Darcy studied him for a moment before allowing himself the faintest smile. “You have my congratulations. When was this settled?”
“Only a few days ago,” Richard replied, a trace of colour rising despite his evident satisfaction. “We are to be married at the end of June. Her mother was resolute that it could not be sooner.”
“Elizabeth and I will be unlikely to return at that time.”
Richard nodded. “I do understand, cousin. It is a long journey, and the middle of summer is not the best time to travel. I was wondering whether we might visit you instead on our weddingtrip. It will not be the same as having you here, but it will allow me to show Jane your home and to spend some time with Georgiana. We may even bring Mary with us if her father allows it. I know that she and Georgiana became great friends last autumn and have exchanged letters often.”
Darcy nodded his agreement, but before he could say more, Richard added one last piece of news. “Your new grandfather sent me a letter that I received only yesterday. He and Father apparently plotted, and I am to be knighted sometime in the next year at a ceremony with the Prince Regent. Apparently, when I hauled Granfield out of the way of that musket ball, it was sufficient to merit the notice of those who choose such honours—and, it seems, their approval as well.”
With a grin, Darcy agreed that “it could not have happened to a better man,” expression his pleasure that he had managed, once again, to decline any such honours for himself. He had persuaded the earls not to make a similiar request for him, convincing them that a man as blunt as he would never succeed in politics.
They were rather forced to agree with him when he declared, with perfect composure, that he would neither flatter a fool nor support a measure he believed unjust merely to secure favour—and that, in consequence, he should likely offend half the House within a fortnight.
With that, the conversation returned to more practical matters, but Darcy discussed the matter with Elizabeth later. She had already known of the engagement, since Jane and Mary had visited Netherfield earlier that afternoon, at Mrs Hurst’s invitation. At first, Mrs Hurst had worried that Elizabeth would not wish for them to have visitors on their first day in residence,but Elizabeth reassured her that she was most anxious to meet her cousins again.
“Oh, I wish they could marry sooner so we could attend, but I know we must go home to Pemberley. I so look forward to seeing it. But, certainly, we will invite Richard and Jane to come to us for their wedding trip, and Mary must come as well. She and Georgiana got along so well, and it would benefit both of them.”
Darcy smiled at her enthusiasm for their home and greatly anticipated taking Elizabeth there. He would have told her so, had she not interrupted him.
“Oh, and there was a letter here for me from Grandpapa.”
The animation in her countenance shifted at once. He knew her expressions too well to mistake this for playful invention. Her astonishment was genuine and not distressing; it roused in him more curiosity than concern.
For a moment, he recalled the afternoon prior to their wedding when Lord Granfield and Lord Matlock had spoken privately with Mr Bennet in his study. At the time, he had thought little of it. He wondered now whether that conversation had led to some consequences he had not anticipated.
“He left a letter for you here?” he asked lightly. “At Netherfield?”
“Yes. Mrs Hurst said he left it for me several weeks ago. I have not yet read it; instead, I waited to see if you would read it with me. It makes me wonder whether it contains some important intelligence, and I cannot determine whether that is cause for delight or alarm.”
“Let us hope it is not the latter,” he returned, amusement touching his tone. “Your grandfather is not in the habitof dispatching dramatic revelations without warning. No, I suspect he wishes us to know something while we remain in Hertfordshire. Did you not say he had already departed for his estate?”
“He has, but I believe he stopped at Netherfield on his way north. That must have been when he left it.”
“You have it with you?”
She smiled, faintly conspiratorial, he thought, and withdrew the folded letter from the hidden pocket at her side.
A moment later, the letter was opened, and Darcy leant to read over Elizabeth’s shoulder from where they sat comfortably on a settee. They remained in silence for several minutes, and as his eye travelled down the page, his astonishment deepened.
“I cannot imagine by what means Grandpapa and Lord Matlock persuaded Mr Collins to join with Mr Bennet in barring the entail,” Elizabeth said when he at last drew back, the letter still in his hand. “Now Uncle Bennet may leave the estate to whichever daughter is unmarried or whose husband does not already possess one. It seems Grandpapa ensured the will was properly drawn, which was likely part of his reason for coming here, beyond merely leaving me this letter.”
“Granfield appears somewhat irritated with Mr Bennet,” Darcy observed, glancing again at the page. “Particularly as he entrusts it to you to see that Jane and Mary are, at the very least, informed of the alteration.”
He folded the letter with deliberate care. “He undertook it, I think, as acknowledgement of your uncle and aunt’s care of you. I cannot doubt that Mr Collins’s character strongly influencedtheir resolve. The man is a fool. In possession of Longbourn, he would very likely have ruined it.”
“Grandpapa did express displeasure with Uncle Bennet on several occasions when we saw him in London. I had wondered why he maintained the contact since I was no longer at Longbourn. I suppose he and Lord Matlock must have been arranging this since they met with Uncle Bennet in December. As you recall, we had wondered at the purpose for this meeting.”
Darcy smiled, gratified by the ease with which her reasoning aligned with his own. He had reached the same conclusion.
“I believe you are entirely correct,” he said quietly. “I reached much the same conclusion myself. I do wonder, however, by what means they persuaded Collins to relinquish his interest in the estate.”
Elizabeth laughed softly. “Your uncle and my grandfather excel at arranging matters so that others accomplish precisely what they intended, yet depart convinced it was their own brilliant scheme.”
Her eyes sparkled as she added, “Grandpapa has been decidedly vexed to discover that those talents are less effective where you are concerned.”
Darcy gave a low groan. “I have little inclination to pursue a title, whatever arguments your grandfather and my uncle may advance. Can you truly picture me in the House of Lords, seated amongst gentlemen whose chief exertions extend no further than the preservation of their own interests? I am surprised they have settled upon a knighthood for Richard; I wonder if he knows of that honour yet.”
He shook his head. “No. Even were I to bear the style of lord, I should be ill-suited to politics. I would much rather remain at a distance from London whenever it may be contrived. These past months in Town have tried me sorely, the incessant society and the necessity of civilities towards those for whom I possess no particular regard. If I were allowed the choice and did not require connexions there or the conduct of business, I would spend very little time in London at all.”
