Chapter 6 Escape #2
Mr. Collins's proposal was long. It went on and on.
Elizabeth tried to interject a couple of times, but he paid her no mind.
He elaborated on various practical benefits of their supposed union, with the most significant one being the prospect of his esteemed patroness gracing their home post-wedding.
Elizabeth did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Eventually, when he paused for a breath, Elizabeth extended her gratitude for the honour of his proposal and expressed her firm refusal, asserting that they were unsuitable partners.
To her horror, Mr. Collins dismissed her rejection, asserting that it was customary for young ladies to decline an offer they intended to secretly accept. She was infuriated.
What does he take me for? Does he think of me as a woman who frivolously toys with men's affections?
In the end, she had to vehemently reject his advances thrice before penetrating his stubborn conviction that she would never welcome his proposal.
Utterly drained and vexed, she hastily left the room, only to run into her mother's embrace, who was impatiently waiting to celebrate their presumed engagement.
God! The drama is going to begin now. I shall never hear the end of this.
Darcy
As the carriage left the Netherfield gates, Darcy's gaze fixated on the direction of Longbourn. No, it is for the best. I must move on from her.
Bingley’s sisters and Hurst had departed earlier. Darcy had firmly refused their offer to travel together. The last thing he desired was to be confined with Miss Bingley in a carriage for three hours.
Once the carriage left the town of Meryton behind, he reclined in his seat, releasing a heartfelt sigh. Heavens, how can I ever forget her?
Years down the line, after enduring myriad heartaches, pain, and loneliness, he would reflect upon this as the day when he committed the gravest mistake of his life.
At eight and twenty, affluent and esteemed, he stood at the zenith of marriageable age.
He had moved in society for six years, bathed in attention from various quarters, yet never encountering a woman who could touch his soul.
And when he finally discovered one, what did he do?
Instead of fighting for her, instead of loving her with the profound affection only the Darcys could proffer, he ran away.
He concealed himself behind irrational expectations of duty, an inflated sense of self-importance, and immaterial matters that, deep down, even he held no true regard for.
Even after knowing that the solitary woman who possessed his heart was coveted by another man—an unsuitable man who could take away everything about her that he held dear, who could make her miserable for the rest of her earthly existence—he fled.
In the days to come, he would come to learn that numerous factors, unbeknownst to him, had played a role in his enduring pains and heartaches.
Indeed, anyone learning about what he will be going through over the forthcoming years might decry the unfairness of it all.
They would bemoan the cruelty of fate that will subject him to suffering even when he hadn’t done anything to merit it.
Yet, he had contributed, by this act of cowardice, when he failed to summon the fortitude to fight for his heart when he had the chance.
Colonel Forster
That evening, Colonel Forster conveyed to each and every one of his subordinates the necessity to prepare for their relocation to Brighton in three months. Following that, he summoned Captain Carter to join him in his office for a private conversation.
Colonel Forster easily saw through Officer Wickham's lies.
It was evident that Officer Wickham would be a problem and must be dealt with.
However, they couldn't take action against him based on Mr. Darcy's letter alone.
What they needed was solid evidence of actual misdeeds.
And Captain Carter was the ideal man to gather such information.
Wickham was under close surveillance from the next day onwards.
Mrs. Hill
Mrs. Teresa Hill entered her master's study with a stack of letters tightly grasped in her hand.
She knew what would happen next, for she was intimately familiar with the master's habits by this time.
After all, she had faithfully served as the housekeeper for the Bennets for the past eight and twenty years.
Her master raised his head from the book he was reading. She could see that it was a different book from the one he was reading the day before. Holy God, has he already finished that big tome he was reading yesterday?
"Sir, these are your letters for today, four in total," she placed the letters on the table.
“Anything from brother Gardiner?” he inquired.
“No, sir,” she replied, swiftly scanning the array of envelopes on the desk.
“Anything from Mr. Hatchard? I had requested for a volume of Colonel Gurwood’s book on Wellington,” he queried once more.
She carefully searched through the envelopes to discover the letter sealed with the distinctive Hatchard mark and handed it over.
