Chapter 15. Mr Darcy’s Happy Days #2
Upon receipt of a letter with permission from Mr Gardiner, and with an elderly woman’s agreement to act as chaperone, Mr Darcy did escort Miss Elizabeth Bennet home to Gracechurch Street on the last day of August. That morning began with Henry Jones appearing at the parsonage and Charlotte was surprised to find the farm boy at her door.
“Miss Elizabeth will not be walking today,” she reminded him. “This is the morning she leaves us.”
“Yes, Mrs Collins, but I wanted to say goodbye to the Miss,” the boy replied.
“Here, here,” interrupted the parson coming to the door to see who was calling so early. It was almost time for him to walk to Rosings Park for his daily conversations with Lady Catherine. Seeing one of the local farm boys, his face showed his irritation as he asked, “What is this boy doing here?
“Mr Collins, for the last month, Mr Jones has escorted your cousin all through the parks and meadows,” Charlotte explained.
“Do we have to pay him?” asked the pastor nervously.
At that moment, Henry Jones took a step toward being an adult because he bowed to the pastor and said, “Mr Collins, sir, Miss Bennet paid me a penny ev’ry day t’ walk with her, show her th’ best paths and bring her back to your house safe. I chased th’ ducks and defeated th’ deadly boxwoods.”
“Ducks and boxwoods?” Mr Collins asked.
But before he could ask any more questions, there was a great deal of noise outside the parsonage as a large carriage arrived and stopped.
The carriage door opened, and Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy stepped down to the gravel in front of the house.
Mr Collins deserted his wife and Henry Jones to attend to Lady Catherine’s nephew.
“Mr Darcy! You do my house great honour by coming to call!”
“Good morning, Mr Collins. Are you not late calling on Lady Catherine this morning?” Darcy asked.
“No…I am never late calling on Lady Catherine,” Collins assured the tall man.
Charlotte lay one hand on Henry’s shoulder and asked, “Mr Jones, will you go with me to retrieve Miss Elizabeth and her trunk?”
“Sure, Mrs Collins,” the boy replied before climbing the stairs and dashing down the hall to the door he knew to be Miss Elizabeth’s chamber.
Charlotte climbed the stairs without as much noise but with a smile on her face as her husband continued to explain to Mr Darcy about Lady Catherine’s plans for the forthcoming wedding.
Henry Jones and a chambermaid wrestled the single trunk down the stairs where Darcy’s footman took the trunk out the carriage.
“Mr Darcy? What is the meaning of this?” asked Mr Collins in confusion, seeing his cousin’s trunk being loaded onto the great man’s carriage.
“Collins, I am returning to London today and with Mrs Langton as chaperone, I offered to provide Miss Bennet with transportation to Mr Gardiner’s house in town.”
“Sir, you do my family a great favour!” Collins replied but Darcy paid little attention to the parson. He watched Elizabeth descend from above stairs in her usual day dress, with a bonnet upon her head, and a smile for him.
At the bottom of the stairs, Elizabeth bent to kiss the cheek of Henry Jones, thanking him for his daily escort, hugged Charlotte and thanked her again for playing hostess for a month, and finally she curtsied to Mr Collins with thanks for the hospitality of his house.
“Cousin Elizabeth, be certain to be on your best behaviour in Mr Darcy’s presence today,” Mr Collins stressed. “He does us a great favour.”
“Yes, Mr Collins,” Elizabeth replied.
“Come Elizabeth,” Mrs Collins said leading her friend from the house. “Allow me to introduce you to Mrs Langton who will ride with you into London.”
The elderly woman bobbed her head to the young Miss Bennet when introduced but her attention remained focused on the biscuits provided by Lady Catherine’s kitchens that morning.
Elizabeth noted the presence of Mr Darcy’s valet in the carriage also.
Behind the carriage, a stable boy rode a single horse.
“You appear to be missing a horse, sir,” she observed.
“Zeus will remain at Rosings until Colonel Fitzwilliam travels to London after the wedding. He needs the exercise of riding to burn off the fires my aunt continually lights in his belly,” Darcy said in a confidential tone.
Elizabeth and Charlotte exchanged glances though Mr Collins failed to understand the man’s meaning.
“Come along, Miss Elizabeth, we must be on the road to arrive in London this afternoon,” Darcy said, offering his hand to Elizabeth and helping her into the carriage. Before he climbed inside, he turned back to Henry Jones and shook hands with the boy.
“My compliments to your father and mother, Mr Jones,” Darcy said as he handed a handkerchief to the boy. “You are a credible son.”
