Madam and Missy — A Pride and Prejudice Variation
This is dedicated to all the writers both here and on KU who've released their stories for free! As I enjoy reading them so much, I thought that I'd have a go, and here it is.
[Note that I'm a Brit, so have written with British spelling, punctuation and terminology 😏]
In which Darcy father and son are summoned and Lady Anne travels to Hertfordshire
Darcy House — London
Mr. George Darcy
Mr. George Darcy quietly sighed and lowered his newspaper in order to study the two young men sitting with him at the breakfast table. Though he was fond of both, he had a possessive paternal pride and fierce love for his only son. He noticed that, as usual, Fitzwilliam sat in the sunshine by the window, his shadow falling on the table before him.
"William," he said. "I should like you to accompany me to an appointment this morning."
"Yes, Father," William replied, looking at him. "When are we to set off?"
As his son spoke, Mr. Darcy thought that he spied a very quick, unpleasant expression on the face of the other young man at the table. Unsure whether it was a mere trick of the light, he continued, "As soon as you have finished that cup of tea."
"I shall finish it now."
"No, there is no need to hurry," Mr. Darcy said with a smile.
The other young man at the breakfast table stopped eating and started to stand, asking, "Am I to come with you, too?" This young man always chose to sit opposite William, in the shade.
Mr. Darcy stood and, walking past, patted the lad on his shoulder pushing him back down onto the chair, saying, "Not this time, George. I do not think that my sister-in-law would be pleased to see you!"
His godson, George Wickham nodded his head. "Of course, Uncle George."
Mr. Darcy paused at the doorway, turned and addressed young Mr. Wickham. "Now that you are eighteen years of age, I think that it is time for you to address me as 'Mr. Darcy'. It seems more proper for a young man out of school." He looked at them both, noticing for the first time that their choice of seats was a reflection of their characters. With a sudden realisation, he thought that he would have to do something about young Mr. Wickham. 'Uncle George'; when did the steward's son start to call me by such a familiar name?
"Oh, of course, Unc— Mr. Darcy," replied Mr. Wickham with a hastily genial smile.
Mr. Darcy kept the fond expression on his face as he left the breakfast room then let it drop as he walked away. Caught by an ignoble urge, he tip-toed silently back and stood outside, out of sight.
"Ha, ha, Fitzy Witzy." He heard Mr. Wickham sneering. "Off to an appointment with your future mother-in-law. Now that you are eighteen, it must be time to formalise your betrothal to your cousin Anne. Allow me to be the first to wish you every happiness!" Mr. Wickham sniggered. "I am sure that you will have a delightful life at Rosings while I remain with your father at Pemberley. I shall make sure that he has no time to miss or even think of you."
The blood pounding in his ears, Mr. Darcy did not hear his son's response. He had never heard such spite from young Wickham before; the lad had always been friendly and amusing in his own company. He found himself to be ashamed as he remembered that his son had told him many times that his godson's behaviour was very different when with others.
"Yes," continued Mr. Wickham, "Pemberley will suit me very well. You will have Rosings and nothing will stop me from becoming Pemberley's next master!"
George Darcy felt such outrage that he could almost not breathe. Pemberley belonging to any but my own dear boy? Never! Hearing footsteps approaching the door, he collected himself and softly hurried away.
A little later, father and son sat facing each other in one of the family's carriages on their way to their appointment.
"It is rather early to call on Lady Catherine, is it not, Father?" asked William.
Mr. Darcy hmphed and said, with a slight smile, "We are not going to de Bourgh House."
"We are not? But you said— " William paused. "You said that, ah, you said that Lady Catherine would not welcome Wickham, not that we are to meet with Lady Catherine." William nodded to acknowledge his father's deliberate misdirection.
"Well done, son." Mr. Darcy nodded in return.
"May I ask, then, where we are going?"
"Yes," said Mr. Darcy, suddenly serious. "Come, sit next to me."
Surprised, William stood with a bent back and shuffled round to sit beside his father.
