Chapter One
Fitzwilliam Darcy sat opposite his cousin, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, in their London club with a tumbler of whiskey in his hand. Richard's gaze strayed around the room as he swirled his own drink, but his focus remained firmly on his companion. Voices speaking in low tones filled the room, broken occasionally by laughter and raucous cheering as other men in the club discussed everything from politics and business to gambling wins and whores. But there was silence between the two men that had lasted several minutes before Richard could stand it no longer.
"Will you go then, Darce?" he asked as if they had not had a gap in their conversation. Darcy, abruptly pulled from his musing – which his friends often called brooding - turned to his cousin with a look of confusion. "Into the great wilderness of Hertfordshire with Bingley." Richard clarified when it became obvious the man had forgotten what they were talking about earlier.
Mr Charles Bingley, a lively, intelligent man, had become friends with Darcy during their years together at Cambridge and the three of them had often spent evenings together at society events rescuing each other from potential disaster. Disaster typically being match-making mamas and their overly primped daughters. In Bingley's case however, the other two were usually preventing the romantic fool from falling in love with a new young lady every week.
Both Darcy and Bingley had lost their parents during their formative years, and as a result, relied often on each other for counsel and guidance that other young men might go to their fathers for. All three were known to occasionally solicit advice from the Earl of Matlock, Richard's father, but more often than not they chose to trust the opinions of the other two above anyone else of their acquaintance.
The late Mr Bingley, who had made his fortune in trade, left a large inheritance to his son with the instructions he purchase an estate when he was able, so that the family could solidify their social position amongst the gentry. On the recommendation of Darcy, Bingley decided to first look into leasing an estate so he could familiarise himself with being in charge of so many livelihoods and small communities that often relied on larger estates for employment and trade. Bingley, who at his heart was a sociable man who loved all types of society, chose to base his search for an estate within 25 miles of London - so that he could easily come and go for entertainments in town but still have the sense of rural living he believed an estate should provide.
A sennight previous, Bingley had looked at an estate in Hertfordshire called Netherfield Park. The grounds and farm land included in the estate were not something Bingley had a real understanding off, but the house looked fine and comfortable so he agreed to take it within a half hour of walking through the doors.
Before the ink on the lease had dried, Bingley had applied to his two friends to journey with him when he moved in in 3 weeks times. Richard had already told Bingley he was unable to join him. As a member of His Majesties Armed Forces, the Colonel could not obtain a prolonged period of leave, especially having just returned to his regiment after a period of training recruits in the south. Although he didn't actually try all that hard to obtain the leave once he learned that Bingley's sisters would also be with him in Hertfordshire. "I would rather face the French" he had muttered to himself at the time.
Now, as the two men sat in their club, Richard did not envy the dilemma Darcy was facing. And it was clearly a dilemma he was struggling with based on the pained look that crossed Darcy's face when understanding of the question eventually registered.
After somehow resisting the impulse to shrug his shoulders, Darcy replied "I have not yet decided. I wish to support Bingley, truly I do. And Lord knows he is going to need it." Darcy paused, taking a sip of his drink whilst he ordered his thoughts, "I have been in a foul mood since midsummer and our trip to Ramsgate, and if it was only Bingley there I would be less reluctant to go, but I am unlikely to be able to keep a civil tongue if I am forced to keep close quarters with those insufferable sisters."
"Insufferable, cousin? Miss Bingley has always been so attentive to your needs." Richard tried, valiantly he believed, to supress a laugh as he said this.
Their conversation turned into a measure of pros and cons for the trip. The arguments 'for' primarily included Bingley's need for someone with experience running an estate to be with him, at least at first, whilst he learnt the ropes and gained his confidence. In addition, Darcy reluctantly agreed that space from his dear sister, Georgiana, would be of benefit to both Darcy's. After her near elopement at Ramsgate and subsequent broken heart, the protective older brother had been accused of hovering and moly coddling his sister. Richard argued that giving Georgiana space would allow her to regain some of her spirits in her own time, without pressure from her brother, and Darcy would be able to see a more noticeable difference after the separation.
In the 'against' column of their mental tally fell various scenarios surrounding potential compromise by Miss Bingley, the general bitterness of his would-be hostess and her sister, the limited society often found in the county and Darcy generally being a grumpy old man. Richard added the last one, but Darcy did not seem inclined to keep it on the list for some reason.
As they continued to debate Darcy's status as a 'grumpy old man' despite his only being seven-and-twenty years old, Bingley arrived to join them. Sitting down into one of the gathered armchairs, Bingley waved a serving girl to bring him a drink as he greeted his friends.
"Will you come then, Darce?" Bingley echoed Richard's earlier comment almost exactly, with a hopeful expression on his face that reminded Richard of an overeager puppy. Darcy and Richard exchanged a look as Bingley rubbed his hands together in anticipation of a positive answer.
"I have conditions," Darcy replied with a deep, grave tone.
Richard had to check his laugh with a cough as a concerned look passed over the puppy's face. Bingley nodded for his friend to continue with his requirements and hoped he would be able to meet them; he really needed Darcy's help with Netherfield.
"Firstly," Darcy raised his index finger, "if your sister attempts a compromise, you need to find some other sad sap to marry her because it will not be me."
"Agreed, she should have figured out by now that you are not interested Darcy. I will talk to her before we leave to make sure she has no expectations of you staying with us meaning anything more than you helping out a friend."
