“Gigi is understandably devastated. My mother is caring for her,” Hilldale replied.
“Has the funeral been held yet? I know your brother was hoping he would arrive before the interment,” Harold commented. “At least at this time of the year, it is cold enough not to need a quick burial.”
“The cold weather is why William waited for Richard to arrive. The only family members who are not here are the deBourgh ladies; no one will repine if our Aunt Catherine does not arrive. With Richard here, William will have the interment and funeral services held on the morrow,” Hilldale opined. “Fortunately, Lady Catherine does not like leaving Rosings Park at the best of times, never mind when the weather is the way it is now.” Hilldale stepped aside as his cousin and father approached the Hursts.
“I thank you both for coming to condole with us,” Darcy said after a formal bow. “Mrs Reynolds will show you to the same suite you used when you called on us in September.”
Harold did not see any of Darcy’s aloofness present, just the look of one who was very sorrowful.
“Very good of you to bring my younger son,” Matlock added.
“It was our pleasure, Lord Matlock,” Harold returned with a bow, while next to him Louisa curtsied. “Besides, his company enlivened the journey for us.”
“Yes, my younger son can be rather jovial when he wants to be.” Matlock did not add that he and his Elaine gave daily thanks to God for the fact that their son’s duties kept him from the war the damned Corsican had begun in May of the current year. If they ever discovered who or what caused Richard to change his mind and be willing to work as a liaison to the navy, they would owe that person a debt of gratitude, one a lifetime would not suffice to repay.
Those in the courtyard climbed the stone staircase leading to the single door, which led into the house.
“Mr and Mrs Hurst, please follow me,” Mrs Reynolds—Pemberley’s housekeeper, in her post for over seventeen years—requested. “You are in the same suite on the first guest floor, as you were for your previous visit.”
Louisa and Harold appreciated the housekeeper’s assistance. The house was so large neither was confident they would have located the correct suite on their own. They followed the woman up to the first floor and then to the staircase which bypassed the family floor leading directly up to the third floor, the first one of three floors for guests.
Unsurprisingly, by the time they entered the suite, Kinford and Holcomb were unpacking their clothing.
“I am very pleased I have a few dark dresses to wear while we are here,” Louisa stated. “Even though we are not family, we are being hosted in a house of mourning.”
“You are a very astute woman, one of the many reasons I was determined you would be mine. I will wear a black armband until we depart Pemberley.”
“Harold, would we break mourning protocol if we repeat the activities we performed the previous time we were in this suite?”
“I have never seen that activity listed as one to forgo when mourning. Add to that you are correct when you spoke about the fact that we are guests and not members of the family. Perhaps the best time would be after we dismiss your maid and my valet this evening once we are ready for bed,” Harold suggested.
There was no disagreement from Louisa about the timing for their marital activities.
After dinner—which was attended by Lady Matlock, who had left her niece in the care of her governess and a nurse for the evening—there was no separation of the sexes given how smallthe party was. It was where Darcy told everyone that the funeral service would begin at half after eight in the morning on the morrow. He reported that he had sent messages to the estates closest to Pemberley whose masters had a connection to his late father, some to Lambton, and another rider to notify the tenants.
“I do not know if I will ever get used to sitting in my father’s chair, behind his desk, and working in his study,” Darcy commented absent mindedly to no one in particular.
“Like it did for me after my father, your Grandfather Fitzwilliam, passed away, it will take you some time, William. Never forget that all of us are here to support you. As I am the executor of your father’s Last Will and Testament, I will have the solicitor read it after we all return from the funeral on the morrow,” Matlock responded.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Pemberley’s church was full to capacity, and beyond. Estate owners, some of them titled, rubbed shoulders with tradesmen from Lambton and Kympton, not to mention male servants and tenants from Pemberley. The rectors of Lambton and Kympton shared the duties, as both of them were under Pemberley’s advowson.
When he looked around, one man was conspicuous by his absence; the parasite was nowhere to be seen. Harold had not heard anything about him since the late Mr Darcy had seen him for what he was, so he thought no more about it.
When the mortal remains of Robert Darcy were entombed in the Darcy crypt below the church, next to the body of his beloved Anne, only family and close friends had been in attendance. Harold, like a few others, waited in the church for those who descended into the cellar below the church to return.
While the men were at the church, the public rooms at the mansion were filled with ladies who had come to condole with the Darcys. Louisa made sure she was always next to Miss Darcy, who was only eight, so she could shield her from most of the ladies and their platitudes. Lady Matlock was acting as the hostess, so she was not always able to keep an eye on her niece.
Once the men returned, Miss Darcy was excused to return to the nursery with her governess and the nurse.
As soon as those not being hosted in the house departed, the three Fitzwilliams and Darcy joined the solicitor in the study for the reading of the will. With the callers gone, Miss Darcy, in her black bombazine gown, joined the ladies in the drawing room.
While the men were in the study one floor above the drawing room where the ladies were, there was a disturbance from the hall.
“Where is my nephew? I must see him, so I can put everything to rights,” was screeched from out in the hallway. The door was pushed open before the butler could open the doors and announce the shrieking creature.
“Catherine!” Lady Matlock said resignedly just before the double doors flew open.
