Page 11 of An Accidental Meeting
He was rewarded with a warm smile. “Your aunt and uncle are delightful,” Elizabeth said. “He was a judge, he said?”
“Yes, he was called to the bar in London and eventually was appointed to sit at the Middlesex Sessions House.”
“And he is your father’s uncle?”
Darcy nodded. “My grandfather’s brother. Much like my own family, there was an heir and then ten years before the next child, which was my Uncle Hugh. He and my aunt have one son, my cousin Alexander, who has never married.” He glanced over to see them speaking amiably with Elizabeth’s relations. “They look upon us as their own grandchildren, I daresay. It is a blessing, for our own grandparents died years before Georgiana was born.”
“Had your father any other relations?”
“Sadly, no. My father was his parents’ only surviving child. My Uncle Hugh was one of three siblings. My grandfather, who inherited Pemberley, Uncle Hugh, and then the youngest, Jack, who was lost in service to the king.”
“What it must be like,” she said sympathetically, “to be the last one living.”
Darcy had lately wondered what it would be like when Uncle Hugh was gone. The judge was advanced in years, though happily still spry. “My aunt is excellent company, and she keeps him humble,” Darcy said with a little laugh. “I recall him from my childhood, very forbidding and very tall. It was not until he relinquished his seat on the bench some ten years ago that he became the frivolous creature you met just now. But do not be fooled, Miss Bennet. His mind is as sharp as ever. Almost as sharp as his wife’s.”
Elizabeth chuckled at that, and they stepped into the house behind the rest of their party.
“Fitzwilliam!” his uncle exclaimed. “Did you know Mr. Gardiner here is a fisherman? You cannot find too many of those in London, you know. We shall have to head out to the river tomorrow for some sport.”
“You will recall, Uncle, that Georgiana arrives tomorrow with the rest of our party,” Darcy said. “Shall we say the day after? Are you available, Mr. Gardiner?”
Mrs. Gardiner laughed. “I should say so. My husband would never allow previous plans to stand in the way of such an invitation.”
Mr. Gardiner lifted his brows. “I cannot deny it.”
“Excellent,” his Uncle Hugh said. “I am counting on you now, Mr. Gardiner. You must not disappoint us.”
Mr. Gardiner smiled. “I shall be only too happy to oblige, Judge Darcy.”
They gathered in one of the smaller drawing rooms closest to where they would dine. “I hope that the remainder of your day was pleasant?” Darcy asked.
Elizabeth’s lips curled into a little smile. “You mean the two hours between departing Pemberley and returning?”
“Many events may take place in such a vast stretch of time,” he replied seriously.
She shook her head, her curls bouncing as she did so. Darcy badly wanted to reach out and hold one of them in his hand. Would they feel as soft as they appeared?
“You are a difficult man to understand,” Elizabeth informed him. “I think one must pay attention to your words rather than merely your expressions, which is quite the opposite of most people I have met.”
“One of my earliest lessons was never to allow my emotions free reign, for there were many who would use my feelings against me.”
Elizabeth dropped his arm and took a step back to gaze up at him. She was troubled, but before he could ask her why, she spoke. “I am sorry for that. How old were you when you were given that advice?”
“Why would you be sorry?” He considered her question. “Perhaps five or six, I suppose?” He paused. Did he dare bring up the name of the man she had defended so stoutly? He hated to do it, but he had to know. “It was difficult for me, I must confess, to follow my father’s edict when Wickham was so well rewarded for doing the reverse. But then, he was not the heir.”
Darcy waited for Elizabeth’s reply with bated breath. Had she read the letter he had given her after his disaster of a proposal last spring? Did she believe him about Wickham?
“Mr. Wickham,” she said seriously, “is a man who expects many privileges to which he has no right.”
The pleasure and satisfaction he experienced at this reply were impossible to keep from showing upon his features, but he did attempt to quash them as quickly as possible. “There is no accounting for his delusions of grandeur. My father never promised him anything other than an education, and that he had, little though he has made use of it.”
“Perhaps we should choose another topic of conversation,” Elizabeth said firmly. “This one is likely to give us both a sour stomach, and I should not wish to spoil my dinner. My aunt has great expectations of a marvellous meal.”
“I concur.” He moved swiftly to a safer topic. “Will you tell me something of your journey?”
Soon, Elizabeth was regaling him with a story about a terrible inn, a torrential rain, and an irritated donkey who had determined to shelter in the dining room. He thought it wouldhave been awful to experience, but there was no complaint in her story. She made it all sound like a grand adventure. He wanted to have that grand adventure with her.
But he would have to watch her carefully, for Darcy no longer trusted his judgement of Elizabeth’s feelings for him. He had been so wrong before.