Mr. Darcy leant to speak quietly in his son's ear, "Keep silent as I speak, as this is to be known only to the two of us."
William soberly nodded.
"Remember, silence."
William nodded again.
Mr. Darcy murmured, "Yesterday, I received— " Then paused to gather his thoughts. "I received a very unusual, very important letter." He tapped his breast pocket.
William remained silent.
"It is a summons to the Palace." Mr. Darcy gripped his son's forearm to prevent him from reacting to this astonishing news. "I do not know who we are to meet, but, from the tone of the letter, I think that we may be asked to do something for the Crown."
William gulped, but otherwise stayed silent.
It was early in the afternoon by the time that the Darcy men re-boarded their carriage; both were stunned by their meeting.
"Silence, William." Mr. Darcy put a comforting hand on his son's knee. "We shall go somewhere private to discuss this."
Wide-eyed and shocked, all William could do was to nod.
When the carriage was a mile or so from Darcy House, Mr. Darcy rapped on the roof. Once the carriage stopped, he and William alighted and walked together into Hyde Park, sending the carriage back ahead of them. In silence, they strode away from the fashionable paths to where they could talk without being overheard. Finding a bench away from prying eyes, they sat and William finally allowed his distress to show.
"Father, Father, I cannot— I cannot believe— !" he cried, and hunched over with his head in his hands. "How can I be asked to do this?"
Mr. Darcy was also distressed, but could not and would not let his son see him so.
"I understand that you are upset, but we have been commanded to do this."
"But— " started William, his voice quavering.
"But nothing," Mr. Darcy said, firmly. He sighed. "Did you hear what we were told just before we left, or were you too overwhelmed?"
"N-no, I did not hear anything apart from— "
"The last thing that we were told was that your mother will choose the young woman after meeting with the gentleman's daughters, and then you will be betrothed to her."
William swallowed, clearly finding it difficult not to sob.
"Your mother will choose and you can be sure that she will make the right choice."
They sat for some time in silence, Mr. Darcy with his arm around William's shoulders. Eventually William took a deep breath and sat up straight. Mr. Darcy patted his back and released him.
With another steadying breath, William said, "I assume that, except for Mother, no one else will know."
"No one else must know."
"I feel full young to be betrothed, but I suppose that we shall not have to marry until I am older." At his father's nod, he continued, "And, during the betrothal, we shall meet and become acquainted with each other."
"I am afraid that you will not be able to meet, son, but you will be able to correspond with her."
Mr. Darcy watched with pride as William did not hang his head again, but closed his eyes for a few moments to calm himself before swallowing and nodding to his father.
They sat in companionable silence for a while longer before Mr. Darcy suggested to William that they make some plans for what to do when they returned to Darcy House.
"First, I should like to share some, er, shameful news with you."
William turned to his father in surprise.
"I am sorry, very sorry, that I have not believed you about George Wickham's behaviour. I caught a rather nasty, malign expression on his face this morning. The expression lasted for but a moment, but I did not care for it. It looked like hatred and I did not care for it at all.
"It was ill-mannered of me but, as I was unsure about what I had seen, I listened outside the door after leaving the breakfast room. I overheard his words to you and was appalled having had no thoughts that he would speak thus. You have my apologies, William. I should have believed you."
His distress momentarily forgotten, William said, "I thank you, Father."
"We must decide what to do with that young man. Now that I have witnessed this other side of him, I think that I must cast him loose. Though I am tempted, I am wary of simply tossing him into the street with just the clothes on his back, as I think that he would be malicious and he obviously knows enough about us to have the capability to cause harm to our family."
William added, "And it is in his nature to cause harm to others."
"Yes, and to others. So, let us come up with a plan!" He winked.
Netherfield
Lady Anne Darcy
A fortnight later, Lady Anne Darcy arrived at Netherfield Park in Hertfordshire.
She understood that she had been given this great responsibility to choose her son's bride. She had hoped to have many more years in which to do this, and had looked forward to accompanying him to balls and dinners to meet the latest bevy of debutants. I had fond motherly imaginings of teasing him about the delights of this young gentlewoman or the merits of that young lady.
