Mr. Gardiner was speechless when Colonel Fitzwilliam and Fitzwilliam Darcy walked into his shop and proceeded to ask him about what kind of liquor he had on hand. They were looking for something that was just a little exotic and would make a nice addition to the collection of spirits that Darcy had at Pemberley for visiting friends and business acquaintances. When he could finally regain his voice Mr. Gardiner started showing the two men the different liquors he had imported from the mainland and some rare drinks from the new world. To show off some of the more exotic flavors he actually opened two different of the rare liquors for his possible customers to try.
They were quite impressed and the gentleman, Fitzwilliam Darcy, as he had introduced himself actually ordered a case of both liquors that he tried for delivery to his estate in Derbyshire. This realization that Mr. Darcy was from Pemberley actually led Mr. Gardiner to comment that he and his wife were planning a trip to Derbyshire with their niece Elizabeth. When Mr. Darcy asked for his niece's full name he was surprised to hear that Elizabeth Bennet was his niece and an invitation for the whole family was extended to stay at Pemberley for a few days when they were in the area.
To Mr. Darcy this was the opportunity that he had been wishing for and he was going to take full advantage of it. He increased his order of liquor to be delivered to Pemberley by ordering all of the wine for the visit that was going to occur at the end of the month when the Bingley's came to stay for a few weeks. The additional wine would be a definite bonus since Mr. Hurst tended to get cranky if he was not served large amounts of fine wine whenever he dined at someone else's table although the wine that was served at his own table when they were at home in London was mediocre at best. Also since Bingley was already in London it would be an excellent time to take a trip down to Netherfield to oversee the tenants a bit more.
Since Bingley had left earlier in the year the two tenants had left the property and new ones had to be found. At the same time it would be possible for Darcy to put Miss Bennet and Mr. Bingley together and to see if the separation had made them more or less fond of the other and thus keeping his promise to Elizabeth. Mr. Darcy was about to leave with his cousin when Mrs. Gardiner appeared from around the corner with a few loose gems in her hand that were of significant size. Her queries to the purpose of the stones, quieted as soon as she noticed the two men that were standing in the store. She was wondering if they could be set for a nice piece of jewelry for Elizabeth although in her heart she wanted to have them set for Elizabeth's wedding whenever the happy event would occur.
Mr. Darcy commented on the beautiful color of the light blue stones when he inquired about their origin Mr. Gardiner replied that they came from a new trade venture that was going into Africa but unfortunately it seemed that they would be the last ones that he was going to import since his investor fell out. It was a bit of an odd conversation to start with a man who knew your niece and actually invited you into his own home but Mr. Gardiner felt comfortable talking to the serious young man and his cousin.
When the offer came for Mr. Darcy himself to become the newest investor in the business Mr. Gardiner tried to refuse his assistance claiming that it was too much to expect that Mr. Darcy would invest so much money, almost ten thousand pounds, in a business that wasn't guaranteed to give a good return within the next year. Mr. Darcy insisted and as a compromise Darcy accepted the three large sapphires to defer the potential loss for his investment in the business.
Of course being the type of man that Darcy was he made Mr. And Mrs. Gardiner promise to keep his involvement in the business secret, they did not know that the reason for this stipulation was to keep Elizabeth Bennet in the dark when it came to the man who was coming to sweep her off her feet. With that complication sorted out it was then possible for the Gardiner's to head for Hertfordshire and to see their beloved niece. They did not know at the moment but Mr. Darcy had a similar idea and within the next twelve hours had convinced Mr. Bingley to accompany him to Hertfordshire. The difficult part was keeping Mr. Bingley's sisters from coming in the same carriage, Mr. Darcy did not want to chance her finding the gems he was going to have set in Meryton for a engagement gift for Elizabeth and also he wished to have a few smaller stones set into a delicate bracelet to give to Miss. Bennet as a forgiveness/wedding gift.
He feared what Miss. Bingley would say if she saw the stones in his possession because it was common knowledge that Miss. Bingley wanted her family linked to Mr. Darcy's in any way possible. If Miss. Bingley saw the gems it was possible she would assume that Mr. Darcy was finally going to ask for her hand in marriage. After successfully escaping the London ton Mr. Darcy was determined to make an offer to the only woman he had ever met who was not only after his fortune. Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
Mr. Darcy did not wish to give away his surprise to any of Elizabeth's relations so he did not ask Mr. Gardiner if there was a good goldsmith in Meryton and instead waited to ask Mr. Bingley's housekeeper for her confidential opinion. Of course in a small community this would have been an absolute disaster if he hadn't paid for her silence with a week's wages.
For part of the trip Colonel Fitzwilliam accompanied the merry party off to find love before he altered his route to go to Brighton because his General asked for an evaluation of the new soldiers and their integration into some of the existing units. He was also unofficially supposed to look into the excessive gambling that was occurring in the ranks.
There were rumors that some of the soldiers were racking up massive debts and damaging local establishments where they were stationed and the shop owners were starting to appeal to the government for assistance. This was making the commanders look incompetent because the claims tended to follow the movement of the newer troops. It was also starting to damage the reputation of the armed forces, these men were supposed to train to protect mother Britain and then die on foreign soil for those lofty goals. They were not supposed to behave as a drain on society, even if they did drink, gamble, and fight in bars in excess.
At the very least Colonel Fitzwilliam had been asked to find a few soldiers to make an example out of to make the rest of the soldiers fall in. The Colonel had already decided on his target of choice. Mr. George Wickham. The man thought he had escaped with trying to seduce Georgiana Darcy and steal her money while getting his revenge on the Darcy family for not giving half of the estate to a worthless young man who was given all the advantages but lacked the willingness or the drive to make himself a truly accomplished man in London society. George Wickham would be more useful than he could ever imagine to the greater good and it was always nice to get some nice neat public revenge against the scum of British society.