Chapter 21 #2
I travelled yesterday to Longbourn, the last place I knew to be connected with my mother’s cousin, and I was told Miss Elizabeth Bennet had married you and Mr Bennet is currently staying with you in town. This is why I took the liberty of sending this note.
It is my greatest desire to rekindle family bonds; therefore, if you and Mrs Darcy approve, I would like to call and introduce myself.
I am prepared to present you with all the documents to prove my identity, my parents’ history, as well as my connection with Mrs Darcy’s mother.
I am renting a house in Grosvenor Street for the present. I shall add my address at the end of this note. I pray for a positive response from you very soon, and for the chance to meet.
Please accept my best regards. I shall be at your disposal for any other questions you may have.
TC.
Darcy read the letter, then put it down, then read it again, surprised and relieved by news that was so different from what he expected.
He had heard from Mr Gardiner that Elizabeth might have another cousin still living on her mother’s side, who had been sought but had proved impossible to find.
Could he have simply appeared all of a sudden, out of nowhere?
Still astonished by the extraordinary revelation, Darcy returned to the dining room, holding the letter in his good hand, facing his wife’s enquiring gaze.
“Not unpleasant news, I hope?” she asked, not taking her eyes from the piece of paper he clutched while he resumed his place at the table.
“I believe you should judge for yourself since the letter is mostly concerning you and Mr Bennet.”
“Me?” she repeated, her eyes wide.
“Yes.” He handed her the letter, which she took after a moment of hesitation; with a frown, she looked at it, then at Darcy.
“You should read it with Mr Bennet,” he encouraged.
Elizabeth unfolded the letter, staring at it, then she began to read it aloud. As she progressed, her voice trembled and her face became crimson.
“My mother’s cousin? Papa, did you know about her? Is she alive or not? I have a cousin? Mr Darcy, I hope you will not object to my seeing him. This is extraordinary,” she whispered, her tone altered by emotions.
“I remember Eleanor, of course,” Mr Bennet said, astonished as well. “She was about your mother’s age, and she married several years before we did. Colonel Crawford was the youngest son of Lord Brintoul, and the title pleased your mother’s family a great deal.”
“If you married at almost the same time, he must be about my age.”
“I think he might be older, maybe by four or five years. I do not remember exactly. I am afraid that after your mother…I had no further communication with them. This is shocking… Eleanor’s son is in England?
And he went to Longbourn? Dear Lord, I can imagine Frances’s response,” Mr Bennet mumbled, shaking his head, obviously agitated.
“Fitzwilliam, how will you answer him?” Elizabeth asked in a small voice, while her hand tightened on the single sheet of paper, trembling slightly.
“However you wish me to, Elizabeth. He is your relative, and if you share his desire to meet, I certainly have no objections.”
“Thank you, that would be wonderful! I so anticipate the pleasure of meeting him! Perhaps he might come tomorrow, so he can meet Papa too before he returns home?”
“Tomorrow we are going to the theatre,” Darcy reminded her, strangely annoyed by Elizabeth’s enthusiasm.
“I shall certainly invite him to visit, but the day after tomorrow. Besides, I would prefer to discuss this surprising letter with Mr Gardiner too. He should be present at this reunion since he knows all the details about our families.”
“You are right, of course,” Elizabeth answered, a shadow of disappointment crossing her features. He felt guilty for her despondency. “Will you still write to him now? Do you have the address? I wonder how he found me. Us. This is an extraordinary surprise, would you not agree?”
“I would. I shall reply immediately, and I shall send a servant to deliver it. He lives on Grosvenor Street, quite close to Bingley’s house.”
“Does he? That means rather close to our house too. What an amazing coincidence!”
Keeping to himself the thought that he also considered the coincidence a little too incredible, Darcy, loyal to his word, asked for paper and pen and wrote an invitation to be sent immediately.
Afterwards, dessert forgotten, Elizabeth hardly spoke of anything else, continually pressing her father for details about her mother’s cousin.
Her joy was in utter contrast to Mr Bennet’s distress; she asked many questions, yet he barely offered any answers.
She seemed to not sense her father’s discomfort or her sister’s polite, but almost absent, contributions to the conversation.
