Chapter Seven
The reactions of each Fitzwilliam to Mr Darcy's extraordinary announcement were different. Lady Matlock let out a gasp, turned white, and started to breath deeply, looking at the ceiling. Lord Matlock also turned white, but clutched the table and leaned forward, eyes wide. Thomas looked a little doubtful; ready for another false hope and subsequent disappointment. Richard jumped convulsively and stared at Darcy. Rosalind looked around the table blankly, obviously completely ignorant and confused on why those names should create such a reaction in the rest of her family.
"Darcy – are you sure?" whispered the earl.
"Well, I have not proved it totally, but I have some proof."
"Will someone tell me what is going on?" Rosalind's voice rose above the thick silence.
Lord and Lady Matlock looked at each other. "Rosalind," said her father, "I must tell you this quickly for I need to find out more from Darcy, so please don't question until after we have totally and completely finished – to be brief, I was kidnapped as a child and brought up as a foundling, I married your mother, and we had four children – Thomas and Richard and two girls: Lara and Vivian. We were so poor that we had to adopt Lara and Vivian out, not knowing where they went or who they went to, and after this Darcy's father found us and I discovered my true identity. We have never been able to find Lara and Vivian."
For once Rosalind was speechless, to everyone else's relief. "Now, Darcy," said Lady Matlock, her voice trembling, "tell us everything. Please."
"Very well," said Darcy. The worst was over. He could now relax a little. "I know Lara and Vivian, who have different names now, from some time spent in the country. They have come to London with their adoptive sisters to live with an aunt and uncle, because their adoptive parents died several months ago. They have no idea they are adopted, and are not living in the easiest means. In conversation with the woman who must be Vivian, she told me that when her father died, he told her and her older sister not to forget the names Lara and Vivian. She was obviously completely confused by this. Now I was terribly shocked by the implications of this, and could not exactly interrogate her, but I asked her the name of the family lawyer, and it was Evans."
"Good heavens," said Lord Matlock blankly. "It really must be them."
"I have two sisters and you never told me about it?" whispered Rosalind, finally recovering from her stupor.
"Shhh," said her mother, watching Darcy intently. "Darcy – who are they?"
It was very hard to say. It felt like he was jumping off a precipice. "Richard and I know them already."
"We do?" said Richard, confused. "You don't mean to say, Darcy-"
"Their names are Jane and Elizabeth Bennet," said Darcy wearily. "Aunt, you met them at the Assembly Rooms the other night."
"And I recognised them," said Lady Matlock, as if she was in a trance.
"Yes," said Darcy.
"And I met Elizabeth!" said Rosalind.
All eyes turned her way. "When?"
"On my walk in the park the other day; she helped me escape Sir Humphrey, and I invited her around here to visit me this morning. Are you telling me she is my sister?"
"Yes, dear," said her mother, still in her trance-like state. "John, what is to be done?"
He was fiddling awkwardly with his knife and fork. "I'm not sure, Cecilia; right now I am so muddled up I don't quite know what to think, let alone do."
"You're muddled up!" said Rosalind. "Why, I find out today that I have two sisters and that my father was a foundling, and you expect me just to say, 'Oh, that's interesting', and not be at least profoundly shocked?"
Everyone ignored her, except for Darcy – the other Fitzwilliam's engaged in staring at their plates and looking blindingly amazed. "Yes, it is a little surprising, Rosalind, I grant you that, but you must own your parents have a lot to be surprised about as well."
"You are a master of understatement," grumbled Rosalind under her breath. "A little surprising! For goodness' sake!"
The earl looked up at Darcy, this time with a truly excited grin on his face. "Darcy, it hasn't quite sunk in yet, but what do you think we can do? Do you suppose they will want to recognise us as their ... parents?"
"I don't know," said Darcy, shaking his head helplessly.
Lord Matlock moved to his wife and gripped her hand. "Cecilia – I do believe I'm about to explode with joy."
She smiled up at him. "Oh, I am too, John, but John, what if ... I just can't help dreading some parts of what must be the future!"
"How are we going to tell the Bennet's – I mean, Lara and Vivian – who they really are?" said Richard, waking up from his dream.
Rosalind squealed.
"What is it?" said her father.
"Elizabeth is walking up the steps now! I forgot I had asked her to come!"
"Oh no!" said Lady Matlock. "John, what are we going to do?"
But her husband was at the window, gazing down at the young woman who was knocking at the great door, looking around her with interest and the softest look in his eyes that Darcy had ever seen on him. "This is Vivian? I should have known those eyes anywhere. No wonder you recognised her, Cecilia."
But his wife had jumped up and was waving her arms around, flustered. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear – Darcy, I want to see her, I really do, but I just don't think I am prepared!" Thomas was edging out of his chair, eyes wide, and Richard was sitting stock still with his mouth open.
