Chapter 5
“You offered for Miss Elizabeth Bennet?” Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam demanded, his eyes wide in shock.
Darcy threw down another gulp of brandy, coughed and nodded.
“Yes,” he said, vaguely truculent. “I just told you that. We met in Hertfordshire while I was staying with Bingley, and I insulted her the day I first laid eyes on her. I was haughty and arrogant when first we met, but then I unexpectedly found her fascinating, with her adroit wittiness and penchant for long walks through the countryside. She is so different from the ladies of the ton, Richard! I started falling under her spell and fled from Hertfordshire to avoid her wiles. But when we traveled to Rosings to visit my aunt, she was unexpectedly there in Kent, visiting Mrs. Collins – that lady is Miss Bennet’s dear friend who recently married Lady Catherine’s rector, who was also Mr. Bennet’s heir due to an entail.
Elizabeth was merely visiting, not pursuing me or my money, just there.
I tried to fight my love for her, Richard.
I tried. But she is so intelligent and lively, so bold and archly impertinent.
So lovely. We kept meeting for walks at Rosings and I truly thought she welcomed our discussions, when in fact she despised me because of Wickham’s lies.
She also found out somehow that I was responsible for separating Bingley from her sister Jane. ”
Fitzwilliam’s eyes bugged out further, “Wait, Darcy! Bingley was attracted to Miss Bennet’s sister?!”
“Yes,” Darcy said, massaging the bridge of his nose with two strong fingers.
“I thought the eldest Miss Bennet was merely desirous of Bingley’s money.
She seemed too serene to be truly attached, but Miss Elizabeth took me heartily to task, insisting that her elder sister truly loved Bingley and was devastated when he abandoned her.
Now Mr. Bennet is dead, and Lady Catherine’s idiot of a parson has tossed the ladies from their home of Longbourn.
Oh, and not only did our beloved aunt encourage Collins to throw the women out, she pressured Collins and Mrs. Bennet to force Elizabeth into an unwanted marriage to Sir Claude Daw, a dissolute widower old enough to be her father!
She is lost to me now. Elizabeth is lost to me.
She is on her way to the Caribbean, companion to a rector’s wife. ”
Richard stepped forward and poured himself a small drink before retreating to the window, where he turned to stare out moodily at the profusion of yellow and orange blooms in the garden behind Darcy House.
“I told Miss Elizabeth of your interference with Bingley’s courtship,” he confessed.
“What?” Darcy asked in horror.
The colonel turned around and shrugged, “I met Miss Elizabeth while I was walking the park the day before we left Rosings. We were speaking of mutual acquaintances, I believe, and the topic shifted to Bingley and his family. I told her that you congratulated yourself on recently saving Bingley from a most unfortunate marriage.”
Darcy groaned and collapsed dramatically on a chair as his cousin shook his head contritely.
“Truly, old chap, I had no idea it was Miss Elizabeth’s own sister who was the lady in question. Nor can I understand your interference if the eldest Miss Bennet is anything like Miss Elizabeth. Is Miss Bennet so terrible?”
“No,” Darcy replied miserably, reaching forward for the brandy decanter only to be stopped by the Colonel’s hand.
“No, Darcy, no more alcohol. You need your wits about you. What is Miss Bennet truly like?”
“She is extremely handsome, perhaps the most handsome woman I have ever seen.”
“More so than Miss Elizabeth?”
“In the conventional sense, yes. She is very calm and serene, as I said. She smiled a great deal, but I detected no fervor in her interactions with Bingley. Her connections are base, her dowry non-existent, and her mother and younger sisters gauche and vulgar. I thought I was doing him a favor by warning him away from her. I told him, with a despicable confidence in my ability to assess Miss Bennet’s feelings, that she did not care for him.
I know now I was wrong in my assessment. ”
“Have you told Bingley what you did?”
“Yes, three days ago I returned to London and immediately went to tell Bingley of the Bennet ladies’ great misfortune.”
“What did he do?” the Colonel asked curiously.
Darcy lifted a cautious hand to his still sore jaw, “First, and with my encouragement, he hit me. Then he and I proceeded to visit the Bennets’ Gardiner relations here in London. The next day he met Miss Bennet and proposed marriage, and she accepted. They will marry next Monday.”
Fitzwilliam blinked, “He moved quickly. I find that surprising, to be truthful. He must truly love her.”
“I believe he does, yes,” Darcy replied wearily. “If I had not interfered they would have married months ago and Mr. Bennet’s death, while a horrible tragedy for the family, would not have resulted in this — the women thrown from their home, Elizabeth fleeing England to avoid an unwanted marriage.”
“This Sir Claude,” the colonel mused, “I do not think I know him?”
“He is some forty-five years of age and thus of an older generation. I had an agent do a brief investigation on him, and I received his report this morning; the man is a gambler and a rake, father to several bastard children. He is also impoverished.”
“I wonder why he was willing to marry Miss Elizabeth, then,” Fitzwilliam queried. “Surely he must wish for a woman with a dowry.”
Darcy scoffed, “No decent parents would allow their daughter to marry him. He is a profligate lout. No, the truth is that he has an elderly, childless uncle who wishes for the male line of the family to continue. He has pledged to divide his considerable fortune among the nephews who manage to bear a legitimate son. Thus, Daw is eager to find and wed a young woman, and his pride requires that his bride be a gentlewoman. He has two cousins who are also hoping for a male heir, but thus far there are only three nieces.”