“Hmm, what about the others?” he asked, struggling to open the envelope with his bare hands.
She retrieved a small pair of scissors from the nearby side table and handed it to him before going over the remaining envelopes in front of her.
“This is from Mr. Thompson and this one is from Mr. Alphones. The last one bears the name of Mr. Darcy,” she read the name on the envelopes.
“Hmm, the first two pertain to investments in which I have no interest. You may dispose of them. Keep the one from Mr. Darcy on the side table. I will peruse it later. For now, my attention is solely on this,” he gestured towards the letter from Hatchard clutched in his hand.
She did what was asked. The letters from Mr. Thompson and Mr. Alphones were discarded into the bin. She carefully placed the missive from Mr. Darcy atop the stack of unopened letters on the side table.
As the days unfurled into weeks and the weeks stretched into months, the letter from Mr. Darcy languished in the forgotten depths of the stack that fell under the "I will read later" category.
It lay concealed beneath a mound of similar letters, neglected and overlooked, until one fateful day, five months down the line, a panicked Elizabeth desperately searched for it.
The message in that letter, hidden and overlooked for months, was finally delivered to the intended recipient.
By then, it was too late.
Elizabeth
Elizabeth sat on her bed, seeking solace from her mother. Thank you papa.
To her immense relief, her father stood by her decision to decline Mr. Collins's proposal. Her mother, in turn, vowed to never speak with her—a small price to pay in exchange for avoiding a lifetime with Mr. Collins.
As she sat there thinking, Jane rushed into their chamber and collapsed onto her bed. He was clutching a letter in her hand. Elizabeth saw that her sister was in tears and she instantly understood everything.
Mr. Bingley has gone away. His sisters and Mr. Darcy have done what I was dreading.
She snatched the letter from Jane's grasp to read it in full. It was easy for her to see that the letter was filled with falsehoods. There was simply no conceivable way that Mr. Bingley could be infatuated with Miss Darcy, who was a mere girl of Fifteen.
Oh Jane, Mr. Bingley has no knowledge of this letter whatsoever. It is entirely the work of his sisters and Mr. Darcy.
She was certain that Mr. Bingley was in love with Jane. So she pleaded with Jane to continue believing in her love.
Jane chose to remain within their chamber for the rest of the day, citing a headache.
Their mother, unsurprisingly, was angered upon learning about Mr. Bingley's departure from Netherfield.
Losing two potential sons-in-law within a single day fueled her irritation, and Elizabeth inevitably became the target of her frustration.
She was held responsible for everything.
Mr. Collins never returned that day. He walked out after his declined proposal together with Charlotte, so Elizabeth was spared of his presence.
That night, Elizabeth and Jane talked long into the night. Elizabeth made a valiant effort to ensure that Jane kept on believing in Mr. Bingley and the love they shared. She also discussed her own difficulties and shared the absurd proposal she had received from Mr. Collins.
"Do you know, Jane, I made the mistake of not keeping count.
It was an excessively long proposal, far too lengthy for the sake of my sanity.
However, what struck me was that he mentioned Lady Catherine's name more frequently than he mentioned mine.
He even mentioned someone named Mrs. Jenkinson, whoever she is, who was seemingly adjusting Miss De Bourgh's footstool when Lady Catherine instructed him to select a wife from his own cousins.
His proposal could have been amusing if it weren't aimed directly at me," said Elizabeth.
“How did he react when papa declined to interfere?” asked Jane.
“I don’t know. I ran away outside. Mama was making it difficult for me to stay inside. But I distinctly heard him saying that I will never receive another proposal in my life,” replied Elizabeth.
Jane was stunned. How could someone say that to a lady?
“I can’t say whether it is going to be the only proposal I receive in my life, Jane. But I can at least say this. Mr. Collins' proposal will be the worst one I receive in my life,” concluded Elizabeth.
Time will teach her just how mistaken she is.
Saturday, November 30, 1811
Darcy house, Grosvenor Square, London
Darcy
Darcy needed one look at Bingley’s countenance to realize that Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst already had their conversation. Bingley was really struggling. For an ever cheerful man, he was evidently in a state of deep inner turmoil.