"Everyone calm down," Mr Darcy said in that firm, calm voice. "I do not think that the present is a very good time to meet her – at all. You must remember that it will be a great shock to her as well, and I have a feeling it would be better for her if she was in a familiar, comfortable place when she finds out the truth about her past – and with her sister, whom she is very close to. Rosalind and I will go to greet her – will you act normally, Rosalind? Good – the rest of you will stay out of the way – we will make excuses. I will visit her later today, and reveal everything. Then we will just have to see what happens."
"Yes, yes, you are right, of course, Darcy," said Lady Matlock, sitting down nervously. "Quick, Rosalind, run out to meet her, or the butler will show her in here. Goodness me! I feel like I am playing hide and seek. I just don't know how to act. John ..." she finished pleadingly, and he came back from the window and embraced his wife as Rosalind ran out of the room, followed closely by Darcy.
"Good morning!" smiled Elizabeth as Rosalind ran up to meet her. "How do you do, Rosalind?" She saw Darcy following and blushed slightly. "Why, good morning to you also, Mr Darcy."
"Hello, Elizabeth," said Rosalind, perhaps a little woodenly, but passably normal. "My cousin has been around for breakfast."
Elizabeth smiled at him mischievously. "Are you one of those roguish dandies who live off anyone but themselves?"
He smiled, relaxing slightly. "Undoubtedly. Indeed, my cousin Thomas asked me whether I had lost all my fortune on gambling and was obliged to beg Lord Matlock to save me from the duns."
Elizabeth laughed, surprised at his light-hearted acceptance of her teasing. "How shocking, sir."
He smiled back as Rosalind, her brow wrinkled a little at the evident friendliness between the two of them, spoke. "Will you come to the parlour?"
*******************
Elizabeth returned to Gracechurch Street a little earlier than she had expected. Rosalind was friendly, but not as easy-going as she had been. Elizabeth wondered why – perhaps the presence of her cousin Darcy made her nervous. Thinking over that more comprehensively, though, she had to dismiss the possibility. Rosalind had not spoken of Darcy before as if she was intimidated by him; indeed, Elizabeth found it very hard trying to imagine Rosalind being made nervous by anyone, least of all a cousin who was on such terms with her family that he ate his breakfast with them.
Mr Darcy had cornered her before she left. "May I come and call on you this afternoon?" he asked quietly. "I would like to see your sister and yourself regarding the issue we talked about at Charles Bingley's last night."
"Oh, have you deduced it all?" said Elizabeth breezily. "Of course, come over. I will make sure we are both home."
She told Jane about it all now. At first she had not wanted to tell her sister what had passed between herself and Mr Darcy the previous night, fearing her disapproval in laying such a private affair before Mr Darcy, who was a bare acquaintance at the most. But now it was necessary to inform her sister, as with any luck everything was going to be made clear. She did feel a slight apprehension, but being in a good mood from an early morning walk in Richmond Park, and for once not feeling like she had a great weight hanging over her, she was inclined to shrug everything away and let what was unknown remain unconjectured until that afternoon.
Jane did not feel the same way. When Elizabeth told her what was happening, she looked away straight away with a stricken look on her face. "Oh, Lizzy!"
"Oh, Jane, don't worry yourself about it. It can hardly be that important."
"Then why did Father seem so serious about it, if it was not important?" Jane demanded. "Treat it as you will – all the better for you – but I cannot help feeling very apprehensive about this interview with Mr Darcy this afternoon. I told you some months ago that the names Lara and Vivian seemed familiar to me, did I not?"
"Yes," admitted Elizabeth, "but really, Jane, you may just have heard of some twins called ... Nora and Ellen – or something like that. You call it what you wish; I think you are just mixed up."
Jane looked out the window. "Here is Mr Darcy now."
"He is?" asked Elizabeth, interested. "Why, what beautiful horses! I should like to ride behind them." She watched Mr Darcy coming up to the steps of the house and knocking. "He is very handsome, isn't he?"
Jane smiled now. "Oh Lizzy," she said, "he is the very essence of handsomeness."
Although Elizabeth blushed, she laughed too. "You naughty girl, Jane, using one of my own taunts! However, I was merely stating a fact."
"Of course," said Jane, looking sly.
Elizabeth was sober now. "Jane ... you must not believe that I ... that I think of him in that way."
"Pardon me, Elizabeth," replied Jane, feeling guilty at once, as Jane was wont to do. "I am sorry for teasing you."
The door of the sitting room opened, and Mr Darcy walked in and bowed, while Elizabeth and Jane curtsied. "Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth," he said politely.
