“I mean to send an express detailing your circumstances and informing her that you shall arrive on Friday. If she is satisfied with your meeting, she may agree to delay the appointment until you have taken orders, or perhaps she may know of some other situation that would suit,” Darcy told hisfriend. “I shall have opened Darcy House by the time you return, and there you shall be welcome for as long as you require.”
“Lady Catherine, excellent!” Phillip grinned. During his years as a parson, their aunt had attempted many times to persuade him to take the post at Hunsford, for she seldom had a clergyman last more than a year in her parish, but Phillip had always politely declined what he knew would only cause strife in the family. She would not be an ideal patroness for Edward, but the employment would still signify an improvement from his present condition.
“Until his journey to Rosings, Mr. Ferrars shall be our guest,” Lady Matilda said brightly.
Darcy could see Philip’s morality warring with his own personal feelings, but his good breeding won out. “You are very welcome, sir, and I wish you every success with my aunt. You must excuse me, but I have only returned home to collect some papers for our solicitor, on some business of my brother’s.”
Phillip had retrieved the documents in question, and he glanced down at them with an impish smile. “Indeed, if you do not take orders, I may know of another solution to your plight, in Scotland.”
“Scotland?” Edward stammered.
“Yes, my younger brother, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, inherited a small property there from our great uncle. Surely you have heard of my brother’s dealings with John Dashwood.”
“I have.”
“Well, Richard will not render the man completely homeless, and nobody could be so wicked as to force him to reside permanently with your mother. My solicitor had some doubts about the legalities of the matter, with Norland being left to your poor young nephew, but the estate appears to indeed be Dashwood’s rightful property to gamble away, as he did. Richardhas given the man a reasonable period to make him some alternative restitution, and now wishes to collect what is owed to him. But he has very generously offered him the Scottish pile as a gesture of goodwill. Perhaps you might join your sister and her husband there; they shall surely be in want of assistance with the repairs required to make the place comfortable.”
Phillip’s tone was even and amiable, but his triumph was evident to Darcy. So, too, was Edward’s dismay. Darcy felt a pang of pity for his friend, that his family should face yet another fracas on the heels of Edward’s crisis.
Phillip excused himself, and Lady Matilda pursued him, peppering him with questions about Richard’s new acquisition. Left alone with his dejected friend, Darcy hastily completed his letter and dispatched it and then invited Edward to have a drink with him.
For a quarter hour they spoke chiefly of Lady Catherine, the vicarage of Hunsford, and how Edward might present himself to advantage. And then, Mr. John Willoughby was shown into the library.
“Good afternoon,” he said cheerfully. “I was told I would find you here, Ferrars. I completed my valuation of your late father’s collection yesterday, though I had no opportunity last evening to present you with the bank draft.”
He handed Edward a cheque, and Edward gaped as he accepted it. “Five hundred pounds – but surely this is too much!”
“My mother was quite adamant, and I wholeheartedly agree. Forgive me, but if your circumstances are distressed… but I cannot think it charity, when there are many rare volumes and first editions that will fetch us a fine price in the shop. No, I think it just what is fair. And after the events of last evening, perhaps your relations need not know, if it is a greater sum thantheyare expecting.”
Edward nodded and tucked the cheque into the breast pocket of his coat and then shook hands warmly with Willoughby. Darcy was a little surprised at the friendly ease between the two gentlemen, for he had considered Willoughby as yet another of Miss Bennet’s suitors. Feeling it the civil thing to do, and with considerable curiosity, Darcy invited the man to join them for a brandy and a game of billiards.
“I have no talent for the game, though I am always perfectly comfortable in a room full of books,” Willoughby replied. Darcy motioned for his companions to sit, and then poured them each a small glass of brandy.
When they were all settled, Willoughby congratulated Edward on his chivalrous display at dinner. “It was very well done of you to defend Miss Steele in the face of your family’s ire, very well done, indeed. Tell me, how fares your lady after that shocking scene?”
Edward nearly spilled his brandy down his shirt as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He cleared his throat but did not lift his gaze from the fire that blazed in the hearth. “I saw her this morning. She is greatly distressed that my family will not welcome her amongst them, and in light of my imminent disinheritance, she has chosen to release me from our engagement. Her new friends have apparently advised her that she can secure a better match than myself, and in truth they are likely correct. I cannot imagine her as a parson’s wife.”
Willoughby raised his eyebrows. “You mean to take orders?”
Darcy explained his endeavors on Edward’s behalf, and Willoughby heartily commended him for it. “That is just what I like, when people in positions of privilege display such generosity. Mrs. Ferrars is rather like my aunt, Lady Allen,expecting something in return – absolute authority over my personal affairs.”
Darcy bit back a remark on the irony that Edward might enter into the employ of Lady Catherine, the most domineering woman in Kent, and possibly all of England.
“If your situation is anything like my own, you have my condolences,” Edward replied glumly.
Willoughby finished his brandy, and Darcy offered him another. “It is more similar than you may imagine; I, too, have found myself in a romantic entanglement with one of the Dashwood sisters. Forgive my presumption in saying so, but I heard you spoken of very warmly on several of my visits to Barton Cottage.”
Edward eyed Willoughby warily. “I heard you spoken of, as well, when I visited Devonshire in November. I believe my friends were all very downcast at your abrupt departure from the area.”
“My stepfather fell ill – his health is not likely to recover – and my aunt, Lady Allen, demanded I leave her home in the neighborhood to find an heiress in London, fearing I may soon be in mourning and… lose the chance.” Willoughby shook his head and glanced apologetically at Darcy. “Forgive me, I am sure I shall bore you – you can have no wish to hear of my woes, when I have come to commiserate with Mr. Ferrars.”
“Not at all,” Darcy assured him. “Though if you both have some prior attachment to Miss Dashwood, it may be awkward to speak of.”
“Oh, no – it was the younger sister whom I fancied myself attached to,” Willoughby said with a wistful sigh.
Darcy recalled this must be the same younger Dashwood sister who had flayed poor Bingley upon his return to Meryton, and raised his brows, encouraging his guest to elaborate.
“I am entirely susceptible to wise counsel, if you have any to provide,” Edward said with a bitter laugh.
