As soon as Sir John Montford entered the parlor, he took the same chair his daughter occupied whenever she visited the Darcy townhouse. Remembering Georgiana’s comment about Miss Montford’s nose pointing toward the street, Darcy looked to see if it was a family trait. It wasn’t. But with such important business at hand, he had to chuckle to himself at the ridiculousness of thinking about someone’s nose at such a moment, but his amusement was short-lived, as his thoughts were interrupted by Sir John’s gruff voice.
“I assume you know why I am here?”
Darcy nodded, although he wasn’t quite sure what he was agreeing with.
“Darcy, I know your father was a liberal man, but he would not approve. I daresay he would not approve. You have gone too far.”
“You object to my politics?” Darcy asked.
“You know I do, and that is the seed that bore this rotten fruit. If it weren’t for your liberal notions, all of this Whig nonsense about Catholic emancipation and expanding the franchise and God only knows what else, you would never have treated my daughter the way you did.”
Darcy was not happy with his performance regarding Letitia, but he did not think he had mistreated her. And what on earth did Catholic emancipation and expanding the franchise have to do with anything? He almost wanted to laugh. He would have to make it a point to visit the House of Lords when Lord John Montford made his maiden speech. It should prove interesting.
“First, it was this Bingley fellow. Letitia told me you thought he was a gentleman. Well, let me set the record straight; he is not a gentleman. Nor are his sisters.” A flustered Sir John added, “You know what I mean.”
Darcy sighed in relief. At least now he understood what his transgression was: his association with his lower-class friends.
“Think of what your revolutionary ideas have done to your sister. To encourage my daughter to associate with people of such low rank, and then to learn that this Mrs. Garner would also be attending—the wife of a coffee broker—a man who earns his living by prowling the docks and negotiating prices. He is nothing more than a glorified peddler.”
“Forgive me, Sir John. I have not had an opportunity to speak with my sister, so I am not sure what you are referring to.”
“The tea, man. The tea. Miss Darcy came to my home yesterday for the purpose of inviting Letitia to tea. Fortunately, she mentioned the names of the guests to my daughter’s companion, who immediately informed me. I find your sister blameless in all this. But I must warn you, Darcy, her association with these people will affect her pursuit of a marriage partner. She will find offers scarce if this continues.”
“I appreciate your concern for Georgiana. However, I am her guardian, and I will do what I think is best for her,” Darcy said through gritted teeth. “By the way, my grandmother was a Catholic.”
Sir John noted the change in Darcy’s voice and knew he had strayed from the matter at hand. He moderated his tone, as he had no wish to offend a Darcy, especially since it was an association with the Darcy family that he had been after in the first place.
“I want no hard feelings between us, Darcy. However, I must ask that you stop seeing my daughter. She was not brought up to…”
“I understand your concerns, Sir John,” Darcy said, interrupting, “and if I have hurt your daughter in any way, it was not intentionally done. May I ask that you convey to Miss Montford my wishes for her health and happiness?” Darcy stood up to let Sir John know the conversation had come to an end.
“I thank you for taking this so agreeably. But a word of advice. Your idea of a courtship is rather unconventional. Coming and going, disappearing for weeks at a time, no letters. That will not win you the affection of any lady. I tell you this since your father was a friend of mine, and I am sure he would have given you the same advice.”
Darcy nodded his head but said nothing, and rang for Rogers to see his visitor to the door. After watching a hackney take the odious man away, Darcy poured himself a brandy and took a chair in front of the fire, and with the first taste of liquor, he felt every muscle in his body relax. It was over. It was finally over. The peril had passed, and he was a free man. Now nothing stood between Elizabeth and him.
Ordinarily, Georgiana would have come downstairs to find out what had happened, but she was nowhere to be seen. But there was no mystery there, and her brother rang the bell for Rogers.
“Ask my sister to join me. Immediately.”
From the way Will was sitting in front of the fireplace, with all of his attention being directed toward the fire, Georgiana could not tell how things had gone with Sir John, but she suspected that her meddling in the Montford affair had been revealed.
Darcy let her stew for a few more minutes before beginning. “You have been busy, Georgiana.”
Georgie shook her head, pretending that she did not know what he was talking about. She was not prepared to admit to anything as she might make an unnecessary confession.
“Do not shake your head at me. The friend you visited yesterday was Letitia Montford. How very clever of you to arrange for a tea and share the guest list with Mrs. Redford. Of course, all of those invited to this imaginary get- together were ladies with whom Miss Montford would not associate. As a result, Sir John wants me to keep as far away from his daughter as possible, lest I contaminate her by insisting she mingle with people not of her class.”
“Oh, Will!” Georgiana ran to her brother and kissed him, and then she did a bit of a dance to show him how happy she was. “It worked. I did not know if it would, but once I realized I had an ally in Mrs. Redford, I thought it might. And it did. It did work.”
“You interfered in my personal affairs. Again.”
“But you cannot complain of something that turned out so well.”
“I most certainly can. What you did, young lady, was very wrong, beginning with your part in arranging to have Elizabeth go to Pemberley.”
“But if it had not been for our conspiracy, you would have gone to Kent to visit Anne and not Pemberley, where you waltzed with Elizabeth. It turned out perfectly. Better than any of us had reason to hope.”
“Lucky for you that it did. However, I insist you stay out of my affairs. I believe you have benefited from beginner’s luck, but you could end up doing more harm than good. Sir John has a temper, and this might have turned out quite differently.”
“I thought about that. But Sir John would not risk alienating you with a display of temper, and our concern that this whole affair might damage your reputation or cause you to lose friends was never a real threat. You
“Well, apparently Letitia was very much in favor of ending our unorthodox courtship. Richard informed me that he has learned from gossip at his club that she prefers Jasper Wiggins to me in any event.”
“Jasper Wiggins? Really? I know his sister, Adele.”
“Georgie, leave it alone. The young Wiggins will hear of Miss Montford’s freedom soon enough from Sir John.” Looking at her with a stern eye, he repeated, “Leave it alone.”
But Darcy could see the wheels spinning and suspected there was little he could do to stop his sister from plotting and planning. She should be a novelist. But then he smiled, and Georgie knew exactly what he was going to say: “Tomorrow, we go to Hertfordshire.”
Chapter 47
Knowing that Mr. Bennet and Lydia would soon arrive at Longbourn, there was a tension at the breakfast table that was palpable. Each of the sisters had their own reasons for being upset. Mary thought that to sneak off with a man in the dead of night was immoral. Kitty was upset because she knew she would have behaved better than Lydia if she had been allowed to go to Brighton, while Jane thought of the unhappiness Lydia had caused her parents. But because of Mr. Darcy, it was Lizzy who had something to lose, and for that reason, she was unsympathetic to anything her mother had to say on her youngest sister’s behalf.