"I mean it. I do not care what she does, she could coordinate for the whole damned village to walk into my bedroom to find us in bed together, I am not marrying her."
Bingley looked horrified at the idea and Richard could not contain his laughter any longer. Richard added, "and pray, do not tell her the bed thing, she might get ideas." It appeared as if all the blood in Bingley's body had pooled in his cheeks, neither companion could think of having ever seen him that colour before.
Bingley was so uncomfortable with the thought of his sister and his friend potentially engaging in marital relations that he stuttered and flustered to find a coherent sentence in reply, the best he could come up with was, "understood, and the second condition is?"
"You know all that happened in the summer, Bingley. It has jaded me somewhat I know and I cannot guarantee I shall be pleasant company. So please, for the sake of our friendship and to avoid me saying or doing something I will likely regret, do not leave me alone with either of your sisters. They try my patience at the best of times and this is not the best of times."
Bingley nodded and Darcy indicated that was the end of his list of requirements. "I can keep Caroline in check, and there is a billiards room and a library there you can escape to if I am not around to act as your protector, Darcy. Oh, that shall not be too unlike the Mathews ball we attended in the spring. I kept Caro from you adequately then, did I not?"
In an attempt to move the conversation on from criticising Miss Bingley too much - not that Richard could not manage that quite easily for several hours, but he was raised a gentleman and knew better, however much it pained him – the colonel asked Bingley, "so where exactly in Hertfordshire is this estate of yours?"
"It is about two or three and twenty miles from town, and 2 miles for a small market town called Meryton. Delightful little place, it has plenty of shops, two inns and an assembly hall. We shall be most happily occupied I am sure."
As Darcy tried to get Bingley to understand that there would likely be plenty to keep them busy on the estate without them seeking entertainment within the local community too frequently, Richard was trying to remember why the name Meryton sounded so darn familiar.
The memory of a conversation in his mother's drawing room several months earlier came back to him after a few minutes contemplation.
"Cousin Jane! Cousin Lizzy! I am so glad you are still here and I can bid you a fond farewell before you desert us once again for the wilds of the country." Richard's loud booming voice filled the elegant drawing room in the Matlock town house on Grosvenor Square.
The ladies of the party stood to greet the newest arrival. To the best of Richard's understanding, Mrs Gardiner (who repeatedly insisted he call her Madeline, but he just could not do it) was his mother's cousin, she visited frequently as she and her husband lived year round in London and they were firm friends. For his mother who was an only child, Madeline Gardiner was more like a younger sister than a cousin. With her occasionally were her nieces, also his mother's late cousin's daughters, Jane and Elizabeth Bennet. They were charming, genteel young ladies who had blossomed into true beauties since they first re-entered the family circle about seven years earlier during their awkward teenage years.
"Colonel, I did not think we would have the pleasure of your company again before we left, were you able to get your superiors to recognise how hard you have been working and give you some time off?" asked Elizabeth, the more lively of the sisters.
"No, unfortunately I cannot stay long, but I dropped in because I knew you were calling. I am taking a circuitous route to deliver some correspondence to another regiment and shall not be missed too badly if I do not dawdle."
"We appreciate the gesture, cousin, but I would hate for you to get into trouble on our account." Jane, the ever considerate and gentle souled cousin who reminded him so much of his ward, Georgiana Darcy. Or should that be Georgiana reminded him of Jane as his Darcy cousin was the younger.
"Nonsense. I am far too invaluable for that. Now, when do you depart? And how long should it take you to travel home?"
"We will take our uncles coach to a posting stop about half way to Meryton tomorrow morning. Our father's coach will be there waiting for us to take us the rest of the way home. We should be home by luncheon."
"Meryton? I thought your home was Longbourn?"
"It is cousin, Meryton is the nearest town. Only about a mile from our small hamlet. A very agreeable walk in fact." Richard knew of Cousin Elizabeth's proclivity for walking, he had frequently accompanied her on walks around Hyde Park during their stays in town.
Once Richard had realised his companions were, in all likelihood, going to meet his charming cousins in the next few weeks, he tried to decide whether he should mention the connection or not. Typically, his relations on his mother's side were not discussed. They still had an amicable relationship with her only male cousin, the Earl of Alfreton, but the Gardiner's and Bennet's had by and large been forgotten about by society. The Gardiner's because the Walker family had cut the relationship after Madeline Walker married a gentleman who had lowered himself to the trading class. The Bennet's because following the death of Amelia Bennet, nee Walker, Mr Thomas Bennet had cut ties himself; blaming them for her passing and that of his young son.
His relationship with the Bennet sisters was in fact not meant to exist. Mr Bennet would bar them from staying in town if he knew they mixed with the Fitzwilliam family. Whilst Richard knew he could trust the two men in front of him with any secret, he did not want to risk making it uncomfortable for his dear cousins if one of them were to accidently let slip knowing of the connection in front of Mr Bennet.
That did not mean that Darcy would not recognise them though once they were introduced. After all, he had been acquainted with them and the family when the sisters were just girls of two and three years of age, before the split. Granted, Darcy would be unlikely to recognise the girls themselves, but the names should be familiar.
No, Richard refused to take the risk. He resolved to keep the information to himself, for now at least, and only confirm it if Darcy should ask at a later date.
That evening, Richard informed his mother of the coincidence he had discovered earlier in the day. He was disheartened when he learnt that Jane and Elizabeth had themselves recently been in town again; he had missed them for they had departed just a few days before.