrove was a slave ship, or perhaps you merely intended for us to cover your own losses, and we would have found our own investments had disappeared,” Darcy replied, his anger seeming to grow with each word.
“We also know that you were behind Lady Catherine’s death.
I imagine you did not care for the way she defied you, for I believe you told me she was on her way to Matlock when she was, in fact, far from there.
She had grown increasingly erratic after discovering that she could no longer control Anne or Rosings, and you were worried what she might say or do that would uncover your shady dealings. ”
“If your aunt had had her way, you would have married Anne long ago. She was still plotting to have your wife killed and would likely have aimed for Hargrove next, for she was determined to have you and Anne wed. I was never able to understand her fixation on it, but regardless, her death meant your wife was protected,” Matlock threw back at his nephew.
“My wife was well protected and my aunt incapable of hiring competent men. It is fortunate that she believed herself far superior to every one else and so could not understand why every plan she made failed,” Darcy replied harshly.
Elizabeth reached out and placed her hand on his arm, immediately calming him. He drew a long breath and sat back in his seat.
Fitzwilliam watched this, shaking his head in surprise at the connection between the two. For a brief moment, he thought of Miss Bennet and wondered if one day, her touch would have the same effect on him.
“Father, we need to know who the men are that you owe, and if the debt is real or imagined. Do they believe you owe them because of losses, or do you truly owe them money? If it is the latter, we will find a way to pay them, but regardless, it is necessary that you go into hiding,” Fitzwilliam said.
Lord Matlock looked at his son, aghast. “Matlock cannot afford to pay such an enormous debt. The estate’s income has been slowly declining for the last decade, and the only thing sustaining it has been the income from those ships.
However, the last few have been lost, for various reasons, and I had to borrow heavily on the last one.
When word came that that ship went down, the men came demanding their funds back and did not appreciate that it was gone.
” He paused to consider the matter for several moments.
“They threatened Andrew first, since his proclivities were well known in society and believed he would not be missed. I sent him to Matlock to hide, but he was supposed to go from there to Scotland where he could live in obscurity for a time, at least until I could find a way to obtain the funds to pay the men back.”
“Well, now it is you who will have to live a life in obscurity,” Lady Julia retorted.
“It will not be for a short time, but for the rest of your life. You have risked everything, and it has cost you everything. With Andrew dead, Richard is now the viscount; he will go to London to sell his commission. While that should help pay some of the debt, the rest will need to be borrowed from Father and from Darcy, although Matlock will have to pay it back over the next decade. Both men have agreed to pay half of the remaining debt, but only if you disappear and Richard is the de facto earl. He cannot take your seat in the House of Lords, but at least he can keep the estate afloat. Again, my father and Darcy have pledged themselves to assist in whatever way they can but with the caveat that you remain out of sight. If you return to London or to Matlock, then the debt immediately comes due.”
“You cannot do this!” Lord Matlock cried.
“Why ever not? You were the greedy fool who valued wealth above all else. You have attempted to manipulate this family into doing what you wanted without thought for what we wanted. We could have retrenched, we could have found any number of honourable ways to keep Matlock self-sufficient, but instead, you chose to trade in human lives. Should your actions become known, it would create a scandal that would ruin everyone connected with the name Fitzwilliam. Father pointed out that your actions could be considered treasonous, resulting in not only your death, but potentially the seizure of everything we own,” Lady Julia insisted.
“You would have done that to your family without thinking of how it affected any of us. It has cost us one son; would you have it cost us another?”
There was truly little Lord Matlock could say.
Before he could think of a response, he collapsed into his chair and clutched at his chest. At first, everyone in the room sat and watched him, unsure what was happening, but nearly as quickly they realised he was genuinely in distress and began to move into action.