Chapter 55
Chapter Fifty-Five
Darcy had been in London for three days, delaying taking Georgiana to Pemberley in hopes he would receive favorable news from Longbourn.
Mr. Gardiner had agreed to write a letter to Mr. Bennet promoting his suit, and Darcy had written to the man himself.
Although he was prepared to wait as long as necessary to wed his beloved, he was feeling the present rather hopeless when his cousin arrived.
“Richard! I have been trying to contact you since the summer. Have you only recently returned to England?”
“You could say that.”
Darcy rolled his eyes but clapped his cousin on the back as he ushered him into his study. “I cannot tell you how relieved I am to lay eyes on you at last. I hope you will remain for a time, perhaps accompany Georgiana and me to Pemberley?”
The colonel settled into a comfortable chair and accepted a drink from his cousin. “My schedule is open at present, and Christmas in the north sounds like a balm I could accept.”
“Good, good. Once you are settled, I will tell you all the news. I am anxious to hear about your past few months, as well, if you are at liberty to share.”
Richard chuckled. “Always trying to weasel out my secrets. I think you have something significant to tell me, though, based on the number of cryptic messages I found when I got to London yesterday. I had a good night’s sleep, so please tell me what has you so agitated.”
Darcy hated to ruin the congenial mood, but as Georgiana’s co-guardian, his cousin needed to know about Ramsgate.
“I will kill him!” Richard’s reaction was expected.
“I may be willing to join you. If his crimes against my sister were not enough, I might have more against him than you know.”
“I am aware he tried to seduce Miss Elizabeth nearly a year ago. What else has he done since I last saw you in April?”
Darcy clenched his fists and released them three times before speaking. “Someone may be trying to kill Elizabeth.”
“Wickham? Why? For that matter, why would anyone wish to harm her?”
“I have no idea. I see no motive for anyone besides Wickham always trying to ruin my life, but it makes no sense. No proof condemns him. I would not mind questioning him about it, though.”
“Tell me everything.”
After Darcy had explained the entirety of his time in Hertfordshire, including the state of his engagement, Richard asked if they could go to Pemberley the following day or if he had more bad news he must share first.
“By all means, we should go. Georgiana has been patient long enough.”
“Excellent. I am also in need of respite. I will send some additional men to this Meryton place to keep an eye on Miss Elizabeth. It sounds like her uncle took both threats seriously, though?”
“That is the only way in which Mr. Bennet has satisfied me recently.”
“There, there, Darce. My men will investigate and protect her. When they find out what is going on, Mr. Bennet will likely relent.”
“Thank you. That is sound. I will go visit the Gardiners this afternoon if we are to leave town tomorrow. Would you like to inform Georgiana of the good news that you will join us, and introduce yourself to Mrs. Annesley before you make your own arrangements?”
“Certainly. I wish to see for myself how Georgiana is getting on. Then I will arrange for Miss Elizabeth’s protection and call on my parents. I will see you bright and early on the morrow.”
Elizabeth was reading a letter from Fitzwilliam when Lydia and Kitty burst into her bedchamber. She hastily hid the pages beneath her pillow, but she was not quick enough.
“Ooh! Is that a love letter from Mr. Darcy? Will you let us see it, Lizzy?”
“Close the door, Kitty, and keep your voice down, please.”
Her cousin did as requested before both girls plopped on her bed beside her, eyes wide in anticipation.
“He writes that he will be on his way to his estate by now. His cousin—a colonel in the regulars—travels with him and his sister.”
Her cousins were mad for the militiamen in Meryton, so she knew this would excite them.
She had been making an effort not only to get to know her cousins better but to win them to her side in case they could have any influence with their father.
Elizabeth did not think of it as manipulation, at least not after a few days of spending time with them.
She found she genuinely liked these two cheerful girls, and she valued their freely given friendship, as yet untainted by their mother’s prejudice.
“A colonel? But he has gone to the north. Pooh! Have you even met him? Is he handsome? Is he likely to come back with Mr. Darcy?”
Elizabeth laughed at Lydia’s energy. “I have met him on several occasions, as have Aunt and Uncle Gardiner. He is kind and jovial, a good storyteller, a loyal friend.”
“She did not say handsome.” Kitty turned to Lydia.
“He is handsome enough, a few inches shorter than Mr. Darcy, of lighter coloring, and possessed of a ready smile.”
