Mr and Mrs Darcy 02 Suspense & Sensibility by Carrie Bebris Read Free Book Online

next. I believe
Mrs. Darcy and I are already one dinner in your debt."
    "Agreed. Bring Miss Darcy and Miss Bennet, too. We'll invite some
young gentlemen. Perhaps, Darcy, we can save you from Almack's this season
after all."
    Though the Chatfields' dinner party was a success by all other standards,
it failed to interest Kitty in any gentleman lacking the name Dashwood. Even
the attendance of Lady Chatfield's brother, Lord Phillip Beaumont, could not
excite her beyond his status as a friend of Mr. Dashwood's. From this
association, they all managed to learn that Mr. Dashwood preferred faro to
hazard, surtouts to box coats, and curricles to gigs. He bought his boots at
Hoby's, rode a thoroughbred stallion named Dionysus, and was among the
thrusters in any foxhunt.
    And so it was that Kitty left the earl's home satisfied that she knew
all the essentials of Mr. Dashwood's character, and the Darcys, none of them -
a deficiency they undertook to correct as expediently as possible.
    "Your report first," Elizabeth said to Darcy. She sank into a
chair before the fire in their bedchamber, looking exhausted by their seemingly
endless social engagements. The week of Mr. Dashwood's absence had seen them
attending soirees, assemblies, and dinner parties every night. The events had
helped keep Kitty occupied and had also provided the Darcys with opportunities
for discreet enquiries regarding Mr. Dashwood. Between evening events and
daytime conversations - Darcy's at various clubs, Elizabeth's in social calls -
they had learned all they could about the gentleman.
    Darcy stirred the fire. He'd heard enough about Mr. Dash-wood to form an
opinion of him already, but he wanted to hear what Elizabeth had discovered. "I
defer to the superior communication of women in matters of gossip. What have
you learned?"
    "Harry Dashwood is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Dash-wood of Norland
Park in Sussex. He is twenty years old and will reach his majority next month.
Upon his father's death last autumn, he came into possession of Norland, which
provides him an income of four thousand a year. John Dashwood's remaining
estate, a sizable fortune inherited from his mother, went to his widow, Fanny
Ferrars Dashwood. As Harry is an only child, this fortune, along with Fanny
Dashwood's own legacy of ten thousand pounds, presumably will pass to Harry
upon her death, adding another two thousand a year to the income derived from
Norland."
    He took the other chair and sat facing her. "This confirms what I
heard. What have you learned of his connections?"
    "Mr. Dashwood's mother has two brothers. Edward Ferrars, a clergyman
in Devonshire, is married to John Dashwood's half-sister, Elinor. They have two
children, or perhaps three - the couple never come to town and Fanny Dashwood
seldom talks about them. Her other brother, Robert, though the younger of the
two, became the heir to the Ferrars estate following a breach between Edward
and his mother. Apparently, the family row somehow involved Robert's wife, the
former Miss Lucy Steele, but that story could fill a book by itself. Lucy
Ferrars brought to their marriage no fortune or connections of her own. The
couple have a house in Norfolk and one daughter. Regina Ferrars came out this
season, and by all reports, her mother is promoting her prospects quite
aggressively."
    "My, you have been busy. Did you also learn the name of Mr.
Dashwood's favorite hunting hound?"
    "Rex."
    He smiled at her thoroughness. When his wife undertook a mission, she
saw it to completion.
    "I also heard that he has a few more relations through his
grandfather's second marriage, all quite respectable. One of them is married to
a colonel," she said. "So much for his fortune and family. What have
you ascertained about the man himself?"
    Darcy leaned back in the chair. "Lord Phillip's intelligence,
shallow though it was, unfortunately forms an accurate summary of Mr. Dash
wood. Never serious in his studies, he attended Oxford only at the insistence
of