Darcy was still unsure whether he was insulted or grateful that she had not bothered to take him to task for his unkind words.
‘What did you expect? Since you had not been introduced, it would have been improper of her to speak to you, even if you had not just publicly insulted her.’
‘I had not considered that aspect.’
‘Perhaps she was giving you a chance to apologise?’
‘That thought did not occur to me either. And how could I? We had not been introduced.’
‘That is a feeble excuse, and you know it. Darcy, you are too used to being the pampered darling of the ton, thinking that you are above such things as common courtesy.’
Darcy tried not to squirm in his seat. ‘Perhaps. But that solicitor was unbearably rude and insulting to me as well,’ he huffed.
‘What solicitor?’
‘The one who represents the owner of Netherfield. Would you believe that he had the nerve to call me an unmannered Cit?’
‘You had better tell me the rest of this sorry tale.’
His cousin obliged him by relating the treatment he had received in Meryton and the final humiliating episode with Mr Phillips, but no sympathy was forthcoming.
‘While you are not a Cit, that solicitor was correct when he said you had no manners.’
‘I have perfectly good manners,’ Darcy growled in frustration.
‘Perhaps you should consider using them? I believe that they are quite rusty from disuse.’ The Colonel’s tone was getting sharper as his cousin seemed unable to admit fault in this situation. ‘What is happening to the Fitzwilliam Darcy whom I used to know? Today you are whining like a spoiled child.’
‘But –‘
‘No buts. You have your priorities wrong. You are polite to a shrew like Miss Bingley, but then you take your anger at that woman out on a perfectly genteel lady who has done you no harm. Is that truly the behaviour of a gentleman? Have those people in Merry Town –‘
‘Meryton,’ Darcy corrected absentmindedly.
‘Meryton, if you prefer.’ Fitzwilliam shrugged. ‘Have those people done anything truly unreasonable? Let us look at the facts.’
Fitzwilliam ticked the points off his fingers. ‘One. After insulting a lady, she looked at you like you were something she scraped off a shoe. Two. You did not consider that you owed her an apology. Three. The next day, the whole town gave you the cut. Four. The solicitor told you, correctly mind you, that you behaved like an unmannered Cit. And now you are whining how horribly those people treated you.’ The Colonel glowered at his cousin.
‘I thought that at leastyouwould support me.’
‘Normally I would do so, but this time you were in the wrong and your behaviour by your own admission was abysmal.’ Richard pursed his lips as he contemplated his cousin. ‘I believe that you need an opportunity to work off some of your spleen. Why not meet me at Gentleman Jackson’s club tomorrow? I believe it would do you a world of good.’
Darcy brightened at the suggestion. ‘I think you have hit on what will benefit me.’
~T~
The next morning Darcy regretted his choice of words.
As soon as they stepped into the ring, Fitzwilliam let fly with a volley of punches which quite overpowered his cousin.
Despite Darcy having the advantage of height and therefore greater reach, the Colonel made up for those deficits by being a battle-hardened veteran of numerous fierce engagements on the continent.
Richard was hitting Darcy mercilessly while he explained in excruciating detail that gentlemen did not behave in the manner in which Darcy had behaved. Fitzwilliam provided Darcy with a lesson calculated to drive home that he owed it to his family to behave in a gentlemanlike manner.
By the time the Colonel relented and took his cousin home, Darcy was covered in bruises which would take weeks to heal.
‘Did you have to be so brutal?’ Darcy mumbled through swollen lips when they were back in his study, and he was holding a cloth filled with ice to his left eye and cheek which had taken the brunt of the blows to his face. ‘You had already made your point last night.’
‘I did not want to risk you forgetting this lesson. By the time the bruises are gone you will have had enough time to consider your actions and enough reminders from your mirror of the error of your ways. Hopefully I will not need to repeat your lessons.’
