They all laughed.
“In truth, Miss Catherine,” Mr. Darcy said, “my cousin was the very best of leaders. He commanded two battalions. I was responsible for one and another man for the second, but we both answered to him.”
Mr. Fitzwilliam scoffed mischievously. “Do not you forget it, Darcy.”
Kitty giggled. “Did you both answer to Papa, then?”
“For a time, though they were not quite so high up the ranks then, were they?” Papa asked as the servants cleared away the soup and laid out the rest of the meal.
Mr. Darcy’s face clouded over momentarily, and it occurred to Elizabeth that both men had reached their advanced ranks so quickly in part due to the officers above them being killed or wounded. She deftly turned the conversation to the antics of Mr. Goulding’s pigs, who had broken the lower rail of their fence and made it as far as town before being recaptured. The baker had not been pleased to find three sows pressing their noses against his clean glass.
“I must thank you,” Elizabeth said to Mr. Darcy when the men joined the ladies after their port, “for being so kind to Lydia and Kitty.” She gazed to the other side of the room where Mr. Fitzwilliam had everyone else laughing. “Lydia believes she is old enough to be out and does not wish to wait as the rest of us have. You have seen from her behaviour that she is wrong, yet she had already petitioned Papa to join Kitty’s come out next year.”
“I cannot see the general altering the rules to satisfy such a request,” Mr. Darcy said.
“Therein lies a tale, I think.”
His expression softened. “Many, in fact. But as the glad recipient of both his generosity and his hospitality, I shall not betray him.”
“How very gentlemanly of you,” she teased.
“I am trying,” he said courteously.
She nodded, seriously this time. “I have noticed. You were everything attentive at dinner.”
“It is not easy for me,” he replied wryly. “Before I was sent to school, it was only my parents and me at the table, my father always laying out legal cases and asking how I would have ruled. My mother rarely said anything.”
“Perhaps she already knew the answers,” Elizabeth said playfully.
He smiled. “Perhaps. But I have not been much in the company of ladies.”
“I should have thought being an officer . . .”
“Yes,” he agreed. “It was expected of us. But I was often on duty during the occasional dinner party and ball. Fitzwilliam would bring back a meal for me.”
Elizabeth smiled. “I suspect you were happy to take on another officer’s duties? Perhaps even volunteered?”
He smirked. “I do not know what you mean, Miss Elizabeth.”
“Of course not.” She heard laughter from the other side of the room near the fire, where Mr. Fitzwilliam was telling Mary, Jane, and Papa a story. “Are you related to Mr. Fitzwilliam through your mother, then?”
He nodded and leaned back into his chair. “My mother was the seventh daughter and final child born to the previous Earl of Matlock. Her parents had six daughters before the heir was born. My mother was their failed attempt to sire a spare. By the time it was her turn to marry, the earl and countess had married off six daughters and a son and were happy to allow their youngest to wed a successful barrister. My parents cared for one another, my father made a good living, and because his connections with the rest of the Darcy family were strong, he had admittance to higher circles than most. It was enough to make the match.”
“Was she close to her older brother?”
Mr. Darcy nodded solemnly. “She was. My uncle Matlock loved her dearly, and he took his role as her protector very seriously. He inherited the title when I was thirteen. When my mother died, he sent me to school with Fitzwilliam. When my father died not long after, he accepted my request to study with Colonel Le Marchant and paid the tuition.”
“Did he pay for your commission?”
He shook his head. “Students who graduated from Le Marchant’s course were provided with their initial commission at no cost. My uncle assisted me with subsequent opportunities to rise in rank, though.”
“He must have wished you had chosen the law.”
“My uncle or my father?”
“Both, I imagine.”
He smiled wistfully and his gaze darted to the other side of the room, where Mr. Fitzwilliam held her younger sisters spellbound. “You cannot imagine how dashing my older cousin appeared to me. From a young age I was intent on following him wherever he went. I suspect my uncle was resigned.”