Miss Lucas Read online

  “You needn’t have worried. We were intending to leave at the end of the week so that we wouldn’t interfere with your time together as a family.”

  The Colonel hummed. “I do believe my aunt conveyed something to that effect in her last letter.”

  Charlotte glanced over at the corner where the music had stopped, Elizabeth too wrapped up in snapping something at Mr. Darcy to bother playing. Stiff-shouldered though the man might be, in the corner he stayed. Charlotte turned back to the Colonel with a conspiratorial smile.

  Soon enough even Lady Catherine grew weary of Mr. Collins’ conversation and she left him in what Charlotte was quite sure had been the middle of a sentence. She made her way to the pianoforte, which had been silent for some time beneath the hum of quiet conversation. (Charlotte made a note to pay Mary a compliment for leaving the two be when it was quite obvious that she wished to enthrall the room with her playing. It was more observant than Charlotte had expected of her and such thought ought to be encouraged.)

  Lady Catherine remained beside her nephew and commented on Miss Bennet’s decent taste despite her lack of practice, then remarked once again on how talented Anne might have been if her health had allowed her. The Colonel drew a long sigh, not of irritation at his aunt for interrupting his schemes—given Lady Catherine’s devotion to Mr. Darcy, Charlotte thought he ought to be happy their privacy had lasted as long as it did—but the pain of a cousin who didn’t quite know what to do for his family. Both Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr. Darcy had spent a portion of their evening attempting to draw Miss de Bourgh into conversation, and both had the weary set to their tones that meant they had likely been trying all day to no avail. Even now Colonel Fitzwilliam stared at Miss Anne for a long moment as though the pressure of his gaze would be enough to force her to look up at him so he could offer her a smile. Lady Anne stayed wrapped up in her own little world, either unhearing her mother’s comments or immune to them by this point.

  Lady Catherine continued her remarks on Elizabeth’s performance, mixing with them many instructions on execution and taste. Elizabeth received them with all the forbearance of civility, but as soon as Mr. Darcy led his aunt back to her seat, Elizabeth slid over on the bench to make room for Mary. Elizabeth remained at the instrument turning pages for her sister until Lady Catherine was ready to excuse them all for the night.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  At their breakfast the next morning Charlotte extended her praise to Mary for her patience with the pianoforte. She paid all due compliments to Mary’s actual performance at the instrument, but Mary seemed quite pleased that someone had noticed the effort it had required of her to sit idly by while her sister chatted. Elizabeth thought it unnecessary for her to have been left alone with Mr. Darcy, but she added her gratitude nevertheless. Someday Charlotte would tease Lizzy that Mary of all people had noticed that Elizabeth had seized Mr. Darcy’s attention before Elizabeth noticed it herself

  However, Mary still deserved a reward for her restraint, and that reward was Charlotte taking a private walk and leaving Mary to be the sole object of her sister’s attention. Charlotte left them partway through breakfast with the declaration that she needed some fresh air and a moment to think where she could be sure there would be no interruptions. Mary agreed wholeheartedly, having been subjected to a lifetime of distractions in the form of sisters. Elizabeth lifted an eyebrow in a declaration that she knew full well she was being deliberately left behind, though Elizabeth thought it was a matter of Mr. Collins.

  For all the lack of proposal from Mr. Collins was not Charlotte’s primary purpose, that was not to say she did not intend to contemplate the issue. Whatever hesitation Charlotte had seen in Mr. Collins when she announced their impending departure, the arrival of Lady Catherine’s nephews had been the sole object of his attention ever since. In fairness, Charlotte could understand his distraction. If Mr. Darcy had not been so utterly focused on Elizabeth, even Charlotte would have been tempted to steal a bit of his attention for herself, while Colonel Fitzwilliam managed to be both genuine and charming in a way Charlotte had long considered impossible.