Lydia sighed. “But when will he come here? He will not come for your wedding, for you will elope—”
“Lydia! I have no intention of eloping. Can you imagine the scandal that would bring on both of you? I would never wish to repay your family’s generosity in that way.”
“You say that now, but your beau has been gone only five days. What will you do if Papa will not give his permission for months and months?”
Elizabeth’s face fell at Lydia’s words, but her cousin had more to say.
“I am sorry, Lizzy. Papa let Mary and Henry wed far earlier than he said he would. He sometimes needs time to get used to an idea, but he will surely change his mind. We will encourage him to relent, and we will not tell him about your love letters.”
Elizabeth smiled and embraced both girls.
“Thank you. I am so glad you are here. You know, you might tell your father that Mr. Darcy has informed me his estate has an enormous library. If Uncle Bennet will consider allowing me to marry Mr. Darcy, he would surely be invited there.” Fitzwilliam had mentioned in his latest letter that he had sent a note to her uncle already, inviting him to Pemberley to get to know him better.
“Will you walk with us into Meryton tomorrow? Having your footman follow us makes me feel important, like a London lady, and then I can almost forget Mr. Collins walks beside us.”
The girls chuckled. Mr. Bennet’s heir, a distant cousin, had arrived at Longbourn two days ago.
He had wished to come a few weeks earlier, but Elizabeth’s precarious health and Longbourn’s impending wedding guests had prompted Mr. Bennet to put him off.
Almost as soon as he had arrived this week, Mrs. Bennet had told him to steer clear of Elizabeth, but they all knew he had her permission to marry either of her single daughters.
Lydia was set on an officer, but Kitty appeared to be considering the benefits of marrying the man who would inherit her home.
Elizabeth agreed that if it did not rain, she would go with them to Meryton the next day. After all, she would have letters to post by morning.
“Let me get this straight, Darcy. You think Mrs. Younge is actually French and as a young girl murdered a peer vacationing on the continent—near Antwerp, not in France—so she could steal his diamonds?”
What with devoting themselves to Georgiana’s comfort and thinking of Elizabeth every moment, Darcy had not told Richard about the items he had found in Ramsgate until two days before Christmas.
He had forgotten all about the diamonds and letters, to be honest. While cleaning that morning, his valet had moved the red reticule containing the gems. Darcy was reciting the story to his cousin as they rode out in the snow to check on a tenant.
They were to travel to the Matlocks’ country estate the next morning for the festive season.
“I do not know what happened two decades ago, but I know she is French, and I know she had suspicious diamonds in her possession.”
“And you assume these three or four diamonds are part of those in a lost-treasure story Miss Elizabeth’s uncle told you one wintry night?”
His cousin made his conjectures sound ludicrous, but Darcy could not let go of the idea that there was more to both Mrs. Younge’s story and Mr. Gardiner’s, or rather his mentor Mr. Green’s.
“When we return to the house, I will show you the letters and the diamonds.”
“Very well. What do you plan to do about your discovery? Possession of diamonds is hardly illegal. Even possessing a fake name is nothing you will do anything about, given Georgiana’s connection to the woman.”
“Yes, but does the government not keep records of the activities of peers traveling abroad? This was the relation of a duke, and maybe someone in your circle knows something.”
“Why do you not ask my father tomorrow? He may have known the man. What was his name?”
“Lord Rowe.”
“Ask my father, but it sounds like nothing more than Mr. Gardiner said. This Lord Rowe was likely trying to turn a quick profit before the French captured Antwerp and all its spoils. You do not even know whether he purchased the diamonds, so how can you implicate Mrs. Younge in any of this?”
Darcy could not. He had forgotten all about Mr. Green and Lord Rowe and the diamonds until that morning, but now they were all jumbled in his brain together with Mrs. Younge. He could have forgotten about them again, but they were serving a purpose.
“This mystery gives me something to dwell on besides Elizabeth, if you must know.”
Richard looked to him with understanding. “Does her uncle give any sign of softening toward you?”
“None. Elizabeth has worked on him, but her letters are not hopeful that we will be free to marry in the new year.”
“I am sorry to hear it. I will speak to my father with you, if you wish. If he does know anything of the matter or gives even a hint of truth to your imaginings, I will help you investigate further.” Richard’s tone was compassionate.
“Thank you.”