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Fitzwilliam sat back and smirked as Collins demolished his arrogant cousin. If anyone could cut William down to size, it was the man before him.

“There are unintended consequences to everything we do. Some good and others bad. Because my cousin believes you dislike her, that you stare at her to find fault, coupled with your insult and the hot and cold way you treated her when she was a guest in this house…” Collins stopped when Mr Darcy spoke in a shaky voice.

“I think she is one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance, and I thought she was flirting with me. I did not want to raise expectations I could not fulfil, as she is so far below me…” Darcy started to explain but closed his mouth when Richard stood.

“This is what I mean by arrogant! William, you are nothing but a gentleman farmer, a wealthy one, but a farmer nonetheless,” Fitzwilliam barked. “Yes, you have connections to my family, but you are nought but a gentleman. I do not know the lady, but I would posit that the question ought to be, are you good enough for her?”

“Mr Darcy, the three eldest Bennet sisters do not have a mercenary bone in their bodies, so if, as her feelings are today, you attempted to offer for Cousin Elizabeth, she would run you off with a flea in your ear and tell you that you are the last man in the world she could be prevailed upon to marry. Cousin Mary tells me that as much as Mrs Bennet wants her daughters to make good matches, you are one she has told her girls to ignore! What does that tell you, when a woman who wants nothing more than to marry off her daughters does not want you as a husband for any of them?” William allowed his words to linger.

“Now, as I said, there are consequences. Cousin Elizabeth and I saw the interaction between you and Mr Wickham in the street the day we met him. I could tell you were furious, and he was scared. However, thanks to her bad opinion of you, my cousin wanted to know what you did to incur Mr Wickham’s wrath. She is one of the most intelligent people I know, man or woman, and has perfect recall, but as to anything to do with you, at this point, she is blind. She looks for any reason to think worse of you than she already does.” William paused as he took a breath. “A few days ago, there was a card party at Mr and Mrs Phillips’ house…”

William told the cousins the gist of the conversation he had overheard between Cousin Elizabeth and Lieutenant Wickham, as well as his own observations.

“Did that bastard mention my cousin, his,” Fitzwilliam cocked his head to his cousin, “sister?”

“He did. All he said was she too was proud like her brother, and he would not know her anymore.” He saw the cousins relax. “While I could see the contradictions and inconsistencies, not to mention the impropriety of such a disclosure made to one who was not a close connection, Cousin Elizabeth only heard confirmation of what she already felt about you.”

“We can tell him about Ramsgate. Collins would not mention it to a living soul without our permission,” Fitzwilliam suggested.

Darcy nodded.

Between the two men, they informed the parson what had occurred in Ramsgate and how close they had come to losing their charge forever.

“My question then is simple. Why is Mr Wickham free to ply his trade here, or anywhere for that matter?” William demanded. “Why did you two not excise the blight that he is from society?”

“That is what I wanted to do, but William here interceded,” Fitzwilliam hissed.

“He is my late father’s godson. I cannot move against him, as it would dishonour Father’s memory, and he holds my sister’s reputation in his hand,” Darcy claimed.

“Excuse me for saying this, but that is pure twiddle-twaddle. Mr Darcy, what would your late father have done had Mr Wickham moved against his daughter when he was alive?” Collins enquired. “Who would take the word of a disgraced son of a steward against yours and that of the Fitzwilliams? I assume he is a profligate who leaves debts behind him? And let me guess, Mr Darcy pays the debts?” William watched as both cousins nodded. “Then, why is he not in debtor’s prison?” He paused as he cogitated for a minute. “You will not want to hear this, Mr Darcy, but by paying his debts and cleaning up his messes all you are doing is enabling him to hurt more people.”

“I have told you this before, have I not?” Fitzwilliam reminded his stubborn cousin.

“You are both right. It is time for me to do what I should have done years ago. I did not tell my father what his protégé had become because I did not want to hurt him, but I see now I damaged my father and his legacy more by trying to hide the truth than by dealing with it,” Darcy owned. “Perhaps I was protecting myself as well.”

“I have the debt receipts from London as well as this,” Fitzwilliam handed Collins a document.

“We have to show this to Cousin Elizabeth, and you two need to tell her the truth. No matter what she feels about Mr Darcy, she will not be able to refute written proof,” Collins recommended.

“I need to apologise to Miss Elizabeth for many things, it seems,” Darcy acknowledged.

“Tomorrow is the Sabbath. I suggest you two come to Longbourn at ten on Monday morning,” William proposed.

The cousins accepted.

When Fitzwilliam opened the door, Barker informed his colonel that Miss Bingley had attempted to approach the door more than once and was most put out that he had refused to abandon his post.

“It is time to deal with that shrew,” Fitzwilliam said after they saw Collins to the drive where he mounted his stallion.

“Damned fine horse, that,” Darcy observed. “Yes, I need to kill her delusions.”

Chapter 17

After farewelling Collins, Fitzwilliam and Darcy requested that Bingley meet with them in his study. By the time they arrived, Thompson, one of Darcy’s large footmen, was in the hallway outside of the room.

“I say, Chaps, why is Darcy’s footman outside the door?” Bingley enquired.

Fitzwilliam looked at his cousin, sending him the silent message that it was Darcy who needed to speak plainly with Bingley.