Battle of the Dragons Chapter 15, a pride and prejudice fanfic

At last – Darcy makes an entrance

~O~

Confused Dragon

Fitzwilliam Darcy was relieved when he arrived at his house in London after having spent three days on the road.

Admittedly, since he was not looking forward to his annual visit to his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, he had travelled in easy stages.

Once he had cleaned up, he sent a note to Matlock House to inform his cousin of his arrival. That was the one bright aspect of his visits to Rosings. He usually had the company of his cousin, the man whom he trusted above all others. Richard Fitzwilliam was also co-guardian to Darcy's sister Georgiana, who had remained at Pemberley with her companion.

Since Georgiana was terrified of Lady Catherine, she never accompanied him to Rosings. They had therefore decided that his sister could remain at home.

While Darcy waited to hear from his cousin, he perused the mail which had been sent to Darcy House. As expected, there were many invitation to functions he had no desire to attend. He made short work of writing polite refusals for each of them.

It was almost time for dinner when Darcy received a reply from Fitzwilliam.

Darcy

Glad as I am that you have arrived safely, I will not be able to join you for dinner tonight as I already have other plans.

But if you would stop at Matlock House at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning, I will be ready to accompany you to Rosings.

Richard

Darcy decided it was just as well that his cousin was busy. This would allow him to go to bed early and hopefully have a good night's sleep.

~O~

Darcy did sleep well despite the dreams which he could not avoid. They had been plaguing him ever since his stay at Netherfield.

He could never decide whether he should consider these dreams a boon or a curse. While they were exceedingly pleasant, they showed him a future which he desired but did not think he could have.

On waking he was always enveloped in a warm glow as he was still thinking of Miss Elizabeth. He remembered her delightful wit, her ready laugh, her fine eyes which looked at the world with such good humour. He tried very hard not to think of her light and pleasing figure as that always caused an ungentlemanly (but very manly) reaction.

When he escaped Netherfield, he had believed that he would quickly get over his infatuation once he was not exposed to her presence. He had been mistaken in that belief. In all the months he had spent at Pemberley, instead of being able to forget her, his need to have her in his life had only grown.

He had deliberately timed his journey to London so that he would not have time to stop at Longbourn.

As he made ready for the trip to Rosings, Darcy thought that perhaps his much more worldly cousin would have some advice.

~O~

Richard Fitzwilliam was ready to leave when Darcy's carriage stopped at Matlock House. The footmen made short work of loading his luggage and within minutes the cousins were sitting in the carriage, and on their way to Kent.

Darcy had sent his valet ahead on horseback to provide some privacy for conversation in the carriage.

While he was still trying to work out how to approach the subject he wanted to discuss, Richard asked, 'How is Georgiana?'

'Her health is excellent. I believe she has enjoyed being at Pemberley the last few months. With Mrs Annesley's help, she is progressing well in her studies…' Darcy trailed off.

'Has she recovered from last summer and Wickham's betrayal?'

'I do not believe she has. As a matter of fact, I believe the experience has caused her to develop some quite irrational ideas.'

'What do you mean by irrational?'

'She has decided that she has no wish to have a season.'

'Considering how you are avoiding the season in town, I would expect you to have some sympathy for that attitude.'

Darcy sighed. 'She claims that she has no need for a season as she has no intention of marrying. She says that her dowry will provide her with enough money to live comfortably so that she has no need for a husband, since men are only interested in getting their hands on that money.'

Richard cocked his head as he considered his ward's reasoning. Seeing the confusion on Darcy's face, he grinned as he said, 'She has a point, you know.'

'What do you mean?'

'Wickham wanted to marry her to get her dowry. A lot of other men think the same way. And since the law is very hard on married women, I can understand why any woman who can afford to remain single would choose to do so.'

'Surely, women are better off under the protection of a husband.'

'Considering that a married woman is not allowed to own anything, not even herself, she has to be very careful to pick a man she can trust.' Richard paused as he gave his cousin a hard look. 'Under the law, everything a woman owns prior to her marriage becomes the property of her husband and she has no right to refuse her husband anything. On top of that, he can treat her as harshly as he likes and she has no recourse under the law to stop him. I can understand that Georgiana would not want to risk that.'

Darcy squirmed in his seat as he said, 'Perhaps that was what Georgiana meant when she claimed that marriage was institutionalised slavery for women.'

'She is certainly developing a flair to turn a phrase.'

Seeing Darcy's woebegone expression, Richard suddenly laughed. 'I believe I can see why you have a problem with her attitude. If Georgiana does not marry and produce children, then it falls to you to produce an heir for Pemberley. And you like the idea of marriage even less.'

'You have seen the kind of ladies who inhabit society. Who could possibly want to marry any of those simpering fools.'

'If you dislike the simpering fools of the ton, perhaps you should look for a bride elsewhere,' Richard suggested casually.

'That is easy for you to say. You know perfectly well that everyone expects me to make a brilliant marriage. A lady with wealth and good connections, preferably from a titled family.'

'You have enough wealth and connections of your own. Are you not greedy to want more? Come to think of it, if wealth is so important, you could have married Anne years ago.'

'Do not be obscene. Who would want Lady Catherine as their mother-in-law.'

'There is that.'

Darcy looked out the window to avoid meeting his cousin's eyes as he said, 'I wonder what the family would say if I chose a wife from the gentry.'

Richard was suddenly fully alert. 'Do you have someone in mind?'

'Perhaps. But there are some very strong objections to the lady.'

'What objections?'

'I am afraid that the inferiority of her station would be a degradation to the Darcy name. The situation of her mother's family is objectionable as they are all in trade. Considering the total want of propriety so frequently, so almost uniformly betrayed by that lady, I shudder to think what her tradesman brother is like.'

