Chapter 5
Chapter Five
“What is it, Richard?” Darcy demanded as he entered his study. Richard was already helping himself to his port, Darcy noticed.
“First, how in the world did you come to be engaged to Miss Bennet after the disaster you made of it in Kent? I was shocked to see her smiling at your table and then hearing you announce your engagement. More surprising was how pleased she looked about it.”
Darcy smiled. “I arrived ahead of the rest yesterday and came across Elizabeth in the gardens.
We spoke and have both apologised for our misunderstandings.
The letter I had written before leaving Kent had changed her view of me and made her think of me in a much more positive light over the last months.
“Seeing her again, here, at Pemberley where I had dreamed of seeing her so often, Richard, was a dream come true. By the end of the afternoon, I had invited her and her family to stay while in Derbyshire and then asked her for a courtship. She told me she did not need a courtship, so I proposed again, forgoing the insults this time, and was accepted. We plan to marry in mid-October. Will you stand up with me?”
“What of her family?” Richard asked.
“What of them?” Darcy asked with a scowl.
“Elizabeth has attained her majority, but her uncle has given his blessing as her temporary guardian. He and I both posted letters to her father, and she wrote to him and her elder sister. Bingley will return to Netherfield on Monday to court the eldest Miss Bennet again—I confessed to my actions in separating them and have been forgiven. Elizabeth does not want a large or grand wedding, so she has asked her father and sister to conceal the matter from her mother until the last moment.”
“You thought they were beneath you once?” Richard reminded.
“I was wrong,” Darcy admitted. “Her mother will be a trial, but I will learn to tolerate her for Elizabeth’s sake.
Elizabeth is often frustrated by her as well, but we recognise that we all have relations that give us pause.
I will obtain a common licence to keep the banns from being read and bringing Aunt Catherine upon us.
“Her aunt and uncle who are here are in trade, though he is well off and well respected. Your father invests with him, and I have discovered I was scheduled to meet with him about some investments when we returned to town. I was a fool for thinking too highly of myself and too little of others. Elizabeth has humbled me, and I find I am a better man for it.”
“Good for you, cousin,” Richard proclaimed.
“I knew she would be the making of you once you got off your high horse enough to see it. I was surprised when you confessed that you had offered for her in Kent and more so when you told me of her refusal.” Richard stopped, taking a long sip of the drink in front of him.
“Now, to the reason I am here …” Richard began to explain how since Darcy had informed him of Wickham’s presence in the militia in Hertfordshire, he had been keeping tabs on him, quietly, of course.
Darcy knew that Lydia was in Brighton along with Wickham and the militia and asked Richard about her.
“Wickham has been sniffing around her, but he is well-watched. His debts are mounting; he’ll bolt soon. As soon as he does, he will be caught before he can even depart Brighton and brought before a military trial for desertion,” Richard announced.
“And if he persuades some young miss, like Elizabeth’s youngest sister, to go with him?” Darcy asked.
“It will all be handled quietly,” Richard assured him. “I know the colonel in charge of his unit, and we have been corresponding. If Miss Lydia is staying with him, he will be watching her and him even more closely and hopefully will prevent anything from getting too far.”
“Good,” Darcy said. “Elizabeth had told me she was concerned that her father allowed her youngest sister to go and had tried to persuade him from it. However, he thought she would realise her insignificance if she went and so allowed her anyway—to keep the peace.”
Richard scowled. “A father with five daughters should not be that cavalier about their reputations.”
Darcy nodded his agreement. “What about your business in Matlock?”
Richard replied, smiling, “Father needed me to fetch some papers, and I hoped to get some of the receipts from where you have paid off Wickham’s debts as well. It will make it that much easier to settle the man if we have greater proof of his perfidy.”
Darcy went to his safe and removed a stack of bills and receipts.
“Thank you, Richard. I likely should have done more when I was in Meryton, but I am glad that you have been able to act to put a stop to him. Handling it through the military makes it harder for him to carry through with his threats to ruin Georgiana.”
