It's a Duke's Life Chapter 1 - Cambridge, a pride and prejudice fanfic

A/N: Welcome back. Here is the story of Alistair, starting before DFY and continuing on from there.

I hope you enjoy.

~~~oo00oo~~~

Cambridge

1800

Alistair, Marquess of Denton and his twin brother the Lord Robert Flinter arrived in Cambridge for the Michaelmas term in style.

Their grandmother, the Dowager Duchess, had decided to see them settled into university, like she had done for them at Eton. Therefore, they arrived in the Denton's best carriage, while their main luggage followed separately. Each of them had of course a small trunk, in case the other carriage was delayed for any reason.

The Dowager had arranged private lodgings for the boys, as she thought of them. At the age of seventeen years, they of course preferred the term young men. The Earl Matlock, whose, nineteen-year-old, second son Richard currently attended Cambridge, had recommended the boarding house.

When they disembarked from the carriage, they were greeted by a pleasant looking middle-aged woman who was dressed plainly but well. 'Welcome to Huntington House. I am Mrs Huntington.' She smiled at all of the newcomers. 'You must be Her Grace, the Dowager Duchess of Denton.' At the Duchess' nod she continued. 'Please come in. I have the rooms prepared. I will show you to them directly. They are very pleasant rooms; I am certain you will like them.' Without giving anyone a chance to say anything, she bustled into the house and up the stairs, leaving the others to follow.

The Dowager and her grandsons looked at each other with amusement. 'I believe we had better follow your landlady.' The lady suggested with a barely suppressed grin.

When they caught up with Mrs Huntington, she was opening the door to a very pleasant sitting room, which had doors leading off to each side. 'As you requested, this suite has two bedrooms. There is also a dressing room, where your valet can sleep. Or he can share the servants' quarters.'

The Dowager interjected, 'Parker is used to having a room to himself.'

Mrs Huntington looked surprised. 'You must be treating your servants exceptionally well. Let me think. I do have a small room available at the end of the corridor here, but it was intended for a young gentleman…'

'Is that room promised to anyone?' Asked the Dowager.

'No, it is not at the moment. It is just that I have to charge you for it separately. My patrons usually do not wish to go to that expense for their servants…' Mrs Huntington said uncertainly.

'It is settled then; Parker will have that room.' The Dowager was satisfied. Good servants deserved to be treated well. Although the Dowager was rather enlightened in her treatment of her servants, she was not wholly altruistic. Contented servants also gave better service and loyalty to a considerate employer.

In the meantime, Alistair and Robert explored the rooms and settled on who was to get which bedroom.

They had just returned to the sitting room, when another resident of Huntington House came up the stairs. He stopped at the open door. When he saw the brothers, he announced, 'Ah, the Denton Doubles have arrived. Richard Fitzwilliam at your service.' He made an elaborate bow.

Alistair found his attitude engaging and bowed just as elaborately. 'You are entirely correct, Mr Fitzwilliam. I am Alistair Flinter and this is my brother Robert.' Alistair replied. 'But we are neglecting the proper courtesies.' Turning to the Dowager Duchess he bowed again. 'Grandmother, I would like you to meet Richard Fitzwilliam. Mr Fitzwilliam, this is our grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Denton.'

Fitzwilliam bowed to the Dowager. 'Your Grace, please forgive my discourtesy. I am most honoured to make your acquaintance.' He finished with a charming smile.

The Dowager smiled, 'For the sake of your father, you are forgiven. If only you could keep these rapscallions out of trouble, I would be forever in your debt.'

'My father has tasked me with the same assignment, although he thought they might be a good influence on me.' Richard replied with twinkling eyes.

'I see you are all birds of a feather. Very well, I will have to rely on the modicum of good sense that was drummed into all of you, to keep you out of too much trouble.' The Dowager sensed that despite his light hearted words, Richard Fitzwilliam was a reliable young man. 'I shall leave you to get acquainted. I will see you before I return to London in a few days.'

~~~oo00oo~~~

After the Dowager had left, Robert addressed Fitzwilliam. 'It is good to see you again, Richard.'

'You two know each other?' asked Alistair in surprise.

'We met at Eton. Since we are both younger sons we were mostly ignored by the, ah…

'Snotty first-born louts you favoured until Lizzy took you down a peg,' Robert told Alistair.

'That sounds like an interesting story,' said Richard, dropping into a chair, 'tell me more. Who is Lizzy and how did she manage to humanise one of the Lords?' Richard asked, using the nickname the younger sons had given the coterie of heirs who were putting on airs and making life miserable for the younger boys.

