AN: For those who wondered, we are building to a confrontation. If you can make it to chapter nine, the tone will change then. ;o)


Chapter Seven - Discussions

Spring 1799

When the servant stepped aside so he could enter the house Darcy smiled. He recognized the figure entering the hall from the direction of the stairwell.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Darcy," said the newcomer with a polite bow.

"It is a pleasure to see you again, Miss Lizzy," he replied, bowing in return. "I see you are still determined not to curtsy for me," he added with a chuckle.

Lizzy looked at him with a mischievous grin. "I would not insult our friendship by treating you like a common acquaintance, sir. You deserve far better."

"I am most grateful for your favor." He bowed again slightly although his chuckle marred the effect of gravity he had intended to project. Somehow his mood always improved when he found himself in Lizzy's company.

"Does my uncle know you have arrived, sir?" she asked.

"I think the servant just went to tell him."

She gestured down the hall towards the study. "Although I am certain you know the way, please allow me to escort you."

"I am honored," he said and then nodded toward the book she held in her left hand. "May I ask what you are reading?"

"Oh, this is the record of Captain Vancouver's last explorations, A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean. My uncle gave it to me for Christmas and I am reading it for the second time."

"Do you have all three volumes?" he asked as they slowly walked down the hall.

"I would not have settled for anything less," she said with a cheerful smile. "I suppose I should admit I begged my uncle to purchase them for me with my allowance as soon as I heard they had been published last autumn. He put me off, telling me he was unable to find a copy. Imagine my surprise when I opened my Christmas package and there they were."

"That was the whole point, Lizzy. It is always difficult to surprise you," Gardiner said from the entry of his study. "Good afternoon, Darcy."

Darcy stepped forward and shook hands with Gardiner. "Good afternoon. I purchased the same volumes as a gift for my son's upcoming birthday, although I have not sent them yet. Of course, he will be seventeen this year. I am a little surprised to find them of such interest to a girl of ten."

"Eleven as of last month," Lizzy said a little sharply, "and why should it surprise you that I want to know more of the world than I can find outside my window?" She looked at him suspiciously. "Are you of the opinion that girls cannot learn serious subjects?"

Darcy raised his hands chest high in a gesture of surrender as he laughed. "Not at all, Miss Lizzy. I meant no such thing. My sister, Miranda, my late wife and her sister, Lady Catherine, are all proof that women can be highly intelligent and well-read. I just find it an unusual choice for a boy or girl of eleven years."

Lizzy continued to look at him with suspicion for a minute before deciding he was not being patronizing. With a renewed smile she said, "Papa does say I read beyond my age." Her smile dimmed a bit as she softly added, "Of course, Mama says girls should not read at all."

"I do not agree with your Mama. In fact, I plan to encourage Georgiana to read a wide variety of books as she grows up. Now, I would be interested in hearing your opinion of Captain Vancouver's work."

"Why do you not both come in and sit down so we can have the discussion over tea. As you well know, Darcy, our Lizzy is not shy in expressing her opinions and she has made quite a study of the volumes in question."

"Do you have any objection to delaying our business for a bit?" Darcy asked as he entered the room. "I truly am interested in her thoughts on the matter."

"Our discussion is not so urgent it must be held right this moment. As long as you have the afternoon free we can get to it. I allowed plenty of time for our meeting in case we fell to chatting as we so often do."

"Yes, that is one of my favorite parts of coming here. I always enjoy our discussions. However, I was distracted by my joy at seeing Miss Lizzy again, so it only just occurred to me to ask why she is here. Is there a problem at Longbourn?"

"Mama sent me away for a time," Lizzy answered with a bit of a snicker. "She declared I had no compassion on her nerves and am too much of a hoyden to ever catch a husband. She does not like that I take long walks in the woods and prefer reading to embroidery."

"My sister and Lizzy occasionally require a break from one another," Gardiner explained with a chuckle. "Madeline and I enjoy having time with Lizzy. She helps with my son and is far more willing to learn and practice her ladylike accomplishments without her mother fussing at her. From experience we know when we send Lizzy home in a month or two my sister will have forgotten all about whatever set her off this time. Now, come and sit while I ring for tea."

Darcy and Lizzy both took their seats as Lizzy added, "My Mama and I simply do not understand one another very well."

"I am glad it is not something serious," Darcy said. "I expect that is a problem many parents face with their children. I admit I often do not understand my son's behavior, although I still love him very much."

"Exactly," Lizzy said with a decisive nod. "You do not have to understand someone to love them." She giggled softly. "But understanding does make loving them much easier," she added.

Both men laughed at the rueful look on her face. When they quieted she asked, "So, what did you wish to discuss? The voyages or how the book is written?"

"Both, I think. Let us start with the voyage," Darcy said, looking forward to hearing his young friend's thoughts.

0o0o0

"I had a letter from Richard in today's post," Will told Charles as they headed up the stairs towards their study.

"How is he doing?"

"Alive and uninjured so far. His unit has been on the move and he is not allowed to give any specifics of where they are or what they have been doing. Of course, that is no different from any of his other letters." The two entered the study, each taking a seat in his favorite chair.

"What has he been able to tell you?" Charles asked.

Will laughed. "He says they spend a great deal of time doing drills, often in places they can be observed by the local populace as a means of intimidation. He joked that it might be more intimidating if they were better at it. He also mentions seeing some horses he desperately wishes he had sufficient funds to purchase."

"They must be very fine animals. He does still intend to breed and train horses one day, does he not?"

"He definitely does and I am so certain he will that I have been putting aside money each time I receive my allowance for the last few years. When the time comes I will invest in the business with him. You know how knowledgeable he has become about horses. If he has funds enough to start off right the operation is certain to be a success."

