Chapter Ten
The following morning, after a surprisingly restful night’s sleep, Darcy discovered that decisions had apparently been made after he retired. Mrs Gardiner planned to remain at Longbourn with her children, Mary and Kitty, and Mr Gardiner would accompany Jane and Elizabeth to Brighton with Darcy.
They should be able to reach Brighton in a day, even though it was some eighty miles from Longbourn with London in between.
Darcy’s funds would be quite sufficient to secure them teams of fresh horses at every rest stop, meaning they should be able to make ten miles an hour at least and likely better, with good firm roads, and with the long summer days they would reach Brighton no later than five in the afternoon. Or so Darcy hoped, at any rate.
Sitting beside Mr Gardiner and opposite Elizabeth, Darcy was able to watch her to his heart’s content, all while pretending to observe the scenery passing by outside the carriage window.
Conversing with Jane, Elizabeth regularly turned to him and her uncle to include them in the conversation.
Since she was regaling Jane with stories about her travels in Derbyshire and extolling the beauties of that county, Darcy was more than pleased to join in.
“I am glad you had the opportunity to tour Chatsworth,” he remarked as Elizabeth began to talk about that great house. “It is said that my great-grandfather used the house as a model for Pemberley when he had it designed.”
“Indeed, one can observe some similarities,” Mr Gardiner agreed, “though Pemberley has a beauty all of its own.”
“Oh, yes,” Elizabeth said. “I have never seen a house so happily situated, so much in harmony with its surroundings; I wish you had been there, Jane!”
“Perhaps you would care to visit next year,” Darcy said impulsively.
Three heads turned, expressions of astonishment directed his way.
Darcy swallowed. He had been thinking that if he could somehow convince Elizabeth to change her opinion of him and become his wife, then it would be the pleasantest thing imaginable to have the Gardiners visit next summer, and perhaps bring Jane with them.
“You had to cut your holiday short, sir,” he said to Mr Gardiner, trying not to look at Elizabeth, “which is a very great shame, and if you are able to resume it next year, I insist that you and any of the Bennet family who accompany you must be my guests at Pemberley.”
“That is a handsome offer indeed, Mr Darcy,” Mr Gardiner said, “but let us see how this little jaunt turns out before we plan any further expeditions.”
“Of course, of course.” Relieved that he had somehow created a plausible reason for the invitation, Darcy sat back in his seat and bit on the inside of his cheek, hoping to keep from blurting out anything else which would reveal his true state of mind.
Elizabeth, however, was watching him with those too-knowing eyes of hers, one eyebrow arched with quizzical amusement. As he met her gaze, Darcy felt the colour flood to his cheeks. She knows. Easing a finger into his suddenly too tight cravat, he sought for some more air.
A small smile touched Elizabeth’s lips before she looked away again, and Darcy once again dared to hope.
They made quite excellent time to Brighton, arriving at around half-past four, and Darcy was relieved to find that the rider he had dispatched directly from Pemberley had been able to secure comfortable lodgings for them in the same hotel where Mr and Mrs Bennet had taken rooms.
“The Bennets are not here at present, begging your pardon, sir.” The hotelier was obsequious in his apologies.
“Perhaps we shall meet them at our mutual friends’ home, then,” Mr Gardiner said. “We shall refresh ourselves first, I think.” He gave Jane and Elizabeth, who were obviously eager to see their parents and Lydia, a stern look.
Darcy silently agreed with Gardiner. Rushing straight back out would raise questions they did not particularly want asked, and the sisters obviously understood even if they did not care for the fact.
“Shall we reconvene here in an hour, then, Uncle?” Elizabeth asked, and Darcy and Mr Gardiner quickly acquiesced. Maids came to show them to their rooms, footmen to carry their trunks and bring hot water for washing. Before Elizabeth turned to follow her maid, though, she looked up at Darcy.
“Thank you,” she said quietly, “for making it possible for us to get here so quickly, Mr Darcy. I do not know what we should have done without you, but I am very certain we would not yet be here, in a position to offer help and comfort where it is needed.”
“It is my honour to assist you, Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy said with a bow, touched by her words. “In any way you need.”
She favoured him with a warm smile before following the maid, leaving him with his heart pounding in his chest and his face flushed. Mr Gardiner gave him an amused glance but said nothing, for which Darcy was exceptionally grateful.
They reconvened in the hotel lobby, an elegantly appointed room with a number of casual couches scattered about, an hour later.
Darcy had come down first and inquired with the hotelier whether the Forster house was within easy walking distance, or if he should have his carriage brought around.
He hoped not; his driver was quite exhausted after the trip, not to mention the horses who were probably nose-deep in their feed buckets by now.
“Oh no, sir, that’s only a five minute walk from here,” the hotelier examined the address Darcy handed him on a piece of paper. “Through a very pleasant neighbourhood, too. Please, allow me to write down the directions.”
The man was just handing the paper back to Darcy when Jane and Elizabeth arrived, followed a scant minute later by Mr Gardiner.
The ladies had changed into fresh gowns and looked much refreshed, though Darcy fancied he could discern from a certain tenseness to Elizabeth’s stance that she would not be able to relax until she had seen for herself that Lydia was safe and well.
“I have directions here,” he said, brandishing the paper, “and Mr Jones here assures me it is a pleasant walk of only a few minutes’ duration.”
“A walk of any length would be welcome, after such a long day in the carriage,” Elizabeth said at once.