Soon enough, Mr Bennet proclaimed he was tired and withdrew for the night.
Elizabeth accompanied Miss Bennet to her chamber, chatting about the same subject.
Alone, Darcy retired to his room and took up pen and paper once more, this time to write Mr Gardiner a short note that would be sent early the next morning.
Suddenly he realised the day after tomorrow was the day he had set the appointment with Wickham to hand him his sister’s dowry, in the presence of Mr Gardiner and the other witnesses.
He paced the room, distracted, agitated, wondering how to resolve the dilemma.
He could not possibly postpone the meeting with Wickham, since it was long settled and involved two other solicitors besides Mr Gardiner.
However, delaying the visit of Elizabeth’s cousin would greatly disappoint her; she was so full of happy anticipation that he could not bear to sadden her.
Marston helped him to disrobe and inspected the wound and its dressing at length; after showing Darcy again where the tea, medicine, ice, and draughts were, his man finally retired.
He was still lost in his thoughts when a knock on the adjoining door startled him; as he was already dressed in his nightshirt, he struggled to put on his robe with one hand before inviting his wife in.
“Forgive me,” Elizabeth said, stepping through the door with apparent timidity but bright eyes. “I wanted to know whether you feel any discomfort in your arm…and to thank you…for inviting my cousin. I am so overjoyed that I still cannot believe it is true. A tie to my mother…”
“I thank you for your concern. I am well. But why would you thank me? This is your house, you are free to make your own decisions, and your family is always welcome. We have long agreed upon this.”
“Yes, you told me as much. But still…I see you are somehow uncomfortable. Do you suspect something might be wrong with my cousin?”
“Elizabeth, I have no reason for such suspicions. But of course, in order to protect you, I shall carry out thorough investigations into him — and I am sure Mr Gardiner will do the same. If all he said is true, and he is an honest, honourable man, he would be very welcome to the family.”
“I wonder what happened at Longbourn—how he was received… I am ashamed to admit it, but Papa seemed frightened of my stepmother’s response, seemingly anticipating the worst. She despises anything related to my mother, and I assume she was most displeased with this remembrance of the past.”
“I have come to appreciate your father and to enjoy his company,” Darcy said. “I find it hard to conceive that such an intelligent, witty, educated man might be led to such an extent by his wife’s influence.”
“Papa has always been weak where his marriage is concerned, or at least he chose comfort and tranquillity and avoided any conflict that might ruin that,” Elizabeth said.
“I cannot understand him, but I cannot judge him either as you know my own father was also affected by malicious influences, showing a weakness I never suspected and could not understand.”
“We both have good fathers, but they are not perfect,” Elizabeth concluded with a little smile.
“No, not perfect at all,” Darcy admitted. “Elizabeth, there is something of great importance that we must discuss.”
“Oh?”
“Please sit down a moment… About your cousin’s visit the day after tomorrow.”
“Yes?”
“I just realised before you knocked that it is the day when I shall meet Mr Gardiner and the other solicitors to complete the transaction that involves your fortune. It is an urgent matter, arranged long ago, and it cannot be postponed.”
“Oh…” she repeated in a lower voice.
“What do you suggest we should do?” he enquired.
“Do? We? What do you mean? You should not alter your plans for me! I shall be at home to visitors, and I shall have Jane and Papa with me. We shall receive Mr Crawford together. You may join us when you complete your business, or you may meet him on a later occasion.”
She spoke with a determination that took him by surprise. He had not considered that she might be introduced to the stranger without him being present. That she would be willing to do so. But of course, it sounded like a reasonable compromise, and, as much as he disliked it, he could not oppose it.
“Very well. We shall follow this plan, Elizabeth. I pray your meeting will provide you with as much pleasure as you anticipate.”
“I am sure it will. And I pray that once you complete your transaction, you will find a little peace and will not be so distressed and anxious all the time.”
She stood up to return to her own room, then stilled.
“Fitzwilliam, speaking about family meetings…I know I have said it before, but I hope to meet your sister very soon.”
“I also hope you will,” he answered, his heart heavy, while she said goodnight and closed the door behind herself.