"He could probably start a riding school as well," Charles agreed. "He is a very good teacher. No insult to you intended, but I did learn a great deal more from him and I never ended up in a hedge while doing so."

"It is true you have become a skilled rider and I agree much of that is due to Richard's teaching. It was always difficult to work on your skills when we had to stay so close to the house and always on the watch for my shadow."

"You know I was only teasing you, Darcy. I am well aware of the difficulty we had unless Richard or Alex joined us at Pemberley."

"I am aware you were teasing. It just bothers me. Wickham could very well have killed you that time and would have had no compunction doing so if he thought he could get away with it."

"Enough of that kind of talk," Charles said, knowing nothing good could come of that subject. "What was in that package I saw delivered for you? Was it a birthday present?"

"My father sent it, and it was a birthday present. There were a number of small items plus a set of three volumes I have been hoping to acquire at some point."

"You and your books," Charles chuckled. "And what bit of light reading comes in three volumes? Not a novel?" He pretended to be scandalized at the thought.

Even though he knew Charles was teasing again, Will still replied a little huffily, "Certainly not. The volumes are the records of Captain Vancouver's travels called A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean. I have wanted a copy ever since they were published last year but had not gotten around to finding them yet. I was a little surprised my father realized I would find them of interest and picked them out for me. He mentioned hoping I would enjoy them and told me they came highly recommended by a friend of his, although I have no idea who the friend might be."

"Does it matter? He was thinking of your pleasure after all. I say, was there some sort of scandal around that voyage or the book or something?"

"There was a disagreement about the propriety of some of the events on the voyage from Baron Camelford and his cousin, the Prime Minister. The Baron physically assaulted Captain Vancouver over the matter and was assaulted in his turn by the Captain's brother. The books were published posthumously by that same brother a few months after the Captain's death from illness. Both men hoped to vindicate the Captain's reputation by the writing and publishing of the account."

"That was it," Charles said. "I remember seeing a drawing about the beating. So why is this book so interesting?"

"Honestly, Bingley, I wonder about you sometimes," Will said, shaking his head in mock despair while unable to stop a slight smile. "He was exploring and mapping new lands, visiting places none of our countrymen had visited before. It is exciting."

"Sounds dashed uncomfortable to me. Floating around in a boat for weeks on end only to arrive some place with no inns or decent food. You could not pay me enough to even think of it."

Will rolled his eyes. Of course he knew Charles preferred a life of ease, but he could be so foolish in how he spoke about it sometimes. Not that Will particularly wished for the privations of a long voyage, but he certainly had no objection to reading about it and learning what he could.

0o0o0

Late Summer 1799

"Was your father very upset when you told him your plan?" Charles asked as he stepped out of one of the two small bedrooms attached to the shared sitting room of their new lodgings at Cambridge. A fireplace, a few armchairs and a table made a pleasant grouping in the small room. A desk to either side of the single window completed the furnishings. Once the trunks that took up a large portion of the floor were unpacked and stored it would be a comfortable room for them to both study and relax in.

"Oh, he was furious. I informed him it would not be any additional cost to him as I was perfectly willing to pay my share of our expenses from my allowance, but he was still against it. I finally had to tell him if he insisted I share quarters with George, I refused to even attend the university. I think he might have pushed me to that point had George not added his agreement to the plan. Understandably, as long as he has good lodgings, he has no more desire to have me around to get in the way of his more questionable activities and possibly acquire some actionable evidence against him than I have to share living space with him. Of course, he made his point in a way that pinned all the blame for the distance between us on me, with protestations of not wanting to inconvenience Master Fitzwilliam with his lowly presence and similar garbage. The end result was Father's grudging agreement to allow us separate living quarters."

"Would you really have refused to come if he did not relent?" Charles asked. He knew how much Will looked forward to continuing his schooling.

"Absolutely," Will said with conviction. "It would be intolerable to spend the next few years having to protect myself every moment of the day and night. I do not doubt George would find a way to have me disgraced and expelled. In fact, I expect him to try exactly that anyway, but at least this way I will have the occasional opportunity to relax my vigilance and he will not have quite the same leverage or opportunity."

"I just do not understand why your father still tries to push the two of you together all the time. Surely he realizes you despise each other, even if George has convinced him all the blame for that lies on your head."

"I suppose he wishes his sons would get along and thinks it will happen if he just keeps trying. Although since he has never openly acknowledged George, I wonder why it matters so much to him."

"Maybe it matters precisely because he cannot openly acknowledge George without branding him a bastard and undoing the whole point of placing him with a respectable family."

"Well, it is a pity George is not so reticent on that point. He has made no secret of the matter or of his hopes my father will leave him comfortably well off. I think my father may be the only one he has kept in the dark about his wishes. I would not be surprised if George thinks he can induce Father to leave Pemberley to him instead of me."

Charles looked shocked. "Even if he were legitimate, you are the elder. How could he possibly expect to inherit the estate?"

"I have no doubt he intends to find a way to have Father disown me. I still doubt the estate would go to him instead of Georgiana, but since there is no entail my father could will it to him if he wished to do so even without acknowledging him as a son." Will looked solemn and then became annoyed as another thought occurred to him. He sighed as he added, "I suppose I had better make the rounds of the local merchants tomorrow to introduce myself and ensure no one opens a line of credit in my name."

"After what happened with Matchington you cannot believe he would try that again?" Charles asked in amazement.

"He suffered no real punishment over that incident aside from having to avoid Matchington's shop. Why would you think he would not try it here where both of us are strangers?"

Charles shook his head in dismay. "If you put it that way, I would guess you are correct to be worried."

"I cannot afford not to worry and neither can you," Will stated. "That is part of the price of being my friend. You also become a target for George's malice."

"Lucky me," Charles quipped, as he finished arranging his ink bottle, quills and pencils on his desk.