It took four grueling days to complete their journey and another two days to recover.
He had already contacted his old tutor and enlisted him to tutor his sister. He was also pleased to hire a music master who's credentials were impeccable. Georgianna would be nicely settled and she was looking forward to the changes in her life.
Richard arrived two days before they were to leave for Kent and after dinner that night mentioned that he had seen Caroline Bingley.
"Where?"
Richard hesitated, then said, "outside your door."
"What?"
"I came over here last week to drop off my trunks so they could be packed on the carriage along with yours. I figured to save time. As I jumped down I almost ran into her. She was taking a stroll along the street dressed in her finest and carrying a parasol. She was so shocked and surprised to see me."
"Richard," Darcy replied with a touch of annoyance, "you went too far when you told her I would be actively seeking a wife."
"You're absolutely right, Darce, I did go too far." Richard was thoroughly ashamed of himself and showed it. "I underestimated her."
" I'm afraid I did too. I just wanted to smooth the way for Bingley so I deliberately charmed her and amused myself in the bargain. I was always teasing Bingley about his unworldliness and now I seemed to have proved that I'm just as naive as he is."
"Well,", Richard responded, "I must take some of the blame for encouraging her. I knew what kind of woman she was the minute I laid eyes on her. Some women will stop at nothing to gain what they desire, but usually their parents will not allow such obvious ploys as stalking the man's home. Generally such a stratagem could destroy their own reputation. But Caroline Bingley has no one to curb her ...enthusiasm...certainly not her brother. I might add that she tried desperately to gain entrance to your home on the pretext that she needed ideas about how she wanted to decorate her own townhouse. She seems to think that because you and Bingley had roomed together, you are now considered to be a close family friend. I had to use all my guile to discourage her.
Darcy groaned. "I think I may have made a serious mistake in urging Bingley to buy the Bakewell residence. I knew she browbeat Bingley, but I didn't think she was predatory."
"She wanted to know when you'd be coming back to Town. I lied and told her that you wouldn't return until next Christmas. It was really comical to see her reaction. I thought she was going to stamp her foot, she was so put out. The woman is utterly transparent. To be predatory and stupid as well is a combination hard to beat for comical relief."
"I believe, Richard that you would find it less amusing if you were the prey."
Darcy advised his London housekeeper not to admit Miss Caroline Bingley into his home on any pretext; that Miss Georgianna would never be at home for Miss Bingley He also advised Georgianna and her companion, Mrs. Worthing, that despite what Miss Bingley might say, he had only briefly met with her and they were not good friends.
Two days later Darcy and Richard left for Kent. It had been five years since Darcy had seen his Aunt; three years since Richard's last visit. Neither cousin was looking forward to the visit, but family was family and they were duty-bound to pay their Aunt their deference.
The trip to Kent took a day and a half. The roads were reasonably smooth and the company as always, excellent. Darcy and Richard had come armed with books to stave off boredom. Richard was studying a manual of map reading and field sketching while Darcy had his head buried in a biography of Benjamin Franklin.
Darcy closed his book. "Richard," he said. "I find it ironic that I'm reading a book about a man who invented so many things that will improve our lives while you are studying how to destroy life."
Richard closed his book and shrugged, "what's ironic is that the world needs both. There's a lot of evil in the world, Darce. "
"Has the military life turned you into a cynic, Richard?"
"A walk across a battlefield after the noise and smoke has died is not a pretty sight, cousin." He tossed his book aside and stretched his legs out and rested them on the opposite seat. "But of course," he continued, "there are many levels of evil, Darce. There are the George Wickhams of the world. Did you know that he didn't acknowledge his father's death? Of course it was not expected that he would return to Derbyshire in April with only two months left at Cambridge. But not a word from him? It was unconscionable! His own father, poor man.
"But I sought him out and offered him my condolences. He knew that his father had died. I wrote father and told him so."
Richard nodded, "yes, I know. Your father spoke of it the night before he died. He told me he couldn't decide who he was more disgusted with; George Wickham, or himself for not seeing the man that Wickham had become. Did you know Mr. Wickham was paying off almost one thousand pounds of debt that his son had run up in Lambton?
Darcy was shocked. "A thousand pounds? How do you come by this information, Richard?"
"By your father, Darce. He learned of it after Mr. Wickham died. That might be why Wickham didn't return to Derbyshire. He probably feared debtor's prison. Owing such a sum would probably keep him locked away for life."
"So father knew what kind of man Wickham had become. It must have saddened him terribly."
"I know it did. He told me that you had tried to tell him about Wickham but he just laughed it off. I think that's what most saddened him...that he had not listened to you; that he had forced you to spend three years at Cambridge with George as a roommate."
"Does Georgianna know any of this? I know she was always partial to him. He was always bringing her pretty boxes of sweets."
"I don't know how much she knows of his perfidy, though servants will talk. As for her crush on George, that's over. When I visited you last August, she mentioned that he had never come to visit after your father's death. She knew what your family had done for him and she was saddened on behalf of her father and for you.
Darcy frowned at this news. "She never mentioned his name in all this time. Why wouldn't she confide in me?"
