Most of the guests turned out to be people he knew, but there was one person who was unfamiliar. She was a friend of Georgiana’s from school, a girl named Miss Bennet. He didn’t see much of her, because neither she nor Georgiana were out. They weren’t even old enough to be considered young ladies.
Darcy, however, allowed them to eat dinner with everyone else. Miss Bennet was never seated beside him, however, so the entire first week passed without them exchanging even a single word other than a brief introduction.
One morning, a week after Stephen arrived at Pemberley, he was cornered by his younger brother, Richard, and Darcy while the other guests were playing lawn games.
“Stephen, you need to tell us what in heaven’s name is wrong with you,” said Richard.
“You are usually a little gruff,” said Darcy, “but this week you looked like you would snap someone’s neck if they looked at you wrong. I can’t have you murdering my guests, so whatever it is, just get it out now.”
Stephen didn’t respond immediately. He did not want to air his dirty laundry in front of anyone. He looked at his brother and Darcy. These two men were his closest friends, always trustworthy and reliable. They already knew about his poor relationship with his wife.
He sighed and said, “Matilda is pregnant.”
They both stared at him, likely wondering why that was such a big problem. As a clarification he added, “It isn’t mine.”
Richard’s jaw dropped discernably, and Darcy’s face grew thunderous. Richard said, “Are you certain?”
“As certain as the sun,” he answered. “I haven’t been near her in three years or more.”
“That certainly explains your mood,” said Richard.
There was silence for a time. Then Darcy asked, “What will you do?”
Stephen shrugged. “I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t even care about her infidelity. I can’t love her, so she might as well find affection where she can. My problem is what to do with the child. I do not wish to bear the enormous cost of raising a child up to my standards of living, all the while knowing that it is the son or daughter of someone else.”
“You could divorce her,” said Richard. “It wouldn’t be easy, but it would establish to the world that the child is not yours. It would then be her problem, not yours.”
“The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind,” said Stephen. “What do you think, Darcy?”
“It would be a scandal, certainly,” said Darcy, “but any other course of action would be a scandal as well. Unless, of course, you take responsibility for the child as your own. Then, no one need ever know.”
Stephen scowled. “That could work,” he said, “until she did it again. If I let this slide, the chances of it happening again are quite high.” He sighed. “I will either have to permanently banish her to the country or divorce her. I don’t know which is worse.”
“If you banish her, it might keep her from further infidelity, but it might not,” said Darcy. “She would also be a constant drain on your resources. Additionally, you would still have to care for her child.”
“If you divorce her, it would be a scandal, but you wouldn’t have to give her anything. She would be thrown back on the mercy of her own relatives, and I doubt they would be particularly merciful. She would suffer more than you would since she would have to find a way to take care of the babe as well as herself,” said Richard.
Stephen scowled. “If Matilda got thrown out without a penny, she would likely get rid of the child. She is far too selfish to raise a baby. She barely even speaks to Travis. Even though I know her baby is not mine, I still would not wish it to be mistreated so.”
“I suppose, if you were feeling generous, you could give her dowry back,” said Darcy. “Twenty thousand pounds, wasn’t it? That would be enough to live fairly comfortably in the country, but it would keep her away from London society.”
“I will think on it,” said Stephen. “At the very least you two have helped me to identify my options.”
“Will you be more polite to my guests?” asked Darcy.
Stephen chuckled. “I will be more polite to your guests,” he said.
~~~~~
Two nights later, Stephen was unfortunate enough to be placed next to Miss Bennet at the dinner table. He didn’t have a high opinion of the girl. Her looks were ordinary. Her manners were ordinary, and he was certain the girl was only friends withhis cousin as a means of getting closer to Georgiana’s male relatives, so she could eventually snatch a rich or titled husband.
It seemed almost sad to be thinking such things. Georgiana was still a child, after all, but Stephen knew that girls were educated from birth that their one purpose in life was to marry as well as possible and bear children for their husbands. He had heard girls as young as five or six speaking of it.
She attempted to speak politely to him as they ate. It was, after all, the expected thing to do. She tried asking him what he liked to do for fun, what he thought of an article in the paper that morning, whether he liked fishing, and several other things. He gave short, terse replies. All her questions merely irritated him, as if she was attempting to barge into his personal life, and his personal life was no place for a young, innocent girl who wasn’t even out yet.
Finally, out of irritation, he flipped the conversation and asked her a question. “What do you and Georgiana learn at that school of yours, how to irritate men into marrying you?”
He regretted it almost as soon as the words left his lips. He had promised Darcy he would not insult his guests, and here he was doing just that. Her response, however, was entirely surprising.
