He gave a solemn nod. “I know the current earl very little. His son, my cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam, and I are quite close. He is two years younger than I am, and we attended the same university. He is one of the truest friends I possess. I am grateful he sought me out when he came to school.”
“Not the eldest son, then, given his position in the military,” Elizabeth remarked.
“He is the second son by a year,” Darcy replied. “His rank comes prominently from his own effort. There was little money to purchase advancement. The earl’s coffers are… strained. I have offered assistance, but my cousin prefers to earn his rank.”
Elizabeth smiled. “That speaks well of him.”
“It does,” Darcy agreed. “Integrity is prized among the Darcys. I sometimes think Providence allotted all of what was designated to the Fitzwilliams to my cousin, and left the rest of his family rather poorly supplied.”
She laughed softly. “Are you close with his elder brother, then, as well?”
Grimacing, Darcy shook his head. “The viscount is a year younger than myself. He attempted, more than once to assert his superiority over us both. Once too often, perhaps. In a heated moment, Colonel Fitzwilliam remarked—rather pointedly—that the viscount had been born only a few months after his parents’ marriage.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened.
Darcy stopped short, color rising swiftly to his face. “I should not have repeated that. I beg your pardon. It was not—”
She tightened her hand gently around his arm, still linked with hers. “You have not offended me.”
He looked at her in surprise.
“It only makes me think,” she continued, more softly, “how unhappy such a household must have been. For all of them.”
His expression eased. “Yes. That is precisely it. My cousin spent as many holidays at Pemberley as he could manage once he was old enough to choose. He grew close to my father. He is now joint guardian to my sister, Georgiana.”
“Not your other cousin? The one who was raised with you?” Elizabeth asked carefully.
“No,” Darcy said. “Lady Anne was uneasy with him. She perceived something I did not at the time. Though my father did not understand her reasoning, I believe respected her judgment enough to trust it.”
Elizabeth considered this. “That says a great deal about him, that he was willing to follow his wife’s lead in the matter.”
They walked on together for a long while after that, the conversation drifting easily from one subject to another, the morning light brightening around them. Elizabeth found, to her surprise, that an hour had passed almost without her noticing.
And she was keenly aware, all the while, that she had not once wished the walk to end. But all too soon, they emerged from the tangled green of the maze, the hedges thinning into the gravel path that led toward the front of the house.
They had scarcely taken three steps when the peace of the morning was shattered.
“Mr. Darcy!”
The voice rang out from the direction of the front door—sharp, strident, and unmistakable.
Elizabeth froze. Darcy closed his eyes and gave a faint groan, causing Elizabeth to giggle slightly. She hastily covered her mouth as Miss Bingley came striding toward them from the front door, her steps brisk, her posture rigid, her expression already drawn into a look of offended urgency.
Darcy let out a long, suffering breath. “It appears,” he said gravely, “that I am being hunted.”
Elizabeth pressed her lips together, her shoulders shaking. “By a most determined predator.”
“One that does not relinquish its quarry once scented,” he replied. “You would be wise to flee while you may.”
She turned toward the house, then hesitated. “I ought to return to Jane in any case. She will be waking soon.”
He inclined his head, though his mouth curved with wry resignation. “So, you abandon me to the vultures.”
“I do no such thing,” Elizabeth said, laughing. “You are perfectly capable of fending for yourself.”
“An unproven theory,” he said. “If I do not survive, I trust you will ensure my memory is spoken of kindly.”
She laughed outright then, surprised and delighted by the humor in him, by the ease with which it surfaced when he was unguarded.
