With nothing in his possession but bad news, and worse news after that, Colonel Fitzwilliam arrived late for dinner at Marlborough House with the Darcys. He was not late by a few minutes, or even half an hour. No, he had to send Cadet Davies to deliver the message that he would not arrive for hours.
He found his cousins talking animatedly in the room that must have once been a library for the Duke. The large room contained walls lined with empty wooden shelves that stretched up to the ceiling. A few titles were grouped together here and there, but most of the shelves were bare save for a healthy amount of dust. The room felt cold and abandoned, and their voices echoed.
Richard greeted the two of them offhandedly and then searched for the decanter. It was full, so he helped himself to a drink. He smiled to see that the staff and his cousin Darcy had begun to place the house back into good service, or at least good spirits.
Sensing she might be soon dismissed, Georgiana pounced on the opportunity to tell Richard all about meeting Miss Elizabeth the previous day.
"She is very clever. I felt so remiss that I knew very little about Brighton. But Miss Elizabeth studied the history of the village, and while we were on our walk, it was almost as though she were our personal guide. I wonder if I have been slightly spoiled, in that regard." Georgiana said, in an uncommon moment of self-awareness.
"How so?" Mr. Darcy asked.
Georgiana blushed. "I noticed that Miss Elizabeth did not have her own maid. And I assume, though I know that is very dangerous to do, that she may not have had as much opportunity as I have had to travel. I go anywhere you go, Brother, until most recently. I used to dread traveling. And Miss Elizabeth, not having the opportunity for as much travel as she desired, turned to books."
Her brother raised an eyebrow. "Miss Elizabeth is a voracious reader, in the same manner in which you are a dedicated piano player. I hardly think her access to knowledge is an indication of a lack of funds. I have seen her father's library, and it is very well stocked." Mr. Darcy did his best to speak well of the Bennet family, though it was his understanding that only Elizabeth and her sister Jane held any real experience in traveling outside of the county.
Georgiana once more attempted to amuse her cousin Richard with further details about Miss Elizabeth. He listened politely until he finished his first drink. But then he reminded her that he spent many weeks with the young lady in Kent.
"I may have walked the groves of Rosings more often than your brother in her company. At least, when we did so together, Darcy remained mysterious and taciturn. Miss Elizabeth and I enjoyed many stimulating conversations," Colonel Fitzwilliam boasted, witnessing Fitzwilliam struggle to bite his tongue.
Not to be put off, Georgiana started again, but finally, her brother interrupted her and asked for privacy. She pouted for a moment, but when he gently reminded her that Elizabeth agreed to visit tomorrow afternoon and play music with her, Georgiana's face broke into a wide grin. She wished them both a good night and eagerly announced she would rise early and practice the songs she wished to share.
Both men waited until she left the library and the staff to bring a tray of refreshments that Mr. Darcy requested once his cousin arrived. After the door was closed once more, Darcy looked to the Colonel to begin.
Instead, the man poured two drinks, one for himself, and one for Darcy. Picking them up to join Darcy by the fire, he stayed on the topic of Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
"You have not been so rash as to renew your proposal of marriage?" he asked.
Mr. Darcy scowled. "I hardly see how such an action, if I had taken it, is rash. She is the only woman in all of England that I wish to be my wife."
"Oho? Have you met all of them?" At his cousin's expression, Richard waved his hand as though to erase what he had previously said. "Never mind, there is no denying you two are formed for each other. However, it would be a rash action to accost the lady with your strong feelings."
Mr. Darcy considered his cousin carefully, slitting his eyes in an expression of mistrust."I cannot vow to follow your advice, but all the same, I will hear it." He bristled at the notion that his strong feelings for the woman had accosted her senses.
Richard wished to tease his cousin further, as the man had no idea how ridiculous he sounded when the topic of Miss Elizabeth arose. Still, out of respect for her, and regard for his cousin, Richard shared his observations.
"The last time you proposed, you did so without any formal courtship of the lady. This time, as you clearly make your intentions known, offer her a little romance. Allow her time to miss your presence, pine over your latest conversation..."
Mr. Darcy frowned.
Richard laughed, but he pushed his point. "Only a few weeks. You're at the seashore. There cannot possibly be a more romantic location to woo a lady."
Mr. Darcy raised his drink, and the two cousins made an impromptu toast. Then, Mr. Darcy shifted the conversation.
"Out with it. You delayed our dinner two days, and then still missed that. I imagine you have more intelligence? A plan?"
The Colonel shook his head slowly. He looked down at the glass in his hand and tilted it this way and that, to watch the liquid move in an elliptical pattern. "Whatever you said was too strongly worded. Shawcroft is insistent he does not require your assistance, nor is he interested."
Mr. Darcy threw up his hands in a charade of a flustered old hen. "I have been rejected, whatever shall I do," he said, in a register slightly higher than his normal pitch.
"What did you say to put him off?" Colonel Fitzwilliam asked, and his cousin shrugged.
"I have no experience in doing business with nefarious actors. I spoke to Shawcroft plainly, to the point. Just as I would any man of business."
Colonel Fitzwilliam flinched and sighed. "No wonder he was so angry with me. All you managed to do was remind him of how straight-laced and by the book Fitzwilliam Darcy was in school."
