Chapter 5 #2
At that moment, Elizabeth entered the room; her back ached, her legs numb where they’d been awkwardly folded beneath her after falling asleep on the chair in her room.
“I believe you are safe, Mr. Darcy,” she said drily, her tone sharp. “I have no intention of travelling with you back to Meryton. After your performance in the carriage to Baldock, I have no further interest in being the recipient of your ire and pique again.”
“Whatever do you mean?” he protested.
“Oh, come now, sir, are you truly so obtuse? The journey from the bogged chaise was mortifying—your resentment at my comforting Georgiana burned hotter than the logs in the fire. Of course you wished to console her yourself. But did you truly expect me to relinquish my seat and endure the impropriety of sitting beside Colonel Fitzwilliam in the enclosed cabin of your carriage? The very notion of it is beyond belief!”
Darcy looked away. Indeed, his resentment against Miss Bennet had been growing from that moment. Was not he Georgiana’s brother? Should not he be the one to comfort her, not a woman she barely knew?
“Perhaps, Colonel, I might impose upon you,” said Elizabeth, turning the conversation.
“There’s likely a hackney available in Baldock to take us to Welwyn, just twelve miles away along the turnpike; and from there we could take another to Meryton.
Only, of course, if your purse will bear it—they will also charge for their return journey. ”
“But your sitting with the Colonel in a hackney…” Darcy felt acutely uncomfortable—he could not recall a time when his company had been so pointedly avoided.
Elizabeth gave an impatient, decidedly unladylike snort. “In a hackney, we are chaperoned by our very public visibility. Is it any different from a lady being driven in a phaeton around Hyde Park? Oh, sir, you are impossible!”
The colonel was glaring at Darcy, unable to understand his cousin’s belligerent manner.
“Of course, Miss Bennet. I am at your service. Indeed, I must retrieve my horses, and tell Evans that Darcy has returned to London. But, should I send an express to your father to inform him of your whereabouts and your return on the morrow?”
“My father was perfectly content to let me go chasing after Miss Darcy. I daresay my mother will only notice me gone when I am absent from the dinner table.” Elizabeth laughed. “And, speaking of such, I’ve not eaten since dinner yesterday, and that was hurried due to preparations for the ball.”
Immediately, Colonel Fitzwilliam rose and requested a simple meal be brought to the parlour. Soon after, a servant entered with broth, cheese, cold meats, and bread, together with small beer and wine.
For a while, they ate in silence, hunger overtaking any need for conversation. The colonel, having been satisfied, took a sip of wine and addressed Elizabeth.
“Miss Bennet, I believe you have sisters?”
She laughed. “I’m sure you have heard of them from your cousin.
Undoubtedly he has commented upon the want of propriety of my three younger sisters—though Mary is guilty of nothing more than having a weak voice and an affected manner when performing.
As for Kitty and Lydia, my two youngest, I have said it all—they are young, of high spirits, and accustomed to easy relations with our neighbours.
I daresay, Colonel, that at a similar age at Eton, your behaviour was not always above reproach either. ”
“Ah, you have me there, ma’am. And Darcy, too, if he will but admit it,” replied the colonel jovially.
“My elder sister, Jane, is all sweetness, and is without any form of guile,” continued Elizabeth. “If she has a fault, which I seriously doubt, it is that she conceals her true affections. She is a better person than any I know.”
“Did Georgiana speak to you of her elopement?” the Colonel asked, glancing at Darcy, whose frown had deepened. Yet, to the colonel’s reckoning, there was only one person in the room who had any understanding of how a young woman, just fifteen years old, truly thought.
“I doubt Mr. Darcy wants my opinion,” Elizabeth replied, her tone tart. “His frown seems to say as much.”
“I’ve already called Darcy a curmudgeon today, so he hardly signifies,” the Colonel said, with a wry smile.
“You may not know, Miss Bennet, but I have as much concern for Georgiana as anyone. I am her cousin and, under the terms of my uncle’s will, her co-guardian.
I’m deeply troubled that she would risk everything—her own household, the best tutors in London—for such foolishness. ”
Elizabeth’s expression softened. “Perhaps, Colonel, it is not so strange. The world is full of people who make poor choices, especially when young and unguarded. If Georgiana’s heart led her astray, surely it is because she trusted too much, not because she wished for misfortune.”
Darcy shifted in his seat, his gaze fixed on the hearth. “Trust is easily misplaced, Miss Bennet. Especially by those unused to the motives of others.” He spoke quietly, but the weight in his words was unmistakable.
Elizabeth looked at him, her eyes bright with a challenge. “And yet, Mr. Darcy, we must allow that even those of us who pride ourselves on reserve have been known to misjudge character. I dare say we are all, at times, in want of a little guidance.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam’s countenance, so often merry, sobered. “Miss Bennet, you speak with more sense than half the guardians in England. Still, the consequences for a young woman—” He broke off, shaking his head. “I do not mean to distress you, Darcy. Only, it is a caution to us all, I think.”
There was a pause, filled only by the rattle of the window pane and the distant laughter from the common room. Then Elizabeth, with a half-smile, said, “It is a caution, Colonel, but not, I hope, a condemnation. A heart that is capable of great feeling is also capable of great growth.”
The colonel inclined his head. “But how to nurture that growth? Darcy is all for rushing to London and, I have said it before, smothering Georgiana with his love and protection. Of course, she should be protected from rakes such as Wickham—that was Mrs. Younge’s duty, in which we were cruelly deceived.
But how can a brother, who is some twelve years her senior, truly provide what she requires?
I would have her go to my mother, Lady Matlock, but she likely would crush her individuality, turn her into a simpering young woman of the ton—nought but polite smiles, vapid and insincere. ”
He paused, looking directly at Elizabeth. “Do you—for you truly have a gift—know how to rescue her, not only in body, but in spirit? Certainly she will feel humiliation; anger, perhaps, with Wickham once she realises his only interest was her dowry; and the shame of her behaviour.”
“Colonel Fitzwilliam, I am not one of the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece; nor King Solomon, renowned for wisdom! Please, I cannot say. My gift fades with familiarity, and seldom responds to the commonplace, the mundane. In most things, I am no different from any other person.”
“Then, your advice—as a woman only, if not as a seer,” he rejoined, somewhat imploringly.
“Naturally, she requires a proper companion, firm but gentle,” said Elizabeth.
“Likely, an older woman, for Miss Darcy desperately needs a caring figure to advise and guide her. But if Mr. Darcy is truly concerned for her, at this moment in time when she teeters on the brink of womanhood, then he should marry—for a wife would become both a sister and mother, to love, cherish, and comfort her through the years ahead until she comes out and makes her own way in society.”
“You would order my life so casually?” Darcy scowled angrily. “Or have you a more devious intent?”
“Oh, begone with you, Mr. Darcy, do not concern yourself! Before having known you a month in Meryton, I knew you to be the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry! And Colonel, as a younger son of an earl, you cannot afford to marry without some attention to money. Whilst my dowry is adequate for a country gentleman, I believe you would not ask above fifty thousand pounds—certainly, you are in no danger from me.”
Elizabeth stood. “Good night, gentlemen, I will see Miss Darcy down to breakfast. Then, with luck, we can end this farce—I, to return to my noisy, improper family; the Colonel to his regiment; and Mr. Darcy, I wish you no ill, as yours, for certain, is the hardest course.”
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