“Disgusting,” the colonel proclaimed. “I see the concern. Daw cannot wed a well-protected lady, but Miss Elizabeth is not protected.”
“No. I admire her uncle, Mr. Gardiner, but he is a man of trade and while intelligent and diligent, he would have no recourse if Daw abducted Elizabeth and … and …”
“I understand,” Richard said quickly. “I understand completely. So she fled England.”
“Yes, she is two weeks into her journey to St. Croix, in the Caribbean Sea.”
The Colonel frowned, “I believe Miss Bennet has three younger sisters as well. Has Sir Claude shown any interest in them?”
Darcy grimaced at this, struggling to think past his own sorrows and fears for Elizabeth.
“I am not aware of such a thing,” Pemberley’s master said slowly.
“The next Miss Bennet is about nineteen years of age and neither handsome nor vibrant, not like Miss Elizabeth. The two youngest are but seventeen and sixteen. Elizabeth is healthy and lovely; it is not startling that Sir Claude would be obsessed with her. Curse him!”
Richard sighed, “Nonetheless, I believe Bingley would be wise to arrange for some kind of oversight of the other girls, do you not think?”
“Yes,” the other man stated in a dispirited tone. “You are correct. I will speak to Charles about the matter. Miss Elizabeth would want to be certain that all her sisters are safe from that degenerate.”
There was a pause while the two men stared somberly at the blue-and-green hued carpet.
“What will you do, Darcy?” Fitzwilliam asked finally.
The taller man shook his head disconsolately, “What can I do? She has gone far away, and it will take weeks for the letter to reach her telling of her sister’s marriage to Bingley, plus she might well be worried about Sir Claude even with her uncle’s reassurance that I will protect her.”
“It will be difficult for you to protect her without being married to her,” Richard observed.
“I know. But I would not dream of ... of forcing her into a marriage, of course.”
“You said that Wickham poisoned her against you, which does not surprise me. He always had the tongue of a snake. Do you believe she still takes his part against you?”
Darcy shook his head, “I think not. I gave her a letter describing our interactions, plus her aunt informs me that Wickham ran off with the wife of his militia colonel. Miss Elizabeth is an intelligent woman, and I am sure once she learned the truth, she was able to see through all of Wickham’s lies.
I hope that her opinion of me has softened as well. ”
“You told Miss Elizabeth everything? Even about Georgiana?”
“I did. I trust her implicitly, Richard. If only I had known what a treasure she is from the beginning. If only I had not …”
His voice trailed away miserably and he lowered his head in defeat.
Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, younger son of the Earl of Matlock, sat down on a nearby chair and considered his pathetic cousin.
After a long minute, he spoke firmly, “You should sail after her, Darcy.”
The master of Pemberley lifted his head in confusion, “What?”
“Sail after her. You know where she is going. Get on a ship and go after the woman you love.”
Darcy blinked six times in rapid succession, “I cannot, Richard. Georgiana. Pemberley! I have responsibilities!”
“You left both Georgiana and Pemberley last winter to live in Hertfordshire with Bingley.”
“I suppose that is true,” Darcy replied, leaping to his feet and striding back-and-forth uneasily, “but I was able to send letters to my steward and staff and to Georgiana within a few days. Once I am on board a ship, I will not be able to send or receive letters for many weeks.”
His cousin suppressed a smile at Darcy’s verbiage. Clearly his cousin was already considering the possibilities.
“I can take several months leave,” Fitzwilliam assured him. “I can care for Georgiana, and while I have no great experience with estates, I know enough to assist the steward at Pemberley should the need arise.”
Darcy paced again for another few minutes while the colonel looked on patiently.
“I want to pursue her,” Darcy admitted. “I want to find her, to assure her of her safety, that her relations are now well provided for through Bingley. But I worry about Georgiana. I have already failed her by allowing Wickham to approach her at Ramsgate. Will she not feel abandoned if I chase after Miss Elizabeth and leave her behind in England?”
Richard leaned back and crossed his legs, “If that is your concern, and it is a reasonable one, then ask her.”
“Ask her?”
“Yes, Darcy.”
“Will she not feel pressured? She might respond in a way that suppresses her own desire in favor of pleasing me.”
“We both failed Georgiana by not telling the truth regarding Wickham, you know. We sought to protect her feelings since Wickham had been a pleasant companion when she was but a child. She was thus entirely vulnerable when he and her traitorous companion plotted against her at Ramsgate. She is not a child, Darcy. She is sixteen and should no longer be sheltered from the truth.”
/
“Do you truly love her, Fitzwilliam?” Georgiana Darcy asked, her blue eyes focused in awe on her tall brother.
Darcy nodded somberly, “I do. But my dear, do not think that you must say yes …”
“Then of course you must go after her,” the girl interrupted firmly.
Darcy stared at her, his mouth agape for a few seconds, before he was able to respond with any sense, “You are absolutely certain? My dear Georgie, you know how much I love you. I would not wish you to feel that I am abandoning you.”
“Brother, I remember well your enthusiastic commentary about Miss Elizabeth in your letters from Hertfordshire. She sounds like a splendid young lady who would make you very happy. I have Mrs. Annesley, our cousin Richard and the entire Matlock clan, as well as Mrs. Reynolds if Richard takes me to Pemberley. Miss Elizabeth is far away from her family and friends, unaware that Mr. Bingley is marrying her sister, nor that you will protect her from this Baronet. Please do not hesitate, Fitzwilliam. Sail after her.”