The reactions of each Fitzwilliam to Mr Darcy's extraordinary announcement were different. Lady Matlock let out a gasp, turned white, and started to breath deeply, looking at the ceiling. Lord Matlock also turned white, but clutched the table and leaned forward, eyes wide. Thomas looked a little doubtful; ready for another false hope and subsequent disappointment. Richard jumped convulsively and stared at Darcy. Rosalind looked around the table blankly, obviously completely ignorant and confused on why those names should create such a reaction in the rest of her family.
"Darcy – are you sure?" whispered the earl.
"Well, I have not proved it totally, but I have some proof."
"Will someone tell me what is going on?" Rosalind's voice rose above the thick silence.
Lord and Lady Matlock looked at each other. "Rosalind," said her father, "I must tell you this quickly for I need to find out more from Darcy, so please don't question until after we have totally and completely finished – to be brief, I was kidnapped as a child and brought up as a foundling, I married your mother, and we had four children – Thomas and Richard and two girls: Lara and Vivian. We were so poor that we had to adopt Lara and Vivian out, not knowing where they went or who they went to, and after this Darcy's father found us and I discovered my true identity. We have never been able to find Lara and Vivian."
For once Rosalind was speechless, to everyone else's relief. "Now, Darcy," said Lady Matlock, her voice trembling, "tell us everything. Please."
"Very well," said Darcy. The worst was over. He could now relax a little. "I know Lara and Vivian, who have different names now, from some time spent in the country. They have come to London with their adoptive sisters to live with an aunt and uncle, because their adoptive parents died several months ago. They have no idea they are adopted, and are not living in the easiest means. In conversation with the woman who must be Vivian, she told me that when her father died, he told her and her older sister not to forget the names Lara and Vivian. She was obviously completely confused by this. Now I was terribly shocked by the implications of this, and could not exactly interrogate her, but I asked her the name of the family lawyer, and it was Evans."
"Good heavens," said Lord Matlock blankly. "It really must be them."
"I have two sisters and you never told me about it?" whispered Rosalind, finally recovering from her stupor.
"Shhh," said her mother, watching Darcy intently. "Darcy – who are they?"
It was very hard to say. It felt like he was jumping off a precipice. "Richard and I know them already."
"We do?" said Richard, confused. "You don't mean to say, Darcy-"
"Their names are Jane and Elizabeth Bennet," said Darcy wearily. "Aunt, you met them at the Assembly Rooms the other night."
"And I recognised them," said Lady Matlock, as if she was in a trance.
"Yes," said Darcy.
"And I met Elizabeth!" said Rosalind.
All eyes turned her way. "When?"
"On my walk in the park the other day; she helped me escape Sir Humphrey, and I invited her around here to visit me this morning. Are you telling me she is my sister?"
"Yes, dear," said her mother, still in her trance-like state. "John, what is to be done?"
He was fiddling awkwardly with his knife and fork. "I'm not sure, Cecilia; right now I am so muddled up I don't quite know what to think, let alone do."
"You're muddled up!" said Rosalind. "Why, I find out today that I have two sisters and that my father was a foundling, and you expect me just to say, 'Oh, that's interesting', and not be at least profoundly shocked?"
Everyone ignored her, except for Darcy – the other Fitzwilliam's engaged in staring at their plates and looking blindingly amazed. "Yes, it is a little surprising, Rosalind, I grant you that, but you must own your parents have a lot to be surprised about as well."
"You are a master of understatement," grumbled Rosalind under her breath. "A little surprising! For goodness' sake!"
The earl looked up at Darcy, this time with a truly excited grin on his face. "Darcy, it hasn't quite sunk in yet, but what do you think we can do? Do you suppose they will want to recognise us as their ... parents?"
"I don't know," said Darcy, shaking his head helplessly.
Lord Matlock moved to his wife and gripped her hand. "Cecilia – I do believe I'm about to explode with joy."
She smiled up at him. "Oh, I am too, John, but John, what if ... I just can't help dreading some parts of what must be the future!"
"How are we going to tell the Bennet's – I mean, Lara and Vivian – who they really are?" said Richard, waking up from his dream.
Rosalind squealed.
"What is it?" said her father.
"Elizabeth is walking up the steps now! I forgot I had asked her to come!"
"Oh no!" said Lady Matlock. "John, what are we going to do?"
But her husband was at the window, gazing down at the young woman who was knocking at the great door, looking around her with interest and the softest look in his eyes that Darcy had ever seen on him. "This is Vivian? I should have known those eyes anywhere. No wonder you recognised her, Cecilia."
But his wife had jumped up and was waving her arms around, flustered. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear – Darcy, I want to see her, I really do, but I just don't think I am prepared!" Thomas was edging out of his chair, eyes wide, and Richard was sitting stock still with his mouth open.
