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“You are thinking of the Dowager Duchess of Hexam?”

“Yes, and several more of her ilk!”

“But they are old married ladies, Richard. Your parents’ generation were always more forward in the way they spoke. Hilda will have to guard her tongue in England. But I am more worried of what Robert will make of it.”

“With his reputation? He’d better take the beam from his eye first! Besides, she’s perfectly respectable even if she does talk a little freely!”

“But Robert will not take kindly to it, Richard. He always chooses those simpering opera dancers for his mistresses—the ones who pretend that butter would not melt in their mouths.”

When they heard Finn returning with lunch, the topic had to be dropped. But the conversation stuck in Richard’s mind as they sailed down the Rhine and began to considerably bother him. Finally, he admitted to himself that Darcy had a point. When had his cousin become so wise? Richard resolved then and there to become Hilda’s champion if his brother dared to slight her in the tiniest way.

They made Rotterdam a week later. After becoming used to the cramped space of their trading vessel, the packet back to London seemed almost luxurious. Two days before New Year, they arrived in Mayfair. Darcy had deemed himself able to sit in the carriage on the trip from Gravesend, but he got paler every mile that they travelled. He fainted dead away when they helped him from the carriage in Grosvenor Square. Fortunately, Georgie was not at home. Farley related that Miss Darcy was across the square taking tea with her aunt. Leaving Hilda in the carriage, Richard, Mr Trevor and Finn were able to carry Darcy unceremoniously into the house and up to his bedchamber, with Farley and Mrs Flowers trailing behind.

But when Richard descended the stairs afterwards with Farley, he found several of Darcy’s servants congregated in the vestibule, whispering to each other. One of the chambermaids was crying. Standing on the bottom step he addressed them.

“You must all be brave and do what you can for your master. He needs your loyalty and discretion now more than ever. As you are aware, Darcy fell ill on the Continent. He has lost his sight; will likely never see again, and he is very weak.”

A collective gasp echoed about the vestibule.

“I am about to return to Matlock House and will contrive to keep Miss Georgiana there for as long as I can in order to break the news to her. Use the time well to adjust yourselves. I do not want her to see any long faces when she walks in here afterwards, only everyone behaving as they do every day. Is that clear?”

There were a few ‘yes, sir’s and nods, but as Richard walked out the door, he could not help noticing the tears streaming down Farley’s face.

Darcy’s first footman watched the colonel walk back to the carriage with mixed feelings. Although the colonel was a good man, a likeable man, Farley could not help disliking him for being a Fitzwilliam. The Fitzwilliams courted disaster at every turn but always escaped scot-free whereas the Fates seemed to have it in for the cautious Darcys.

Silently Farley closed the door.

Chapter 27: The earl disposes

When Colonel Fitzwilliam returned to the carriage, he did not immediately order the coachman to set off across the square, wishing to take a moment to discuss with Hilda how they might break the news to Georgiana, if indeed she was still in ignorance of events. A broad strategy was formed to quietly enlist the countess’s help. Hilda undertook to distract Georgie while Richard spoke to his mother. Richard could only hope that Robert would not upset their plans by saying or doing something outrageous. It would be just like his brother to set the whole household by its ears.

Luck favoured them. Upon opening the door, the Fitzwilliam’s butler, Greaves, divulged that the viscount was in Sussex. Why his brother was not in London when his betrothed was imminently expected, Richard did not venture to ask in front of Hilda. Before he could do more than exchange pleasantries with Greaves after he had closed the door, Georgiana had appeared at the top of the stairs and descended rapidly towards them.

“Oh, Richard! I saw the carriage coming across the square! Did brother remain at the townhouse?”

Richard ran several steps up the staircase to hug his cousin. “No, Georgie,” he said, thinking on his feet and trying to stick with the plan. “Darcy had some business in The City. We merely dropped his baggage and his valet at the townhouse. But don’t be a hoyden. I have someone to introduce to you.”

Georgie blushed. In her anxiety to see her brother, she had not even noticed the lady standing behind Richard in the dim light of the vestibule, even though she should rightfully have expected her cousin to be accompanied. Princess Brunhilda stepped out of the shadows to be illuminated by the fanlight above the door as Georgiana came down the last few steps of the staircase. Georgie looked up in awe at the lady in front of her before sinking into a deep curtsey.

Belatedly following her niece to the vestibule, the countess appeared at the top of the stairs around the same time. When both ladies in the vestibule rose out of their curtseys, she was immediately able to appreciate the princess’s height compared to that of Georgiana and her son.

Richard glanced up to greet his mother a moment later only to find the countess transfixed with her hand across her mouth. He directed a hard stare at his mother until she self-consciously dropped her hand to her side.

“Mother, may I introduce Princess Brunhilda von Wolfbach. Princess, this is my mother, Lady Cecilia Fitzwilliam, Countess of Matlock, and my cousin, Miss Georgiana Darcy.”

The countess smiled graciously and descended to greet her future daughter-in-law, but Richard’s careful management of his mother’s reaction was all for nought when his father walked out of his study and uttered:

“Oh, my God!”

Conscious he had committed a faux pas, the earl then tried to compensate by first kissing the princess’s hand gallantly before patting her shoulders and declaring her to be a fine, strapping girl. Richard had never been more embarrassed for his father’s manners.

When the countess drew Hilda upstairs to take tea with Georgie, Richard followed his father back into his study for a tête-à-tête. The earl had been drinking port by the fire with his bulldog, not a good sign—likely he was avoiding White’s because he owed his friends money. To Richard’s enquiry on Robert’s whereabouts, the earl replied his heir was hiding from his creditors in Sussex. Lord Geoffrey was most vexed that the delay caused by Darcy’s illness had meant that the wedding invitations had not gone out before Christmas. It was imperative, he said, that the princess make calls with the countess now that she was in London, in order to convince Robert’s creditors that he was about to tie the knot.

“Father, enough of Robert. Darcy is seriously ill.”

“You’ve brought him home, haven’t you?”

“Yes, Father...”