Darcy literally shuddered before he continued. 'Then of course there are the younger sisters, two of whom are determined flirts in the worst and meanest degree of flirtation; without any attraction beyond youth and a tolerable person; and, from the ignorance and emptiness of their minds, wholly unable to ward off any portion of that universal contempt which their rage for admiration will excite.'

'How old are they?'

'Too young to be out in society. And their father shows a lack of propriety as he does nothing to curb the manners of his wife and younger daughters.'

'What of the lady herself?'

Suddenly Darcy's demeanour changed completely. He sported a soft smile as he said, 'She is everything genteel and has a liveliness of mind which I have come to greatly admire. I confess, upon first acquaintance I thought she had hardly a good feature in her face, but then I began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. Though I had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, I was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing. On further acquaintance I found that although her manners were not those of the fashionable world, I was caught by their easy playfulness.'

'So, the lady is everything delightful, but you despair of her family. Are they worse than Lady Catherine?'

'Surely, you cannot compare them. Lady Catherine is the daughter of an Earl.'

'Indeed, and her manners would not go amiss on a fishmonger.'

Darcy looked both hopeful and uncomfortable as he said, 'I suppose every family has members of whom we are not proud.'

'Quite. But it sounds as if according to your estimation your lady has not a single family member who would not be an embarrassment.'

'Well, there is an older sister who is everything demure.'

'That is something, I suppose. But you have not yet said how you met this wondrous lady.'

'I met her when I accompanied Bingley to Hertfordshire last autumn. The family were his nearest neighbours.'

Richard choked back a laugh, causing him to cough instead. It could not possibly be true. His uptight cousin seemed to have fallen in love with a woman who despised him. The irony was of epic proportions.

Being ever curious, Richard could not resist in asking. 'What about Bingley? Did he find an angel as well?'

'As a matter of fact, he became enamoured with the older sister, but I could not detect any particular feeling in her for my friend.'

'Did Bingley declare his interest in this angel?'

'Fortunately, he had not. If he had, I would not have been able to advise him to keep his distance unless he wanted to engage in a marriage of unequal affection. I was afraid the lady would accept him for his fortune as she has none.'

'And I suppose you did allow for the fact that propriety does not allow a lady to show a preference until a gentleman has officially declared his interest?'

That question earned him a puzzled look by Darcy. 'I beg your pardon?'

'You know. Propriety. If a lady is forward enough to show her interest in a gentleman without an understanding, propriety names her by any number of unflattering appellations. You know, the kind of behaviour in which Miss Bingley likes to indulge. You should be able to recognise that.'

Darcy was shocked by his cousin's diatribe, both by the tone as well as the content. 'I had not considered that the lady might have been acting with perfect propriety,' he spluttered.

'Why is that? Because everyone close to you was acting without propriety? Or because you did not want to see the good in the lady because you wanted to get away from her younger sister?'

Stunned silence met that question as Darcy processed the information. 'Oh, no. I must write to Bingley the moment we get to Rosings to let him know that I may have been hasty in my evaluation.'

Richard shook his head as he said, 'Do not bother. I happen to know that the lady did have feelings for Bingley until he left without a word of farewell and did not return like he had promised. Not even to say that he was leaving for good.'

'But if she has feelings for Bingley…'

'I said she had feelings. Past tense. Being jilted tends to change people's minds. Especially when they then have to endure their neighbours' derision for disappointed hopes.'

'I need to make it up to her… and to Bingley.'

'I said, do not bother. Why would you inflict an immature puppy like Bingley on the lady just to salve your conscience?'

Darcy was about to protest again when another thought occurred to him. 'How do you know so much about this?'

Fitzwilliam grinned. 'Because I am engaged to be married to Miss Jane Bennet. I really must thank you for ensuring the lady was unattached when I had the good fortune to meet her.'

Darcy stared and his jaw dropped. 'You…'

Richard thoroughly enjoyed Darcy's reaction. During the time he had known Jane and her family, he had heard the full story of happenings in Hertfordshire. He had just confirmed Elizabeth's suspicions of Darcy's involvement in the separation of Bingley and Jane.

While she had initially been angry with Darcy for his interference, she had admitted that she was pleased that Jane had found someone more worthwhile. As that someone was himself, he was not about to quibble.

Now Fitzwilliam sat back and waited for Darcy to regain his composure. It was not long before he asked, 'Have your family met Miss Bennet?'

'Mother introduced us.'

'Your mother introduced you?' Darcy repeated in disbelief. 'How could that be? Everyone in Meryton knew that the Bennets had no connections to anyone of consequence.'

'Mother has been friends with Miss Bennet's aunt for years.'

'But if the Bennets had connections to our family, why did they not say so?'

'Not everyone is so obsessed with status as you…. Or Miss Bingley.'

'But you do not have any money. How will you live? Did you not always say you needed an heiress?'

'I decided that there are more important things in life than money. Between my savings and the funds I will receive from selling my commission, we will be able to live comfortably. Unlike women like Miss Bingley, Miss Bennet is not a spendthrift. We should therefore be quite comfortable.'

'Are you sure she is not marrying you for your connections?'

'You are insulting not only Miss Bennet but also me.'

'But…'

'Darcy, you should be pleased. By my marrying Miss Bennet, her sister will be related to an Earl. That should satisfy your need for status.'

Darcy still felt torn. Richard was correct that the connection made his decision easier, but he could only hope that Miss Bennet was marrying his cousin for the right reasons.

Since Fitzwilliam knew that Darcy would soon see Elizabeth again, he kept quiet about Isabella. He wanted his soon to be sister to be appreciated for herself not for her aunt.

The one thing he did to smooth the situation for Darcy was to advise him not to mention words like inferiority or degradation in relation to her family to Elizabeth.

~O~