Chapter 16 Inheritance #2
While he never saw the need to say anything about the matter to Miss Caroline, Fitzwilliam distanced himself from her and she seemed to get the message.
She never quite gave up hope, but she also avoided pushing him too far.
It was a truce Fitzwilliam could accept.
He valued Bingley's friendship too much to make a fuss over his sister's behavior.
Having a friend who was willing to warn him rather than take advantage of his ignorance in favor of a family member was worth a little discomfort.
As the years passed, they both drew value from the friendship. It all worked out as Richard had predicted. Fitzwilliam helped Charles take a place in Society and Charles helped his friend deal with the members of Society. Yet another moment when Richard was right.
As he sat at the desk sorting through more of his father's papers, Fitzwilliam wondered what Richard would have to say about Georgiana.
While he loved his younger sister dearly, Fitzwilliam had no idea how to even begin as guardian of a ten-year-old girl.
The challenge was even greater now, when her grief was so raw and open.
His sister had idolized their father. All her lessons, all the bits and pieces of her life, had come to a standstill while she kept vigil by his bedside in the last few weeks of his illness.
Now he was gone, and she seemed to have lost the ability to do anything but cry.
Her reaction broke Fitzwilliam's heart all over again.
He had wondered over the provision in his father's will at first, but now he could see that having Richard named as co-guardian for Georgiana was intended to ease the burden, not to indicate any lack of confidence in Fitzwilliam's abilities.
With Richard away so much, his role would simply be as a support, which was exactly what was now needed.
Even more surprising had been his father's insistence, documented in his will, that Lady Catherine be allowed absolutely no control over Georgiana's upbringing, not even to sponsor her in Society when the girl was old enough to come out.
In fact, George Darcy had already arranged for his daughter's eventual entree in Society through agreements with the wives of two of his long-time acquaintances that they would perform the responsibilities usually reserved for a mother or an aunt.
The Duchess of Mardale, who was currently a patroness at Almack’s, had agreed to be Georgiana's primary sponsor quite a coup for George Darcy to pull off on his daughter's behalf.
Lady Elspeth Fotherham, another patroness, albeit of less consequence, committed to acting as an alternate in the event something happened to the duchess in the intervening years.
Georgiana's place among the elite was guaranteed.
Furthermore, by acting as Georgiana's escorts, he and Richard would be well-placed to choose wives from the same elite group of young ladies should they still be single when the time came.
That thought was a relief to Fitzwilliam, who had no desire to participate in the marriage mart before he really had to do so.
A knock at the study door signaled the arrival of the daily post. That, of course, meant more black-edged letters to write.
For a man who never left his estate, George Darcy had maintained an impressive network of correspondents.
It would take some time to notify them all of his death.
Fitzwilliam was taking them a chunk at a time.
The top letter bore a return Fitzwilliam recognized.
He opened the letter, finding a short greeting and the next move in a chess game.
Using his father's records, Fitzwilliam could have sent an offer to finish out the game as he had done for a few other players, but this letter came from Thomas Bennet.
Despite Richard's continued defense of the man, the old prejudice instilled by Lady Catherine was still strong in Fitzwilliam's mind.
Taking up his quill, he pulled a single sheet of black-edged paper from the prepared pile and began to write.
To Mr. Thomas Bennet,
Honored sir,
You may consider my father as having conceded your game. Death has stolen the match from you both. In gratitude for all the diversion you have given my father over the years, I send you the board and pieces with which he tracked your matches. May they be an appropriate remembrance of him.
I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
Fitzwilliam Darcy
It was short and not appropriate, but the letter would get his point across.
Rising from the desk, Fitzwilliam went to a glass-enclosed cabinet that was built into one wall of the study.
He searched along the shelves, which alternated with rows of drawers, until he found name he sought—Bennet.
Opening the glass door, he took out a shallow box with a three-by-three-inch square top that was marked with the standard black and white grid and set with proportionally tiny carved ebony and maple chessmen arranged in a game in progress.
Wistfully, Fitzwilliam tipped over his father's king as a sign of the defeat.
He stared at the board for a moment, missing his father intently.
Wiping a stray tear from his eye, he looked up at all the shelves, with another thirty or so similar boards arranged in the various stages of play, each box marked with a metal plate bearing the opponent's name. Fitzwilliam let out a heavy sigh.
Moving carefully, he tipped the remaining pieces into a shallow wooden bowl that had sat next to the box, and which already contained the men that had been lost in play.
Then he lifted the chessboard and began the process of transferring the men into the slots prepared for them inside the box.
When every piece was safely put away, he closed the lid over them and fastened the tiny latch.
Then, he carried the box back to the desk, putting it down and picking up the letter from Mr. Bennet.
Returning to the cabinet and the spot where the chessboard had been, he opened the drawer below it, which was also labeled 'Bennet'.
To Fitzwilliam's surprise it was so full that he had trouble sliding the final letter into the correspondence file.
The two men must have played for years with a regularity that outmatched all the others he had looked at so far, aside from that of his uncle, Viscount Rand.
With a sense of finality, he slid the drawer closed and turned away.
He would pack up the tiny game board and send it off with the letter.
That would be the end of any connection between Thomas Bennet and the Darcys of Pemberley.