Mr. Darcy pursed his lips but said nothing. He wasn't going to argue with the statement, which in his opinion, was not a black mark against his character.
Colonel Fitzwilliam scoffed. "School is exactly where the man went. Told me he was going to recruit Wickham."
"That scoundrel!?" Darcy asked, incredulously.
Richard nodded, with an expression of disgust on his face. I warned him that man was more slippery than an eel. Not even his own mother would trust him. For some reason, Shawcroft took that to be a rousing endorsement."
"I suppose that's that," Mr. Darcy said and drained the contents of his glass. They were no closer to solving the problem of his cousin's safety than they were two days ago. Ordinarily, he would be angry to attend a ball in vain. But reconnecting with Elizabeth Bennet was worth attending a thousand balls if it meant he could learn the lady no longer despised him.
"Mmm, that was just the bad news. I haven't told you the worst of it," Richard said.
This time, it was Darcy's turn to sigh with exasperation. He stood up and offered to refill his cousin's drink, but Richard waved him off and Darcy poured himself a second libation. He chose to remain standing near the decanter as none of the chairs in the whole household were particularly comfortable for long periods of time.
For a moment, Richard watched the flames of the fire, dwindling in height as the coal turned into embers. His cousin did not rush him and Richard took his time as a man feeling hopeless over his situation.
Refusing to meet his cousin's eye, Richard finally recounted the worst of his intelligence.
"Captain Shawcroft is indispensable to the Brighton economy. He works with local smugglers to take a cut and provides them with protection from the law. Skimming off the top supplies of the unit was all a ruse, to frame Farrington. He waited for the man to be flush from his penchant for gambling with the enlisted men." Richard described, and Darcy didn't interrupt him.
Although he was only a civilian, even Darcy knew taking advantage of the men in the enlisted ranks was duty unbecoming an officer. For it to be the commander of the unit was even worse. It was practically outright theft.
Darcy wasn't quite sure that Shawcroft was entirely wrong to get rid of Farrington, but the illicit activity was still a threat to Richard's life and livelihood.
Richard continued. "Major-General Lennox accepted Shawcroft's word. Farrington confessed to poor record-keeping, and because Shawcroft didn't want to put a target on his back from Farrington's more powerful friends, he allowed the Major-General to handle the problem in his own way."
"Reassignment," Darcy said, and Richard nodded.
"So you think Wickham will join the operation?" Mr. Darcy asked and Richard nodded.
Richard stood from the chair and brought his glass back over to the decanter. With a moan, he took a moment to stretch his weary limbs. The information Angelica had procured, in the way only a female of her talents could, was chilling enough. But it was Cadet Davies who made Richard feel as though he were a man walking on borrowed time.
"I meant to tell you to thank you for bringing the bottles of whiskey I asked for. I won over a number of the men in the officer corps who see me as being more generous than Shawcroft has been. But his young Lookout…"
Darcy grimaced. "Can you trust one that young?" he asked, and Richard nodded.
"I gave a small speech about honoring his purpose in joining the Army, as young as he is. Told him he would one day make a good Colonel. I did so in isolation. This afternoon, he came to me and told me there's to be a shipment next week on the new moon. And I even have an address of where the goods will be."
Darcy rubbed his chin, and then looked around the empty shelves around him. Marlborough House stood as a metaphor for what could happen when men of privilege and good breeding go astray. Once employing over forty staff, the house was a large mansion in front of the most depressing garden, in a haven for smugglers and fornicators. Brighton proved what men of the cloth shared every Sunday in church. There could be no virtue amongst sin.
"Did the young cadet tell you what the goods are?"
Richard started to laugh, and Darcy asked what he found humorous.
Richard clapped his hand on his cousin's shoulder, coughing to clear his chest. He tried to speak seriously about the danger he was in.
In some ways, it would be easier if Shawcroft was stealing from the Army. He would feel perfectly justified in taking on the villain. But in this, Richard was a man of honor who took a post out of vanity and found himself uncomfortable with the mores of a useless assignment.
"Champagne and rum. Specifically a shipment of them together."
Darcy stood dumbfounded for a moment, but then began to understand the significance. It helped to recall he was in Brighton, the Prince Regent's playground, and the man was famous for his punch. A recipe that called for a mixture of citrus and two kinds of spirits: rum and champagne. Both were increasingly difficult to procure due to the disruption of war with France.
Suddenly, a foolhardy idea came to him. Thus far, he and his cousin had tried to solve his problem through military channels, but Darcy was not a member of the military. Strolling confidently to a small pile of posts laid upon the desk that he reviewed earlier, he found the elegant handwriting he was looking for.
"Don't tell me our new plan is to go to another ball," Richard said, mocking himself.
Darcy shook his head in disagreement. "No, but I listened to you, and now you have to give me one chance. Tomorrow, we will visit my neighbor for tea."
Richard's eyes widened. "I can't even begin to follow your thinking, Cousin."
Mr. Darcy shrugged. "Truthfully, I couldn't tell you either. But Newton's Law, everything has its opposite. Mrs. Maria Fitzherbert has kindly invited me to tea. I'll accept the invitation, and I am bringing you along."