Previously: Jane met with Mr. Fogg; subsequently, Mr. Fogg discovered Rick had been made the heir to the Earldom of Matlock.
Friday, December 4, 1818
Darcy House, de Coverley Square, Mayfair
Lord Matlock was angry. He had been peremptorily summoned to a meeting with his nephew, Darcy, whom he still had not forgiven for the insults rendered at his end of season dinner, and the solicitor of That Woman, the one who had been married to his son Richard; a meeting to discuss the future of his grandson. And he had been told to bring his grandson. Of course, he had refused, but his solicitor, his own solicitor, had threatened to quit; telling him that this other solicitor, Fogg, had promised embarrassment of the most severe kind if the meeting did not take place; that this Fogg was not to be gainsaid; and that if his Lordship refused to meet with him, well then, his solicitor would rather quit before the embarrassment occurred than be discharged thereafter. So here he was, with his solicitor, in Darcy's library; his wife and his grandson waiting with Mrs. Darcy in the drawing room.
Mr. Darcy was angry as well, he had meant to drop all acquaintance with his uncle after that disastrous dinner, but here he was, forced by Lady Bingley's solicitor into the company of said uncle. It was lucky for his health that he was not as choleric as his uncle for he surely would have suffered an apoplexy. He had trusted his solicitor's assessment of Mr. Fogg's reputation as not being one to play games so if he promised embarrassment, embarrassment there would be if they did not meet, and so here he was, with his solicitor, in his library, his study not being big enough to accommodate everyone; but he still thought it very highhanded of Mr. Fogg to have named his house as the site of the meeting without so much as a by your leave.
Mr. Fogg was announced. Lord Matlock's solicitor made the introductions and then they sat at the long library table. Mr. Fogg alone on one side, Lord Matlock, Mr. Darcy and their respective solicitors on the other side.
"Is the boy here?" asked Mr. Fogg.
"He is in the drawing room" said Mr. Darcy.
Mr. Fogg nodded at this. "Excellent. I am here to arrange the return of the boy to the care of Lady Bingley. Now I suggest…"
Lord Matlock slapped the table and started to get up. "That woman is not going to have my grandson!"
Mr. Darcy put his hand on his uncle's arm and pulled him down. "Let us hear what Mr. Fogg has to say." He motioned for Mr. Fogg to proceed.
"Lord Matlock, what makes you think the boy in the drawing room is your grandson?" asked Mr. Fogg.
"Why, why …" Lord Matlock looked at Mr. Darcy "Darcy said he was."
"Mr. Darcy, what makes you think the boy in the drawing room is Lord Matlock's grandson?" asked Mr. Fogg.
"Lady Bingley …" Mr. Darcy stopped. Jane had never said the boy was Richard's son. She had told him that Richard's friend, Major Taylor, had asked her to deliver the boy. Thinking back, she had denied knowing anything about the boy.
"Lady Bingley?" Mr. Fogg prompted.
"No, Lady Bingley did not tell me. In Colonel Fitzwilliam's letter, he described the boy." Mr. Darcy held up the letter which his solicitor had asked him to bring to the meeting.
"How?"
"The boy has a birthmark…"
"Would you please describe it." Darcy started to read the letter but Mr. Fogg put up his hand. "I am asking you describe what you have seen, not what the letter says."
Mr. Darcy thought. When he had first met the boy, he had not examined him; in all the years Jane and the boy had lived in Kympton he could not recall ever seeing the boy without some sort of shirt on. "I have not personally seen the birthmark" he answered. He looked at Lord Matlock who shook his head.
'Perhaps you could make inquiries of Lady Matlock and Mrs. Darcy" Mr. Fogg suggested.
The ladies were called into the library. Neither had seen the birthmark. Neither had seen the boy bathed; Mrs. Darcy thought she might have seen Rick swimming at Pemberley but she could not remember any birthmark, nor could she remember Jane ever mentioning one to her.
Mr. Fogg suggested that the boy be examined and so a footman was summoned to fetch him.
When Rick entered the library his eyes got wide as he saw all the adults staring at him and he took a step back towards the door. Mr. Fogg walked over to him and bent down.
"Allow me to introduce myself, Lord Mintlaw. My name is Fogg. Your mother asked me to come to see you. How are you?"
"Mama?" Rick peered around Mr. Fogg but he could not see his mother.
"I am sorry, she is not here, but she did tell me that she misses you and hopes to see you soon."
"I miss her too." Rick's eyes started to mist up and he chewed his bottom lip.
"Well, you may be able to see her sooner than you think but first there is something we would like you to so."
"What?"
"This may sound strange but we would like you to take off your coat and shirt so we can see if you have a birthmark on your back."
"Birthmark? I don't have a birthmark."
