This revised itinerary also permitted a visit to the region of Arcy below Auxerre. Chesterfield’s Letters had brought Mr. Darcy strongly in mind of his late father, whose ancestry could be traced back to the French nobility of William the Conqueror’s time. Darcy’s father had traced his line as far back as the time of the Conquest, when a Norman knight, one Guillame d’Arecai, was granted a baronetcy and given a number of manors in the north of England for services to the new English king. Whilst several possibilities for the origination of the D’Arcy line existed in France, including Orsay near Versailles, and Arcy in Manche, the late Mr. Darcy had been firmly of the opinion that his family had originated in the Burgundy region of the Yonne. Darcy accordingly desired to visit the region of Champaigne, which was where, by repute, his family were originated. The late Mr. Darcy had, however, never visited the area, giving the change of plan an air of Walpole’s serendipity.

“Every thinking man must have his portion of regrets,” said Mr. Darcy, “but the one most affecting to my mind is that you never met my father. He was the kindest of fathers and the best of men. When I visited Europe as a young man, I was little interested in my ancestry, but now my situation and feelings are so wholly different, that I would very much like to honour my late father’s memory by visiting the area and discovering such as remains of the Darcy history.” Mr. Darcy, not often given to sentimentality, looked at Elizabeth earnestly and asked if she had any disinclination to the change of route. She responded to the seriousness of his tone, “Mr. Darcy, I would be pleased and honoured for the opportunity to see the place of your family. Each time you and Georgiana speak of your father, it grieves me that I did not know him—and your mother, of whom you speak so respectfully. Such a visit would make France more than just a new country to me; it is the history of the two people I hold most dear.”