Janet Aylmer - Darcy’s Story

Certainly, any talents Anne might possess were far inferior to those of his sister, although Georgiana was several years younger. However, he was aware that his aunt considered those accomplishments that her daughter lacked would be well within her abilities, should her health ever permit her to acquire them.

“Mrs. Younge tells me that there will be company enough for me in Ramsgate—someone whom we know well from Derbyshire. 

I will write to you in London once we have arrived.

Your loving sister,

Georgiana”

Darcy wondered who the someone from Derbyshire could be, as he was not aware of any friend who might be in Kent at present. For a moment, he thought to add to his reply, to mention that he might have time from his business in town to join them for a few days.

However, that was not certain, so he left his letter as it was.

* * *

The family at Pemberley was well respected in the neighbourhood and, although properly conscious of his position as one of the wealthiest men in the country, the late Mr. George Darcy had been a conscientious employer and benevolent to the poor. Fitzwilliam Darcy had continued his father’s habit of giving charity to the deserving without seeking to have it known, as well as Mr. George Darcy’s interest in the fine library at Pemberley.

It was during one of his rare visits to London to consult his attorney that George Darcy had met his wife, Lady Anne, daughter of the late Earl ___, in her first season. Her family had considered a marriage to the owner of one of the richest estates in the country eminently suitable for their younger daughter.

George and Lady Anne Darcy had had little in common with their sister in Kent, save considerable wealth and position. However, they were both aware of their family responsibilities. Although Mr. George Darcy had rarely made the journey when he visited town, Lady Anne had been to Rosings regularly.

Before his mother’s premature demise, when his sister Georgiana was but a small child, Darcy had gone with them both to stay with Lady Catherine several times a year. Lady Anne’s death had been a severe blow to him, leaving him with no close confidant but his cousin Fitzwilliam. Since that unhappy event, Darcy had reduced his attendance on his aunt to one annual visit, and usually went to stay in Kent in the Spring, a few weeks after Easter.

When the weather was inclement, there was little entertainment at Rosings, and Lady Catherine could be a demanding companion. For that reason, Darcy often asked Fitzwilliam to go with him, to provide some relief to his aunt’s strictures, and offer more congenial company.

Lady Catherine’s opportunities to travel to Pemberley were restricted by her daughter Anne’s ill-health and the distance to Derbyshire from Kent. She did, however, make regular visits to the spa at Bath in the hope of improving her daughter’s condition, staying with an elderly relative who had a spacious house just off Laura Place.

Wherever she was, she took it upon herself to supervise her nephew and niece from a distance, by writing regularly to advise them on their conduct, their choice of companions, and the limited number of families with whom it was proper for them to associate.

From her most recent communications, Darcy understood that Lady Catherine considered the time was approaching when he should consider marriage. She had hinted strongly that she had one particular lady in mind, that she and her sister had agreed many years ago that this marriage should be made within the family, and to her daughter Anne.

To this idea he was indifferent. At six years and twenty, Darcy was in no hurry to marry.

On leaving the university, Darcy had very soon discovered that young ladies of consequence and of marriageable age were more than happy to be in his company, and that their mothers did their best to entice him to accept social invitations and to put their daughters in his way.

He, however, disliked the season and as far as he could avoided attendance at the social functions in London. He was equally disinclined to attend formal balls and dances at home in Derbyshire, or elsewhere in the country where his friends resided. In any case, he had yet to meet any young woman who took his interest.

He doubted that he would be as fortunate as his father, in finding in his marriage both a person of equal social position (a paramount consideration), and whom he could also regard with the affection that had so manifestly subsisted between his parents. That combination was, as Darcy had noted too often, unlikely to be attained by most people of his own status and fortune.

However, he did agree with his aunt, Lady Catherine, that his future wife must above all be from a family of background and repute equal to his own, as one of the richest men of consequence in the country.

