“Welcome, gentlemen,” Bennet offered with an affable smile, “I have long wanted to meet Reggie’s nephew. Please be seated.”
“And I have wished to meet you, Sir. I am sorry we have not met before now,” Darcy said, inclining his head.
Once they were seated, Bennet asked if they would like refreshments. The two visitors declined gracefully, having broken their fasts before leaving Netherfield Park.
“Mr. Bennet, please allow me to apologise again for the behaviour of my sister Caroline when you called on me yesterday,” Bingley addressed the topic which was causing him unease directly. It caught him by surprise that Darcy had relaxed; apparently, the closeness of the Fitzwilliams and the Bennets had not been exaggerated if Darcy was this comfortable meeting someone for the first time.
Bennet assured Bingley that he did not hold him accountable for his sister’s actions. After this welcome statement, Bingley breathed a sigh of relief. Bennet asked Darcy if all was well with his best friend, his wife, and his family. Darcy assured him the family was all well when he saw them in town the day before he travelled into Hertfordshire.
“My family was excited to hear Richard will join you at Netherfield Park soon. He is a favourite of ours, especially with my fifteen-year-old sons who love to listen to his battle tales from when he was serving King and Country in the army on the Peninsula. They will listen to those, and his other yarns, for as long as he is willing to tell them. He is careful to not share too many details with them, although Tom and James would not object if he did,” Bennet chuckled.
“Now that I think back, Richard did say something about knowing people in Hertfordshire, but I was not paying attention,” Darcy said. “There was a near disaster that affected my sister this summer past and I was distracted by thoughts of that when we spoke last.
“My sister Georgiana is almost sixteen and Richard is her co-guardian with me.” Darcy had a faraway look as he continued. “I blame myself for what happened, even though by the grace of God I arrived in time to stop the disaster from happening. Uncle Reggie says I take too much on myself.”
Bingley’s jaw dropped at this most unexpected turn of events. Fitzwilliam Darcy was sharing personal details of his life with someone he had never before met. Not only that, he was sharing details he had not yet related to himself, his best friend.
Darcy settled in the chair across from Bennet, a huge exhale of emotion finally escaping. For some reason he felt comfortable talking to Bennet, a closeness he never had with someone not an intimate acquaintance or close family like the Fitzwilliams.
“Reggie was correct,” Bennet opined with conviction, “He has shared his worries with me that you take too much on yourself and you think you can control things that are beyond anyone’s control. Only God can control all, Son, not mortals.” Bennet offered quietly. His eyes locked on Darcy so Darcy could see the truth a man can find only when addressed by another man. Bennet had to check his chuckle when Darcy looked chagrined.
‘He has my measure and we have only just met!’ he thought, but aloud he offered words he had thus far been unable to say. “Maybe you have the right of it, but I would never have forgiven myself if something had happened to Georgie.”
Darcy had never shared any of what had been troubling him for so long with Bingley, and the latter could see his friend was sinking into a dark mood again, so he intervened to change the subject, telling Bennet that Caroline had not learned her lesson and the things she had said before dinner.
“As I told Darcy, I am afraid the only way she will learn is the hard way. I love my sister, but I no longer like her, and I abhor her behaviour as it reflects badly on all of us. Even after Darce here told her as clearly as he could that she is nothing to him, her delusions persist, and she tells all she will soon be Mistress of Pemberley.
“She also had a monstrous tantrum last night and broke all the bric-a-brac in her chambers. She does not know it yet, but the money for the replacement will come from her allowance. I will no longer foot the bill for her bad behaviour.” Bingley understood Darcy’s sceptical look he was not hiding. “Just you wait and see, I am resolved that she will have to live with the consequences of her appalling behaviour.”
“I was going to acquaint you with some facts before her outburst, but now, especially after what you just told me Mr. Bingley, I feel I should tell you all.” Bennet settled back in his chair, also at ease with the company as he imagined he would one day talk as such with his sons. Bennet proceeded to tell them everything, from the birth of the twins onward. By the end of the tale, Darcy and Bingley were equally dumbfounded. ‘I could see they had wealth,’ Darcy thought to himself, ‘but this is far beyond anything I imagined. Their wealth rivals my own.’