“I would have preferred to run him through,” Richard admitted. “But this feels satisfactory as well. I will not feel bad to see him swing or to face a firing squad.”
Darcy grimaced. “Is transportation an option?”
“Seriously, Darcy,” Richard protested. “After all that man has done, you would prefer he be allowed to be transported rather than be killed?”
“I cannot help it, Richard. He was my father’s godson.
He would have preferred to see him transported than sentenced to death.
Although,” Darcy paused, thinking back. “He never knew how bad Wickham was. I tried to tell him once, but he attributed it to jealousy. I never tried again. I think he would have been furious to have learned what he tried with Georgiana.”
The two men continued to talk a while longer before finally seeking their beds. Both men entered the family wing to see a white-clad woman wandering the hall. Richard grabbed Darcy and pulled him into the shadows to watch.
A footman was posted outside Darcy’s bedroom door. “Who goes there?” he called as he saw the woman.
“Mr. Darcy asked me to join him tonight,” they heard Miss Bingley tell the footman. “He will want you to let me into his room.”
“I was told that no one was to enter these rooms other than the master himself,” the footman said.
Before anything else could be said, Richard quietly approached the footman. “Peter, what is this?”
“This, uh, woman, said Mr. Darcy asked her to join him in his rooms tonight. My orders were to prevent anyone’s entry, other than the master himself,” the boy answered.
“Miss Bingley, why would Mr. Darcy invite you to his rooms when his intended is sleeping just down the hall? Not to mention, my cousin despises you. Are you trying to orchestrate a compromise?” Richard jeered.
“I was invited to his rooms,” Miss Bingley persisted.
“Like you were invited to his home?” Richard scoffed. “Peter, I will ensure Miss Bingley does not enter my cousin’s rooms. If you would, go ask the footman down the hall to fetch her brother and then return. Oh, and ask Mr. Darcy to join us as well. You will find him just down the hallway.”
“What?” Miss Bingley protested as the footman headed down the hall. “There is no need to fetch my brother.” Then, turning to Mr. Darcy. “I am here as you requested, sir, but these people do not believe me.”
“My cousin and my staff are protecting me, Miss Bingley. Even if you had found your way into my rooms, even if you were found naked in my bed, I would never marry you. Your brother is well aware of this fact,” Darcy told her bluntly.
“And if you did not want this shared with your brother, you should never have acted this way.”
“But you asked me to come,” Miss Bingley insisted.
“When exactly is this supposed to have occurred? I have not spoken so much as a word to you that was not in company with others. And my fiancée is just down the hall—I would never dishonour her by inviting another woman into my bed,” Darcy responded heatedly.
More doors down the hall began to open, starting with the Gardiners’ and Elizabeth’s, and then Bingley joined the growing group.
Thankfully, Georgiana was a heavy sleeper and was likely unaware of the noise.
Elizabeth’s eyes grew large when she saw Miss Bingley standing in her nightgown in the hallway outside William’s doors.
As Darcy made his way to meet Bingley, he stopped briefly by Elizabeth.
Caroline gasped to see that Elizabeth had been placed in the family wing while she had been relegated to a guest wing in another part of the house.
“All is well, my love. Richard and I had just come upstairs from my study when we saw Miss Bingley trying to demand entrance from the footman into my rooms. I need to speak to Charles, but she will most definitely be leaving at first light,” he reassured her.
“She is persistent, and while I was surprised when I heard you order footmen to remain in the hall all night, I see the necessity of that step. I love you, William, and, more importantly, at this moment, I trust you completely,” she told him. “Get some rest, my love.”
Ignoring propriety, he leaned down and pressed a light kiss to her lips before turning to Bingley, who had paused a few feet away.
Shutting her door, Elizabeth laughed to herself.
While it should have been shocking, in many ways, she was unsurprised by Miss Bingley’s final attempt to get what she wanted.
She heard the rumble of voices in her hallway and heard more doors close.
She laid back down and quickly fell asleep, thinking of William.
In the morning, she met William in the hallway as planned. A footman was nearby to act as chaperone, and William offered his arm as they went outside to the gardens. They spoke about the events of the previous night.