Two Sisters
The next half-hour passed in pleasant but mostly forgettable conversation. Georgiana and Margaret took it upon themselves to recount the past few days, while Lizzy tried her best to keep them from exaggerating the tale too egregiously. She even succeeded occasionally.
Footmen and maids entered to solicit Elizabeth’s guidance or deliver notes. Most were minor; she issued orders for their resolution and returned to the conversation.
Naturally, talk soon turned to Mr Darcy.
Everyone save Mr Breton seemed aware Elizabeth was brittle on the subject, and avoided mentioning matrimony, or even courtship, in the same breath as Mr Darcy.
However, Breton was either unaware or, more likely just felt like poking the bear.
He turned quite innocently to Lady Matlock.
“Aunt, do you remember I have been saving so I might afford a wife?”
“I do. A harebrained scheme if I ever heard one. Darcy has begged you to take a salary increase for years. You should be married already.”
“Perhaps we are having a stubbornness contest. At the moment, I lead.”
“We shall see, Robert.”
“On this subject, I am victorious. I finally saved the desired sum. Can you imagine what happened next?”
Lady Matlock laughed. “Very well, I shall take the bait.”
“I asked Darcy to watch for a suitable bride, and he found one within four hours! It is the most astounding thing I ever saw in my life.”
Elizabeth, her tongue running ahead of her head gasped in shock, “You would take romantic advice from Mr Darcy… Mr Darcy—of all people!”
Everyone else stared at her, wondering exactly what her qualms on the subject might be. The Wythes knew, of course, but deemed it Elizabeth’s tale to tell or not.
Breton stared before continuing. “I would. He has a knack for it. I should not spread such tales, but he has introduced half a dozen couples I know of… all still quite happy. He does so only among the working class though. Entanglements among the gentry are too complicated for him.”
Elizabeth snorted, but everyone pretended to ignore her.
“He has also occasionally suggested a couple consider the matter seriously, and they sometimes demur. Sometimes they marry anyway, and sometimes not; yet most are eventually happy they took a moment to think things through. He will never do anything beyond an introduction or a suggestion that a couple take a bit of time. Perhaps he might venture a slightly stronger opinion for someone he knows well, or in cases where he knows things about the situation they do not—but not often.”
Elizabeth stared in consternation. “I know for a fact that he gets it wrong occasionally.”
Everyone stared, and Lady Matlock leaned forward. “Do you care to elaborate?”
“I will not. I am however curious, Mr Breton: how does he separate couples? What arts and allurements does he employ?”
Breton scratched his head in confusion. “He has told me of every instance. He merely suggests, if a man is close to raising expectations, that he should be sure of what he is about before proceeding. It is unfair, even cruel, to raise expectations that will not be fulfilled.”
Lady Matlock, finding the subject fascinating, asked, “When did he last do so?”
“Last winter, with a man named Bingley.”
Elizabeth asked, “And that is all he would say? He would not take credit for breaking the connection.”
Breton appeared shocked. “Never! He would champion caution, but no more. If such a story is floating about, I cannot account for it, unless he felt particularly strongly regarding a specific couple.”
Lady Matlock sighed with resignation. “I probably can.”
Elizabeth watched her carefully, as the lady replied, “You know my son, Richard. He is a good man and a good friend, but he tends to exaggerate. Might I suggest you heard the story from him? You had a strong reaction to his bust at my home.”
“Yes, you have caught me out. The intelligence came from the colonel.”
Breton leaned forward. “You must take anything he says and halve it. He never lies outright, but he enjoys a good story if he sees no harm in it.”
“There was harm in the story,” Elizabeth sighed, “but I suppose it was minor—though I believed otherwise at the time. I will ask you this once, Mr Breton. Would Mr Darcy actively try to separate a couple for any reason other than lack of affection?”
“Absolutely not. He detests matchmaking and matchbreaking. He is also seriously concerned for ladies’ reputations, as you would expect with a young ward.
When men raise expectations that are not serious, he becomes incensed.
Ladies’ reputations are fragile; he hates to see them damaged.
He is also, understandably, concerned with fortune hunters.
If he thought a friend vulnerable, he would suggest caution, but nothing more. ”
Elizabeth sat in thought for a moment, wondering if it was possible.
