“Poppycock! Blame your father and Georgiana, will you? You never had a mistress because you are a sentimental prude.”
“I would not term myself so.”
“Father has accused you of it for years. You always talked of marriage, when you could be induced to talk about it at all, as placing some special importance on adoration for your mate.”
“I had said it was important that one be able to regard and admire his prospective mate. I most certainly did not use the word ‘adore.’”
“It is the same thing in your mind. Come now, what are you going to do about this young lady of inferior birth, of whom you cannot cease thinking? I cannot see why you do not simply make her your mistress.”
“For Miss Bennet…” he mused, stroking his chin and staring at the floor, “I could almost be persuaded to the arrangement. But no, it would never do. It would shame her, I know this very well. It would kill that unpretentious honour and genuine integrity which I love about her character.”
“So, you do love her!”
“I did not say that. I said I admire her character.’
“No, you very clearly used the word ‘love.’ I have never heard you use that word, even to describe your feelings for Georgina.”
“What matters the verb? I esteem her highly, and I am concerned for her situation. If her family truly is in disgrace, and with little means or standing to recommend them, there will be great difficulty in securing a respectable marriage for her or any of her sisters. I would not see her sunk to a low match, or even tobecome the mistress of another man. Perhaps I could persuade a gentleman of honour to consider her as his bride. Would you?”
“Indeed not, for I have just come from Miss Wakeford’s father and asked permission to call on his daughter more frequently when I am returned from Bath. With Mother also working on my side of the affair, I am not without hope. Eight thousand pounds, Darcy, and a pleasant face to match! I would be a fool to cry off.”
Darcy ceased his pacing to choose a chair opposite Richard, all the better to divert his energies from walking to thinking. “Well… perhaps Bingley might be brought up to scratch. He is fixed to settle in Hertfordshire already, and an introduction might not be difficult to arrange. Yes, now that I think of it, he would do very nicely for her. Certainly, he could do better in terms of fortune, but his position is not so delicate as mine, and he cannot object so strongly to her station. For himself, he is amiable and respectable, he would never treat her ill, and he is easily enough persuaded that I can make him see her virtues.”
“And why would he do that? Why should Bingley oblige you so that he would let you have the choosing of his bride?”
“Indeed,” replied Darcy testily, “he must see it! He is no fool, but he is perfectly eager to marry. He will no doubt be induced to it by some country girl or another once he is settled in Hertfordshire. Why should it not be Miss Bennet? Once he meets her, talks to her as I have, he cannot help but acknowledge for himself that she is without her equal among women.”
“Why don’t you just admit it, Darcy? You are head over ears for her, and you will never be content seeing her in the arms of another man.”
Darcy lurched back to his feet, for his efforts at avoiding eye contact with his cousin were failing at every one of Richard’s shocking insistences. “I would be content to see her well off,” he retorted. “And I would be doing a service for a friend! How many women are so genuine, so unaffectedly transparent, yet possess her quality of poise and dignity? I can count them on one hand. Nay,less than that! She is the sort of woman who would make a man proud of his own manhood by her regard.”
“Oh! She is a passionate sort of woman, is she?”
Darcy made a sour face and would have slapped his cousin, had he not been quite so far across the room. “That is not at all what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean? Does she pander to your rather inflated sense of self? Compliment you excessively?”
Darcy resumed pacing, desiring to sort his impressions and to express them in words. “Quite the opposite, in fact. I have never met another woman with her quiet sort of confidence. She did not feel the need to praise herself before me, nor me to myself. She is intelligent enough to know her own mind, as well as her own place in the world, and she treated me with the respectful sort of amity that one might grant to… I cannot think of any near comparison. Perhaps she treated me as a friend, rather than a prize. Yes, perhaps that is it. When we spoke, she was speaking to me, not my position, though I am quite certain she knew something of my true situation almost from the beginning.
“And she was kind, in a way I have rarely seen. Never for a moment did she give the sense that she would submit to another out of weakness, but the way she so gently permitted me to be her protector for the day, deferring to me when she could manage perfectly well on her own… it was as if she were according me an honour, and such it became, to be chosen as the man graced with her companionship. It was a heady experience. How could any man not crave the regard of such a woman?” He turned to face his cousin, a challenge in his voice.
Richard had crossed his legs in his chair and leaned forward now, his elbow upon his knee and his hand brushing his chin. “Indeed,” he mused. “How could any not? And this treasure of a woman, you would pass into the keeping of another man?”
“Do not think it my preference. Were matters different—even slightly!—I would not struggle so. I care nothing for afortune, and even some sort of family embarrassment might be hushed up and forgotten in time with the right resources and prestige to countermand it. But you know well her position, as does she! She comes from a family in trade, and that, thetonwill never forgive. I think not only of myself, but of the cuts she would face in society. No, she was perfectly right when she bade her farewell. She knows her place in the world, and it is not in mine.”
“Mmm,” Richard nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, I see your point. Well, you have thought it all out, and I congratulate you, Darcy. Matters will be settled according to everyone’s benefit, and you do not have the trouble of offending your relations or society. We must keep them happy at all costs, eh? One never knows when their interference in your private affairs might be beneficial, and they certainly deserve your unmitigated accommodation. Cannot have anyone about to rumple feathers, you know! And since you have this sorted without my help…” he trailed off and grunted, shifting himself out of his chair and to his feet.
Darcy frowned. “Where are you going?”
“Back to my own bed, of course. I must face our aunt in the morning and try to persuade her not to tuck Anne into my arms at some point during our travels. For that, I will need at least a little sleep. Did I hear something about some very fine brandy you had about here to help a man rest?”
“You would never make it home,” Darcy snorted derisively.
“I would borrow your carriage, of course,” Richard winked. “Sleep well, Darcy, and do not forget your own place in the world.” He touched his forehead in an irreverent salute and was gone.
His own place in the world! Yes, that was precisely the trouble, was it not? And men of his station did not marry the nieces of Cheapside merchants. At least, not usually. Surely, not more than one or two. Three, perhaps. He rubbed his eyes.
And whom among his family was he trying to please? Certainly not Lady Catherine. Perhaps not the earl and countess, for thoughhe did not prefer to be at odds with them, their motives were not his own.
