Chapter 21
Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr Darcy called at the Gardiners’ house to inform those who knew the wastrel of the arrest of George Wickham and his transfer to Newgate Prison.
Those who had experienced the way he loved to brag to impress others were not surprised he had admitted to the two murders he had committed.
The two men explained that aside from themselves, five soldiers, all with unimpeachable characters, had heard Wickham confess, so none of his lies would make a difference to his eventual end.
As the man would never be free again, Elizabeth thought it was amusing that Mr Darcy had informed the despicable man who had initiated his downfall.
When she heard how the man had attempted to sully Anna’s name to gain a measure of revenge against Mr Darcy, she had been furious at Mr Wickham.
However, knowing that the colonel and his men had nipped the dastardly plan in the bud satisfied her.
Mr Darcy had told them that, had his sister been hurt by the criminal, then Wickham’s revenge would have been complete indeed. Thankfully, now that would not happen.
The next morning a convoy of coaches departed from outside of the Gardiners’ house. Hadlock’s coach was one, as he and Jane had spoken and decided that it was time to inform the Bennet parents of their courtship.
Elizabeth did not need much encouragement to ride in the Darcy conveyance again.
Like before, they were joined by Maria, who had become somewhat close to Anna since leaving Rosings Park.
The Carrington sisters had been disappointed that they were not travelling with their brother, so they would not be able to meet the other three Bennet sisters yet.
As the Darcy coachman had driven to and from Meryton several times, the Darcy carriage led the convoy.
As would be expected, Jane was riding in her suitor’s equipage, accompanied by Aunt Maddie and Uncle Edward, so all proprieties were observed. Jane had not admitted it to anyone yet, not even Lizzy, but she had slowly but surely fallen in love with Jamey.
The third coach in the convoy contained three Fitzwilliams and Charlotte Collins.
The latter, who was interested in military manoeuvres, was having an interesting conversation with Colonel Fitzwilliam.
Behind them was the de Bourgh carriage, which, as soon as it was confirmed Mr Bennet was the heir, would be left at Longbourn.
In the lead carriage, Maria and Anna chattered away happily while Mrs Annesley rested against the squabs. Darcy was seated opposite Miss Elizabeth, trying, but not always succeeding, at keeping their legs from brushing now and again.
Each time their legs touched, and Elizabeth was certain it was accidental, she felt her cheeks heat.
When did she become this person who continually blushed?
She had to concentrate on something else to be able to school her features.
“Your uncle mentioned that you discovered the letter about our possible ties to the de Bourghs by chance when you were at your estate. Was it the only one you discovered?”
“It was not. There were letters for Anna and me as well. They are from both of our parents. Our mother’s first one to my sister helped remove some of the guilt she carried, believing that she had caused our mother’s passing.
Both my late father and I assured her that was not the case, but there was always some doubt on her part.
Mother’s letter told Anna about how she had been told never to bear another child after me, but she had been determined.
Anna discovered that she was in no way responsible for our mother going to her final reward, so that particular self-imposed burden has been lifted from her shoulders.
She was also very excited to hear directly from our mother, whom she had never met,” Darcy related quietly so as not to disturb his sister and her new friend.
“Were the letters to you enlightening?” Elizabeth asked.
As she asked the question, she remembered how she had thought Mr Darcy dishonourable.
Of all the ridiculous things she accused him, that was the farthest from the truth.
Had he been that man, all he would have had to do was destroy the letter the late Sir Lewis wrote.
The estate would have returned to the crown, but he could have made sure it did not become the property of the Bennets which, given the vitriolic way she had rejected him, could have been the motivation to do so.
No, this man, whose company she was beginning to enjoy, was anything but dishonourable.
“They were,” Darcy replied. “Both of my late parents wrote things which showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions. They told me what they truly want for me, and I am afraid had they seen the man I was on my way to becoming, they would not have been proud of me.”
“Surely you are too severe upon yourself. Both of us seem to be making changes for the better. In some ways, my behaviour was worse than yours.”
