The conversation continued along this vein for several minutes, chiefly between Elizabeth and Darcy while the earl regarded them in silence, one brow arched, his posture held in rigid composure.
Elizabeth was keenly aware of her grandfather’s apparent displeasure, yet she could not entirely divine its cause. She felt his gaze more than once and was relieved when Miss Darcy joined them, taking a seat beside her on the settee. At once, the earl’s countenance softened into something more agreeable.The conversation returned to the amusements of London, and Elizabeth was pleased to observe that Miss Darcy grew gradually more at ease and began to express herself with greater confidence.
“When will the colonel arrive?” Elizabeth asked when the conversation had begun to lapse. She knew her grandfather had invited him, but she had not yet heard when he was expected.
“Colonel Fitzwilliam wrote to me last week, and his letter reached me yesterday,” the earl replied. “He expected to be in London within a fortnight of its writing and means to come on here as soon as he can make the necessary arrangements to journey from Town.”
Georgiana smiled at this news, her hands clasping briefly in her lap. “Oh, I am so happy to be able to spend a few weeks with Cousin Richard,” she exclaimed, turning eagerly to Elizabeth. “He is an awful lot like you, Miss Bennet—or at least that is what William says. He also tells me we are to remain here until after the new year, and I am equally delighted to have more time in your company.” She leant a little closer as she continued, her eyes bright. “Will your cousins visit us at Millwood Cottage? I understand you have four cousins who are as near to you as sisters. I have so few friends of my own age, and I am very much looking forward to meeting them all.”
Elizabeth smiled, tempering Georgiana’s eagerness with caution. “You are very kind to wish it so,” she said. “Jane and I are indeed extremely close, and I am certain you would like her. The others are quite different in temperament. Mary is fond of reading—though her tastes run more to sermons and Fordyce—while Kitty and Lydia delight in fashion and society. I mention it only so that you may not be surprised; our pursuits do not always align. Still, I hope you will find something to like in eachof them. I can send a note asking them all to call one afternoon so you can meet them. Aunt Bennet will certainly come as well, and I will warn you, she is quite exuberant.”
Georgiana leant back in her chair, considering the matter. “If they were all to come at once, I fear I should not have the opportunity to know any of them well,” she said slowly, her voice hesitant as if she was anxious not to give offence. “Do you think you might encourage them to visit in smaller parties? In that way, I should be better able to speak with each of them in a more intimate setting. I would be afraid to speak if they were all here at once.”
Elizabeth smiled again at the younger girl and reached out, resting her hand lightly over Georgiana’s folded hands in her lap. “I will write to Jane and make that suggestion,” she said. “She might come first with Mary, as your brother tells me you play the pianoforte very well. Mary also plays—earnestly and with great perseverance—and though she has never had a master, she is quite correct in her technique.”
Elizabeth became gradually aware that Mr Darcy had remained silent throughout the exchange. When she glanced towards him, she found him observing them with an expression softened by something she had not often seen directed towards her before. It stirred her more than she cared to examine too closely.
Georgiana’s reserve had lessened in her company, and Elizabeth could not quite determine whether it was that ease, or Mr Darcy’s quiet attention to it, that unsettled her most.
One morningnot long after his arrival, the earl invited Darcy into his study for a brief conversation. He was not surprised by the summons—at least, not at first, for they had spent several hours together each day during his visit—but he soon deduced the reason for this particular invitation when he observed the earl’s rigid posture and the deliberateness with which he sat behind his desk rather than in one of the chairs before the fire.
“Darcy,” the earl began, after they had exchanged a few trivialities, fixing him with a steady, assessing look, “I knew your father well and respected him greatly, which is why I must speak plainly to you now. I cannot help but think he would be far from pleased with what I have seen unfolding of late.”
Darcy looked up, startled by the words, and straightened at once. “In what manner, my lord?”
“You are clearly paying my granddaughter an attention that cannot go unnoticed,” the earl replied, his jaw tightening as he steepled his fingers and regarded his guest carefully. “I intended her to meet your cousin unhindered by any prior entanglements. I believed I was doing you a kindness by inviting you here—giving Richard an inducement to remain longer by placing him among family—but you have been here only a few days, and already I fear matters have grown more complicated than I intended.”