“Not that it isn’t an exceptionally comfortable carriage, of course, Mr Darcy!” Jane exclaimed, nudging her sister, and Elizabeth laughed self-deprecatingly.
“Indeed, I should not complain.”
“I take no insult, I assure you, Miss Elizabeth.” Gallantly, Darcy offered her his arm. “The opportunity to stretch my legs is most welcome.”
She gave him that warm smile again before tucking her gloved hand comfortably into the crook of his arm, and he wondered how on earth he had been so blind before his disastrous proposal at Hunsford.
The smiles she favoured him with now were very different than the distantly polite and formal ones he had received then.
Mr Gardiner offered his arm to Jane, of course, and they proceeded out of the hotel and down to the sea front, the first part of the hotelier’s directions. Both Misses Bennet wished to pause for a minute and look at the water, and neither Darcy nor Mr Gardiner were averse to indulging them.
“If only I was not so worried, I am sure I should enjoy the sight much more,” Jane sighed, and Elizabeth nodded.
“All will be well, my dears,” Mr Gardiner said reassuringly. “I have not the slightest doubt of it, and then you shall be able to consider this a little holiday. Perhaps you will even be able to convince my sister to try sea-bathing.”
“Oh, I have no doubt Mama should be delighted,” Elizabeth said rather flatly, and Darcy had to firmly suppress the urge to pat her on the hand. They would just have to hope that Mrs Bennet had, against all the odds, gained a sense of the seriousness of Lydia’s situation.
Mrs Forster did not look in the least surprised to see them when the housemaid showed them into her parlour. Mrs Bennet, however, leaped to her feet with a shriek of delight and embraced both her eldest daughters with a fervour neither of them returned.
“Jane, Lizzy, thank goodness! And my dear brother! Oh, Edward, I am so relieved you are here!”
“There, there, Fanny.” Mr Gardiner adroitly resettled Mrs Bennet in her chair, though she popped right back up again when her gaze fell on Mr Darcy.
“Mr Darcy!” Her eyes and mouth were wide with shock.
“Mr Darcy was kind enough to speed our journey from Derbyshire, and to bring Jane along when we left Madeline at Longbourn with the children,” Mr Gardiner advised.
“Well, that is most gentlemanly of you, I must say.” Mrs Bennet sounded astonished.
Darcy stifled a smile and bowed over her hand. “I am delighted to have been of assistance, Mrs Bennet.”
“Well.” The lady did not seem to know quite what to say. It was Elizabeth who spoke next, coming straight to the point.
“Where is Lydia, Mama?”
“Why, she will be back at any moment... she just went to refresh herself after dinner. We dined with her fiancé tonight, such a personable young man!” Mrs Bennet beamed. “And I understand he is your near relation, Mr Darcy!”
Darcy blinked. “I beg your pardon?” he said in chilly tones.
“Wickham is certainly no relation of mine, whatever he might claim.” He could not believe Wickham had the gall to claim an actual relationship.
.. had he dared say he was a brother born on the wrong side of the blanket?
Darcy would shoot him dead if he had let such words slip from his lips.
Frankly, he couldn’t believe Mr Bennet had allowed the engagement to go ahead. ..
“Good Lord, not Wickham!“ Mrs Bennet looked aghast. “Did you not, then, receive your cousin’s letter before departing Pemberley? I assumed that was why you were here!”
“My cousin?“ Darcy only had three cousins, Anne de Bourgh and the two sons of his uncle, the Earl of Matlock.
“Why, yes! Colonel Fitzwilliam!”
He could not quite put together what Mrs Bennet was saying, couldn’t make the pieces fit into something that made sense. He felt Elizabeth’s hand on his arm and sat down beside her on a couch at her subtle urging.
“I don’t think we have all the information here, Fanny,” Mr Gardiner said in what Darcy considered quite a remarkable understatement.
“All we know is what Thomas wrote in his letters to Jane, which were sadly thin on details. Obviously the, uh, situation with Wickham was averted.” He shot a sideways glance at Mrs Forster, who rose unhurriedly to her feet.
“If you will excuse me, I will go and see if I can find Lydia. No doubt she will be delighted to see her sisters.”
Mrs Forster knew exactly what was going on, Darcy realised, but she had the good sense and discretion to excuse herself. His estimation of the young woman rose a notch.
Elizabeth managed to contain herself until the door closed behind Mrs Forster, and then she burst out, “Mama, please start from the beginning. We have had an exhausting and distressing few days, worrying about Lydia.”
“Lydia,” Mrs Bennet said in a rather tart tone, “appears to have the happy knack of landing on her feet like a cat. I was quite displeased when I heard of her hare-brained scheme to run off to Scotland with Wickham! Why, it is not the done thing at all. And it turns out that Mr Wickham was not at all what we thought him, either; he has debts from here to Derbyshire! I must apologise for misjudging you, Mr Darcy,” she turned to him.
“Mr Wickham was terribly convincing with his tales of woe, but your cousin has apprised us of the true version of events regarding the living Wickham claimed he was owed. Shocking, most shocking!”
“So Fitzwilliam is here,“ Darcy said. His cousin was one of very few who knew the full details of that matter and could have set Mrs Bennet straight.
“Didn’t I say so? Why, Mr Darcy, we owe Colonel Fitzwilliam more thanks than we can ever repay, for not only did he intercept Wickham in the very act of eloping with Lydia, he then offered for her himself!”