Thus she was at one of the Darcys' estates, currently without tenants, to meet prospective brides for her son.
As the carriage stopped, Lady Anne swallowed her disappointment and accepted the footman's hand to alight. The front doors opened and she smiled in relief to see Mrs. Reynolds, their trustworthy and reliable housekeeper from Pemberley.
"Good afternoon, madam," cried Mrs. Reynolds, curtseying. "I hope that your journey was easy."
"I thank you, Mrs. Reynolds, it was fine." Entering the house, she continued, "I should like you to show me to my rooms and to order tea for the two of us. We have much to discuss."
"Yes, madam. It is this way." Mrs. Reynolds led Lady Anne up the marble stairs to the first floor and along a corridor to a suite of rooms overlooking the gardens to the rear of the manor house. "I shall order tea and return shortly." She curtseyed and left the room closing the door behind her.
Lady Anne had time to refresh herself before a knock on the door was followed by the housekeeper coming into the room carrying a tray of tea and cakes. She directed Mrs. Reynolds to put the tray on a small table next to a window and invited her to sit.
"While I collect my thoughts, would you pour the tea, please?" Watching the process of preparing the tea, Lady Anne continued, "I must thank you and congratulate you on remembering to call me 'madam'."
Though she was accustomed to praise from her mistress, Mrs. Reynolds was pleased and blushed a little.
"Now, let us talk of why we are come to Hertfordshire. But first, are you sure that we cannot be overheard?"
"Yes, madam. I have locked the servants' doors and have rested some empty wine bottles against them. We should hear the bottles fall should anyone attempt to gain entry."
"What an excellent idea — well done!"
Mrs. Reynolds blushed again and replied, "I must confess that it was not my idea, but young Master William's."
"It was?"
"Yes, madam, he does so to stop his Matlock cousins and George Wickham going into his chambers during the night."
Lady Anne took a sharp breath in and stiffened hearing George Wickham's name. My husband will deal with that young man soon.
"Well, I am sure that William would be pleased to hear that you have adopted his ruse in order to protect his mother."
They sipped their tea in silence for a few minutes, then Lady Anne leaned closer to Mrs. Reynolds and began to speak in hushed tones. "I shall not tell you all that is to happen while we are here; indeed, I am not permitted to do so. I am sure that you will be able to guess a little of it, but I am trusting you to be discreet and to not speculate aloud."
Mrs. Reynolds nodded in acknowledgement.
"Tomorrow morning, a local gentleman will be bringing his daughters here so that I can meet them. It is important that they do not discover my name, nor I theirs. This is why I have asked you not to use my title when you address me.
"I do, though, feel that the young women should have something to call me; my husband suggested that I use the last letter of my name." Seeing the housekeeper's puzzlement, she continued. "The name 'Lady A' might be connected to me, but 'Lady E' almost certainly will not."
"If I may suggest — would not 'Mrs. E' be better?"
"Again, my husband has told me that it is important that our visitors know that I am titled."
"Yes, my lady — My Lady E," said Mrs. Reynolds.
After directing Mrs. Reynolds to pour them second cups of tea, Lady Anne continued.
"It is equally important that I do not discover the names of the young women. I should like you to meet them when they arrive and tell them that you will take them to your mistress who will introduce herself. If they attempt to tell you their names, even though it would be considered a discourtesy, interrupt them and bid them to follow you."
"Yes, my lady. Will you want me to bring in refreshments while they are here?"
"Please do. And then I should like you to take the role of one of William's empty wine bottles and stand guard at the door to ensure that we are not overheard." She paused, "Of course this is not something that I would usually bid you to do and you should sit guard if you prefer."
"Yes, my lady."
"I thank you, Mrs. Reynolds. Your dedication and loyalty are very much appreciated."
Mrs. Reynolds blushed for a third time, and they finished their tea talking of household matters.
Please don't copy, but please do let me have comments/corrections 😏