A Wife for Mr Darcy

it a little more interesting. I had just spoken with Mr. Gardiner, Elizabeth’s uncle, about how remarkable it is that our tea and coffee come from such distances.”

“Did she swoon?” Richard asked, and Darcy rolled his eyes. “You spoke of tea and coffee. That is not exactly the language of love.”

“I know what the language of love is, and it is nauseating. And that was not the only thing discussed. I also admired her hair and her handiwork that is prominently displayed throughout the house. You cannot look anywhere in the drawing room without having some accomplishment in view. It is like visiting a gallery. But her favorite topic is the weather. On each visit, she has commented on the chilly, foggy mornings, which are followed by afternoons with either sunny, partly cloudy, or cloudy skies with a possibility of rain—or not—followed by cooler temperatures and darkness. This is typical weather for London in late November and has been since this town was known as Londonium under the Romans.”

“Those are things she has been taught to do and say. The more accomplishments a lady has, the more likely she will marry well, and being so new to society, what do you think she is going to talk about? The debates in Parliament? You are used to discussing such things with Mrs. Conway in her salon.”

Darcy did not respond to Richard’s comment about Mrs. Conway, his friend as well as his lover. Once he had decided to court Miss Montford, he had to stop visiting her as it would have been inappropriate, but the result was that he was starved for intelligent conversation, as well as other things.

“You speak of accomplished ladies,” Darcy said. “Recently, I have changed my opinion as to what constitutes an accomplished woman. If Miss Montford played only the pianoforte, I would consider her to be accomplished because she plays brilliantly. She need not do anything else, except one thing. She must read books and newspapers. She must know what is going on in the world in which she lives. I spoke to her of the power of ideas. I gave as an example America and their remarkable experiment with a government with no monarch at its head, but she showed no interest.”

“You spoke to the daughter of a Tory politician about America, a country who overthrew its king. Will, for God’s sakes, that is something to debate at your club, but it is not something you discuss while courting, which makes my point. The two of you do not belong together. I suspect she wishes to see the back of you, as much as you wish to end it with her, but she cannot because of her father.”

“I have noticed a change,” Darcy said, nodding his head in agreement. “As soon as I deviated from the pedestrian, she looked almost alarmed.”

“All right then. We are making progress. Now, I am going to tell you something that you must keep to yourself,” Richard said as he lowered his voice. This was something that even the trusted Mercer should not hear. “The king intends to award four baronies in order to fill the House of Lords with Tories who will maintain his policies long after he is gone. He suspects that the Whigs will continue to push for Catholic emancipation and the expansion of the franchise to vote.”

“And we shall. It is a matter of fairness.”

“I have no argument with that, but our king and Sir John do, which is why he will be one of the four barons.”

“How do you know this?”

“Antony told me. Say what you will about my brother, but he knows what is going on in Parliament. So I took the liberty of sharing something with my brother without asking your permission.”

“This better be about politics and not romance,” Darcy said, and his green eyes bored into his cousin, “because anything you share with your brother has an excellent chance of ending up in The Insider,” a scandal magazine, which he despised, especially since it had exposed his relationship with Mrs. Conway. “If this has anything to do with my courtship of Miss Montford, you have done me no favor.”

“That is not it at all. Antony told me that Sir John is boasting to everyone at White’s that England will have one less

Whig to make mischief once a certain event occurs.”

“To hell he will. I am no Tory.”

“Exactly. So I told Antony you were saying the same thing about Sir John; that is, you hoped to turn him into a Whig. Of course, I told him not to say anything to ensure that he did. My brother can be very helpful in that way.”

“If we succeed in putting an end to this farce,” Darcy said, “I would like it to appear as if Miss Montford and her father have called an end to it. Except for impropriety, they can say what they will about me. But this will take time to play out, and there is no guarantee of success. Because of that, I must adhere to my original plan. I shall say that my purpose in going to Pemberley is to shoot, and we shall see how much damage Antony can do in London.”

“It has to succeed, Will. We are talking about the happiness of four people.”

“Four? Does that include Sir John?”

“No, it includes Jasper Wiggins. Wiggins was paying a fair amount of attention to Miss Montford, but withdrew from the field once it appeared as if you were going to court her. I have made discreet inquiries, and I have learned he is still very interested in the lady, but cannot act because of you.”

Darcy smiled. For the first time in weeks, he had hope, and knowing that they were drawing close to their destination, he turned to his manservant. “Mercer, we are nearing the inn.”

Mercer sat up as erect as any soldier on review. “Sir? Other than the usual arrangements, is there anything you require?”

“Thank you, Mercer, but no,” and Darcy laughed to himself, something he had not done in ages, or at least since the last time he had seen Elizabeth.

Chapter 26

Lizzy thought she had been as quiet as a church mouse in performing her morning toilette, but within minutes of her rising, the maid appeared to assist in dressing her. At Longbourn, although Mr. and Mrs. Hill were servants, they were so entwined with the Bennets that each thought of the other as family. During their childhood, Mrs. Bennet had instructed her girls that the servants were there “to help” not “to do,” but it was the opposite at Pemberley.

Lizzy had met Ellie the night before when the maid had come to help her prepare for bed. It was all Lizzy could do to not giggle, but amusement turned to appreciation when Ellie brushed her hair and told her that she would certainly be able to tame any wayward curls.

In the morning, when Lizzy came down to the breakfast room, she found that her Uncle Gardiner had already left for his first day of fishing with Cubbins, and Mrs. Gardiner, an avid gardener herself, was getting a private tour of the gardens with Mr. Ferguson. But Georgiana, with Pepper, her pug, on her lap, was waiting for her. There were also two whippets that had the run of the house and seemed to be on some sort of mission as they went from room to room, and Georgiana explained that they were Will’s dogs, David and Goliath.

“When I come to Pemberley, they think Will must be here as well, so they just keep looking for him until he does come, or I go. He would never admit it, but they are part of the reason he comes home so frequently.”

Georgiana had not prepared any events for the day, but she did ask a favor. “Mrs. Reynolds is to conduct a tour of Pemberley for some visitors from the inn, and I would ask that you join them. Our housekeeper came to Pemberley from Kent with my mother when my parents married, and she delights in telling people about the family and estate. I have heard her tour so many times that I have learned it by heart. In addition to telling you about the portraits and the dimensions of the room, she will mention that my brother is the best landlord and master who ever lived, that my father was an excellent man, and that Will is as generous with the poor as my mother had been. I will not repeat what she says about me, only that she is too kind.”

All was as Georgiana had said it would be, with the housekeeper pointing out some of the exceptional pieces in the Darcy collection: a Van Dyke here, a Reynolds there, and a Greek antiquity nestled in a niche. Of particular interest to Lizzy was the family portrait painted when Miss Darcy was about five and her brother fourteen. When Lizzy said that Miss Darcy resembled her mother in all things except hair and eye color, Georgiana was elated.

“Now that I have been out in society and have seen the best that London has to offer, I still think Mama was