The Earl of Matlock, Darcy's uncle, was at his home in the best part of London, in his office working on his daily correspondence. He was interrupted when his butler knocked on the office door and announced, "Lord Margison to see you, My Lord." He then stepped away to allow the visitor to enter. The Earl knew the visitor was an equerry of the Prince Regent and, as such, would be conveying an important message from him.
"Margison! What can I do for you?"
"Matlock, I have a personal message for you. I am afraid it may not be well received." He stood there for a moment while the Earl waited to hear what he had to say. From his words, he was not bearing good news.
Lord Margison stood almost at attention as he formally stated the complaint. "It has come to the attention of the Palace that a member of your family made an unwarranted public insult to a gently-born lady and has not apologized for his words. The Palace is most concerned that this insult may affect how your whole family will be received by society if it becomes known."
The Earl was shocked by these words as they were most unusual and conveyed a very serious threat to the whole extended Fitzwilliam family, even if the threat was not made specific. First of all, he knew it would have come directly from the Prince Regent himself, and so must be taken with the utmost seriousness. Second, the implied threat, even if it was not stated openly, was that his whole family would be ostracized by everyone in the highest levels of society if an apology for the insult was not made immediately and profusely. Finally, he appreciated that the threat was made only verbally and not in writing as that indicated that he was being given a chance to correct the situation. If it had been made in writing, it may not have been correctable.
If the Royal Family ever shunned or even criticized anyone, then everyone else would automatically follow their example. The Earl suspected that the insult could only have been made by one of his two sons. His oldest son, the Viscount, was known to enjoy his brandy, so it could very well have been him. However, it could also have been made by his second son, Colonel Richard, as army life was notorious for resulting in coarse behaviour in its officers and men, no matter that they had been raised as gentlemen.
"May I ask who made the insult and the name of the lady involved?" The Earl knew that he was entitled to at least this much information.
"It was your nephew, Fitzwilliam Darcy, and it was made to an unnamed lady in Hertfordshire. Apparently, he publicly insulted the lady's appearance at a local Assembly, even though she is well known for her beauty. That is all I know. As the senior member of your family, you have the right to know why your family may suffer the consequences of his actions."
The Earl knew this threat was real and imminent if corrective action was not taken at once. He groaned inwardly as he was well aware how his Countess would react to his news. It would be devastating for his family if they were shunned. They would not be recognized by anyone important. They would receive no invitations and no guests would accept any invitations from them. They would have no recourse but to retreat to their Derbyshire estate to wait until they might be accepted into society again, but that might not be for months or even years. He then thought about his unmarried daughter, Lady Amanda, and his niece, Georgiana Darcy; their chances of marrying well would be ended. His simply could not allow this to occur.
"Margison, I thank you for conveying this message to me. I will go find Darcy and try to rectify the situation. I believe you know Darcy. He is certainly a gentleman, but is not comfortable in public. I hope his words were only the result of his discomfort. I am sure he will do the right thing as his sister will be coming out into society in a year or two. He would not do anything that might damage her future."
Margison got ready to leave. "The Palace will be waiting to hear what happens. Good day to you, My Lord." The butler saw him out.
The Earl went to find his wife. When he told her what he had heard, she was horrified. "What are we going to do? Darcy has to apologize to the lady he insulted. Will you be going to him? This has to be done as soon as possible. Why on earth would he do such a stupid thing, especially to someone who is obviously important to the Royal Family? Darcy! Darcy! What have you done?"
She continued, "We had better not tell the girls anything about this. I do not want them to worry about their futures. We may have to talk to them after you come back as word will likely get around town even if Darcy apologizes. You know what a juicy story this will be for gossips." They both knew that society lived for gossip, the more scandalous the better.
While Darcy was away in Hertfordshire, Georgiana was staying with them as she was quite friendly with her cousin Lady Amanda. In addition, she had been quite depressed after returning from her trip to Ramsgate, and her brother thought that her cousin and aunt might be able to help her get over her upset.
"I know how important this is. It could ruin our lives for quite some time. Darcy is in Hertfordshire with his friend, Bingley. I will leave for there first thing in the morning."
The Earl arrived in Meryton in the middle of the next day and made his way to Netherfield. His footman knocked on the door and handed in the Earl's card and asked to see Darcy. He was lucky as Darcy, Bingley, and Hurst had been out shooting in the morning, but had returned after a successful hunt. They were in the billiards room and the Netherfield butler did not ask the visitor to wait because of his rank. He led him straight to the gentlemen.
"The Earl of Matlock to see Mr. Darcy," he announced.
Darcy was very surprised to see his uncle as he was not expected. "Uncle! What are doing here? Excuse me. May I introduce you?" He did this with proper decorum. "To what do I owe this honour?"
"Darcy, we need to speak privately."
"Bingley, may we use your office?" Darcy was worried that something might have happened to Georgiana. He hoped not as she was just getting over the nearly disastrous events in Ramsgate.
