An Unequalled Affection

Part 20

"Aha! You made it!"

Richard's call startled his horse, which had been patiently waiting in the shady grove to which he had steered them but he soon steadied it, smiling at the sight of his cousin's grim countenance as he emerged from beneath several low-hanging branches.

"You might have chosen somewhere a little easier to approach."

"And risk being spotted?" Richard winked. "I am also gratified to see you are still able to make sense of our childhood encryption. I did wonder if the skill had departed as you aged."

"You did not lose it," Darcy objected.

"Only because I am tasked with using my brains. What need have you of them, oh wealthy gentleman of leisure?"

Darcy opened his mouth, beginning a lecture he had served Richard with numerous times before now, which ran along the lines that management of property - including the lives of those tenant farmers who relied upon him - was hardly leisure, but he must have caught the amusement in his cousin's face because he shut his mouth tight before he was even a little way through his regular points.

"But you have heard this before and I did not venture all this way to offer a lecture. You are well?"

Richard nodded, urging his horse into a slow walk as Darcy drew level with him.

"I wanted to see you before I leave."

He glanced at Darcy, wanting to see how this comment landed but for once his cousin's expression was a mask, making it impossible to guess how he truly felt. "You recall my telling you that Colonel Forster is to return? He has come back sooner than any of us expected." He shrugged his shoulders. "And so it seems my services are no longer required at Meryton. I must be on my way."

"And where shall you go?" Darcy's question was light but Richard knew his cousin well enough to sense that he was watching him closely, awaiting his response as if poised to discover more truth than Richard cared to share in words.

"I am undecided. Perhaps to Kent." He heard Darcy's sharp intake of breath and turned to offer him an amused smile. "Yes, unlike you I am quite willing to pay a visit to our shared aunt, hidden away at Rosings. I have never understood your reluctance to go."

"You have never been a pawn in her plans for future happiness."

"True." Richard chuckled. "I suppose you would appreciate me keeping quiet about a certain romance that is progressing between yourself and Elizabeth Bennet?" He saw Darcy flinch in his saddle and swallowed a laugh. "Do not fret, Darcy, she shan't hear of it from me. Come, let's not dawdle. I shall race you to the folly at the top of De Vries Hill." He did not wait for his cousin's agreement but urged his horse into a trot and then a run, and soon he thought of nothing but the feel of the wind rushing past his ears, the sound of his horse's hooves thundering against the ground. It was the feeling of freedom, something he had not felt in quite some time and he relished it, only a little disappointed when Darcy somehow managed to rout him and claim victory in their short race.

"Aye, we'll let the horses rest before I challenge you again," Richard said, breathless with enjoyment. "Here, let's dismount and walk a little, give the poor animals a chance to rest properly." They tied both horses safely to a low-hanging branch and Richard proposed a walk around the summit of the hill, from which they would be able to see all of Meryton and beyond. It was a form of farewell, he supposed, to look over the land that had - briefly - been a home for him. A wave of sadness swept over him as he mourned the loss of the life he had dreamed would be his, but he pressed it away. There is no point in dwelling on what cannot be, he told himself, removing his hat and tilting his face up to be warmed by the weak sunshine. It was Darcy who broke the silence.

"How long will you remain in Kent? Perhaps Georgiana and I shall make our way there soon to join you. I know she would be eager to see our cousin again and I have stayed away too long." He cracked a grim smile. "Aunt Catherine has summoned me repeatedly and I am running out of excuses why I cannot come."

"Then come you must!" Richard adopted a fairly passable impression of the great lady, and Darcy groaned. Richard grew serious again, returning his hat to his head with determination.

"If you were to arrive with an engagement already agreed upon I do not suppose there is very much Aunt could do but congratulate you upon it. She will have to cast around elsewhere for a suitor for poor Anne." He smiled. "What a pity that pious clergyman of hers has found himself a wife already."

Darcy raised his eyebrows and fumbled some description of Mr Collins, pointing out that he had been lately in Meryton himself.

"I am surprised your paths did not cross, or that you did not hear more of him. He is a cousin to Elizabeth and Jane - well, to their father."

"Mr Bennet's cousin?" Richard was surprised, for he had never heard as much. "How small a world we live in," he mused. This observation took a grim turn. Small indeed, that I should find myself in love with a young lady whose heart favoured another - and that other my own cousin's good friend. He screwed his eyes up. He had promised himself he would dwell no longer on Charles Bingley or Darcy's fractured allegiances. He had his own questionable friendships to repent of.

"I signed George Wickham's transfer," he remarked, almost surprised to hear him offer this, unbidden.

"Oh?" If Darcy was surprised to hear tell of George Wickham he did not show it, walking slowly to Richard's right, his arms folded behind him looking every bit the gentleman, even here and now. Richard pulled a leaf from a branch hanging low overhead and began tearing it into strips as he walked, eager to give his fingers some occupation as he spoke.

"I thought you ought to know. For - for Georgiana's sake." His throat tightened, and he swallowed painfully. "I am...sorry for how all that turned out. You must know I did not choose George Wickham's friendship, although..." He smiled, grimly. "I was certainly in need of it."

"And he knew it," Darcy offered, quietly.

"Aye, he knew it and profited richly from it." Richard tossed the last bits of leaf to the floor and glanced sideways at Darcy. "He took an interest in Elizabeth himself, you know, although now I wonder if that was only because he suspected you cared for her."

Darcy shifted his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other and Richard was unsure if he was more uncomfortable discussing his affection for Elizabeth or George Wickham's knowledge of it. He was tempted to drop the conversation altogether, but he knew he could not be truly easy with himself until he admitted his true part in Wickham's past exploits. He drew a breath, willing himself to speak the truth he had kept concealed all this time.

"You know I have known Wickham a long time. Longer than I would care to."

"Not as long as I have, alas," Darcy muttered, his voice barely audible. When Richard looked at him, his grimace became a bitter smile. "I still rue the day my father introduced us and told us what great friends we would be."

Richard nodded, unable to smile back.

"We first knew each other before he joined the regiment. Before he met Georgiana. In fact..." He hurried out the last of this confession, fearing that if he did not speak it now he never would. "In fact, Darcy, it was I who introduced them. He claimed a friendship with you and I encouraged them to know each other better. Everything that stemmed from that meeting I blame myself for, and I suppose it is only fitting that he should return to plague me after it."

Darcy did not reply at first, walking silently on so that after what seemed like an age, Richard stopped. Darcy kept walking and at last Richard called after him.

"Did you hear me, Cousin? It is my fault."

"No," Darcy called back, neither turning nor slowing his pace. "It is not." He held a hand out, palm up. "I think it is threatening to rain, Richard. Shall we ride on? I suppose I ought to allow you the chance to beat me once before you leave Hertfordshire."