"I'm certain you would find another better one," Richard said, with an understanding tone, his usual empathy clearly abounding for the prostrate Charles Bingley.
Darcy smirked into his glass before stating his mantra, "Faithless women are hardly worth your while."
"But Miss Devon had appeared everything charming." Bingley sighed loudly. The man appeared much more like a boy today, particularly in the way he had draped himself upon the chaise. "How was I to know that her head would be turned so quickly by the promise of a wealthier suitor?"
"Darcy here can tell us a thing or two about turning heads." Richard grinned at his cousin.
Darcy rolled his eyes before his next sip. "I have never met Miss Devon and cannot speak for her, but one can hardly be surprised by such a turn of events."
He chose not to mention, of course, that he had once spent plenty of time with Miss Devon's older sister - now Lady Greengrass - when her family had opposed her former suitor. Perhaps sisters never were that much different from each other.
"Shall I never break the shackles of my ties to trade?" Bingley lamented, with a rather vehement groan.
"Perhaps she had other reasons," Richard attempted to console the inconsolable.
"Or, perhaps, women are simply mercenary at heart," Darcy stated, coldly indifferent. He had seen enough of female society to never aspire to hope any longer.
"She said I had no estate - that a town house was hardly proof of a family's legacy," Bingley recited the terms as if he sang a sorrowful dirge, "she claimed her family would never want her to marry a man with so little by way of land and title."
"It is unfortunate," Richard concurred.
"And to be expected," Darcy added.
"Oh, must you be so heartless, Darce? Bingley clearly mourns."
"As he had before - and, perhaps, as he will again. The man needs a distraction of another kind."
"Do you know of another fair maiden?" Bingley rolled himself upright. His eagerness was clear. "Perhaps one loss foretells another gain."
Darcy could not help smiling at his ridiculous friend. "Consider a trip, perhaps, to the countryside?"
"Ah, you speak of physical distractions," Richard noted. The shadows on the floor grew longer. It had been a tedious afternoon at best.
"Hardly," Darcy replied. He finished his glass. "Though a physical removal might prove strategic."
"I can find a country estate and dispel all of Miss Devon's fears!" Bingley jumped to his feet with childlike glee. "I had received an offer for a lease the other day. What do you think, Darce? Shall you help me take a turn around Hertfordshire?"
"And he says it is the women who gets their heads turned." Richard chuckled.
Darcy offered his cousin a knowing nod.
"Richard, you ought to come as well. Shall it not be splendid for the three of us to galavant around the country together?" Bingley made his plans with a newfound vigor, a stark contrast to his lethargy a mere hour ago.
Darcy smirked once more. "I wish you well, though I fear I must decline."
"Shall you not join us? You know best how to run an estate," asked Richard. There was a light-heartedness to his cousin that Darcy had always admired. The man was never as flippant as Bingley, but he did always appear to be happier than Darcy himself ever felt.
Darcy considered. "I must visit Georgiana at Ramsgate, for I fear I have neglected her of late. Mrs. Younge, however qualified, is a recent hire."
"I suppose family must come first," Bingley acknowledged.
"Do enjoy the respite, friend." Darcy smiled at the apparently fully-recovered Bingley. "And bring me plenty of stories to tell."
"Ah, my favorite nephew." The earl raised his glass before Darcy could even fully enter the study. "How was your month at Ramsgate?"
Darcy rolled his shoulders indifferently. He assumed his usual seat. Despite the ocean views and delicacies, the past weeks had felt rather long. "Georgiana seemed to have caught the eye of plenty a fortune hunter over a mere summer month. It was a relief, I must admit, to have been personally present to intervene."
The Earl of Matlock smirked. Uncle and nephew exchanged a silent toast.
There was a slight sobriety beneath their usual joviality today, almost as if reality tainted the usual high spirits of their gatherings.
Reality and its repercussions could be rather pesky, at times.
"How does Richard fare?" Darcy chose to keep his mind on happier things instead. "I must admit I rather rue meeting Mr. and Mrs. Graham at Ramsgate. I've hardly had a moment to myself since returning to town. Miss Graham was rather difficult to persuade."
His uncle smirked again. "What was it this time? A steward? A stable boy?"
"A man with ties in trade." Darcy sighed. "It seemed as if the family wished for her to aim higher."
"You have friends in trade."
"Indeed I do."
"Do you not perceive your actions as double-minded?"
Darcy grimaced. "One does not get involved in such matters if one were squeamish with one's ethics."
"I suppose." The earl toyed with the liquid in his glass.
The room fell silent once more.
Darcy could not help but ask, "Are you well, Uncle? You appear dispirited despite the - spirits."
The smirk on the earl's face was half-hearted at best this time. "There have been some, shall we say - developments in the past month that have discomfited your aunt and yours truly."
Darcy frowned. "Is it your health, sir?"
"No, not mine - but Richard's."
"Is he unwell?"
"Not in the body, but perhaps in the heart." The earl downed the rest of his drink before reaching for more. The study had never felt more like a gentlemen's club. "Since his departure to Hertfordshire with your friend Bingley, he has written rather consistently about a certain lady."
"He has found a lady love?"
"Well, a lady infatuation, for certain," his uncle spat. A dark frown etched itself on the aging man's face. "It is a sister, he says, to the woman who has caught your friend Bingley's fancy."
"Bingley's preferences change courses like a broken raft upon a stormy sea. I doubt there is anything serious about his current attentions."
"Perhaps - though your aunt and I worry, of course, that Richard is not quite as fleeting with his attentions."
Darcy nodded. He supposed he understood his uncle somewhat.
"Is he engaged?"
"Oh, thank goodness, no." The earl groaned loudly. "But this family is - shall we say - underwhelming at best. There have been no traces of scandal, as far as we know, but their home is entailed and there are five daughters in the clan."
"Five daughters! And no sons?"
"Indeed." The earl glowered. "Perhaps, with so many, their family may set their aims upon an earl's son thinking that it may bring connections for the remaining sisters."
"Does Richard speak highly of this woman?"
"Your aunt reads most of his letters - although I have been made aware that he speaks constantly of her, regardless of topic."
"I see." Darcy took another sip. He enjoyed his hard drinks, though he seldom indulged as openly as his uncle did.
A sober and present mind proved priceless in maneuvering the fancies of a frivolous society.
"Can you help him?" The earl asked, his gaze faraway.
"Help Richard?"
"Yes."
"With what?"
"You, Fitzwilliam Darcy, are the very master of severing romantic inclinations. Shall you not do the same favor for your very own cousin?"
Darcy's brow hardened. "I can hardly charm Richard away from this lady."
"No, and I would not expect you to." The earl's laugh was truly more of a harsh chuckle. "But your cynicism can prove relevant in his hour of need."
"I never thought to be valued for my unfeeling nature."
This time, laughter flowed much more naturally between them.
"Richard, while not as flighty as your friend Bingley, can be softhearted at times." The earl mused about his own son. "It would not do for a country nobody to distract him from the heiress he must inevitably marry."
The currencies of marriage and properties was one Darcy understood well. He hesitated at the thought of interfering with his cousin's life - but he comprehended all the same why his uncle worried over what may well prove to be a fleeting fancy.
"I suppose I can give Richard a talking to," Darcy conceded.
The sincerity of his uncle's gave surprised him. "Your aunt and I thank you, most heartily."
A/N: So I guess the answer to all the speculation is 'no.' Darcy is not hired by the Bingley sisters to distract Jane. Instead, we get Richard thrown into the mix. As for this Darcy's morals, I promise he doesn't sleep with these women, although I can't promise he hasn't welcomed a kiss or two. Again, not a good Darcy! We need him to repent!