“Thank you, sir,” Henry replied, stuffing the weighted handkerchief into a pocket.
Mr and Mrs Collins waved goodbye as the coach pulled away from the parsonage.
“How is Mrs Langton to return?” Mr Collins asked as an afterthought.
“Mr Darcy will house her in his home tonight and pay for her place on a stagecoach tomorrow,” Charlotte explained. “He is a kind and generous gentleman.”
“Of course, he is my dear,” Mr Collins replied. “Lady Catherine’s family members are all that is goodness and kindness!”
Charlotte smiled at her husband and said, “Now, hurry my dear. You do not want to be late arriving at Rosings Park. Lady Catherine will have much to say today about the wedding. Have you planned the wording for the banns you must pronounce beginning this Sunday?”
Once Mr Collins disappeared on the road toward the manor house, Charlotte turned to Henry and asked, “What did Mr Darcy give you, Henry?”
The boy replied, “He gave me a handkerchief.”
“Let us look inside,” Charlotte said as the boy pulled out the handkerchief and untied it.
“Lordy, Mrs Collins, look!” Henry announced with excitement. In the boy’s hand were a dozen pennies and several shillings. “It’s a fortune!”
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Life for Charlotte Lucas continued with the regularity of schedules.
Washing, ironing, cleaning, baking; each was assigned a particular day of the week.
Sunday sermons were the highlight of her week because she was able to meet and greet the wives of workmen, farmers and merchants.
With the return of Mr Lincoln and preparations for the wedding occurring, her presence at Rosings Park in the evenings was required frequently and so often that Mr Collins mentioned that she should obtain a new dress for the upcoming wedding.
“Yes, Mr Collins,” she replied, knowing a new dress hung in her closet beside two remade dresses; Elizabeth had provided lessons on sewing that Charlotte determined she would pass along to any daughter she bore in the coming years.
With Elizabeth absent, Mrs Collins made certain to impose herself frequently on her husband, sending him off in the mornings with a kiss on the cheek; she was determined to become pregnant before Christmas.
After calling the banns from his pulpit for three weeks in September, Mr Collins performed the wedding ceremony that united Mr Lincoln with Miss Anne de Bourgh early on the Tuesday morning immediately following the third Sunday.
Lady Catherine’s mood was sour that day; none of her relations attended but for Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, her brother’s ‘spare’.
And following the wedding breakfast, her disappointments multiplied when she was informed by her nephew, Colonel Fitzwilliam, that ‘Her Ladyship’ would not be joining the newlyweds on their honeymoon.
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In London, Elizabeth remembered the day in the carriage with Mr Darcy fondly as the month of September passed slowly. She did write to Georgiana every other day and Uncle Gardiner shared the letters he received from Mr Darcy in the parlour before supper.
And equally important, Elizabeth spent time with Charlie each day, helping to change his swaddling clothes, rock him to sleep, and play with him. The other Gardiner children visited with the babe each day and Elizabeth read them stories, played songs for them, and sewed new clothes for her cousins.
When October arrived, Georgiana Darcy called at Gracechurch Street the first morning at the earliest appropriate time.
Her brother just happened to be available that morning to escort her for the call on her good friend, Elizabeth Bennet.
Mrs Gardiner and Elizabeth took Miss Georgiana above stairs to see Charlie in the nursery with the other children; Georgiana had thought to bring candies for the Gardiner children as well as for the two daughters of the wet nurse.
“He is growing so quickly,” Georgiana told Mrs Gardiner who held the babe gently but firmly.
“He likes to wiggle a bit too,” explained the babe’s mother.
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Below stairs, Mr Darcy inquired with Mr Gardiner if he could have a private moment with Miss Elizabeth, and when the ladies came down, Mr Gardiner escorted his niece to the classroom at the back of the house and then returned to the parlour.
Georgiana giggled the entire time she waited with the Gardiners for the couple to appear.
Standing before Mr Darcy in the classroom where her cousins received instruction on reading and sums, Elizabeth felt as though they were the only two people in all of existence. The gentleman thought no woman in the world had ever been more beautiful than his Elizabeth at that moment.
“Miss Elizabeth…” he began, paused, and began again, “Elizabeth, in the last year I have grown to admire your mind and your spirit. This spring and summer, I have fallen completely and irrevocable in love with you. I want you and no other as my wife.”
He knelt on one knee and said, “Tell me you will marry me.”
Her face grew even more beautiful as her eyes came alive with her love for him, and Elizabeth stepped closer, taking Mr Darcy’s hands in her own, before saying, “William, I want to be your wife. Yes, I shall marry you.”