Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
The trip to London was quiet. Elizabeth and William sat beside each other, lost in their thoughts and speaking mostly of inconsequential things when they did speak.
They maintained a physical connection, his arm wrapped around her shoulder, her hand on his chest, rendering conversation largely unnecessary.
The letter Darcy had written to Mr. Bennet demanded an accounting of the rumours circulating in his home and Meryton about him and Elizabeth and asked what he had done to stop these tales from spreading.
Elizabeth’s letter to Mrs. Gardiner asked her to gather similar information from the ladies in the house.
Another letter to Charlotte would be posted, and she had kept it as oblique as possible in case Mr. Collins happened to read it.
Elizabeth’s letter to Jane was another matter altogether.
It began with apologies for not being able to attend the wedding, but that, in good conscience, she could not do so, as she had no intention of ever seeing Mrs. Bennet again.
Elizabeth only hoped that their aunt’s account of events, along with her fiancé’s, would be enough to convince Jane this step was necessary.
Always a peacemaker, Jane hoped Elizabeth could be reconciled to her family, and Elizabeth wondered if she could come to terms with the fact that this would likely never happen.
Their arrival at Darcy House was barely expected, as the express rider had only arrived about an hour before the couple.
Quickly making their way inside, they moved to their rooms to refresh themselves and change from their travelling clothes before meeting in their sitting room to discuss their plans.
“Elizabeth,” William began, “do you realise that no one presently knows we are in London? We could hide here in the house for the next four days as no one expects to see us before Wednesday.”
Smiling seductively at her husband, she asked, “So, husband, what do you suggest we do with these days alone? Should we send our aunt a note to inform her of our return? See if she will send Georgiana home early?”
William growled and pounced on her. “Absolutely not, my dear. I suggest we take this opportunity to extend our honeymoon. Four days where we only rarely leave our rooms; four days where I can learn more about your likes and dislikes; four days we can spend in the sole company of each other. Why would you want to ruin that by telling our aunt we have returned?” He had pressed kisses to her face and neck as he spoke, and his fingers had been deftly unbuttoning her dress.
In return, she had unbuttoned his coat and waistcoat.
When he finished, he kissed her deeply for long moments until she was nearly shivering in anticipation.
Slightly dazed, Elizabeth spoke softly, “I will tell no one.”
For the next four days, the couple ignored everyone but their personal servants, locking themselves in their rooms. The staff was only barely aware the couple were in the house, and none of the family or those in society were aware of their early return to London.
Wednesday morning, they sent a note to Matlock House stating that they had returned and resumed their duties and responsibilities.
One unfortunate side effect of their seclusion was the amount of correspondence that needed to be dealt with by both, and when Elizabeth finished hers, she began to help her husband with his tasks.
Each of them had received letters from Hertfordshire, and Elizabeth had received one from Kent. They perused them separately before comparing what the various parties related.
From Charlotte Collins, they learned the most interesting tidbit—Wickham had been to Kent and had visited with Mr. Collins after the regiment had removed from Meryton to Brighton.
He took leave for a day and called on the parson to ‘plant seeds of doubt’ about Elizabeth’s reputation, which Charlotte only learned through carefully questioning her husband after receiving Elizabeth’s letter.
Wickham had asked a few pointed questions about Elizabeth’s visit to Kent, including her habit of taking solitary walks and how often Darcy had visited the parsonage while he had been there.
He had said just enough, with just enough insinuation, to cause Collins to draw his own conclusions about the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy.
Collins, of course, had sent Mr. Bennet a scathing letter denouncing Elizabeth as the worst sort of harlot who had used her ‘arts and allurements’ to sully herself and Mr. Darcy, the intended of Anne de Bourgh.
From Mrs. Gardiner, they learned more about that letter, which Mr. Bennet had not shared with the rest of the family nor with Elizabeth, knowing what he did about the foolish parson.
However, when he received the letters from Pemberley about Elizabeth’s engagement, he considered again what his cousin had written and began to wonder if any of it could be true.
That explained his initial refusal to the engagement, and Elizabeth’s determination to marry Darcy had convinced her father Mr. Collins’s account must be at least partially true.
When Lydia returned home after her attempted elopement, she and Mrs. Bennet joined together in decrying Mr. Darcy and blaming him for Mr. Wickham’s failure to marry Lydia.
Lydia had also begun spouting the rumours that Elizabeth and Darcy had been intimately involved in Kent, which had caused Mr. Bennet to double down on his refusal to bless the wedding and Mrs. Bennet’s vituperate reaction to Elizabeth at Netherfield.
Likewise, Elizabeth’s determination to marry the man, despite his objections, had led Mr. Bennet to decide the marriage must have been necessary and that Elizabeth must be ruined and, somehow, was being forced to marry Darcy.
The stories that Lydia had told about how awful Mr. Darcy was and how he had injured her dear, poor Wickham only added to the belief that Darcy was the vilest of men.
Between Lydia and Mrs. Bennet, they had blathered on about how Darcy was using Elizabeth and that any stories of a marriage between the two must be false, that the marriage was not legal somehow.
Most of this speculation remained within Longbourn since neither Lydia nor Mrs. Bennet had left the house after Lydia’s disgraceful return from Brighton.
However, the rumours that had circulated Meryton had all been about how terrible Mr. Darcy was, which did nothing to make Mr. Bennet feel better about the marriage or about Elizabeth’s defiance to marry him without his permission and blessing.
Conversely, Bingley’s letter reported that Darcy’s reputation was mostly restored in Meryton.
However, many still believed him to be arrogant and aloof since he had exhibited those behaviours when he was there the previous autumn.
He knew little could be done about that now, especially since he would not return to the area.
His letter also suggested that after their wedding tour, the Bingleys would begin looking for an estate nearer to Pemberley and would not renew the lease on Netherfield.
He said little about his sisters’ arrival except to relate how disappointed Caroline had been that Darcy had not been present and would not attend the wedding.
He had yet to tell her about Darcy’s marriage, but he had informed them they would not be welcome at Netherfield after the wedding breakfast.
Lastly, Elizabeth read Jane’s letter. She expressed her disappointment that Elizabeth would not be able to attend but said she was looking forward to seeing her in London in the next few weeks.
She said little about what was happening in Longbourn but spoke of how excited she was to leave on her wedding tour soon.
Included within was a letter from Mary that related what was happening at Longbourn regarding Lydia and the suspected pregnancy.
“Well, it seems that little has changed, dearest,” William said after reading all the letters with Elizabeth.
“Although we know that Collins was also involved in the rumour mongering, and his retelling of Wickham’s insinuations contributed significantly to your father’s reaction over our wedding, although what your father turned those rumours into is something else entirely. ”
“I should be astounded by such news, but I am not, not really. Mr. Collins is a fool,” she replied.
Pausing for a moment, she finally continued.
“What troubles me most is that Papa would not share with me his reasoning for initially refusing his consent, nor did she speak with me when he received the letter from Mr. Collins in the first place. We could have avoided a lot of this with a simple conversation rather than it escalating into what it has become. Perhaps, given time, we can restore our relationship to some degree, although it will never be what it was. But what Mrs. Bennet did was well beyond his stupidity. I will forgive her, as is right to do, but I will never have a relationship with her; I will never step foot within her house again, nor will she step foot into mine.”
William hung his head. “I am sorry it came to all this, my love. I feel that I am at least partly to blame: if I had behaved better when I was in Hertfordshire last fall, your neighbours would not have believed such terrible stories about me, or if I had dealt with Wickham sooner, he would not have been able to spread these lies.”