“What is so ghastly? Why, everything about her!” Georgiana snapped. “She’s a perfect rustic. The only reason you can tolerate having her at table is because I have been telling her maid what to do with her hair, having my older gowns tailored to fit her, and insisting that she wear cosmetics. At least her tan is finally fading, but we shall never be able to do anything about those freckles.”
“Mrs Fitzwilliam is very pleasant to be in company with,” he shot back. “Lest you forget, I saw her when she first came to London, without the benefit of your ‘assistance,’ and there was nothing abhorrent about her person. Even if there were, it is not your place to sit in judgment over her. She is our cousin’s wife!”
Georgiana snorted. “Do you still believe that?”
“More than ever, the longer I am around her. She is very fond of him, and her sorrow at his absence is sincere.”
“She is an actress,” Georgiana scowled. “And not even a very good one.”
Darcy shook his head. “I am going to pretend I never heard you say that. What she is or is not is none of your business. She is my guest, and I have asked the simplest of favours.”
She turned her chin to glare bitterly at him. “I have no intention of sitting by the hour with her, letting her stubby rough fingers hammer away at my Broadwood. Even if she is clever enough to read the music—”
“Enough!” Darcy raised a hand just before her face, cutting off her insults. “What has become of you, sister of mine? There was a time when I would have recommended you as a comfort to the most friendless of waifs, but this privileged shrew I see before me is a disappointment. Come, now, what is truly your issue with Mrs Fitzwilliam?”
She threw her hands in the air. “Where shall I begin? She is uncultured, uneducated, and that accent of hers! I cannot decide if she is slow in the head or if it is all for show.”
Darcy set his fists on his hips and leaned forward. “And you were denied your tour to the continent this autumn.”
She looked away.
“That is it, isn’t it? You had this great scheme to go with that friend of yours from school—a Miss Younge, whatever her name was. Now you are not going, and you blame Mrs Fitzwilliam.”
“Itisher fault,” Georgiana insisted. “If you had not made me stay here like some nurse-maid, I could have been in Paris right now. I would have spent the winter in Spain, like Anne has done, and I would have toured the Vatican in the spring, and—”
“The cancellation of your holidays took place before Mrs Fitzwilliam arrived,” he reminded her.
“Only the very day before, when we got the news of Richard. The family panicked, and I suffered for it. I knew you would come to your senses after a week or so had passed, but thenthatcreature and her entourage turned up, and I was stuck!”
“So…” He crossed his arms as she had done, and they squared off to one another. “This is the measure of it. I have been wondering why you two did not seem to be friendly, and now I see. Because of a childish tantrum—”
“I am not a child!”
“Then do not act as one! Behave like a well-brought-up lady, the daughter of this house. Act with more dignity than these guests you disdain so very much, for I tell you this—so far, they have the advantage of you. Until I see improvement, I will be restricting your funds and curtailing your activities.”
Georgiana paled, her mouth round. “You cannot do that!”
“I have just done so. Shall I send for your old governess to come again to us?”
She set her jaw and snarled through clenched teeth. “No.”
“Then, we understand each other. Let me be perfectly clear—youwillmake yourself amenable to Mrs Fitzwilliam and her sister, or there will be no spring wardrobe for you. No dinner parties, no house parties, no new hats, no fox hunts. And, in case you believe you can fool me, please recall that whatever else she is, Mrs Fitzwilliam is not artificial. She will be as a mirror for you, showing me exactly what you have become.”
Georgiana was pouting now, a dark sullenness rendering her fair features half terrifying. “You speak as if you are going away, and I have a certain amount of time to make amends.”
“And so you have.” He lowered himself into a chaise, waiting for her to condescend to take a seat herself.
“I told Reginald that I meant to go to South Africa to learn what I can. His counsel was to wait on the weather and better news, and I have done so, but the time for waiting is over. I sail in a fortnight, and I ought to be away some weeks.”
Her face became soft and thoughtful for the first time during their conversation. “How do you think to look for him?”
Darcy shook his head and leaned forward on his elbows. “I haven’t a clue. I shall start at the top, I suppose, or as near to the top as I can. I may as well confess that at this point, I am beginning to fear it will be a fruitless exercise, but I must do something.Someoneshould.” He finished with a hard look at his sister.
She swallowed and glanced away. “I miss him too, William. I would not have you think I do not care.”
“Then show it. Do something for the woman he married. Be the cousin he remembered so fondly.”
Her eyes shifted unhappily, but her shoulders lifted in a reluctant sigh. “Very well. I will teach the feral creature how to play the piano, if you insist.”