  However, Charlotte could not be distracted from the purpose of her time here, no matter how unpleasant it had been thus far. Charlotte had been away from home scarcely two weeks and already the letters from her siblings were asking when she would be back. The younger siblings were dissatisfied with the elder and the elder were frustrated with the younger. Charlotte was tempted to remain at Rosings for a bit longer only for the amusement of their letters. She was pleased by the way they relied on her, even when she was counties away, but it was stern reminder that Charlotte was at Rosings for them. It was her place to solve their problems, to show Thomas a living and to introduce Maria, Henrietta, and Lucy to young men better than the officers roaming their village. It was her job to take care of them, not to be taken care of as she would have to be without Mr. Collins’ proposal.

  However, it was quite difficult for Charlotte to mull on her avenues for garnering one man’s attention when another interrupted her solitude. Colonel Fitzwilliam stepped around a corner in the park and froze for a moment in worry that he had been caught out and summoned back to his aunt. Upon seeing it was just Charlotte, he laughed in relief. “Miss Lucas, what a pleasure to see you this fine morning.”

  “And you, Colonel. Are things well in your section of the house this morning?” Charlotte could easily picture Mr. Darcy abandoned in some sitting room to endure Lady Catherine on his own while his cousin took a break.

  “As well as they ever are. I am never quite sure if things are as unfortunate for my dear aunt as they appear to be in the stories she tells us, or if she is simply trying to lure us into visiting more often.”

  “I imagine it’s a bit of both. She seems to enjoy her life as it is here, but there must be some relief in sharing your home with people that you value quite as highly as Lady Catherine values you and Mr. Darcy.”

  The Colonel chuckled and fell into step beside her, nudging Charlotte away from the manicured gardens and off into the trees of the park. “I take it she was excited about our arrival, then?”

  “It was the most lively I’ve ever seen her. I would that I had any relatives that were so pleased to see me.”

  “And I would that I was the one she was excited about seeing.” The Colonel said with a commiserating smile. Charlotte suspected that if she had tried to comfort the Colonel then all conversation between them would have stalled while he tried to repair the damage that often followed speaking too honestly. Instead, the Colonel seemed more than a bit pleased that Charlotte just gave him the same expression she would’ve given Elizabeth if she had complained about Aunt Phillips preferring Lydia to her. That was what she got for being herself in relatives’ presence. If she wanted to lull them into calling her their favorite then she knew precisely what the sacrifice had to be, and so did the Colonel.

  “And now you know why I’m on a walk this lovely morning.” Charlotte laughed.

  “If I may, Colonel Fitzwilliam, what brings you and Mr. Darcy to your aunt’s home at the same time, other than simple solidarity?”

  “Solidarity might actually be the best description for it.”

  “I confess that I’m surprised that Mr. Darcy didn’t bring his sister with him on such a family visit. Or does she come as his solidarity when you are unable to join him?”

  “I am usually Darcy’s accompaniment when he is with Aunt Catherine for longer than a day or two. Though I will also come along when Georgiana is the one doing the visiting. She is still young enough that she might listen if Aunt Catherine were to tell her to give up the pianoforte entirely because it wasn’t proper enough for a young lady of her rank.”

  “Ah, the perils of youth. We want them to do a better job listening, but only to the people we want them to listen to.”

  “You have the same difficulty with Miss Mary?”

  “To some extent, though I have peace of mind in knowing that neither Mary nor her y
ounger sisters are my responsibility. Mary has potential and, were she to be a true success in anything, I believe it would lift her own opinion of herself admirably and that would improve her behavior all around. Her younger sisters have quite all the self-assurance they need and several other people’s shares besides. I was speaking of my concerns for my own younger siblings.”

  “Truly? I don’t know why I’m surprised at the thought of you as an elder sister. You handle the rest of us with such aplomb that I should have expected it. Are they all brothers then, and that’s why you brought along Miss Elizabeth’s younger sister instead of one of your own?”