"Everyone calm down," Mr Darcy said in that firm, calm voice. "I do not think that the present is a very good time to meet her – at all. You must remember that it will be a great shock to her as well, and I have a feeling it would be better for her if she was in a familiar, comfortable place when she finds out the truth about her past – and with her sister, whom she is very close to. Rosalind and I will go to greet her – will you act normally, Rosalind? Good – the rest of you will stay out of the way – we will make excuses. I will visit her later today, and reveal everything. Then we will just have to see what happens."
"Yes, yes, you are right, of course, Darcy," said Lady Matlock, sitting down nervously. "Quick, Rosalind, run out to meet her, or the butler will show her in here. Goodness me! I feel like I am playing hide and seek. I just don't know how to act. John ..." she finished pleadingly, and he came back from the window and embraced his wife as Rosalind ran out of the room, followed closely by Darcy.
"Good morning!" smiled Elizabeth as Rosalind ran up to meet her. "How do you do, Rosalind?" She saw Darcy following and blushed slightly. "Why, good morning to you also, Mr Darcy."
"Hello, Elizabeth," said Rosalind, perhaps a little woodenly, but passably normal. "My cousin has been around for breakfast."
Elizabeth smiled at him mischievously. "Are you one of those roguish dandies who live off anyone but themselves?"
He smiled, relaxing slightly. "Undoubtedly. Indeed, my cousin Thomas asked me whether I had lost all my fortune on gambling and was obliged to beg Lord Matlock to save me from the duns."
Elizabeth laughed, surprised at his light-hearted acceptance of her teasing. "How shocking, sir."
He smiled back as Rosalind, her brow wrinkled a little at the evident friendliness between the two of them, spoke. "Will you come to the parlour?"
*******************
Elizabeth returned to Gracechurch Street a little earlier than she had expected. Rosalind was friendly, but not as easy-going as she had been. Elizabeth wondered why – perhaps the presence of her cousin Darcy made her nervous. Thinking over that more comprehensively, though, she had to dismiss the possibility. Rosalind had not spoken of Darcy before as if she was intimidated by him; indeed, Elizabeth found it very hard trying to imagine Rosalind being made nervous by anyone, least of all a cousin who was on such terms with her family that he ate his breakfast with them.
Mr Darcy had cornered her before she left. "May I come and call on you this afternoon?" he asked quietly. "I would like to see your sister and yourself regarding the issue we talked about at Charles Bingley's last night."
"Oh, have you deduced it all?" said Elizabeth breezily. "Of course, come over. I will make sure we are both home."
She told Jane about it all now. At first she had not wanted to tell her sister what had passed between herself and Mr Darcy the previous night, fearing her disapproval in laying such a private affair before Mr Darcy, who was a bare acquaintance at the most. But now it was necessary to inform her sister, as with any luck everything was going to be made clear. She did feel a slight apprehension, but being in a good mood from an early morning walk in Richmond Park, and for once not feeling like she had a great weight hanging over her, she was inclined to shrug everything away and let what was unknown remain unconjectured until that afternoon.
Jane did not feel the same way. When Elizabeth told her what was happening, she looked away straight away with a stricken look on her face. "Oh, Lizzy!"
"Oh, Jane, don't worry yourself about it. It can hardly be that important."
"Then why did Father seem so serious about it, if it was not important?" Jane demanded. "Treat it as you will – all the better for you – but I cannot help feeling very apprehensive about this interview with Mr Darcy this afternoon. I told you some months ago that the names Lara and Vivian seemed familiar to me, did I not?"
"Yes," admitted Elizabeth, "but really, Jane, you may just have heard of some twins called ... Nora and Ellen – or something like that. You call it what you wish; I think you are just mixed up."
Jane looked out the window. "Here is Mr Darcy now."
"He is?" asked Elizabeth, interested. "Why, what beautiful horses! I should like to ride behind them." She watched Mr Darcy coming up to the steps of the house and knocking. "He is very handsome, isn't he?"
Jane smiled now. "Oh Lizzy," she said, "he is the very essence of handsomeness."
Although Elizabeth blushed, she laughed too. "You naughty girl, Jane, using one of my own taunts! However, I was merely stating a fact."
"Of course," said Jane, looking sly.
Elizabeth was sober now. "Jane ... you must not believe that I ... that I think of him in that way."
"Pardon me, Elizabeth," replied Jane, feeling guilty at once, as Jane was wont to do. "I am sorry for teasing you."
The door of the sitting room opened, and Mr Darcy walked in and bowed, while Elizabeth and Jane curtsied. "Miss Bennet, Miss Elizabeth," he said politely.
