Page 23 of Infamous Relations

Fitzwilliam and Darcy glanced at each other and made to follow – and Charlotte stepped gracefully into their path, her brows raised. “Gentlemen. I do believe this is a family matter now.”

It was undeniably true and they had no choice but to gracefully concede the point and depart, thanking Charlotte and imploring her to contact them immediately should she uncover any intelligence that might lead to the identification of Elizabeth’s attacker.

An hour later, sitting in a private room at the Inn in Sevenoaks, discussing possible ways in which they might expose Elizabeth’s attacker, they were somewhat surprised by a knock on the door and the innkeep coming in, apologising profusely for the interruption.

“Excuse me, Mr. Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam, but there is a Mr. Gardiner here asking if he might have a moment of your time?”

“Absolutely, pray show him in,” Fitzwilliam replied immediately, standing up to greet Mr. Gardiner as he entered the room.

“I apologise for the intrusion,” Mr. Gardiner said once the formalities of greeting had been observed, “but I plan to stay here the night, since the Parsonage lacks space, and I insisted that Mr. Bennet should be the one to remain with his daughters.”

“Quite right, quite right,” Darcy agreed, gesturing for Gardiner to pull up a chair, “and you are not intruding, we are very glad to be in company with any family member of the Miss Bennets.”

Fitzwilliam glanced at him askance, thinking, That’s not what I’ve heard. I’ve heard there are ‘serious objections’ to their family. But he could hardly call Darcy on his contradictory remark in front of Mr. Gardiner, so he too smiled welcomingly and offered their guest a glass of brandy, inviting him to share the meal the inn staff would be bringing them shortly.

It wasn’t until after they had dined that Mr. Gardiner settled back in his chair, eyed them both thoughtfully as he tamped a pipe and lit it, and finally said;

“My niece Jane told me that I should ask you for the real story.”

Both younger men stared at him, then at each other.

“I thought so,” Mr. Gardiner said quietly and rather sadly. “Do you know who the culprit is?”

“No, but… pray do not think the worst,” Darcy said hastily. He and Fitzwilliam almost talked over each other, trying to reassure Elizabeth’s uncle that she had escaped serious injury according to Charlotte and the doctor, that mercifully she wasn’t even aware that she had been assaulted, and that the two of them intended to do everything they could to both protect her and to find and suitably punish the cur who had dared to lay hands on her.

Mr. Gardiner listened, occasionally holding up a hand to slow them down when they were both talking at once, asking incisive questions to clarify certain points. At last, they ran down and just looked back at him as he considered them both silently.

“And which one of you is in love with Lizzy?” he asked at last.

“Him,” Fitzwilliam pointed at Darcy.

“I’m…!” Darcy began, saw Mr. Gardiner’s eyebrows rise in exactly the same arch manner that Elizabeth had turned upon him so often, and sighed. “Yes. I am.”

“And are you willing to marry her anyway if this episode leads to her reputation being compromised, even though Elizabeth herself has not been?”

Darcy’s eyes widened. Neither Mr. Gardiner nor Fitzwilliam could know the thoughts that ran through his mind. I would have Elizabeth under any circumstances, but she will not have me… unless it is possible that with her memory loss, she has forgotten my disastrous proposal? That would be the answer to many of my prayers, that I could have a second chance, that I could show her my true character, tell her of Georgiana’s sorrow and Wickham’s perfidy, gain the opportunity to change her mind about me…

“I would be very willing. Yes. Should Elizabeth herself consent, of course.”

Mr. Gardiner drew on his pipe, giving Darcy a long, thoughtful look, before asked “Is there some reason for her consent to be in any doubt? Perhaps I should tell you that my wife Madeline spent some years in Lambton in her youth, Mr. Darcy. I am well aware of your situation, and that you could look far higher than my niece for a wife.”

Darcy’s lips tightened, and he glanced at Colonel Fitzwilliam briefly before saying “Some members of my family would undoubtedly agree with you, sir, but for myself, I can think of no higher honour than to make Elizabeth my wife. That said, I would not have her under any circumstances other than with her own whole-hearted consent.”

Shrewd brown eyes that very much resembled Elizabeth’s own surveyed him for several moments more before Mr. Gardiner cracked a smile.

“You’ll do, son. You’ll do.”

Chapter Seventeen

“My dear Lizzy,” Thomas Bennet’s voice was quite broken as he sat down by her bedside, taking her hand in his and holding tightly to her hand. “I should never have let you come here. Never have permitted you out from under my roof.”

She gave him a weak smile that yet had some of her usual impishness in it. “Oh, Papa, you cannot wrap up all up in swaddling blankets for ever, you know. I should have made your life a misery if you had refused me permission to come.”

He chuckled ruefully at that. “Do I not know it; Lydia even now is doing exactly that because I told her that she should not go to Brighton!”

“Lydia in Brighton; now there is a nightmare thought indeed!” Elizabeth smiled, though it faded at her father’s wry expression. “Why on earth should she go to Brighton, Papa?”

“Colonel Forster’s wife has befriended her, and wishes Lydia to be her companion there for the summer. All Lydia can talk about is ‘a whole camp full of soldiers’!” he mimicked his youngest daughter’s excitable tones.