Vol 1, Chapter 13
“Lord Matlock, Lady Matlock, Lord Hilldale, and Colonel Fitzwilliam, Mr. Thomas Bennet, Lady Priscilla Bennet, Miss Elizabeth, Master Tom, Miss Esther, and Master Mark. The young man at the end is Master Robert Jamison, a cousin of the Bennets. Lord Reginald and Lady Elaine Fitzwilliam, the Earl and Countess of Matlock, Lord Andrew Fitzwilliam the Viscount Hilldale, and the Honourable Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam.” Gardiner made the introductions.
“Please, call me Matlock,” the Earl allowed as he shook Bennet’s hand.
“Bennet for me,” Bennet returned the welcoming gesture, gratified that his first impression of the Fitzwilliams was positive. They seemed to be down to earth, showing no evidence of improper pride; they were simply warm and friendly.
“It has been many years since I have seen you in society, Lady Priscilla,” Lady Elaine noted. “I believe it was during one of your seasons over twenty years’ past.”
“You are correct, Lady Matlock,” Priscilla agreed with a smile as she glanced at her husband.
“If our children have their way, we will be family; you must call me Elaine,” the Countess insisted.
“So this is your sister who was not handsome enough to tempt William,” the Colonel chuckled. “Not to embarrass you, Miss Elizabeth, but my dour cousin must have been suffering an apoplexy that caused him to speak the opposite of the truth that night.” He bowed in her direction.
“Jane mentioned that you are an incorrigible flirt, Colonel,” Elizabeth teased him in return, thankful to note that from what she could tell, unlike Mr. Darcy, his relations were all people she would enjoy knowing.
“Guilty as charged, Miss Elizabeth, guilty as charged,” the Colonel owned with a grin.
“What is my much younger brother up to now?” Lord Andrew asked in feigned despair as he brought Jane a glass of sherry.
“You are not exactly an old man, Andrew. I am but two years younger than you!” his brother shot back.
“I was referring to your maturity, not your physical age!” Andrew ribbed.
“My brother would have you believe that I am never serious,” the Colonel displayed mock outrage.
“Miss Elizabeth, please allow me to apologise for my cousin’s behaviour when he was in your neighbourhood,” Andrew stated.
“Lord Hilldale, you have naught for which you need to apologise. Not only were you not there, but you cannot control what someone else does. As you have no part in the offence, you have nothing for which to be forgiven,” Elizabeth replied. “Please call me Elizabeth, or Lizzy as most everyone does.”
“You are of course correct, Elizabeth, please call me Andrew.” He agreed, grateful that none of the Bennets held the actions of his cousin against his family.
“And I am Richard,” the Colonel added. “Did I hear talk of Hunsford?”
“Yes, our distant cousin just returned to his parsonage there. He will be married to our good friend Miss Lucas next month, and I will visit her around Easter,” Elizabeth relayed.
“If I know our Aunt’s requirements for her parsons, then this one could not be much to boast of,” Andrew chuckled. The sisters told the brothers about their cousin’s stay and betrothal to Miss Lucas, and both brothers were much diverted when the embargo on talk of his patroness was shared.
“Grandmama, Grandpapa, Uncle Wes, Aunt Issy!” Mark exclaimed as the De Melvilles arrived.
“How are you, Scamp?” Lord Jersey asked his youngest grandchild.
“Very well thank you, Grandpapa. I am bringing Calista with me when we visit Broadhurst,” Mark reported with pride.
“I look forward to meeting her,” Lord Jersey replied as he ruffled Mark’s hair affectionately leaving the lad to try and pat his locks back into some semblance of order.
“Aunt Issy, will we be seeing our cousins at Broadhurst?” Esther asked hopefully.
“Yes, all three of my children will be present, as will Aunt Marie and Uncle Stan and their two,” Lady Isabelle promised her niece.
The Gardiner’s butler announced dinner and the company moved into the dining room with precedence being ignored among friends and family.
The repast, all four courses, was both delicious and plentiful as Madeline Gardiner rightly prided herself on setting a good table.
When the diners were sated, Mrs. Gardiner stood and led the ladies to the drawing room where tea and coffee awaited them.
Once the ladies exited, Andrew requested that Bennet join him at the unoccupied end of the table.
“I appreciate that you bestowed authority on your brother-in-law to act in your stead, but I want to make sure that you do not have any questions or concerns that you would like to discuss with me,” Andrew offered.
