17. Darcy House, London—Saturday, 23 December 1809
Darcy’s usual early breakfast—coffee, poached eggs, toast—was interrupted by his cousin, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam.
This was a somewhat frequent occurrence, and on this occasion a very happy one.
The last Darcy had heard, his cousin had been on a fairly dangerous mission; his presence now meant that Ole Boney’s minions had not felled him.
“I hear dissatisfied grumbles from my parents, Darcy,” Richard said as he made up a huge plateful of food for himself.
Darcy signalled a footman and spoke in a low voice: “Please tell Cook that the colonel has arrived, and our provisions are rapidly surrendering to his invasion. She will understand the tactical manoeuvres needed.”
Richard barked out a loud laugh. The man was always loud, although, thankfully, Darcy House was large enough to allow late sleepers to ignore even Richard’s voice and laughter.
“What are my esteemed uncle and aunt steamed up about?” Darcy asked.
Richard smiled again at the word play. “You, Coz, seem much too happy. You seem almost giddy when compared to the Doomful Darcy of late. What has happened to you?”
“I believe that my question was posed first.”
“Well, Mother has decided, based on things Georgiana has said, that you are courting someone. She has further determined that this someone is not a lady she has handpicked for you, introduced to you, spoon-fed to you, although she worked hard to bring at least a thousand ladies to your notice. If you have turned away, as she suspects, every one of those ladies and decided to court someone unworthy of her notice…she plans to be most vexed.”
“Strangely,” Darcy said, “I had believed myself to be the head of my own family, several years into my majority, and free to choose who I do and do not dance with, call on, court, and marry.”
Richard’s eyes twinkled. “Well, see, we have arrived already at the crux of the problem. I suppose, now that you recognise your misapprehension, you will move to correct it.”
The colonel dove into eating the sausages and eggs, sipping his coffee, and munching through piece after piece of toast. His last sentence just hung in the air while both men ate.
But finally, Richard took a moment to lift his eyes to Darcy and said, “Or, I suppose, given the fact that you are much too loyal for your own good, you might choose not to abandon your lady. Is my mother correct—are you actually courting someone?”
“I am.”
Finally looking as if he was taking the discussion seriously, Richard said, “And this lady you are courting is someone my mother never endorsed?”
“Correct.”
“What is wrong with her, that my mother did not promote her?”
Darcy felt his harsh intake of breath, and he attempted to calm himself by slowly exhaling.
Breathing more normally, he allowed himself to answer.
“Nothing at all is wrong with her. Your mother has never met her and does not know of her existence, so I forgive her for never bringing to my attention the only lady who could afford me marital felicity.”
“Never met her, does not know of her existence…. Good God, man, you have not fallen for a servant, a shop girl, or…an actress…have you?”
“I have not.” Darcy clenched his forehead. He once again concentrated on breathing and relaxing. He felt reluctant to discuss it any further. Doing so just opened Elizabeth up to insult and allowed further assumptions that others had a vote in the matter…which they definitely did not.
“Richard, your mother cares about Georgiana and me, and that means a lot. I have appreciated the ways she has helped us over the years. However, she does not have any right whatsoever to choose or even help choose my bride. Even my mother, if she were alive, would not have that right, and I would firmly tell her so. Naturally, my aunt has even less sway on this choice, which is, to reiterate: she has no sway at all on this subject.”
Richard straightened. “I suppose you are correct, Darcy. Forgive me for furthering my mother’s assumption of her having a voice in a matter of no concern to her.” Then he grimaced. “Except it is a matter that does concern her, of course. Your choice will make a difference to the family.”
“I know that, but you and your parents should know me well enough to realise that I am not going to become infatuated with a woman of pleasure, nor am I going to sire an illegitimate child or become honour-bound to marry a servant. Neither would I choose an actress or a widow who has lain with half the ton. Regardless, the choice is mine alone, but I have considered the family, especially Georgiana, while making it. If members of the family believe that I chose poorly, they are wrong. If they can treat my wife with the respect she deserves, even though they disagree with my choice, all will be well, but if anyone disrespects her, I will cheerfully cut ties with them.”
Richard’s mouth hung open, and Darcy was surprised that his cousin had not anticipated his attitude.
“You said your wife…but you have not married, yet, surely?”