After luncheon, the two young men walked through the house. The sight of a miniature on the wall prompted Fitzwilliam to ask Darcy a question.

“I am surprised that you keep an image of that gentleman. I thought that your fears about his disposition had proved to be justified?”

“Yes,” replied Darcy, “but this room has been left as it was when my father died, in respect for his memory. In any case, George Wickham’s father was a faithful servant to mine, and very kind to me also. He devoted most of his life to running this estate.”

“A pity,” his cousin replied, “that he did not take more care in his marriage, for his wife was not only much younger, but was also a woman of very extravagant habits, and with a frivolous disposition.”

Darcy did not reply.

“I have also heard,” said Fitzwilliam, “that George Wickham has been putting it about that you did not discharge your responsibilities to him in accordance with your father’s wishes.”

“Yes,” said Darcy shortly, “but, as you know, there is no truth in that. I hope never to have any more dealings with that gentleman. Hopefully, when I paid him off, that was the end of it.”

His cousin’s remark reminded Darcy that young Mr. Wickham had been born within a few months of himself. The owner of Pemberley had gladly consented to be godfather to the child of his steward, who was named after him. The boy had been a great favourite of Mr. Darcy, to the extent that his own son had sometimes been jealous of young George Wickham’s pleasing address, good figure and very happy readiness of conversation.

The cost of sending the steward’s son to school and later to Cambridge had been borne by his godfather. When they were young, the two boys had been regular companions. However, his own acquaintance with the son as he grew to manhood had convinced Darcy that young Mr. Wickham had not inherited the integrity or abilities that had served his father so well. At college, Darcy saw the young man turn to frivolous and dissolute habits, of which his benefactor had remained unaware.

When Darcy’s father died, he had asked in his will that provision be made for George Wickham. If the young man desired to take holy orders, the request was that a valuable family living should be his. Mr. George Darcy also left his godson the sum of one thousand pounds.

The steward had not long survived his master. Within half a year of leaving Cambridge, young Mr. Wickham decided against holy orders and accepted instead the sum of three thousand pounds from Darcy, saying that he intended to study for the law.

Darcy had doubted the likelihood of Wickham applying himself to that profession. He had heard nothing more of his childhood companion, since the day several years ago when the sum of money agreed had been paid to him, until Wick-ham had written to him when the living at Kympton on the Pemberley estate had become vacant. He said that he had spent the money paid to him, that he had changed his mind, and would now like to go into the Church. He had asked for the living, which included an excellent parsonage house.

Darcy had not deigned to reply himself, but had instructed his attorney to write, saying that all Mr. George Darcy’s intentions had been met by paying Wickham a much larger sum than that mentioned in the will.

The living at Kympton was then given to a worthy young man already known to the Darcy family, who appeared to have a true vocation for the Church.

On the morrow, Darcy left his instructions for the estate and the house for the next few weeks with his steward and with Mrs. Reynolds, the housekeeper at Pemberley, who had been with the family since he was a child. He then left in the chaise with Fitzwilliam. After the first day’s travel, he said farewell to his cousin, who left to take the stage to Essex to see his family near Chelmsford.

On Darcy’s arrival in town, he did not find a letter waiting for him from his sister as he had hoped. Instead, there was a note from his friend Charles Bingley, saying that he had been detained in Scarborough where his sisters were residing for a few weeks. However, he wrote that he should be in town within a few days, staying with his brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, whose house was but a short walk from Darcy’s mansion in the Square.

They had become friends whilst at Cambridge, and Darcy had introduced the younger man to his father, who had enjoyed the company of Bingley on the few occasions they had met before the death of Mr. George Darcy. An easy going, good-looking young man now of some three and twenty years, Bingley came from a respectable family in the north of England. Although the fortune had come from trade, he had inherited property amounting to nearly an hundred thousand pounds from his father. He enjoyed country pursuits and, on leaving the University, had considered purchasing an estate, or at least taking a lease of a property. So far, he had not been able to find a place to his liking.