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His apology was long, apparently heartfelt with sufficient grovelling to appease both Earls. It was the performance of his life as it was completely insincere. He left as soon as it was over. He asked Georgiana to pack, ignored the protestations of his aunt and the pair of them left town the following morning. It was more than a year before either was seen in town.

--

It was a quiet family dinner, just the four members of the family. All the servants had been dismissed for the night. The clean-up could happen in the morning. It was the Countess who finally asked the first question.

“When did Darcy change?”

Rueful faces and pursed lips her only response.

“That is the question that we have all been considering. It is not a single moment. My best guess is the key moment was when his father died unexpectedly. He was not ready for the role of Master of Pemberley. Yet in the next two years he worked hard and stepped into it. The estate is more productive today than it was five years ago.

“But the other side of it, a wife and then an heir? He has made a total hash of that. I am not saying this is in any way an excuse for his behaviour, but he has been one of the favourite foxes for the matchmaking mamas to chase. He does not cope well with that.”

What Richard said made sense, and something they had all seen.

“Then there is dealing with a much younger sibling. He is not old enough to be her father yet is a father figure rather than a brother. Add in Ramsgate, and we know there is plenty of blame to go round over that debacle, and he has retreated into himself.”

The Countess sipped her sherry.

“Is there a risk that he will not take a wife?”

“No, he is conscious of his duty. But that is the right word. She will be nothing more than a duty wife. Produce the heir and the spare and then despatched down here to Darcy House while he and the children remain at Pemberley.”

“Surely not Richard? He would deprive the children of their mother?”

“How do you think they will grow up with their mother in one wing of Pemberley and their father in another. And Darcy would be in the family wing. They would know their mother was not considered family. They would end up more of a disgrace than the current crop of Princes.”

Winces from the other three. Sometimes there was too much candour.

“Is there nothing we can do?”

Richard felt he had said enough. Time to see what the others had to say. Silence. Or not apparently.

“Will Burtonwood calm down?”

Finally. This was the Viscount to his father.

“Yes. It will not come between us. And he will not put the word out to blacken Georgiana’s prospects. Darcy will end up being ignored. Not cut, just not invited. And for obvious events he will still be invited, although I will make sure he sends his apologies. Darcy has socially isolated himself as well as Catherine has down in Kent. One will sulk there, while the other will sulk in Derbyshire. She might end up getting her way with Darcy and Anne getting married.”

The Earl did not terribly upset at the prospect. At the end of the evening the two brothers retired to the older’s suite of rooms.

“Darcy really has made a hash of things. I listened to what you said at the table. Is it all because of his early inheritance?”

“I was thinking about that as we talked back and forth. I think it is more fundamental than that. It comes back to his shyness. He puts on a front but is no better than Georgiana. Then there is ‘society talk’, which we all have to endure. Girls are trained before they come out to be quiet. Often this training is draconian, I have seen momentary looks of venom between mother and daughter, at a perceived failure. Some fathers would have blamed the daughter as opposed to standing up for her. So we have a shy man, bland conversations with young ladies afraid to put a foot wrong, and no one to hold him accountable before now. We all know that however sincere Darcy’s appearance yesterday, he did not mean a word of it. I do not know when we will see either of them back in town.”

“What is he looking for in a wife?”

“Absolutely no idea. And even more worrying, neither does Darcy.”

“He doesn’t know?”

“Look at the night of the insult. The daughter of an Earl, with a rumoured £25,000 in her purse, meets the grandson and nephew of Earls. An absolutely perfect match. Yet Darcy takes one look at her and loudly insults her in public. We are not going to send him to Bedlam but there is something not right.”

“Will he marry Anne? I could not tell if father was joking or not.”

“You have not seen her in the last few years. I doubt she could survive the marriage bed never mind the birthing chamber.”

The Viscount winced, he did not need that mental image.

“Who is the current heir?”

“The cadet line is from the great-great-grandfather’s third brother. Well the third son, you know what I mean.”

They both calculated consanguinity.

“Third cousin?”

Richard agreed with his brother.

“And Darcy has never met them.”

Fitzwilliam Darcy had dug a deep hole for himself.