Chapter 45
Mr. Bennet was lying on the couch in his library reading an agricultural treatise and considering if it was worth his time to implement any change on Longbourn lands when Hill entered with the breakfast and morning post. His leg was still plastered, and his movement confined, thus he had been taking his meals in the library and only left it to retire to his bedchamber at night.
Mrs. Bennet and Lydia were still in Brighton and thus the house was blessedly silent.
Mary was acting as the mistress of the household with a keen eye towards frugalness and Kitty was his companion whenever he felt the need to discuss his reading materials.
The girl understood one in five words but her enthusiasm for her father’s company made it worth his while.
The death of his brother Hardwicke had been an uncomfortable eye-opener for him.
The man had been in his prime with a long and happy life ahead of him, but instead his sister was now a widow for a second time.
Elizabeth had written to him regularly from Willowmere and from what he had understood, the entail on Willowmere was much kinder to the widow and her children than the one on Longbourn.
Hoping to find another letter from Elizabeth or his sister, Mr. Bennet shuffled through the post and was surprised by a letter from Mr. Darcy and a Lord Grimsley.
Mr. Darcy was now the master of Willowmere, and Mr. Bennet was worried that he may have been writing about some emergency regarding either Elizabeth or Sarah and hastily opened the letter.
The amazement and sheer absurdity of the request in the letter made Mr. Bennet for the first time sympathise with his wife’s nerves.
Mr. Darcy had written to ask his consent for marrying Elizabeth.
According to him Lizzy had agreed to the engagement, Mr. Bennet considered that either Mr. Darcy was drinking some very superior brandy which had caused an elaborate hallucination, or he was inherently unfamiliar with the idea of sarcasm.
There was no other way that Elizabeth would ever agree to marry a man she considered most disagreeable.
He was thinking how to reply to the gentleman when Kitty came rushing in.
“Papa, Mary has swooned.”
“What? Why?”
“Hill came and announced that we have visitors, an Earl! Mary muttered something that she had never even hosted Sir William Lucas and then swooned.”
“We have an Earl visiting? What nonsense.” Mr. Bennet frowned as Hill came in.
“Sir, the Earl of Matlock and Judge Darcy are here to see you.”
Hearing the name Darcy, Mr. Bennet once again frowned, trying to make some sense of the whole situation. Then, giving up, asked Hill to escort the visitors to him. “And Hill, I think you should have Mrs. Bennet’s smelling salts on hand, I am sure we will be needing it before the day is out.”
“Mr. Bennet, I hope you will forgive our intrusion without an introduction and that also when you are still recovering,” Judge Darcy calmly said as he entered and introduced himself and the Earl.
Mr. Bennet offered a chair to the gentlemen, and politely enquired about their visit and the gentlemen were obliged to explain the scandal that had inundated the whole of London.
“I was surprised when I received a letter from Mr. Darcy in today’s post asking for my consent to marry Elizabeth.
He claimed that my daughter had agreed to the engagement.
I did find it surprising, for Elizabeth has not, to my knowledge, been particularly fond of the gentleman.
Do you think this compromise is what he claims as my daughter’s consent? ”
Lord Matlock and Judge Darcy stared in stupefaction, then requested to see the letter.
“This is dated a day before the compromise; do you suppose Darcy was finally accepted by Miss Elizabeth,” Lord Matlock commented.
“Whatever do you mean by finally? Has Elizabeth previously refused Mr. Darcy?” Mr. Bennet asked.
Taking a deep breath, Judge Darcy got up and walked to the sideboard and with Mr. Bennet’s permission poured himself some brandy and gulped it.
Then he slowly launched into all that had occurred from the moment he received the first desperate letter from his nephew about the most perfect woman in existence who had refused his suit in Kent.
“So let me understand, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy met in Kent where Mr. Darcy proposed and she refused, then unknown to either they both travelled to Willowmere where Mr. Darcy realised that he still wished to marry Lizzy. He wrote you a letter as a cry for help and your sister went to Hampshire to assess the situation and play matchmaker. And now Mr. Darcy writes that Elizabeth has accepted his suit. The papers, on the other hand, are reporting a scandal where he kissed Lizzy in a public inn apparently on the day after she agreed to marry him. This scandal has reliable eyewitnesses, and thus must be true.”
“You have the essence of the matter, sir,” Judge Darcy replied.
“The fact that Elizabeth did not slap Mr. Darcy makes me think that she may not be so decided against the gentleman or she may have actually accepted him.”
“If that is the case, then why was she at the inn, could she have decided to travel to Longbourn to ask for your permission.” Lord Matlock questioned.
“I think only Elizabeth or Mr. Darcy may give us a reliable account, but except for sending an express to my daughter, I am quite helpless,” Mr. Bennet answered, gesturing towards his plastered leg.
“We were actually hoping to contain the rumour as early as possible by sending a notice of engagement for Darcy and Miss Elizabeth to the newspapers,” Lord Matlock finally said.
“You wish me to consent to an engagement on my daughter’s behalf before even asking her? I suppose the compromise now makes her obliged to marry Mr. Darcy,” Mr. Bennet slumped.
“We would be honoured to welcome Miss Elizabeth in the family, sir, but I would not deceive you. Your daughter has become quite sought-after in the ton on account of this incident. Darcy is being blamed for the compromise while she, it seems, is being lauded for her strength of character in refusing a man of Darcy’s fortune. ”
Hill entered the study with wide eyes, and announced that a Lord Grimsley was asking to meet Mr. Bennet, “He claims that he sent a letter ahead for you to expect his presence,” the housekeeper said, clearly overwhelmed by the idea of another peer arriving.
Mr. Bennet dubiously looked at Hill and asked that his Lordship be shown in.
“Another exalted connection of Mr. Darcy, I presume?” Mr. Bennet asked Lord Matlock but the gentleman only looked towards the door in surprise as a young man, dressed in fine clothing and appearing no more than two-and-twenty years of age, entered.
He surveyed the room and his eyebrows rose as he saw Lord Matlock and Judge Darcy.
He quickly greeted them and then turned to Mr. Bennet.
“I will not waste your time, sir—I am here to request the hand of your daughter, Miss Elizabeth, in marriage.