Chapter 1
Darcy
Fitzwilliam Darcy felt both trepidation and eagerness as he and a small party travelled through Meryton and were now just a mile away from Longbourn. He needed his meeting with Elizabeth’s father to go well, because it would be years before she would be of age.
His feeling of unease centred around all the things he had been told about Mr Bennet.
Elizabeth said her father teased “endlessly” and hinted that he was irresponsible and indecisive.
Gardiner claimed he was shrewd but lazy and that he had made little effort to run his estate, raise his children, or protect his family.
Despite all that negativity about the country squire, Darcy could not help but think that no man in England, particularly no shrewd man, would refuse a match with a Darcy, especially if his daughter herself wished for the match.
He did not feel as if he were overly proud to think that there was no good reason not to welcome him to the family.
Darcy rode his white thoroughbred, named Gulltoppr for its golden mane, and Georgiana, Elizabeth, Georgiana’s companion, and her lady’s maid rode in the first carriage.
Darcy’s valet and footmen rode in his second carriage, and Bingley’s carriage conveyed him, his valet, and two footmen.
Bingley planned to utilise Netherfield’s servants for the house, and he had left his most luxurious carriage for his sisters, who were to attend a house party at the Hurst estate before coming on to Netherfield later, in the beginning of September.
When Darcy had informed Elizabeth that there was room for her lady’s maid in the carriage, she had replied that she did not have one. Darcy had been embarrassed that he had not even considered that a possibility.
Her eyes had twinkled as she smiled sweetly and teased him, “You must know, sir, that not every gently born person in the land has dozens of servants waiting upon him from birth. You likely had servants holding your silver rattle and cashmere slobbering bibs, I imagine? Your own pony at age three, perhaps, along with one stablehand to lead the horse and a second stablehand to hold you in the saddle? Surely your own valet at age five, along with nurses and nursery governesses and governesses thick on the ground?”
“It is as if you were there, madam,” he had teased right back. Then he looked quite serious as he asked, “You think Georgiana and I—and someday before long, I hope, you—have dozens of servants?”
Elizabeth had just raised one eyebrow and smiled even wider as she said, “Yes, I would think so. Obviously, not many dozens, but perhaps two dozen?”
He had leant towards her and whispered, “Hundreds of servants.” It had given him great joy to watch as her impertinent expression turned surprised and then flustered.
When the carriages turned towards a modest-sized manor house, Darcy wrenched his mind back to the present.
This must be Longbourn, he thought, and at that moment the front door of the house opened, and girls and ladies rushed out onto the front steps, smiling and waving. He heard several cries of “Lizzy!”
Even though he was swift to dismount and turn towards the carriage, ready even before the footman to lower the step and hand the ladies out, Elizabeth was quicker.
She had flung open the door and fairly vaulted out of the carriage, hurrying to meet her sisters halfway, not waiting for the step to be set.
Amused at the sight of his beloved jumping from the conveyance like an eager child, and bemused further at the sight of so many ladies in one family, Darcy sedately helped Georgiana climb out of the carriage.
Then he sent the carriage on to Netherfield so the companion, Mrs Green, and the lady’s maid, Madison, could set up Georgiana’s as well as their own rooms.
“Please return for us in two hours,” he directed his driver.
As Darcy escorted Georgiana towards the crowd of ladies, Elizabeth seemed to convert before his eyes back to the elegant lady he had met in London, and she said, “Come inside everyone, and I will make proper introductions.”
She was graceful and gracious and warm—well nigh perfect—as she soothed her mother’s nervous effusions, smoothed over her younger sisters’ blunt questions, drew out her reticent elder sister and his extremely shy younger sister, and tweaked her cynical father into participating at all in the conversation.
Darcy did not know what he had expected to hear when a family greets a long-absent daughter while meeting, for the first time, that daughter’s suitor and his family.
However, he found himself surprised many times over.
Darcy observed wryly that Gardiner’s description of the family, which had seemed harsh, was in fact accurate or even slightly understated.
Miss Lydia was shockingly bold and loud, Miss Kitty was impossible to know since she only nodded and giggled at whatever Miss Lydia said, and Miss Mary was prone to sermonise at inappropriate moments, using Bible verses ill-suited to the context.