“If your interest in my Jane had begun after you discovered the truth about our family, this discussion would have been vastly different. As it is, I know your interest did not wane, no matter how much of our reported information Gardiner shared with you. I have heard nothing but good of you from my wife’s parents and siblings.
As long as you respect my daughter, and should you two choose to marry, that you will be a good husband to her, there is no more that I need to know at this point.
” Bennet raised his glass of port to his daughter’s suitor, who returned the gesture with his snifter of cognac.
“Besides, I have Randolph and James investigate those who get close to my family.”
Andrew raised an eyebrow. “I trust there was nothing too scandalous in my past,” he quipped.
“As I have not ordered my daughter to break the courtship, that is a safe assumption,” Bennet returned. “Though I own that even more than them, I trust my daughter’s intuition; she is not one to suffer fools.”
“Your second daughter would not allow me to apologise for William’s…,” Andrew saw the confused look as he changed the subject. “Sorry, you know him as Darcy, and she would not allow me to apologise for his rudeness and arrogance while in your neighbourhood.”
“Very astute of my Lizzy, though she often is. You cannot apologise for that which you are not responsible. Let me ask you something now, sir. What is Mr. Wickham to your family?” The way the younger man bristled at the mention of the name was most telling to Bennet.
“How do you know that libertine’s name?” Andrew asked shortly.
“He is a member of the Derbyshire Militia who are quartered in Meryton currently,” Bennet shared.
“Do you object if I ask my brother to join us?” Andrew requested and Bennet waved away the chance to object.
Once the two had returned and settled, when the older brother mentioned Wickham’s name, the look that Bennet noted on the Colonel’s face was murderous. “Was my cousin Darcy aware that the miscreant is in Meryton?” Richard asked with steel in his voice.
“I believe so,” Bennet told him.
“He should have..., never mind. How did the blackguard come to your notice?” Richard ‘s frown deepened, and he assessed Bennet anew.
Bennet related all to the brothers, including the gist of his daughter’s conversation and her complete disbelief of close to every word out of his mouth.
“I have run him off my land as he seemed not to get the message after he had called a half dozen times and was told that my daughter was not home for each of his visits. He was never admitted to my house except for the instance when I warned him off. Also, I had him investigated and turned the results over to the Colonel, who demoted the liar to a private.”
“He has sealed his own fate,” Richard said with satisfaction.
“In what way?” Bennet asked. Richard and Andrew related the truth of Wickham’s assertions regarding the living, and about the wastrel’s life of debauchery, gambling, and dissipation.
“Lizzy had the right of it—a kernel of truth cloaked in sheaves of lies,” Bennet whistled softly.
“If your cousin holds over two thousand in the man’s vowels, why is he not languishing in Marshalsea for the rest of his days? ”
“Part of it is a misdirected sense of honour toward his father. William, or Darcy, was reticent to act against his father’s godson out of love for his late father. That was until this past summer,” Andrew stated.
“Miss Darcy!” Bennet exclaimed before he caught himself.
“How could you know about Ramsgate?” Richard asked in alarm.
“I knew not what, where, or why. Well, the where certainly until this instant. I had my investigators do an extensive check on Charles Bingley prior to his being offered a lease on Netherfield Park. As your cousin would be with him and acts almost like a father figure for the man, he was investigated peripherally. All the report said is that there was a possible incident with Miss Darcy,” Bennet informed the brothers.
After swearing him to tell no one outside of his wife and older children, and only if necessary, Andrew and Richard told Bennet about Ramsgate and Miss Darcy’s near ruination.
When they were complete, Bennet sat for a moment in silence.
He knew that had it been one of his own daughters, he would not have rested until the libertine was in the ground.
“Now I understand the reaction that Lizzy reported when your cousin saw Wickham in Meryton. It also explains, at least partially, his mood at the assembly in Meryton,” Bennet stated thickly.
“As he has contravened William’s conditions for his freedom, I will be taking a little ride to Meryton on Monday morning,” Richard stated menacingly, and that was the moment that Bennet understood no matter how jovial the younger Fitzwilliam could be, he was not one to get on the bad side of.
“Father had a long chat with William the day before he and Gigi, Miss Darcy, departed London. I think it may be beneficial to talk to him about William, if you would like,” Andrew suggested.
“I heard my name used in vain,” Matlock said as he approached his sons and Bennet, and Andrew repeated his suggestion his father and Bennet talk, so an appointment for Monday was made for Bennet to attend the Earl at Matlock House.