Mrs. Jones, the house keeper of Darcy House was surprised when she received word that her master would soon be arriving with a gentleman. As she understood, Mr. Darcy would be residing at Pemberley for several weeks. Nonetheless, she sent orders for their bed chambers to be prepared for their arrival.
Despite their long and arduous journey, Mr. Darcy was pleased to see that many of Elizabeth's personality traits, of which he admired, were also found in her father. The two of them had settled into comfortable conversation, and despite the matter in hand, found they had much in common. Darcy, who had used Elizabeth's poor relations as a con when weighing up his first proposal, found himself shamed that he had previously misjudged their character, in relation to Mr. Bennet and the Gardiners at least.
The two men, who were eager for a possible update, pushed on for the last part of their journey and arrived at Darcy's London home hours after darkness had claimed daylight. Their persistence was rewarded however when they received a replica of the letter that Bingley had read to Elizabeth. Upon hearing the Colonel's news, both men released a pent-up sigh of angst that they had been keeping to themselves.
Mr. Bennett was the first to speak, "Mr. Darcy, I cannot express my gratitude towards you and your cousin enough. Without your selfless and swift actions, I daresay the outcome of all this would be quite the opposite."
"Not at all sir, I am just sorry that your family have been tainted by George Wickham. He has caused my own family much misery throughout the years," Darcy replied wistfully.
Mr. Bennett, who had never been a man for prying into the business of others, sensed Darcy's melancholic tone and moved on.
"I say Darcy, this is quite a home you have here. Has it been in your family long?"
Darcy, pleased for the change in topic gave a brief family history before offering Mr. Bennett some much needed refreshment after their travels.
As they contemplated the revelations of the Colonel's letter over a brandy, the two men made their plans for the next stage of their journey.
"What do you think is the wisest way forward in terms of Wickham?" Mr. Bennett enquired.
Darcy rolled the amber liquid skilfully in his glass as he pondered Mr. Bennett's question.
"I will speak to my cousin about the best course of action, I am hoping that with a small monetary offering, Wickham would accept a post overseas, perhaps in the Americas."
"Do you think that possible?"
"I am certain that Mr. Wickham will have run up debts during his time in Brighton that he will wish to be settled. Fortunately for us, the draw of money seems to conquer everything when if comes to the scoundrel in question."
"I hope you are right Darcy. Do you believe that Lydia's reputation will remain in tact despite all this?"
Mr. Darcy recognised this look of concern, he too had the same fears for Georgiana.
"I am sure all will be well. Miss. Lydia is more than welcome to travel back to Pemberley with us if you so wish, or I will happily arrange transport to return you to Longbourne if that is more suitable once we have concluded our business in Brighton."
"I thank you sir, although I am dreading another long journey north, I do not believe it to be more tiresome than the likely outburst of Mrs. Bennet that this event will cause," he said with a jovial chuckle.
Without wanting to seem disrespectful, Darcy simply poured Mr. Bennett another drink. He was grateful that their seemed to shared at least one opinion when it came to Elizabeth's mother.