Gardiner had warned that his sister, Mrs Bennet, had been taught that material considerations were all that mattered.
Still, Darcy was surprised by the openly crass allusions Elizabeth’s mother made about his apparent wealth in her flood of praise for him, his sister, his carriage, his horses, his clothing, his sister’s clothing. …
Seeing how skilfully Elizabeth limited the vulgarity, Darcy wondered what an unfiltered Mrs Bennet would sound like!
As for Mr Bennet, according to Gardiner, he had chosen Mrs Bennet because she was beautiful and lively, but then he took pleasure in using clever phrasing to disguise his subtle but near-constant digs at his wife.
What Gardiner had failed to mention was that Mr Bennet said dismissive and insulting things to and about his daughters, as well.
Darcy felt quite huffy on behalf of Elizabeth the second time the man disparaged his daughters, this time with the words “they are all silly and ignorant girls.”
I had better speak to Elizabeth’s father soon, Darcy thought. If I wait much longer, I will be so angry at him I will not be able to keep from snapping.
He asked for time to speak privately, followed Mr Bennet into a modest-sized library, and sat down in a chair in front of the desk.
He said, “Sir, you are likely aware that I wish to advise you of my intent to seriously court Miss Elizabeth with the eventual goal of marriage. I understand that no permission is needed to court her, but I wished to meet you and to assure you that my intentions are honourable.”
“And yet,” Mr Bennet said, “I am not at all assured that they are. Indeed, I highly doubt that they are! Why would a man of your status wish to marry one of my daughters?”
Darcy flinched as if he had been hit, and he was very glad that he had been warned about the man.
He had been correct to feel uneasy about this conversation, because, unlike every other father in all of England, Mr Bennet clearly felt no inclination to be thrilled at his daughter’s match with the master of Pemberley and had no desire to afford deference to the Darcy name.
He replied boldly, “By using the phrase ‘one of my daughters,’ you seem to indicate that I am courting your daughter because of her connexion with you, or because of the Bennet name, even though you also indicate that either would be absurd. Because, of course, those motivations would be absurd. I do not wish to marry one of your daughters, per se; rather, I wish to marry the unique and wonderful person that is Elizabeth Bennet.”
Mr Bennet frowned, seemingly poised to make a sharp reply, but at Darcy’s last words, the man stalled.
Darcy took advantage of his hesitation to say, “I see you agree with me that your second eldest is exceptional. I might point out that it is not just you and I who feel that way. When I met her, in London, she was being courted by many gentlemen: second sons, heirs to estates great and small, noblemen. I wonder if you would assume that every one of these would-be suitors had dishonourable intentions, despite the fact that they, too, had been scrutinised and approved by the estimable Gardiners.”
Mr Bennet’s frown had disappeared, but he still looked equal parts astonished and angry. “Many—? Why would Gardiner—?” he began to say, but he interrupted himself with the plaintive words, “Lizzy is so young.”
Darcy felt a stab of sympathy. How would he feel in a few short years when Georgiana was out in society and being courted?
He pointed out softly, “When an extraordinary young woman comes out into society, thus signalling that she is available for consideration of courtship and marriage, naturally men will flock to her. You are lucky in that you need not worry that those men are fortune hunters or social climbers. The men who seek Miss Elizabeth’s favour see the value of her, not her name or connexions, nor her dowry or inheritance. ”
For the first time, Mr Bennet smiled, but it was not a warm smile; it was.… Darcy considered carefully, and the descriptor he came up with was sly. The man said, “And how about her regard for you, Mr Darcy? Does my Lizzy truly like you, or is it your fortune and status she is after?”
Darcy jumped to his feet, feeling distinctly hot and considerably bothered.
“You insult your daughter, who I presume you love, in a misguided attempt to put me off?” He shook his head, a negation of Mr Bennet’s question, and he briefly stated, “Other suitors—men your daughter did not choose—had fortunes as well as titles and connexions greater than mine.”
Mr Bennet looked smug, and Darcy realised that the man’s goal was to anger him.
He deliberately smiled at Elizabeth’s father and said, “I am so glad to have this time to debate you, sir. I have always loved a good debate. And, may I ask, do you often express ideas that are not your own for the sake of the discussion?”