“Do you know that even while I travelled to Pemberley to lick my wounds, I was still telling myself that, other than with regard to Bingley and the way I insulted you, I had behaved like a gentleman? I went over your words in my head. You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first but most advantageous, which I eventually began to learn and take to heart. By you, I was properly humbled. What my parents wrote did not refute your words; rather, they agreed with them.” Darcy shook his head as he remembered how blind to his own faults he had been.
“Between what you and Jane wrote to me; I too was humbled. Look at the two of us, living in the past when we agreed to begin again,” Elizabeth teased to lighten the sombre mood which had settled between them.
Darcy could see the difference between how she was teasing him now and the manner she had done so at Netherfield Park.
She had disguised it well then, but there had been rancour in her words—something that he had been blind to at the time.
Seeing that this jesting was done from a place of friendship made Darcy smile so wide that it displayed both of his dimples.
‘Oh my! He is always handsome but devastatingly so when he smiles. And those dimples! He needs to smile more,’ Elizabeth thought as her breath hitched.
“You have the right of it, Miss Elizabeth. As we have indeed agreed to begin again, I will endeavour to leave the past where it belongs, in the past,” Darcy promised.
He felt the coach slow. “We are approaching the Blue Parrot Inn. We will refresh ourselves here, and then it is only about two hours to Meryton once we depart.”
As she had agreed to, from the inn Elizabeth joined Jane, the Gardiners, and Jamey—as he had asked her to call him before their departure—in the Hadlock coach for the final two hours before they reached Longbourn.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Bennet had just returned from his largest tenant’s farm, where Nellie had just pulled a Tullian Drill to that Bennet had purchased.
Being the tenant with the most area of fields, Ogilvy would use it first, and then by the size of their farms, the other tenants would be next.
If it helped improve the yields like Bennet expected, he would invest in another, and possibly two, before the next spring planting.
As Jethro Tull[5] had invented the drill at the beginning of the previous century, Bennet was ashamed that he had not purchased one as soon as he became master of the estate. His late father had not invested in one because he was married to the old ways.
Ogilvy had been extremely excited when Bennet delivered the new implement.
Bennet knew the other tenants felt the same way.
Not only would the seed drill save on wasted seed and increase yields, but it would speed up the planting process as well.
He had ridden back to the manor house on his gelding, leading Nellie behind him.
He was leaving the stables when he saw four rather expensive-looking coaches arriving in his drive.
Bennet reached the front of the house as the lead conveyance came to a halt.
By the time the final one had stopped, he had been joined by his wife and Mary.
Kitty and Lydia were in the school room with Miss Jones, the spinster sister of the doctor-apothecary in Meryton.
When it had become known they were looking for a governess-companion, Jones had suggested his sister.
She had been working at Longbourn for almost a fortnight.
“Brother?” Fanny exclaimed when she saw Edward alight from the second conveyance and then hand out Maddie.
She was so focused on that vehicle that Fanny did not notice Mr Darcy or Maria Lucas exit the first coach.
She watched as an unknown man handed down Jane and then Lizzy.
Fanny ignored everyone else and ran towards her second daughter, her arms opened wide.
Elizabeth was not used to open displays of affection from her mother. Hence, she did not know what to make of what was happening. Mamma pulled her into a hug, ignoring Jane and everyone else who had arrived, and was hugging her as tightly as she had ever been hugged.
“My clever girl. Your letter saved us all.” Fanny would have said more, but she saw Thomas shake his head. Rather than speak, she kissed each of Lizzy’s cheeks.
When Elizabeth looked at Jane, all her older sister could do was shrug her shoulders telling her that, like Elizabeth did not understand what had caused Mamma’s reaction, neither did Jane.
“We should enter the house rather than standing about outside,” Bennet suggested.
Everyone followed his wife and middle daughter into the house.
“Mrs Collins, if I may.” He requested as Charlotte Collins was about to enter the house.
“You have my condolences on the passing of your husband. If the loss of Longbourn contributed to his death, then I…”