“No.” Darcy could feel his smile, unbidden, take over his face. He said, “I proposed yesterday, and we are engaged.”
“Already? Before you introduced her to any of us?”
“I introduced her to Georgiana.”
“Georgiana is too innocent to discern a fortune hunter.”
“But I am not.” Darcy rose. “Careful, Richard. You are perilously close to disrespecting my intended, and I am as willing to cut ties with you as with Lady Catherine. My butlers and housekeepers like you prodigiously, but they will carry out my orders to deny you entrance into all of my homes if I have reason to make such an order.”
“Sit down, Darce.” Richard tried to smile, but it was an unsuccessful endeavour, and he hurried to say, “I am sorry. This is going to take some getting used to, but perhaps you might start by telling me about your lady?”
“Her name is Elizabeth Bennet, and she is the daughter of a gentleman whose estate is of modest size and earnings…”
Georgiana was very pleased to have a visit with Richard, but she asked, “We can still call on Elizabeth, as we planned, can we not?”
“Might I come along, and meet your intended?” Richard asked, all smiles again.
Before answering, Darcy accepted a letter brought in by Mr Cargyle.
He quickly read it and said, “Mr Gardiner will see me at ten this morning. Elizabeth is hoping that you will come along, Georgiana, but I suppose that you would be welcome, too, Richard—as long as you promise to be on your best behaviour. Do not act as if you are on a fault-finding mission; do not act as if you will be reporting to a family conclave.”
“I promise.”
Once they arrived at the Gardiner house, Darcy introduced his cousin and then reluctantly left Richard with Georgiana and Elizabeth. “Do not make problems,” he said to Richard in a low voice before he picked up a portfolio full of documents and followed Mr Gardiner into his study.
The older man said, “Now that we are almost family, please call me Gardiner. Also, congratulations on your betrothal.”
“Call me Darcy. Thank you for everything; you and your gracious wife helped Elizabeth and I to know one another far better in just a short time. Elizabeth is one of a kind, and you and Mrs Gardiner undoubtedly contributed to her upbringing.”
“She is very special,” Gardiner agreed. “Although I know that most people would consider Lizzy to be the fortunate one because of your wealth and position, I feel the opposite. I believe that you are the lucky one to have won her regard.”
“I am happy that you see it my way,” Darcy said, chuckling a little. “There are men in England with more wealth than I have—”
“Not many,” Gardiner said. “But, yes, some.”
“—but I am convinced that there is not a single lady in the entire nation who is as perfectly fit to be Mrs Darcy and mistress of Pemberley.”
Gardiner smiled widely and said, “Now, I understand you brought your drafts of the marriage documents….”
Half an hour later, Gardiner shook Darcy’s hand. “You are very generous, sir. My solicitor will look these over, but I am certain that I will be able to sign them sometime tomorrow. Which begs the question, when and where do you and Lizzy wish to marry?”
“Since you have signed the consent form, I would be able to apply for a common license today, and that would enable us to marry from London in seven days. But of course I will ask Elizabeth about her wishes before making a move in that or any other direction.”
“Good man,” Gardiner said.
They entered the parlour in time to see that both Elizabeth and Georgiana were laughing hard at some tale told by Richard.
“And then Darcy said,” narrated Richard—
“Just remember,” Darcy said drily, interrupting his cousin, “that Richard excels in paring down stories and building them up and embellishing them sideways, all in the hopes to make his so-called memories more interesting and humorous.”
The colonel continued, “—He said, ‘I have the robber cornered. Come, help me tie his ankles so he cannot run away, so we can interrogate him.’ But when we rounded the corner, with our lanterns, we saw that Darcy had tackled the life-size mannequin the portrait artist had been using to paint his father.”
Elizabeth and Georgiana burst into chuckles and giggles again.
Finally, Elizabeth turned to Darcy with dancing eyes.
“Your cousin has so many tales about your childhood. I believe that my favourite was when you practiced bowing to the geese, and one intrepid gander decided to chase you into the fountain.”
He shook his head. “I do not even understand why Richard bothers to change every story, because what really happened was amusing, as well.”
Richard briefly protested that he could not devote effort to memorising the true details of an incident when it was so much easier to capture the essence of a tale and then dress it up however he was moved during the telling.
“Well, I wish to know the true details, William,” Elizabeth interjected.