Chapter 17 #2
Even before the trial it was clear that his fate was set. With such heavy evidence against him he would hang in a few days... his luck had finally run out...and that he knew without a doubt. He had played the game and come out short.
The writing was finally on the wall for Lieutenant George Wickham!
***
A few days later a new tragedy struck Rosings.
Lord Matlock was preparing to return to London, to take his sister to face the court system and the judge who would decide her fate, when Lady Catherine was found dead in her bedchamber.
She had asked her maid to ask the cook to make her a farewell cake and serve tea in the best tea set Rosings Park possessed. The cook had made her former mistress her favourite, which was a peach cake decorated with imported grapes from Spain and local walnuts.
An hour later when the maid went to clear the tea things she found Lady Catherine in the same state she had found Mr Collins a few days prior.
The poor maid had to go through the same trauma and investigation all over again so once the inquest was over she left Rosings vowing that she would never be a rich lady’s maid ever again.
She married Mr Burns, the Hunsford resident blacksmith who had been asking for her hand in marriage for almost two years. She lived happily, in peaceful poverty surrounded by iron instruments from her husband’s trade... but she never had to look upon another bloody, dead body ever again.
Lady Catherine took the coward’s way out for she knew she had no defence. She could try and claim that Mr Collins’ death was a tragic accident, which it undoubtedly was, but she could not defend herself against the fact that she had indeed intended to kill another.
Miss Anne de Bourgh, after her initial shock and grief, a blow that almost threw her back into the comfort of laudanum once more, became more assertive.
The young landowner embraced the title of official mistress of Rosing's with gusto and compassion, unlike her mother before her.
Her first act as mistress of the estate was to invite Charlotte Collins to stay and live in the manor house, since the parsonage would have to be assigned to a new parson very soon.
With Charlotte almost fully recovered Elizabeth and Jane must return home. Bingley offered to take them back in his carriage, which was accepted with gratitude.
Bingley intended to reopen Netherfield Park and his excitement was contagious. He invited all his friends to join him there.
Darcy wished nothing more than to accept his friend’s invitation, but his fear that Elizabeth would still reject him, after all the latest tragedies, was unrelenting.
Elizabeth had been avoiding Mr Darcy, as her shame in believing Mr Wickham over him was unbearable.
However the day before her departure he invited her for a walk around the woods, the stroll they had enjoyed many times before.
As they set out he offered her his arm and she took it, placing her hand lightly on his muscled and strong arm.
The conversation was stale to start with as they both found it hard to broach deeper subjects, until she asked, “Mr Darcy I hate to sound impertinent but why did you not advise the members of the Meryton community about the evils of accepting Mr Wickham as a friend when you both lived among us?”
He looked at her and raised his brows, “I should have Miss Elizabeth, and this is one of my many regrets. But would they have listened? Would you?”
She paled, “Maybe not.” She bit her lower lip, “I must confess that the general prejudice against you was so violent that it would have meant the death of half the good people of
Meryton to attempt to place you in an amiable light.” She teased him, “I also have to confess that half of that prejudice was fuelled by me, in my endorsing Mr Wickham’s assertions against you, without hesitation and with alacrity.” She looked down, her face marked by regret.
“Wickham always had the gift of the gab; he could always charm people without much difficulty, my own father among them.”
“It is kind of you to lift any blame from my shoulders Mr Darcy, but I am not deserving of it. I did you great harm sir, by believing a rake over you.”
“Please do not condemn yourself Miss Elizabeth; he certainly does not deserve your self-reproach.”
“It is no use... I am utterly ashamed of my behaviour... and my sister Lydia’s... do you think he...?”
“No, I do not. He is a liar above all else and he knows how to hurt people. At that moment he had nothing else to hurt you with other than smearing the name of one of your sisters. Usually that below the belt tactic is his best line of attack when he runs out of wicked ideas.”
“I should not have given in and satisfied my thirst for revenge, I should not have provoked him by striking him.”
He chuckled, “I disagree. It was something to behold and I loved the fact that you did it... twice.”
“I feel guilty in so many ways. I must ask you most humbly for your forgiveness, sir.”
“Miss Bennet, you must not be consumed by guilt madam, let us place the blame where it actually belongs: on mine and Wickham’s shoulders!”
“You are blameless in my eyes.”
He shook his head, “Hardly! Had I behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner when I first met you he might not have had such success in gaining your quick approval. You might have been sharper in detecting that his stories were meant only to malign me and blind you to his true character.”
“You are being very kind to me Mr Darcy, but please tell me sir; I understand from what we heard when he tried to assault Miss de Bourgh, that he also tried similar strategies with your sister? Was there any truth in the story he told me about the denied living left to him by your father?”
“Yes and no. It was denied since he failed to take holy orders, but only after he informed me himself that he had no desire to become a clergyman, but instead hoped to study the law.” Darcy looked ahead as if lost in that memory, “I wished it more than believed it.
He was then compensated for the loss of the valuable living with three thousand pounds and one extra thousand left to him as a legacy from my father, for the attachment he felt towards Wickham was steady to the very end.
“Once he ran out of money a few years later, with his profligate living, he returned and demanded the living that had become vacant. I of course refused it, especially since his character was set as a rake, with several illegitimate children in and around Lambton.”
Elizabeth gasped and looked at Mr Darcy, “How awful,” she whispered, “He spun a tale of woe with bits of truth here and there but left the most relevant parts out.”
“When he realised he was never going to get another penny from me,” continued Darcy, “he devised a new plan for revenge and profit that included a new associate: one Mrs Young! She was hired as Georgiana’s companion. With his help she forged an impressive reference and presented it to me.”
At this he looked extremely chagrined.
“It was negligence from my side, when instead of investigating and confirming the accuracy of such a grand list, I simply saw... I mean...I was blinded by pride to believe that I could share such an employee with the likes of dukes and earls.”
“Did he hurt Miss Darcy?”
“No, but it was by the grace of God that I arrived in time at Ramsgate to ruin his plans to elope with her.” Darcy raked his fingers through his hair in obvious torment, “She was but fifteen years old.”
“I am so sorry.” Elizabeth whispered.
“Miss Bennet you have nothing to apologise for. Wickham is not what he is because of you; he is what he is because he chose that path. Nobody forced him; he chose it with his eyes open. Unfortunately his sins have caught up with him.”
They walked for a few minutes longer before returning to the house. The whole time Darcy wanted to ask her for a courtship, but he did not.
He feared she had forgiven him for all his wrong doings, but not actually gotten to like him, so the fear of rejection was great.
He went from an arrogant conceited fool who believed she would accept him with the uttermost gratitude, to a timid man without the confidence to ask the lady he loved for a chance to get to know her better.
The next day as she was leaving with her sister and Mr Bingley he helped her into the carriage and held her hand a little longer than necessary and she looked at him with an inquisitive gaze.
“I hope to see you again one day Mr Darcy.” She said timidly
“Would you like to see me again Miss Bennet?” He said very quietly with an intense gaze of his own.
“Oh yes, sir, good, honest friends do not come by every day. When they do we need to hold on to them.”
Friends!
His heart went from silence to performing summersaults to bleeding. She saw in him nothing more than a faithful friend; somebody whom she appreciated for his honesty and nothing more.
He nodded and let her go.
She smiled encouragingly but realised he had turned his back to the carriage to walk away into the house again.
She sighed.
It had been a most interesting holiday. Her life had changed little, but her heart and character had gone through a major alteration.
Her resolve had undergone various moods but now it seemed what she wanted most was out of her reach.