"Yes, I know, but sometimes people have to see for themselves. Come now, let help you take off your coat." Mr. Fogg helped Rick to shrug out of his coat, undo his cravat, and pull his shirt over his head. "Now my Lord, could you please climb up on the table so these people can see your back." Mr. Fogg did not even bother to look at Rick's back, so confident he was in the veracity of his client.
Rick sat on the edge of the table. He could hear murmuring. "Where is it? ... No, no … It cannot be …" Two different people touched his back, one tracing a circle. He shivered.
Mr. Fogg handed Rick's shirt to him. "Here my Lord, jump down and put this on. Then perhaps we can go and have some tea and biscuits while these people talk."
Mrs. Darcy walked them to the door and gave the appropriate instructions to the butler. As soon as Rick and Mr. Fogg were gone the Matlocks and Darcys looked to their respective solicitors.
The Matlocks' solicitor spoke first. "It is clear what Mr. Fogg's case will be. You have the wrong child; the boy is not the child described in Colonel Fitzwilliam's letter so Mr. Darcy had no right to take him away from Lady Bingley. As to what her rights are to the boy, I cannot say. But I can say that if Mr. Fogg takes this case to court it will be very embarrassing, especially in view of all of the representations which were made in obtaining the Letters Patent naming the boy the next earl."
The Darcys' solicitor concurred and added "I doubt very much that Mr. Fogg will himself make any allegations of fraud; it is enough for him to lay out the facts and certain of those elements of the ton hostile to you will take up the cry of a fraud on the Crown. Even if you defeat Lady Bingley in the Court of Chancery, the court of public opinion will convict you."
"So, what does Lady Bingley want?" asked Mr. Darcy.
The Darcys' solicitor answered. "Mr. Fogg has made it clear that she just wants the boy back for her and Sir Charles Bingley to raise as their own son. On the boy's behalf, although strictly speaking she cannot do it, she waives any claim to the Matlock title and estate. Mr. Fogg points out, and indeed, from what I have been able to ascertain in the City, I can confirm that any son of theirs, even if they have a dozen, will be very rich indeed."
"Give her the boy." Lord Matlock sat slumped in his chair. He waved his hand in dismissal. "Let her raise that cuckoo child as the next earl; it's too late to take that back, but the estate is not entailed, I can and will disinherit him."
"No!" Lady Matlock cried. "I don't care about any birthmark. Rick is our grandson. He walks like Richard; he smiles like Richard; he cocks his head like Richard when he telling a story; he is Richard's son; I know it. I don't want to lose him. Can't something be done?" she asked the room in general.
"My sister is a reasonable person. I'm sure that some acceptable compromise can be found" said Elizabeth although she was not quite sure she believed it. Jane had changed so much since they had lived together at Longbourn.
"Let us find out" Mr. Darcy said as he went to the door to have their butler bring Mr. Fogg back into the library.
Monday, December 7, 1818
The Great House, Netherfield Park, Hertfordshire
Sir Charles was so twisted tight with anticipation that he could not eat breakfast. This surprised his wife who rather thought that after the night he had had that he could have eaten two breakfasts.
"What's the matter Charles?" Jane smiled at him; a smile that melted those defensive walls behind which he had conducted so many successful negotiations since he had embraced a life in trade.
"It's a surprise" he stammered.
"Tell me" she purred.
"But then it wouldn't be a surprise."
Jane reached out and took his hand and started to rub a circle on it with her thumb. "I thought we weren't going to have secrets from each other."
Sir Charles was quite flushed by this time. He yanked his hand free and stood up. "This is different: it's not a secret, it's a surprise" he told her as he escaped the breakfast room.
Jane furrowed her forehead. She finished her breakfast, after last night at least she had an appetite, before she went in search of her possibly errant husband.
She did not find him. She searched everywhere; she even stuck her head in the library, the last place you would expect to find Sir Charles.
Sir Charles was in the library, hiding behind a sofa when Jane made her cursory search. This was too big a surprise to give it up to his wife's allurements. And so, he stayed in the library, ignoring the growling and grumbling of his stomach, hiding from his wife, and waiting for the coach to arrive.
At two in the afternoon, the anticipated time of arrival of the coach, Sir Charles left his hiding place and started pacing in the entrance hall. It was not ten minutes later that a coach was spotted coming up the drive and Sir Charles sent a footman to request the presence of Lady Bingley.
When Jane saw Sir Charles, she opened her mouth, perhaps to chastise, but he forestalled her by placing his finger to his lips.
"Come with me" he whispered (although no one was near, but a whisper felt in keeping with the surprise).
He offered his arm, which she took, and he led her through the front door the butler had opened for them.
Jane thought: he's bought me a horse. A new horse was not something for which she had been wishing but still … and then she saw the coach; a boy bursting out of the coach; a boy calling "Mama, Mama" as he ran across the gravel, and then the boy plunged into her arms.
She looked over Rick's head at Sir Charles, her mouth open.
"Surprise" he said and grinned at her.