Wickham nodded his head, again without lifting it. The Colonel summoned the guards who escorted the defeated man back to the brig.
“I want to thank you for restoring my regiment’s honour both in Oxford and here. I have been informed we will be welcome to return to Oxfordshire thanks to your family paying the merchants that bastard cheated,” Forster said gratefully. “And here, thanks to Miss Bennet and Mr. Fitzwilliam, he was stopped before he could cause any harm to the local ladies, although the shop owners’ policy of not allowing credit to unknowns must have put a crimp in his plans.”
After shaking the Colonel’s hand, the three men took their leave. The Matlock coach was waiting for them outside of the office.
“What do you think the chances of Wickham and your sister meeting in Australia are?” Richard asked once they were underway. “I am not sure who I would cheer for if those two met.”
“From what I understand though, your wayward aunt will arrive in New South Wales, and Wickham is for Van Diemen’s Land. Given the latter is an island and the other is somewhere in the vastness of the Australian colony, the chance of their meeting is infinitesimal,” Lord Matlock opined.
“If they do, they deserve one another,” Darcy added.
“On a more pleasant subject, I have never seen you so keen to travel south as you were this time,” Lord Matlock ribbed his nephew. “I wonder if it was just disposing of Wickham which brought you back to Meryton.”
“I know not of what you speak,” Darcy responded all the while fighting to keep his face neutral.
“That is brown Mr. ‘I abhor disguise’ Darcy,” Richard joined his father in funning with Darcy. “Unless one is blind, and even then a blind man would notice, it is my sister Elizabeth who has Darcy entranced as a moth is to a flame.”
Darcy harumphed and turned to stare pointedly out of the window.
Father and son released a round of rather loud guffaws with a snort or two interspersed. “Come now William, surely you are not put off by some light-hearted ribbing, are you?” Lord Matlock questioned.
It was not many seconds before the corners of Darcy’s mouth turned upward.
Chapter 37
It was a merry party enjoying dinner at Longbourn that evening.
Darcy made sure he was in position to escort Cousin Elizabeth into the dining parlour. He pulled a chair out for her across from Bingley, who had made sure he was seated between Darcy’s sister and their cousin Kitty, with Cousin Lydia next to her older sister. Next to Giana were Mary and Richard, who were as was common for them, lost in their own world.
Bennet had Elaine on one side and Miss Bingley on the other. Opposite him, his wife was in conversation with Matlock. The three companions and Miss Jones filled in the gaps along both sides of the table. Mrs. Jenkinson could not but smile thinking how happy Miss Anne would have been to see the interactions between Mr. Darcy and Miss Lizzy.
The Bennet patriarch watched Bingley’s interactions with his second youngest daughter and as was his wont, Netherfield Park’s tenant kept his attentions to Kitty appropriate. He spoke to Giana and Lydia, as much as he did Kitty. Bennet was pleased Bingley was not doing anything which would necessitate a conversation with the young man regarding his second youngest daughter.
Darcy leaned a little towards the bewitching lady next to him. “If there is no rain or snow on the morrow, will you and your speedy horse be in the field where we raced?” he asked quietly.
“No, I plan to walk to Oakham Mount on the morrow,weather permitting that is,” Elizabeth replied as her cheeks pinked a little. “I will be with Jenki, Biggs, and Johns, and we will leave the house a half hour before sunrise.”
“Would you object if I were to meet you on the path to the hill in the morning?” he asked keenly.
“As I will have more than adequate chaperonage, I do not see why not,” Elizabeth granted. Seeing the wide smile that spread across his face at her response, revealing both of his dimples, Elizabeth blushed a deep shade of red no matter how much she tried not to.
“I look forward to our exercise in the morning. Now I need to ask the Lord for no precipitation on the morrow,” Darcy returned.
Even though she had been speaking with Reggie regarding the miscreant who would be permanently removed from their lives, Fanny did not miss the interactions between her second daughter and William. Lord Matlock also watched his nephew for a minute or two. “That boy has lost his heart,” he opined.
“And Lizzy, who has never looked at a man romantically before seems to be just as lost as he is,” Fanny posited. “She may not know it yet, but I have a feeling we are looking at the next Mrs. Darcy.”
“Elaine and I have seen the mooncalf look William gets whenever he talks about Lizzy, never mind when he looks at her,” Matlock mused.
“All those years ago when we first met, who would have imagined two of my girls would marry your sons, and probably another your nephew,” Fanny averred wistfully. “God has been very good to all of us in so many ways, but I never expected two more daughters would join Janey in the married state so soon, one after the other.”
“William has not asked her, and Lizzy has not accepted yet,” Matlock pointed out.
“He will and she will, and soon,” Fanny predicted. “I believe they will love and respect one another just like Jane and Andrew, and Mary and Richard. We know it is not her fortune that interests him. He has more than enough of his own and I noted his interest in Lizzy well before he was aware of our true financial state, and long before she inherited all of her property and wealth.”
At his end of the table, even with the stimulating conversation with Elaine and Miss Hildebrand Bingley, Bennet had not missed the interactions between Lizzy and William. Without knowing what his wife and Matlock were discussing, he reached the same conclusions as they had.
‘When he takes Lizzy away to the north, at least there is that magnificent library I have heard so much about for me to visit when we are at Pemberley,’ Bennet thought as he watched his second daughter interact with Darcy. ‘Not even a marquess turned her head. At least when the day comes, and he asks for Lizzy’s hand, I will know it is for the right reasons. She may not know it yet, but Darcy is totally and completely in her power.’