“You are my landlord?” Bingley blurted out once he had regained his equanimity. “I must apologise once again; Caroline disrespected you in your own house.” Bennet nodded. “My sister is in for a much bigger shock than she expects.”
“As I told you a few minutes ago, there is nothing for you to apologise for, so please do not make yourself uneasy. You do not control the words or actions of your sister.” Bennet’s reply helped Bingley to relax knowing for sure he was not being held accountable for the actions of his ill-bred sister.
After Bennet’s disclosure and knowing at some point he would have shared the whole sordid story with Bingley anyway, Darcy swore both men to secrecy and proceeded to tell Bennet and Bingley his story. He started with the early facts regarding his nemesis George Wickham, then when after his father died how he had refused the living, stating he would never take orders, been compensated for it, and then wasted four thousand pounds.
How after signing away any claim to the living, he came back and asked for more and for the living that he had resigned all claim to. He explained how when refused Wickham had sworn revenge. He then relayed to them how the blackguard seducer had left a string of ruined girls and natural children in his wake across the country, and many debts to unsuspecting tradesmen who had allowed him credit.
Darcy added that he held Wickham’s vowels for debts worth well over three thousand pounds. Bingley was aghast now he finally understood why his friend had been in such a dark mood. Darcy finished the outpouring with a full recounting of what had happened, and what had almost happened in Ramsgate.
The two men in the study with him were the first people outside of the Fitzwilliams that he had been so open with about his private matters. His doing so here, was truly unlike him. From the moment he had been admonished by this man, Darcy had known sharing his burdens would be good for him, a catharsis. It was rare he found someone who so obviously took the same level of care in his estate, stables, and those who were dependent on him.
At the end of the recitation, Bennet ruminated and then again met that anguished stare. “Son, I understand why you blame yourself, but you have no true share in the blame. Both you and Richard were fooled by the dishonest Mrs. Younge, and if you had not arrived earlier than you planned, think of the disaster that would have ensued,” Bennet pointed out with much empathy. “This Wickham is a despoiler of maidens, a debaucher, a profligate, a blackguard and by the sounds of things an accomplished manipulator and liar. Your father, unadvisedly, gave him every advantage, and he chose to waste every one of his chances then blamed his misdeeds on everyone except himself.”
“You have his measure, Sir!” Darcy exclaimed with a slight upturn of his mouth. It felt good to discuss this with an objective party for the first time since the near disaster in Ramsgate.
Darcy felt he was ready to accept that this was not all his fault. A man who Darcy knew loved his family, was reminding him what that meant, and it was time to forgive himself and start living again. He felt the catharsis he had sorely needed begin to lift the self-imposed weight he had placed on his shoulders.
After a moment Darcy looked at the two gentlemen and for the first time in too long, smiled at his own thoughts. “I have an idea which will put Miss Bingley in her place once and for all, if Bingley agrees,” Darcy stated as he looked to his friend.
“Whatever needs to be done to finally show Caroline her own insignificance is something I will hear,” Bingley allowed.
“When I last saw them, the Fitzwilliams were getting ready to leave Town. They planned to depart by this coming weekend. Bingley told me Tuesday next there is an assembly in Meryton. I suggest you invite my aunt and uncle to arrive on Friday and to come to the assembly with you and your family.
“As much as Miss Bingley has always desired it, and lies about meeting them, she has never been introduced to any of them other than Richard. With them in attendance, she will either behave or be the author of her own demise in society.” He settled back into the comfortable chair he was sitting in and then looked at Bingley. “Bingley, if you truly want her to learn, I suggest you do not inform anyone at Netherfield Park about what we learned today, and let things play out as they will.”
Bingley agreed to the scheme and so did Bennet, who rang for Hill and asked if he would call his wife. On her entry, Mrs. Bennet was introduced to the young men. When meeting Mr. Darcy, she walked up to him and hugged him quickly as she captured his face in her hands.
