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“Stanley, the General has asked me to produce a list of merchant ships lost at sea over the last five years. I do not know for what purpose. Can you write to Lloyds in London and ask them to provide such a list? Back to my hands when you get a response.”

It was the good thing about having clerks around the garrison. Within three weeks he had the list, by date, and he was able to select a ship for the purposes of the story.

But in the meantime he had to say goodbye to Lady Napier.

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“Thank you for allowing me the privilege of calling upon you this summer. However, we both know that there is no future for us. If you will allow it my Lady, I would like to remain as a friendly acquaintance, so that there is no gossip about either of us.”

“That is acceptable Colonel, although I am likely to retire from society for some time.”

“What will you tell my mother?”

“The truth. I found participating in society to be a challenge. I was viewed as nothing more than a purse. Therefore I am going to regroup here and decide upon my future.”

Richard Fitzwilliam stood and bowed before Lady Napier for the last time. He knew that he was unlikely to be in her company ever again.

As he rode down the drive, they were both thinking ‘what might have been’.

Epilogue

The extended family of the Earl of Matlock exploded that summer. The detail was kept under wraps but there was much speculation regarding them.

It started at the luncheon in Bath with the Countess and Lady Napier. The latter had arrived with a cane to aid her walking because of an accident on the estate. She announced that she would be stepping back from society having not enjoyed the experience of being pursued as nothing but a purse. She had not shouted this out loud, but she had said it in a normal tone of voice in a public place. It was known throughout the town within days.

That Lady Napier was stepping back from society was less of a blow to the Countess’ standing in society, but rather as the mother of two unmarried sons. Richard had given no reason but had told them that he would not be pursuing his suit with Lady Napier.

That lady had said all the right things, but as she watched her drive south out of Bath, she could not shake the feeling that this had been the last time she would be in the company of the Baroness. She was not wrong.

As for her sons? Her oldest kept a keen eye on everyone in town for the rest of the summer, but he too came to the conclusion that he had missed his chance. As the heir to an Earldom, he had plenty of young ladies very keen to be in his company. He allowed himself to be distracted.

Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam took the necessary split with Lady Napier the hardest. It was unsurprising given that she had allowed him to call on her for more than a month, and had been in his company three times a week during that time.

Just as Elizabeth had allowed herself to forget that Darcy was the cousin of the Colonel, so Richard had allowed himself to forget his disappointment with the rest of his family. These memories returned with a vengeance. His mother seemed to think he was not worthy of polite manners, and had chosen to invite his already wealthy brother to the dinner with Lady Napier. And then there was the pompous and precious Darcy. He would never forgive the man for holding the additional allowance over his head. Richard’s bank had been instructed to return the Michaelmas payment. But that was trivial compared to his lack of fortitude in dealing with Wickham.

The first woman he had ever pursued, lost because Wickham was alive to spill his secret.

Mind you, his immediate revenge on Darcy was sweet. At his suggestion happily expressed in a letter to the two ladies, Lady Catherine and his cousin Anne de Bourgh also took up residence in Bath for the summer. And given he still resided in the barracks, there was space in the family’s rented townhouse. Darcy, and Richard’s parents, got a daily dose of the childhood engagement, the dearest wish of both mothers. It was petty in the extreme, but that did not make it any less satisfying at the same time.

As for the wedding? In the weeks before General van Grant’s wedding, he had met Miss Manners. She was a perfectly bland, yet acceptable, young lady. But he could hear Lady Napier’s voice, comparing Miss Manners to his own ward. Right up until the ceremony he was worried that there would be a problem. It was most acute in the section ‘if any man know just impediment, speak now or forever hold your peace’. He imagined Georgiana’s wedding and it all falling apart half way through the ceremony.

Then there was the issue of their joint guardianship of Georgiana. Darcy did not listen to his advice, he appeared to believe that he was Georgiana’s sole guardian, or at least the only one with an opinion that mattered. If that was his attitude, then Richard was happy to stop fighting him over it and just let him be. He was thinking about his future. It was time for him to be his own man.

“What do you mean you are assigned to Australia?”

“I have been assigned to the staff of the Governor General for Australia. I would have thought it was clear enough, my Lord.”

“This is unacceptable. You have responsibilities to the Earldom.”

“I do not take your meaning.”

“You are still the spare. If anything should happen to Stonehaven then you will be the heir.”

“I am 31 years of age, my brother is two years older than me. My life is to be on hold until he bothers to find a wife and get an heir out of her?”

“Do not take that tone, or speak of such matters in that way.”