Chapter 2
A jolt in the carriage brought Darcy out of his reverie.
He looked around to see his cousin still asleep.
Darcy was thankful for his cousin’s deep slumber for he would hardly have been able to hide his anguish from him.
He still could scarcely believe the events of the previous evening.
One moment he had been walking towards the parsonage in joyful anticipation and the next he had been forced to confront utter mortification.
It was inconceivable that Elizabeth Bennet, the lady with no meaningful fortune or connection, had spurned him, the master of Pemberley.
He had been indignant at all her allegations and had left the parsonage in a state of violent resentment.
A restless night of pacing and re-examining the whole of their acquaintance had followed.
He had at last decided on explaining to her all that she had misjudged in his character and spent the night writing her a letter.
Revealing Georgiana’s near elopement had not been his plan but he had been unable to stop himself once he started writing.
She may have been convinced of his arrogance, conceit and the selfish disdain for the feelings of others but he still trusted in her sense of fairness and compassion.
He instinctively knew that she would never harm Georgiana whatever grudge she bore him.
He hoped his letter would lead her to understand that he was no villain and how she had been taken in by the scoundrel Wickham.
Her words, “I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry,” kept echoing in his mind and no amount of distraction would help him forget the pain of that rejection.
He had expected that she would speak to Richard to verify his account but his cousin had returned from the parsonage without meeting her after an hour’s waiting.
Wickham had always been personable, and she was a young, sheltered lady unaware of the duplicity of the world.
Had she been in love with Wickham, as he suspected, his letter would then have sent her into great agony.
He hoped she would not lose that indomitable spirit of hers.
In an attempt to distract himself, he took out the letter from Hardwicke’s solicitor.
A renewed sense of guilt overcame him. He had seen the man a couple of times and even exchanged pleasantries, but Hardwicke had never asked to discuss the entail with him.
He would have known that Darcy had little need for another estate and could have easily requested some generosity for his family.
The man was still not forty and in good health; perhaps he had simply not considered such circumstances.
Darcy tried to convince himself but Elizabeth’s words from last night echoed in his mind.
Had he become so arrogant and uncaring that even someone who was family had maintained a distance?
The carriage came to a stop at a coaching inn, and finally his cousin roused from his sleep.
“I think I require a walk before I can eat anything,” the Colonel stepped out of the carriage and stretched himself. The two men then set out to explore the countryside a bit before going inside the inn.
“You look as though you did not sleep at all, Darcy,”
“My mind was too occupied to rest,” Darcy replied.
“We will reach Hampshire soon enough,” the Colonel answered, thinking that the situation with Hardwicke’s family was the cause of his cousin’s discomfort.
They walked a few minutes in silence, when the Colonel spoke again, trying to distract his cousin from his preoccupation, “So, Darcy, you never did tell me what it was that Miss Bennet needed to verify with me?”
“I had gone to the parsonage to enquire after her health last evening and during our conversation I understood that Wickham had been spinning his old tale about the denied living,” Darcy answered as truthfully as he could without disclosing the humiliating experience of his proposal.
“Wickham! How did he manage to meet Miss Bennet?”
“I did write to you that he had taken a commission in the militia stationed in Hertfordshire. You know his proclivities well enough to understand why he would have sought out Miss Bennet,” Darcy answered with a distasteful expression.
“In that case, it was good of you to warn the lady, though it would have been better if you had spoken to the gentleman in the area before leaving Hertfordshire.”
“I had considered it, but there was hardly any reason for someone to believe my word over his and I was not inclined to draw attention to my dealings with the blackguard after Ramsgate.”
“No, no, you are correct. The Bingley sisters are not known for discretion, even if a whisper of what had nearly occurred with Georgiana had come to light it would have been catastrophic.”
“Richard, may I ask you something?” Darcy inquired after a few minutes of silence and after his cousin’s nod continued, “Are my manners so arrogant and conceited that I have become impossible to like?”
“Is this about Hardwicke? Darcy, there is no point in trying to guess the motives behind his actions.”
“Not just his; even Miss Bennet was quick to give credence to Wickham’s tale about my dishonour.”
“I will not lie to you, with your reticent manners and stern countenance you do appear unapproachable; but that is only to casual acquaintances. To those who take the time to understand you, it is not difficult to perceive your character.”
Darcy did not pursue the conversation further.
His cousin’s words had achieved the opposite effect of what the Colonel had intended.
Richard had pointed out that he did appear disapproving, and to someone like Miss Elizabeth, he would have appeared judgemental.
He had been judgemental, he had looked down on her family and situation in life.
She had not been wrong in her accusations; he had separated Bingley from her sister.
Her outrage on her sister’s behalf had convinced him that Jane Bennet had suffered.
He had considered the lady’s feelings and attachment insufficient for his friend but had been offended when Elizabeth had not accepted him for pecuniary reasons. He scoffed internally at the hypocrisy.
The cousins had a light repast and then continued on with the journey.
They had started later that morning and would not reach Hampshire before the end of the next day.
Darcy was not sure if he wanted to be prompt in his arrival or give as much time as possible to the family.
He had never been easy in new company, and this was such a delicate situation.
“You know, Darcy, this situation reminds me of Mr. Collins,” the Colonel said.
“Whatever do you mean? What has Mr. Collins got to do with anything?”
“The Bennets’ family estate is entailed on him from what I understood. I was rather surprised that he was not encouraged to marry one of the Bennet sisters, given the situation.”
His cousin’s casual comment jolted Darcy out of his preoccupation.
He had forgotten all about the entail on Longbourn.
All of a sudden an image of Elizabeth dancing with a fumbling Collins at the Netherfield ball came back to his mind.
Collins had been encouraged to marry a Bennet sister; the same Bennet sister that refused his hand must have refused him also.
He had been thinking about Hardwicke and his inaction in speaking to him about his family.
Here was a lady in much greater peril due to an entail than Hardwicke with just one daughter; who had spurned his fortune.
He rubbed a hand over his face as an errant thought came to his mind: Between him and Collins, whose proposal had Elizabeth considered worse?