  “Since they are Mr. Collins’ family, the Bennet sisters were actually the ones invited and I was extended the opportunity to keep them company. My next sisters might have been invited if they had shown any real interest, but as we were discussing, they are still young enough to hold Lady Catherine in such high esteem that they would likely be in the sitting room right now all but taking notes on every bit of advice she gave them about closets and packing.”

  “A good match for Mr. Collins, then.”

  “They actually found him rather boring. I will choose not to point out any similarities between them until sometime when they’re less likely to cry if I do.”

  The Colonel smiled. “So two younger sisters, then?”

  “Three younger sisters and two younger brothers.”

  “Five siblings?” The Colonel’s steps stuttered before he caught himself. “Goodness. And none of them are the sort to not be terrified out of coming along?”

  “Maria is the next in age to myself, and she is sixteen.” This time Colonel Fitzwilliam paused entirely and turned to stare at Charlotte to be sure he had heard correctly. “Then Henrietta is fifteen; William, fourteen; Lucy, twelve; and Thomas, a very precocious eleven.”

  “And you… I cannot think of a polite way to ask you your age, Miss Lucas.”

  “Maria is just over a decade my junior. I confess, Colonel, I am surprised that your aunt has not made you aware of these details. She considered them of particular note when we were first introduced.”

  The Colonel closed his eyes and drew a long sigh. “I am loath to ask, but what about them did she consider of such particular note?”

  Charlotte found herself strangely tempted to tell him the truth of all the horrible things his aunt had implied about Charlotte’s father, just to be certain of the fury that would cross his face. However, Charlotte’s satisfaction would not be worth the aftermath. For all she would like to see Lady Catherine scolded by her nephew, that would be the end of her time here and the death knell in any chance she might have of a marriage.

  “It is no matter.”

  Charlotte kept walking, leaving the Colonel several steps behind before he called to her, “I do not believe you.”

  “You do not have to. It is all I will say on the subject.” Charlotte began to suspect that the Colonel would let her walk away, but after several long moments where Charlotte kept walking and debated with herself if there was some way she could turn back and still preserve her pride, the Colonel caught up to her.

  “Is it strange to be so much older than your siblings? It must feel almost like you are a second mother to them.”

  Charlotte wound her arm through the Colonel’s in gratitude for his putting aside the question. “On some days, yes. At the least, it is a large enough number of years that sometimes it is difficult to be only a sister. At the moment, there are few experiences in common between us. I have my advice to give, but sometimes that makes things more frustrating than genial.”

  “It’s not just age that causes such difficulties. I would like to say that the small gap in years between my brother Andrew and I has led to a close relationship, but there is a world of difference between a future heir and a spare with no inclination towards the clergy or relying upon the family’s money. Our different temperaments have certainly not helped matters.”

  “Is that why you and Mr. Darcy have ended up so close? Greater similarities?” It said something about how different the Colonel was to his own brother if Mr. Darcy was the one he resembled.

  “Darcy and I are the same age, and despite what you might guess from our conversation, we are rather similar in our tastes and opinions. That was good enough when we were younger and now time and shared responsibility have drawn us closer.”

  “The responsibility of family visits?”

  “Of Georgiana.” It was Charlotte’s turn to stop in confusion. “We share guardianship over my young cousin.” The Colonel said it as though it was common knowledge.

  “Truly?”

  “Truly. Is it so surprising?”

  “Yes. Not that you would be trusted with guardianship over some young relative, but that if a second guardian was to be chosen that it wouldn’t be some female relative.”

  “Needless to say, Aunt Catherine was rather put out that she wasn’t entrusted with Georgiana alongside Darcy. She would rather ignore that I have any say over Georgiana, and I do not think she has stopped being offended that should something happen to Darcy, both Georgiana and Pemberley will be my responsibility until she chooses a husband.” The Colonel shrugged. “It was the way my uncle wanted it. He made his wishes quite clear to Darcy and I before he passed and then laid down all the same specifics in his will so that no one could mistake his orders for the ramblings of a dying man. The both of us have done our best to live up to his expectations. Though our best has still been the utmost of two young men who might have made decisions that smarter or more experienced men would not have.”

