His hands clasped behind his back and a small crease formed on his forehead. “Forgive me. Things just come to me, as if I know them, even though I should not. If I remember correctly…there was a young man in a class on agricultural management at Cambridge…a Mr. Lucas?”
“Charlotte’s brother?”
“Yes!” he exclaimed. “He had a sister, and often spoke of her friends, the Bennets, and their estate.”
“Really? Harold Lucas spoke of us?” At his nod, she asked, “Have you ever been to Hertfordshire?”
“Yes. Yes, I have. I visited Hertfordshire with a friend, and we met many of the local families, including Sir WilliamLucas, and met again with Mr. Lucas during a shooting party.”
“Oh, Mr. Fitzroy. That makes me quite at ease. I was confused at you knowing so much of the people of Meryton. It is a wonder we did not meet. Maybe Jane and I were visiting our aunt and uncle in Town?”
“Possibly.”
He was grateful he had attended to the ramblings of Sir William Lucas when he and Bingley had been at Netherfield.The minimal information I recall about his son and estate are beneficial to my ruse. Although disguise of every sort is my abhorrence, in cases as these, it is necessary.He had to encourage her to share what she knew about Georgie. It grieved him his sister was merely across the park, and he could not go to her.
“Knowing of Wickham as I once did, it seems perverse he married someone so elevated. Someone so far above his station. And innocent.” He kept his words light, hoping Elizabeth did not sense his eagerness.
She paused, as if lost for the right words. “Yes, I see what you mean. Mrs. Wickham is full young.”
“I remember meeting her parents when I was a boy,” he said with little thought.
“You do?”
“Yes,” he stammered as he looked away. “I remember small glimpses of my life, including a visit to Pemberley. Her father was very gentlemanly, and her mother all that was lovely. Or so that is how my mother always described her.”
Elizabeth looked curiously at him.
“How long have they been married?” he asked, tugging at his sleeves.
“I believe it has been almost twelve months.”
“Twelve months? Did she even have a Season? I do not remember her ball.”
“I do not believe she had a ball. She was only fifteen when they wed?”
He choked back his words.Fifteen? How could Richard allow it?
He attempted to hide the agitation in his manners, but his breathing increased, and his words came out clipped.
“And she and Mr. Wickham? Are they on holiday at Rosings? How fortunate she has been able to make yours and your sister’s acquaintance.”
“Oh, we are the fortunate ones. But they are not here on holiday. They live at Rosings Park most of the year.”
Live at Rosings? But why? What about Pemberley?
She hurried up the walk and onto the front steps of the parsonage, greeting Mr. Collins in his garden as she passed.
“Miss Bennet, might you answer one more question for me?” he asked, following her in.
“I will answer it, Mr. Fitzroy,” came a male voice.
Darcy walked into the room to be met by Clarence. “Ah, Clarence. You are most assuredly who I need to speak with.”
Darcy leaned back in the chair of his guest room at the parsonage. The tea Mrs. Collins had offered did little to quench his thirst, but it was something to soften his circumstances. Clarence clarified little else, refusing to explain the absence of Richard in Georgiana’s life, or why she and Wickham did not live at Pemberley.Maybe Richard was on the continent?He annoyingly pronounced Darcy alone must discover the answers.
But not all circumstances were bleak. His mind ran through numerous possibilities of what was to come. Clarence’s intimation that Darcy might try to win Elizabeth’s love filled his soul with renewed spirit. He had kept watch onthe Merino account for the last several years, without touching a farthing.But if Fitzwilliam Darcy did not exist, would the account exist? And if it did, surely the account must remain as it has always been, compounding interest from my father’s investments. I will use that money to marry Elizabeth, take her to the Pembrook estate. Or maybe…somehow…use the money to take back Pemberley. I could walk the woman I love through the halls of my ancestral home after all.
And so, Darcy waited. The hours ticked by bringing him closer to his sister, his aunt, and his nemesis who, it appeared, had stolen his world.
