“Go take a taste—it is bland, though.”
Upon doing so George declared that it was twice as bland as porridge, and that he wouldn’t eat any more of it, not for ten pounds sterling. Colonel Fitzwilliam took a shilling from his pocket and asked, “What about if I offered you this coin?”
“Oh, for that I would eat all the soup in the world!”
Mrs. Wickham laughed at this inconsistency, and Colonel Fitzwilliam tossed the coin to the boy, and said, “Go drink your milk and eat some ham instead. You are a growing boy not an invalid.”
George looked at the coin with wide delighted eyes.
In the manner of a mistrustful merchant at the market he then bit the coin, but too hard and exclaimed “Ow!” Then he turned immediately to his mother and asked, “Can I keep it, can I? Please, can I?”
“Are you capable of doing so?”
George rolled his eyes and smiled. “You know what I mean,may I.”
“You may,” Mrs. Wickham smiled at him, and ruffled his hair. “But you alsoshouldeat the ham and bread.”
At this George set himself to the food.
The solicitor arrived not long after breakfast. As soon as he arrived Darcy sent everyone else from the room, including Colonel Fitzwilliam.
“By Zeus,” his cousin said before he left, when it was just him, Darcy, and the attorney in the room. “You mean to do something I would not approve of. You are not likely to die, you know.”
“I have heard that insisted so often that I half believe it myself. And I do feel better now that the abscess was lanced.”
“You are determined to feel guilty. Are you making some sort of absolute settlement or a conditional one, in case of death?”
“At present,” Darcy replied, “in case of death. In case of life…”
Colonel Fitzwilliam laughed. “The dead cannot be argued with—but damned man, you are being a fool, there is no necessity for what I imagine you mean to do, and—”
“Fine, fine, you have convinced me, I will still leave Pemberley to Georgiana instead of you.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam’s glare was not amused.
“Whatever mistakes I shall make,” Darcy added, “I promise you that I shall consider them as having been warned against by you.”
The chief of Darcy’s business with the lawyer was to settle a substantial amount of money upon Mrs. Wickham and another sum specifically upon her son, George Wickham, where even as an adult he would only receive the income from that sum, and the money itself would be given to his children upon his death, and then another sum of money upon Emily Wickham.
Darcy funded this with the greater portion of what he had set aside in the funds since he’d gained the estate.
Colonel Fitzwilliam would not have approved, especially once he saw how large the sums involved were, but Darcy had done enough deeds thatspoke against his soul for honor’s sake in the past days. He had a right, he thought, to do something that would speak kindly for his soul, and that he wished to do for its own sake.
The lawyer’s expression showed no surprise at Darcy settling such a large sum of money on the wife of the man that he had killed. This was what Darcy had expected from the gentleman’s professional demeanor. Perhaps, the man had already seen enough in his career to find no surprise in these proceedings.
It was deeply satisfying. Darcy wondered why.
He would do something for them of equal value if he lived. But Mrs. Wickham’s manner made it clear that she would be difficult about it.
She did not want charity. She did not want to take money for a cause that involved her husband’s duel.
But if Darcy was dead, he was confident that she would not refuse anything—and in the case of the money settled on her children, she would not legally be able to do so. The lawyers for Darcy’s estate would ensure that her children received control of the funds when they came of age, no matter what their mother did.
Darcy also set aside a substantial sum for an orphanage in Derby. It had been talked about in society that something should be done for the orphans there the last time he’d visited the county seat. On consideration Darcy decided that adding to the funds for the grammar school in his parish would do nothing of value, since while more money can always be spent, it was already funded such that everythingnecessaryand much that was superfluous was present, and the teachers were already paid substantially above the customary.
Perhaps funding a grammar school for orphans? Maybe in Derby. Were there enough orphans in Derby for such an institute to absorb the funds that he was ready to put out?
Once the lawyer had drafted the document in long hand, he held it up for Darcy so that he could read it carefully through. When Darcy was nearlydone, there was a knock on the door, and after Darcy asked what the matter was, Mrs. Wickham stuck her head in. “Time to change your bandage.”