"Of course. You know where it is. My Lord, may I offer you our hospitality for as long as you are here? It would be no problem; we have lots of room."
"Bingley, that is very kind of you. I will accept as I may be here for another day or two."
Darcy led the Earl out and Bingley went to find the housekeeper. They left Hurst in the billiards room, but he did not mind as they also left the brandy decanter there.
As soon as Darcy closed the door to the office, the Earl exploded. "Darcy! What on earth have you done? Do you realize that the Prince Regent's emissary came to me yesterday and threatened that they will cause our whole family to be shunned because of what you did? How could you be so stupid? Are you not worried about Georgiana's future? If you do not fix this, she will be ruined. So will Amanda. What were you thinking?"
Darcy was completely confused. "What are you talking about? I have no clue what you are on about."
"Lord Margison told me that you publicly insulted a lady here and have not apologized. How could you do that, especially to someone important to the Prince Regent? You have been here for only just one week. What damage will you cause if you are here for a month?
"Darcy, you did not behave as a gentleman."
Darcy was completely lost as he was sure that he had not publicly insulted any lady while he had been here. "Uncle, is Margison not one of the Prince Regent's senior emissaries? That certainly does indicate how important this is. However, I have no idea what you are talking about. What lady? I do not recall insulting anyone, especially publicly."
"Margison said that you publicly insulted a lady's appearance at a local Assembly here, even though she is known as a local beauty. Why would you do that? I thought you were a gentleman. How could you be so stupid?"
Darcy suddenly remembered his words at that Assembly. He groaned when he recalled his words. "Now I know what you are talking about. It happened the day I arrived here last week. Bingley insisted that we all go to the Meryton Assembly, even though I did not want to. When he wanted me to dance with a local lady, I refused, with improper words about her appearance. I said what I did only to stop him from pestering me to dance. I spoke only to him, so it was certainly not public."
"Obviously someone else heard you. What exactly did you say?"
"I believe I said that the lady was only 'tolerable' in appearance and 'not handsome enough to tempt me.' I barely looked at her when I said that. I thought that only Bingley heard me, but I agree that someone else must have, someone who has close connections with the Royal Family. But how on earth could my words have made it to the Palace so quickly? I have no reason to believe that anyone here has any connections with anyone important, much less to the Royal Family. The only titled resident in the area is one Sir William Lucas, a knight. I cannot imagine he has such contacts. However, one of his favourite topics of conversation is St. James's Palace as that is where he was knighted."
"Someone obviously has excellent contacts, much better than my own! Their contacts must be at the highest level if the Prince Regent himself heard about your words so quickly. You have been here only one week! Such speed is simply unheard of. If you do not apologize, and apologize quickly and profusely, our families will be ruined. Who was she?"
"I have since learned that her name is Miss Elizabeth Bennet, but we have not even been introduced. Her father's estate is called Longbourn and it is situated right next to Netherfield. It is a small estate and the family is ridiculous and completely improper in their behaviours. I have no idea how such a family could be important to the Palace.
"I will admit that the father, Thomas Bennet, is a gentleman. He has joined us shooting several times. He is very intelligent and witty, but he does not take very good care of his land or tenants. At least this is what I have heard."
"Thomas Bennet? When I was at Cambridge, there was a young don by that name. I wonder if it could be the same person. When can we go to see him? And how is it that you were not introduced to his daughter?"
"I admit that I was in such a bad mood at the Assembly because of what happened in Ramsgate that I refused to accompany Bingley when Sir William was introducing him around. We had better get this over with. Would you like to go to Longbourn right now?"
"Are you ready to apologize and grovel for her forgiveness? You know how important this is. Darcy, do not underestimate the consequences if you do not apologize properly and effusively. You have to do whatever is necessary to receive her forgiveness. You just have to do this, and do it right."
"I will do what I must. I cannot risk Georgiana's future." He was dreading what he had to do, but he knew that he had no choice. This apology would be very difficult for him because of his pride; he had always considered himself to be a complete gentleman who would never act improperly. He had never had to apologize for his behaviour before.
"So you have no idea who might have the connections to the Royal Family?"
"None whatsoever. I still cannot believe that anyone here could possibly have such contacts, but it clearly must be so."
As they were going out, Miss Bingley stopped them, obviously waiting in ambush for them. Darcy was forced to introduce her to the Earl. She made a deep curtsy, showing off her proudest assets. Her orange dress had a deep decolletage that was just barely acceptable for day wear, but she insisted that it was the height of fashion in London. "My Lord, I am so pleased to be able to host you. Please do not hesitate to let me know whatever I can do to make your stay as comfortable as possible." She then noticed that they appeared to be leaving.
"Mr. Darcy! Are you going somewhere? His Lordship just arrived."
"Yes, we must go out for a while. It cannot be delayed. We will return in time for dinner." He managed to get them out to the waiting carriage before she was able to delay them any further.