"She only spoke briefly of Wickham because I asked her if he had ever showed up. She really didn't want to talk about it. She thought you were still friends and didn't want to hurt you by bringing up the subject. I'm afraid our darling little girl was disillusioned."
They stopped for a hardy lunch and dawdled over coffee and dessert. Their comfortable silence was broken by Richard. "Darce, speaking of evil..."
Darcy groaned, "now what?"
"Did you know that Anne and Georgianna exchange letters and have been doing so since Georgianna learned to read?"
"Of course. As a matter of fact, Georgianna showed me a letter that Anne wrote her after our father died. It was articulate and very moving. I must admit that I felt positively ashamed of myself for ignoring Anne all these years. I wrote to her irregularly for the past five years telling her about my own problems and scarcely asking her how life was treating her."
Richard nodded in understanding. "Same here. I last saw her three years ago and I did notice that she seemed to be more subdued, but I thought it was simply maturity. Then my parents came home from a short visit and said that Anne had become frail and sickly. Word began to spread throughout the family that Anne was dying.
Darcy remembered a night when he'd had too much to drink and amused Bingley with what his wedding night would be like if he married his sickly cousin Anne. He could hardly look at Richard he was so embarrassed by the memory. "Perhaps I should invite her to Pemberley this summer."
"Darcy, do you remember a game we played as boys when we came to visit Aunt Catherine?"
Darcy shook his head. "I remember toy soldiers and playing around with our wooden swords, but that's about all."
"Remember the ruins of that old church about a mile out of town?"
"Vaguely. Something about saving Anne from the wicked enchantress who had locked her in the tower."
"Yes, that's it. She was Rapunzel and we had to rescue her."
"Ah, yes, now I remember." Darcy smiled at the memory. I also remember the day she decided that you would play the part of Rapunzel and made you put on that silly wig and climb the tower. We were hysterical when you adopted that terrible falsetto and screamed for someone to come and save you." Darcy's smile faded as he remembered what followed. "She was so beautiful and young and so full of life that I kissed her."
"Good grief."
Darcy laughed at his cousin's reaction. "We were eleven years old, Richard. It's not as if I seduced her."
"What was her reaction?" Richard asked curiously.
"She wiped her mouth and looked at me in disgust. She said something like 'yuck', then ran off. I had to rescue you all by myself."
Richard laughed, "I hope your technique has improved since then."
"Never mind my technique, Richard." Why have you led me down memory lane?"
"I received a letter from Anne saying how happy she was to hear that we would be visiting. She signed it 'Rapunzel'"
As their coach approached Rosing's Park they noticed a strange apparition on the side of the road. It was dressed in black and so bowed over that it's hands could easily touch the ground.
"What on earth is that, and what is it doing?
"I think it's lost something," said Darcy. "Perhaps some coins."
"It looks ridiculous."
Suddenly Darcy threw his head back and laughed loudly. "I know what it is."
"Enlighten me."
"If I'm not mistaken, that's Aunt Catherine's new clergyman."
The cousins stepped down, adjusted their vests and took a deep breath. They entered the domain of Lady Catherine De Bourgh.
Lady Catherine was seated in her raised, throne like chair waiting impatiently for her nephews. "There you are," she spoke with asperity, "I began to think you had lost your way. Are you both well? You look well. And how is Georgianna? I must say, Darcy, that I am most put out that your sister chose not to accompany you. I am almost the closest relative she has. She is much too young to make her own decisions. I would never allow Anne to have such freedom."
Darcy glanced at his cousin Anne who steadfastly stared at her lap, twisting and shredding her handkerchief while her companion Mrs. Jenkinson patted her arm offering comfort. He'd heard the stories about how frail and sickly she'd become and had steeled himself to see how altered she'd become from the laughing young girl who he had once kissed with youthful exuberance. He felt uneasy with what he saw. Indeed she did seem frail but the twisting and shredding of her handkerchief made her look almost unstable. Signing her name as Rapunzel, and now sitting in bleak silence. She hadn't looked up once. Darcy didn't know what to make of it.
"Aunt," Darcy said when Lady Catherine took a breath, "I made the decision, not Georgianna. I've hired new masters for her as well as a new tutor. I wanted her to settle down with them for a while before I took her anywhere."
"We will discuss what is best for Georgianna at a later time, but for now I must say that I'm disappointed that neither you nor Richard did not see fit to notify me immediately upon the demise of my brother-in-law. It showed a distinct lack of respect. And you haven't greeted your cousin, Anne, yet."
Darcy sighed and wondered how soon he could curtail this trip and what kind of an excuse he could he come up with.
He approached his cousin and took her hand, "It's been too long, Anne. How are you?"
Anne rolled her eyes, "how do I look?" she spoke so softly Darcy had to lean closer to hear her words.
Darcy nodded, "I'm sorry you've been so ill" he replied quietly.
"It's hopeless," Anne responded listlessly. "I'm losing my mind. And nothing can change that."
"Don't say that, Anne, nothing is ever hopeless."
"Will you rescue me?"
Darcy was at a loss for words. He feared the worst. Could she actually be contemplating marriage with him as a means of escape from her mother's tyranny? Mercifully he had no time to formulate an answer before a new visitor was announced.