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He gritted his teeth as Louis talked of their wedding, or Wickham’s new posting in Newcastle, bought for him by their uncles Elliot suspected, and of their time in London. Elliot caught Jack’s eye as Louis bemoaned their stay in Longbourn, which was to be for ten days. He was, he said, eager for more adventures and there were none to be had in Longbourn!
The two men, by mutual agreement, did their very best to stay out of Louis and Wickham’s way for those ten days. They walked the estate, supervising the summer work, which was slightly neglected. They fished by the river, bringing in plenty of catches for the cook who was quite thrilled given that there were additional mouths to feed, and they even hunted though neither were great fans of the sport. In essence, whatever diversion they could conjure up to keep them out of Wickham’s orbit was easily agreed between them.
On the sixth day of their stay Elliot was waiting for Jack next to the road for Meryton when his brother came racing down the path.
“Elliot!”
“Don’t tell me Louis has run off with someone else!” Elliot said and he was only half in humour.
“No, but you need to write to our uncles immediately,” Jack said, “for all is not as it seems.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was walking by the kitchen on my way to meet you,” Jack said. “I passed by the kitchen where Louis was, once again, telling Christian about his wedding day…” Jack paused and shook his head. “I have heard the tale of course, we all have, but he mentioned…Elliot, he mentioned Mr. Darcy.”
Elliot started. “What of him?”
“He was there, at Louis’ wedding.”
Elliot was not sure that he had heard his brother correctly and so asked him to repeat himself, which Jack did with the exact same words. “Do not be ridiculous,” Elliot said upon hearing them. “Why on heavens would he be there?”
“I do not know,” Jack replied. “I immediately asked Louis about it, and he refused to tell me. He said he had been sworn to secrecy. That he and Wickham both had.”
Conjectures as to the meaning of it, rapid and wild, hurried into Elliot’s brain. Why had Darcy been involved in this affair? He loathed Wickham. He disliked scandal. He would not willingly involve himself in either…surely.
“Our uncles will know,” Jack said, as if reading Elliot’s thoughts. “We must write to them immediately.”
And so they did, demanding answers and being clear that they would have to use far sneakier stratagems if they did not receive them! They had the satisfaction of receiving an answer as soon as was possible given the summer traffic. Together they took a spot next to the river and began to read it.
“My dearest nephews,” the letter said, and they both noted that it had been composed by Mr. Robert Gardiner. “We have just received your letter, and I shall devote this whole morning to answering it, as I understand now that you and Jack are ignorant of what has happened, and it is clearly behoven on me to remedy that. On the very day your papa left London, we had a most unexpected visitor. Mr. Darcy called to tell us that he had found out where Louis and Wickham were, and that he had seen and talked with them both. From what I can collect, he left Derbyshire before we ourselves even did, and came to town with the resolution of hunting for them.”
“He must have left that very night…” Elliot whispered.
The letter continued. “The motive professed was his conviction of its being owing to himself that Wickham’s worthlessness had not been so well known as to make it impossible for any person of character to love or confide in him. He called it, therefore, his duty to step forward, and endeavour to remedy an evil which had been brought on by himself.”
“He felt responsible for Wickham,” Elliot said slowly.
“No, Elliot, keep reading,” Jack said.
“If he had another motive, he did not speak on it,” Mr. Gardiner continued. “But after our visit to Pemberley I feel confident that we are all aware of it.”
That lump in his throat again…the ache in his chest…Elliot’s hands shook slightly as he continued reading.
“Mr. Darcy had come to an agreement with Wickham,” Mr. Gardiner wrote. “Which you will now be aware of as it was the agreement that paved the way for their marriage, a marriage I might add, nephews, that would not have happened without it. It will not surprise you at this point,” he continued. “To know that the full sum was paid by Mr. Darcy, and he absolutely refused to yield on this, though your uncle and I were willing to part with the sum and reduce our own circumstances to afford it.”
“Our dear uncles!” Jack said.
“Mr. Darcy insisted that he would take no credit, and your uncle and I must bear it instead. I cannot tell you how pleased we were to receive your letter and be able to confess the truth of it. It must go no farther than yourself, though. We must insist upon that else we break our promise to Mr. Darcy.”
“We cannot tell papa,” Jack said.
“It is preferable he thinks himself in debt to family rather than to a stranger,” Elliot said, even as he considered just how close Darcy had been to becoming their family.
“The full sum settled on Wickham and Louis ran into several thousands of pounds,” Mr. Gardiner added. “Which included significant gaming debts. And the purchase of a commission, for Colonel Forster did not wish to see either return. It was felt by all interested parties that a move to the very north of the country would benefit both Wickham and Louis.”
The letter went on to state, and not in a favourable fashion, how disappointed both uncles had been in Louis’ behaviour when in London, his utter lack of shame in his conduct and his lack of regret in his actions. Mr. Gardiner also spoke about Darcy having dined with them during which he brought his dear friends Mr. Bingley and Colonel Fitzwilliam. Mr. Gardiner included an entire paragraph describing how much they had all enjoyed the dinner.
“Charles…” Jack whispered, and Elliot squeezed his brother’s hand, knowing that Jack likely felt the same pleasure and pain that he was feeling. Indeed, it would have been impossible to state who bore the greatest share of it at that moment.
