“Pa, Pa, Pa!” Emily ran up to him and shoved the carved tiger towards his face.
“It is a tiger,” Darcy said seriously, squatting to be closer to her eye level.
She looked between her father and the figurine, made a small cheerful roar, grinned, and ran back to the ark and its many animals.
“What do you mean I am unlike my father? He was the best of men. An excellent man,” Darcy returned to the previous conversation.
“Excellent man, but too serious with you and Georgiana,” Lord Matlock said. “He seldom held you or played with you. In his view the duty of the parent was not to make the child laugh, but rather to ensure he was disciplined, and that his habits were formed correctly.”
“I will see to it that Emily’s habits are moulded properly.”
“It’s blood,” Lord Matlock replied. “Blood drives what the adult becomes. That and chance. What the parent does is but a small part of it, so all you’ve left to do is make the child happy.”
“You can see,” Richard said, laughing, “the dangers of such a philosophy in how I have turned out.”
Both Darcy and his father rolled their eyes.
“I do not think that what the parent does is of as little importance as what you suggest,” Darcy replied. “And—”
“When will you stop wearing that ridiculous black armband?” Lord Matlock interrupted. “Weall know you are not so torn up by Anne as to justify it for more than a year after she died. No dishevelment. You don’t drink to excess. You don’t read more poetry than you ever did. And—”
As he was justified in interrupting his uncle, since his uncle had just interrupted him, Darcy said, “I read a great many nursery rhymes to Emily.”
His uncle replied with an unamused stare, “Thepointto which my conversation aims is that you are not a sodden widow who was a virgin on her wedding night and has gained overwrought sensibilities from too many novels written by other sad women. Marry again. For your own sake. For Emily’s sake. For the sake of your position.”
“I do not need to marry again — don’t go there, Em-Em!” When the girl continued to make her tottering way towards the fire screens Darcy took three long strides, scooped the girl up, and nibbled at her stomach.
She giggled loudly.
“She could not seriously burn herself with the embers,” Richard objected.
Darcy glared at him.
“They are mostly dead,” Richard repeated.
“Dead is such a pleasant word,” Darcy replied sarcastically.
“As much as you insist on mothering your child,” Lord Matlock said, “Shewould benefit from an actual mother, and you still need an heir to Pemberley.”
“You are not also insistent on having the blood of the earls of Matlock join Rosings and Pemberley together in one great estate?”
Lord Matlock snorted. “I thought you had barely talked to Cathy since the babe was born.”
“Those few conversations were memorable.” Particularly the three hours that he’d allowed the grieving mother — though she did not show it through tears, nor through words of grief — demand that the child either be named Cathy or Anne, after one of her grandmothers. Anne’s own wishes be damned. The fact that the baptism had already been registered, also be damned. The family tradition was to name the first daughter after a beloved relative, and so they should with Darcy’s daughter.
Lord Matlock shrugged, “A son to inherit Pemberley would have a Fitzwilliam grandmother. One is sufficient. As a matter of policy, I disapprove of it when estates in different counties are held by the same persons. Better for the country if the major manors are each owned by a family resident, rather than visiting on occasion from their primary seat.”
Darcy put Emily back down, and she immediately started towards the painted screens again. He firmly took her hand, and said, “You may examine the paintings, but only so long as you hold my hand.”
He had no idea if she understood him — sometimes she seemed to have a clear sense of what was spoken around her, but not always. However, the girl did not protest as they walked over.
“Eh, let him be,” Richard said. “He wouldn’t be able to find a woman who'd be as womanly as he is about the child.”
“Death by falling into a fireplace is not an infrequent occurrence.”
“Neither is it frequent, especially not if the child is supervised at all, which she is,” Lord Matlock said. “I’ve drawn up with Frances a list of eligible women who you might meet. Pretty girls. All with excellent families and connections. Ordinarily one must look lower for a second marriage, but sinceany son would still be the heir of Pemberley, I do not think we must worry much upon that score.”
“Tall, handsome, rich and the women will attribute his ordinary dour nature to brooding on the death of his beloved wife,” Richard said. “Ah, to be like Darcy! I would marry in a week if I were in his shoes. Jove.”