Could the Colonel’s tendency to exaggerate, coupled with Mr Bingley’s inconstancy, leave Mr Darcy mostly faultless in Jane’s heartbreak?
He had apparently been as careful as possible to ensure Elizabeth herself harboured no unrealistic expectations.
Mrs Bennet was a proven mercenary, as she loudly proclaimed at the ball.
If he urged caution to Mr Bingley, and that man took it upon himself to trust his sister to take leave, was that Mr Darcy’s fault?
Such questions would plague her, but she wanted to get the conversation onto another topic.
“I will take you at your word. Pray continue your story.”
Everyone else at the table stared, so she repeated, “I am finished with this topic! Perhaps I should find something productive to do.”
Quite to her surprise, Mr Breton left his chair to sit on a footstool before her, meeting her eye. “Have I hurt you in some way? If so, allow me to make amends.”
Somewhat confused, Elizabeth said, “On the contrary, you may have solved a mystery, but I require time to consider it.”
“How can I reduce your discomfort, ma’am? I feel like an apothecary who has given you a foul-tasting concoction, rooting hopelessly in my bag for a sweetmeat to improve the taste.”
Elizabeth laughed quite loudly at that. “Tell me about your intended, Mr Breton.”
He laughed, jumping up to return to his original, more decorous seat. “She is not my intended. She is simply a woman who sounds very interesting.”
Elizabeth laughed. “But you said Mr Darcy is never wrong when he predicts successful romance. Lady Matlock, pray, give Mr Breton two pounds. I am certain he will need to buy a common licence the very day he meets Mr Darcy’s chosen bride.”
Everyone laughed uproariously, and Elizabeth said, “Pray continue, Mr Breton.”
Breton laughed along with everyone else. “It all came about rather oddly. Darcy was dragged to a ball one night about six weeks ago.”
“Was he bribed, beaten, or blackmailed?” Elizabeth asked.
Georgiana joined her laughter. “You seem to know my brother better than you have asserted, Lizzy.”
She ignored Georgiana and nodded at Breton to continue.
“Here it becomes confusing. Darcy never writes real names of ladies in his letters. He fears for their reputations if the letter goes astray, and he knows I will never know the ladies anyway, so names would be pointless. Regardless, there were two he got on the bad side of somehow. It is of course, not all that surprising, since we are talking about Darcy, whose social ineptitude is legendary. The elder was at this ball and scheduled to dance with one of Darcy’s friends.
Said friend twisted his ankle and asked the lady to accept a substitute. ”
“Was he honouring this lady or punishing her?”
Georgiana said, “William is an awful dancer, or at least he must be, because he never dances with a lady unless required by politeness.”
Elizabeth sighed. “Your supposition is incorrect, Georgie. Your brother is an exemplary dancer, even if the lady he dances with has a somewhat vicious side.”
Everyone stared at her, begging her to continue, but she snapped, “That is all I have to say. Mr Breton, do you plan to finish your story before supper?”
“Well, this elder sister seemed frightfully angry with him. It was a muddle, for the substitution was enacted, but as soon as she saw him, she turned without a word, fled the ballroom, and took a hack home. She did not say a single word or look back even once.”
Elizabeth gasped at the insinuation but did not want to say anything.
Breton continued, “Darcy wished to apologise for whatever offence he might have committed, so he went to her uncle’s house in London the following day.
The lady had returned to her father’s house that morning.
Determined to make amends, Darcy rode there.
I spoke to him before he departed, then left for Pemberley. ”
“I see,” Elizabeth grumbled. “He offended the lady, so naturally he decided to chase her halfway across England when she did not want to talk to him?”
“He is nothing if not stubborn.”
“Pray continue.”
“On the way, he found the uncle’s coach with a broken axle, and set about…
well, how did he put it… grovelling like a worm was the plan, and I believe he executed it.
In the process, he met the woman he wishes to introduce me to.
She was a maid of all work, slightly injured in the accident, but she stood up to him like a giant.
She was not intimidated by his high-and-mightiness at all.
He says she even taught him something about being a proper man, but I must confess, the paragraphs regarding that interaction were muddled.
There was something about his mother and some horsewomen, but I could make no sense of it. ”
Breton chuckled, and everyone joined in, save Elizabeth, who just sat staring.
“Go on!”