'Lizzy is our young cousin Elizabeth. When we first met her, which must have been just around the time you left Eton, she was six years old. Alistair mistook her for a servant's daughter, and acted accordingly. She gave him a tongue-lashing that was a joy to behold.' Robert explained with a smirk before his brother could object.

'Bested by a six-year-old?' I would have loved to have been a witness.' laughed Richard. 'I had heard that you suddenly became human and wondered what had happened.'

'Now, would you like me to show you around today or would you like to wait until tomorrow?' Richard asked, becoming all brisk mentor.

'Having been stuck in a carriage all day, I would like a chance to stretch my legs. But only after I get cleaned up,' responded Alistair.

'Give us an hour to become fit for human company. Then we can go out and give Parker a chance to get everything organised. That way we can avoid his complaints about us getting underfoot,' suggested Robert.

'An hour it is,' agreed Richard, who left the room with a wave.

'Did you have to tell him about Lizzy?' complained Alistair.

'Considering how rude you were to him at Eton, yes, I did.'

'I can only hope that Richard knows how to keep his mouth shut. Unlike some brother, who shall remain nameless.'

~~~oo00oo~~~

As agreed, Richard returned an hour later. 'Are you ready to go exploring?' he asked. Since the brothers were indeed ready, they set off for a walk around town.

In between pointing out the various sights, Richard also doled out snippets of information and advice.

'Mrs Huntington sets a fine table, but if you want to eat out, I suggest you try the Cock and Magpie. The food is good, the wine is not watered unless you want it to be, and the patrons are generally well behaved.'

He showed them the various colleges where they could take lessons. 'You will hear some of the other students tell you that there is no need to study because as long as your school fees are paid, you will receive your degree. I suggest you do not listen to them. While it is true up to a point, they are also part of the fast crowd. That group consists mostly of the first sons. The "Lords" from Eton. All they are interested in is drinking, gambling and whoring.'

Richard shook his head thinking about the titled louts he had encountered. 'If you hang around with them, all you end up with is a sore head, empty pockets and the French disease. None of which are pleasant.'

The brothers thought of their father's example and were inclined to agree with Richard.

While pointing out various other landmarks, Richard informed them that 'about half the students here are for the church. You had better watch out for the tuft-hunters. According to my brother they can be quite a nuisance. We have only one advowson, but the vicar is getting old, so every other younger son wants to be friends in the hope to receive the living.'

'Should we worry about you trying to get our favour for our advowsons?' Alistair asked with a grin.

'You are safe from me. I am for the army as soon as I reach my majority.' Richard laughed. 'I prefer the excitement of serving my country to serving god. I am also not enough of a hypocrite to preach sermons that I do not necessarily believe in.'

'Are you an atheist?' Alistair asked concerned.

'No, I simply disagree with some of the interpretations the less educated students try to foist off onto their parishioners. Personally, I think they are simply trying to present their own opinions as the word of god. And some of those opinions…' He shrugged his shoulders.

'Do you like chess?' Richard wanted to know. When both brothers agreed, he told them, 'in that case I will take you to our chess club. You will find good company there.'

They strolled on taking in the sights.

'You just missed the excitement,' Richard told the brothers. 'Cambridge is still abuzz with the news that it is getting a new college. Sir George Downing left his fortune to establish a college and King George just granted the Royal Charter for the Downing College.'

'Why do they need another college? From what you said, students mostly do not learn anything in the colleges they already have.' Robert asked.

'It is getting a little better. In Cambridge, you can now get an honours degree for which you actually have to pass a rather stringent examination. I suppose one of these days students will come here mostly to study.' Richard grinned. 'In the meantime, why not enjoy both learning and socialising.'

Richard stopped in front of a building, 'here we are. This is where our chess club meets.' He led them inside.

'This is a pub.' Robert noted.

'Very observant of you. Here you can combine playing chess and having a drink. The drinks are a bit dearer but they are good. The landlord prefers you leaving moderately sober. It saves on furniture. Which is why he welcomes chess players.'

'Good. I hate pointless fights.'

'Good evening Mr Fitzwilliam. I see you have brought some new friends. Will they be joining you upstairs?' The landlord greeted the trio.

'Yes, Mr Porthouse, I found another couple of chess players. Mr Flinter and Mr Flinter.'

'Welcome gentlemen. I hope you enjoy our hospitality.' He bustled off.

'Shall we?' Richard indicated the stairs. 'Battle awaits.'

~~~oo00oo~~~