He paused, his expression hardening before softening again, almost imperceptibly. “Elizabeth has had precious little constancy in her life since her parents died. I will not see her drawn into uncertainty before she has even been given the choice I promised her.”
“If I thought I could send you away while keeping your sister here, I would do so,” he added after a moment, not as a threat,but as a frank admission, “for Elizabeth seems to have found a very good friend in Miss Darcy, and I would regret depriving her of that comfort so soon. Yes, she has her cousins, but already I see a difference between her manner with your sister and that with her cousins.”
“Forgive me, my lord,” Darcy said, drawing a controlled breath before continuing, “but I was not attempting to court Miss Bennet nor to do anything that might—” He paused, choosing his words with care, “—that might make it more difficult for my cousin to do so. You have said yourself that you intend her to have a choice, and you cannot compel her to fall in love with Richard when he does come.”
“I do intend to give her a choice,” the earl replied, leaning forward slightly, his voice rising with conviction rather than anger. “As I have already told you, not any man will do for her.”
He then rose and stepped around the desk, a man used to movement and not one accustomed to sitting behind a desk, however much he tried to act as one. After a moment, he looked down at Darcy, fixing the would-be suitor with a hard look. Darcy, however, met his gaze without flinching and settled back in his chair, refusing to be cowed.
“Elizabeth’s son will one day be earl in my place,” the earl said, more quietly now. “That truth cannot be set aside, however much one might wish it otherwise. Her husband must be prepared for that responsibility—must understand the weight of it, and the world in which such a child must be raised.” He drew a breath.
“I respect you, Darcy. Truly I do. But you are a gentleman—a man of principle and independence—nothing more. You and your father before you have had the opportunity to becometitled, but each time, you have rejected it. Although he is a second son, Richard was raised within the household of an earl and is, frankly, better prepared for what will be required of him as Elizabeth’s husband.”
It was clear to Darcy that the distinction was meant to wound, yet he refused to rise to it. If he argued, the earl would be well within his rights to ask him to leave, and Darcy had no intention of providing such justification.
“I have not done anything to court Miss Bennet or to influence her one way or another,” he said, keeping his tone even. “When we have spoken, it has always been in the company of my sister or yourself, and I have never been alone with her. Would you prefer I not speak to her at all?”
The earl frowned at the reasonableness of the reply, then sighed, a gesture that betrayed both his fatigue and reluctance. Suddenly, Darcy became aware that Lord Granfield was older than his own father would now have been had he lived—older even than his uncle—and that he had outlived both his children and his wife.
“No. I will not demand that,” the earl said at last. “Elizabeth is not a girl who responds well to prohibition, and I am keenly aware that I have been absent from her life far too often already.”
“You are a fine man, Darcy,” he continued, his tone softening. “Under different circumstances, I might have welcomed your regard without hesitation. But you are not right for my granddaughter. I have known her since she was a child—since she lost both her parents and was forced to depend upon the care of others while I was called away on business for the Crown that I could not refuse. I owe her steadiness now even if it makes meappear unyielding.” He paused. “You may admire her wit and spirit, and I do not fault you for it. But admiration alone is not what she needs in a husband.”
“You say that, sir,” Darcy replied, deliberately keeping his tone even, “but you have also been away a great deal. I cannot say what sort of husband I would be; I can say only that I would never marry a woman for material considerations as you are encouraging my cousin to do. I am well aware that Richard requires a dowry before he can even contemplate marriage, and I would place one of my estates at his disposal if he would accept it. But he will not, and I believe that even he wishes to marry for something more than wealth and status.”
Darcy paused before continuing. “When he does come, if he and Miss Bennet should fall in love and wish to marry, I will not stand in their way. But neither will I cease all conversation with Miss Bennet merely because you prefer her to wed another. Richard will be here soon enough, and then she may make her choice.”
“What if her choice is not you or your cousin?” the earl asked, studying him closely.
“Then so be it,” Darcy replied. “I will admit that I admire Miss Bennet greatly, and were it not for your wish for her to meet my cousin, I may have spoken to you of my intentions. But I have not and I will not, because I respect you as my elder, as her grandfather, and as a friend of my father’s. I would not interfere with your plans nor with her future.”
