Page 1 of Sweet on Mr Darcy

Chapter One

Tuesday 5 May 1812

Pemberley

Derbyshire, near Lambton

“Mrs Reynolds tells me that you are planning a journey to London, Father. What could be so urgent that you set forth tomorrow?” Fitzwilliam Darcy asked in concern as he entered his father’s study.

George Darcy dismissed his valet, Mr Addams, with a wave of his hand and turned to his son. “I am glad you came in, Fitzwilliam. I feared you would be out in the forest with the steward and the men all day.”

“Now that the oats and barley are sown and the women and older children are set to weeding and supervising the drainage, it is time for the men to see to the timber harvest.” Darcy raised a brow. This was nothing his father did not know. “But what is this about a bolt for town?”

His father passed him three letters. “Georgie is unhappy at school. So unhappy that not only has she undertaken to write to me for help, but one of her teachers and the school mistress have done so as well.”

Darcy frowned as he read the letters. Georgiana was plaintive; she had overheard a group of her friends planning to use her to gain access to him, and then when one of them succeeded in compromising him, they would force a marriage between his sister and one of their brothers. The girls had not even been sorry when confronted, and had dismissed poor Georgie as if she were nothing.

The letter from the school mistress was stern and dismissive of Georgiana’s distress. The lady said that it was not uncommon for young women to examine their resources and even plan their best stratagems as they discussed their futures while at school. They would all enter the marriage mart some day soon, and everyone knew what that was like. The school mistress refused to entertain the notion that such conversations did not take place at all schools, even at Cambridge and Oxford. She recommended that Miss Darcy should learn to appreciate her assets and plan to engage them accordingly for the benefit of her future.

There was also the matter to consider that some of the girls involved were the daughters of noblemen, and the school mistress felt that she could hardly write to their parents with such complaints, for Georgiana ought to consider herself well-favoured to win the hand of any of the brothers of her school friends.

The letter from Georgiana’s dormitory keeper, Mrs Younge, was filled with sympathy for poor, badly used Miss Darcy, and recriminations for the false friends, of whose behaviour she was quite shocked and disappointed. Miss Darcy had confided her request to leave school, and Mrs Younge wondered if there might be a need for a governess or companion for the young lady, for she approved of Miss Darcy thoroughly, and would be happy to be of service to her in London or at Pemberley.

Darcy raised his head and looked at his father. “Of course we must not leave her there. I refuse to accept that compromises are a necessary evil that are discussed and planned at all schools. But are you certain that you ought to go, Father? I could go, or we could even send word to Aunt Eleanor.”

“I had considered sending word to Lady Matlock, but I would miss the opportunity to tell this Mrs Woolrich personally what balderdash her letter contained, and how I will ensure that everyone knows that she teaches girls very poor judgement there.” George Darcy smiled at his son. “Besides, who would see to the timber harvest if you went? And the yearly tenant cottage and outbuilding maintenance must be undertaken while the weather is fine and before it is time for the harvest. You really should be here in case there is a problem with any of the drainage or grazing pastures. The dairy needs special oversight. We do not call May the month of three milkings⁠1 for nothing.”

Darcy had taken over the work at Pemberley and their other estates with his father’s help and advice when he returned from Cambridge. A proper grand tour was not possible, considering matters on the continent. Though his father’s godson George objected to missing it, Darcy had no particular interest in taking the abbreviated tour of London, the other cities around England, as well as Scotland and Ireland that many young men undertook. His father made a good show of it, but George Darcy was not well. Darcy had worried for some time that his father might leave them before he could even properly finish his education at university.

George Wickham was given a sum of money and sent off on a trip of his own that was meant to last a year or more with a friend from school. A friend that Darcy would not have been caught in even the most innocent of conversations with, but the best sort of friend that Wickham could produce. Darcy returned to Pemberley to help his father, and he could sense his father’s relief when they began their work together.

Wickham’s gentleman’s tour was even more brief than they expected. The libertine ran out of money in under two months, created more debt than Darcy had ever thought possible, and there was even some small legal trouble that Darcy Senior had been obliged to use his influence to end. In the ensuing years, Wickham abandoned any prospect of being ordained or accepted into any sort of respectable profession.

Seven years later, Darcy could most often be found at Pemberley, working hard with the steward, unless he was taking his annual trip to visit his aunt at Rosings Park and their other estates and holdings. His father was correct. It would not be for the best for him to go. His father ought not be burdened with any troubles that arose at home.

“But are you strong enough, Father?” he begged. “That, before any other concern, must be our very first consideration. I could not bear it if you went and became ill.”

“I do not believe a three-day journey to London will finish me, my boy, you have my word,” Darcy Senior assured his son. “And there is no need to start back too soon. We have some weeks before London becomes too hot and unhealthful. I can rest at Darcy House until I am ready to return. Georgiana can see Lady Matlock and Priscilla as often as she likes, and I will make an appointment with my physician while I am in town. He should listen to my heart while I am there, I think.”

“Perhaps you should travel more slowly,” Darcy fretted. “I can go and speak with Addams–”

“Slowing the journey only makes it more exhausting, please believe me when I say that I am the best judge on how I am to travel most comfortably.” Darcy Senior held up a calming hand. “Addams has already sent someone ahead to arrange rooms at the usual inns. I will check on Wickham while I am in town. I have had no reply to my last letter.”

“Father, I do hope you will not go into whatever slum he is living in now,” Darcy objected. “Despite the generous allowance you give him, the locations in which he chooses to reside are appalling and unsafe.”

“That my own son should think to caution me.” Darcy Senior’s voice rumbled in laughter. “Wickham will come to Darcy House when he learns that I am there. Addams will find him if necessary, but I doubt it. He will not miss the opportunity to see me in town. I plan to convince him to return to his study of the law.”

“After the last two attorneys he swindled while apprenticing for them and being sent down from reading the law for his refusal to even sit his exams, Wickham will never be a solicitor. Nor should you damage our family name any further in an attempt to rectify the matter.”

“He must do something, Son.” His father’s voice was grave.

“I will not argue with you, but he cannot be trusted, nor even persuaded to make himself useful in the same manner as his father.” Darcy was resigned. “If only he would remain at Pemberley and work alongside me here as his father once did with you, I would gladly see him respectable and well treated. To be a steward of Pemberley is no situation to sneer at, but he will not stir himself to be trustworthy with the oversight of even our smallest holding.”

“I do not wish to speak of the matter further, Son.” George Darcy’s words were final, and his son knew he was no more likely to convince his father in this matter than he was when he was fifteen years of age.

Monday 25 May 1812

Darcy House,