Chapter 8
Immediately upon opening the express, Richard was rather alarmed at Darcy's request for council. Darcy asked not for insight but instead gave it. His cousin was used to being deferred to, in charge of many, accustomed to being obeyed. Being of such a steady character, and of a clear moral disposition, he was the one typically sought out for his insights and opinions. Reasonable, responsible, intelligent, honest (though to a fault), his cousin had earned the esteem of those well beyond his years.
Though not often well thought out, Richard knew Darcy's speech was not ill-intentioned, but often born of frustration. He recalled a few years prior his dour cousin calling a debutante's mother a daft cow, only to discover her a few feet behind him when he turned. In Darcy's defense, the determined woman had not let Darcy depart her line of sight for the better part of a season. If a mother could win a husband for a daughter with persistence, they would have already been wed. No amount of cold civility or indifference on Darcy's part could deter the woman, until that fateful afternoon when Darcy scoffed at a jest she would soon be his mother-in-law. That ill-mannered comment, by any interpretation, is what finally earned Darcy his peace, though he blushed with embarrassment upon realizing he had been overheard. It was no wonder Darcy had eventually learned to employ that tactic for his own preservation, believing it to be the only effective defense to the matrons of the Ton.
Though utterly socially inept, Darcy truly was the best of men. There were very few men, thought the colonel, that one could count on to consistently act with integrity. Had the letter been about another, he may have laughed, but he knew that Darcy had not the benefit of sincerity from many of those in his circles and Darcy was wise enough to feel the sting of it, to not be taken in by the flattery.
Shifting his mind from his memories to the letter he held in the present, Richard could not resist wondering at it. What was Darcy about that he overheard this woman in several such unguarded moments? Was he sulking about, eavesdropping on her, after insulting her and rejecting her as a dance partner?
Good, God! His cousin finally admired a woman (whether he realized it or not) and had the misfortune to insult her before they even met. It hardly signified he would take so much trouble to change, or take correction from a woman he did not esteem. The best Richard could account for the goings-on, it seemed his cousin had well and truly botched the apology and offended her enough to earn a few more jabs. It seemed that the slip of a country girl managed to ransom his cousin's self-respect in exchange for repentance born of public humiliation, and all with little more than a few well-argued points.
What was going on in Hertfordshire? Richard was determined to find out. Though he saw the oddity of a 28-year-old man finally wishing to learn to speak properly with a woman, he loved his cousin too well to do anything other than oblige.
Richard knew Darcy had the right of it, alteration of his public demeanor could cause serious ramifications. Leave it to Darcy to think anything could be solved through a finely crafted instructional letter with too many syllables. The art of interpersonal skills could not be taught on paper. His task was more than Darcy imagined, ripe with pitfalls, and the easiest solution was the least likely to come about.
If Darcy could find a woman he meant to pay his addresses to, he could improve public opinion through his treatment of her while they were courting, eventually expanding his civility to others in their circles. That would leave little useful information that could be interpreted into action by fortune hunters, though it would signal Darcy was finally on the market, it would also signal his attentions were being paid elsewhere. Only a fool, looking for a ruined reputation, would pursue him then. Darcy would be free to let his mask fall, without undesirable consequences.
He saddled his horse and rode to request leave.