  “Did your uncle regard you as your aunt regards Mr. Darcy?”

  “Perhaps not quite so much his favorite, but my uncle was a great believer that a man should be himself and make his own way in the world rather than succumb to the opinions of others. When I told my father that I had no desire to take the living he set aside for me, Uncle Darcy was the one who convinced him not to disown me completely. My father still didn’t speak to me for years, but I always had steady companions in the Darcy family. Whatever else, my uncle treated me with great respect and I tried to do the same for him. It was an honor to be trusted to help Darcy with the care of Georgiana, even though he’s done an admirable job on his own.”

  “But why you? It seems as though there would a great deal more prestige in having his daughter guarded over by a future Earl rather than just another cousin.”

  It was the first time the Colonel had looked disappointed in her, and Charlotte was surprised by how much she disliked it. “It’s not a matter of prestige, Miss Lucas, but care. My brother would have happily taken the name of guardian, if not shouldered much of the actual burden of it. As it is, when anyone dares to ask why Uncle chose me, we say that my brother already had far too many responsibilities to our family and Uncle Darcy did not want to burden him with even more. My brother is fond of saying that I was only chosen because Uncle Darcy did not want the care of his daughter to come second to anything, which is why not even her own brother was trusted with the entirety of it.”

  “Does your brother intend that to be a slight against Mr. Darcy, or against you?”

  “It is almost impossible not to respect Fitzwilliam, even for his cousins. Andrew and Fitzwilliam have never been particular friends, but Fitzwilliam has had the running of Pemberley ever since his father fell ill and the estate has only flourished under his care. No son of a great house could fail to appreciate such a thing.”

  Charlotte was one of the few people at Rosings who could appreciate the answer lurking in the between the compliments the Colonel paid his cousin. She could well imagine the tension that could have sprung up between them when one was a younger son and the other heir to so grand an estate as Pemberley. Mr. Darcy’s own prideful disposition would no doubt only have complicated matters between them if it had been given the opportunity. It spoke well of both men that they had become steady friends instead. Though the men perpetuated the farce that Colonel Fitzwilliam had b
een entrusted with the fellow care of Georgiana because he was the only relative without greater concerns, Charlotte suspected that old Mr. Darcy had entrusted the Colonel as much with supporting his son as with the guardianship of his young daughter.

  “It is not my place, but I am proud of both of you for managing such a thing. I have heard little of Miss Darcy, but what I have has been complimentary.”

  “Well, you will certainly not hear anything less than praise from me.” Charlotte laughed, and the two of them completed their walk towards the house sharing stories of their younger siblings.

  The Colonel escorted Charlotte back to the sitting room, and his strange pause at the door warned Charlotte that while Elizabeth was precisely where Charlotte had left her, Mary had been replaced by Mr. Darcy. The gentleman all but sprang to his feet and explained the mistake that had occasioned his intruding on Miss Bennet. He offered Charlotte a few polite inquiries into the state of her health and the weather before he went away, all without sitting back down or pausing long enough for Charlotte to give more than one-word answers. The Colonel just watched his cousin scramble an eyebrow that went progressively higher the longer the conversation went on. When Mr. Darcy all but bolted from the room, the Colonel followed his cousin out with a bemused little bow.

  “What can be the meaning of this?” asked Charlotte as soon as the men were gone. “My dear, Eliza, he must be in love with you or he would never have called in this familiar way.”

  Elizabeth said nothing to the tease, only stared at the wall before her as though it could answer all her questions.

  “Elizabeth?” Charlotte sat beside her.

  “Charlotte, I have just had the strangest conversation of my life. Mr. Darcy was here.”

  “Yes, I saw. And he was alone?”

  “He thought you and Mary were with me.”

  “And he stayed?”