Chapter 9
Hunsford
Dear Mr. Bennet,
I am pleased to inform you that my return to Kent was a most pleasant one, even if the stagecoach lost a wheel north of London, and we were forced to stay in a small pub for several hours while it was repaired. But I ought not to complain. I am well aware that struggle is part of life.
Yesterday, I had the profound honor of informing my esteemed patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, that I am engaged to my Cousin Elizabeth.
She said, with kindly condescension, that she looks forward to meeting my betrothed for the first time and providing her with the guidance and wisdom that emanates from Lady Catherine as a woman of superior birth.
Since I will be responsible for providing sermons and oversight to my flock during the Christmas Season, I think it would be best if we wait to be married until early January.
Is there a particular day that is most convenient for your family? Perhaps 10th January? I believe that Mrs. Bennet is planning an appropriate wedding breakfast, but Elizabeth and I can leave after that and reach Hunsford by dark.
Sincerely,
William Collins
***
2nd December 1811
Dear Jane,
I am writing to assure you that I am well and safe. Do not worry about me.
With love,
Elizabeth Bennet
***
5th December 1812
Netherfield Hall
Darcy,
I returned to Netherfield Hall yesterday. Jane and I intend to marry next week, Wednesday, 11th December. I hope you will attend.
By the by, in the matter we spoke of privately last week, there has been good news on that front.
Sincerely,
Charles Bingley
***
5th December
Longbourn
Mr. Collins,
I regret to inform you of a most serious event.
As you know, Elizabeth and I journeyed to London a few days before you left Longbourn for Kent to deal with a private family matter.
Unfortunately, while we were there, Elizabeth fell ill with scarlet fever.
She was too unwell to return to Longbourn and will be staying at Gracechurch Street with Mrs. Bennet’s brother and his wife until she recovers sufficiently.
This will, of course, require a delay in the wedding between you and Elizabeth. I will keep you informed about her recovery.
I should also mention that my daughter Jane will be marrying Mr. Charles Bingley next week.
Sincerely,
Thomas Bennet
***
5th December
Longbourn
Dear Gardiner,
I appreciate your willingness to continue searching for Elizabeth. If you find her, please send an express on that topic.
Sincerely,
Thomas Bennet
***
Darcy House
8th December 1811
Dear Great-aunt Gregson,
I will be traveling to Hertfordshire in two days to attend the wedding of my friend, Charles Bingley. As you know, he is marrying Miss Jane Bennet. I am most happy for my friend, as I am confident that Bingley and Miss Bennet are very well suited.
I will return to London on 11th December and will visit you the following day, God willing.
Respectfully,
Fitzwilliam Darcy
***
Meryton Church
Meryton
11th December 1811
A low buzz of excited conversation filled the small Meryton church like the hum of a beehive, the air thick with anticipation and joy.
Expectant glances kept turning towards the closed doors in the back before flicking back to the groom at the front, who stood bouncing slightly on his toes.
Darcy, standing up at his friend's shoulder in the role of best man, was a more stolid figure, his pleasure as solemn as such an occasion demanded.
His eyes swept the congregation, taking in the many guests.
The Bennets were in the front pew, of course, with Mrs. Bennet and her two youngest daughters plainly jubilant.
The Lucases and the Phillipses, seated close by, were likewise wreathed with smiles considering the families' close friendships.
The remaining guests were more of a surprise; at least one representative of most of the four and twenty families of the local gentry was present, and oftentimes more than one.
The little church was nearly as full as it was on Sunday mornings.
But then again, perhaps the large number of attendees was not surprising in the least. Jane Bennet was popular among her neighbors, and if the other matchmaking mammas could wish that it had been their daughters who had captured the heart of the eminently eligible Charles Bingley, at a minimum, they had the grace to appear to wish Jane well.
There were other faces notably absent, however, who were missing in large part because they could not even pretend to wish Jane and her new husband well.
Bingley's sisters, for example, had not been invited to the wedding.
The previous afternoon, Darcy had ridden down from London and arrived just in time for dinner, with the expectation of spending one night only at Netherfield Hall.
After the wedding breakfast today, he would leave the newlyweds in peace and depart for London straight away.
Urgent business recalled him, he had said, even if he had not disclosed that the urgent business concerned the missing second Bennet daughter.
Darcy had, at least, spent a convivial time with Bingley the previous evening.
The two had ensconced themselves comfortably in the billiard room with a brandy decanter set on the low table between their chairs drawn up close to the fire, and they had proceeded to entirely ignore the table and balls behind them.
Darcy had sipped the brandy, rolled it around his palate, appreciated his friend’s taste, and asked if they would have the pleasure of Miss Bingley’s and the Hursts’ company.
Bingley had frowned into the fire. “No, my sisters will not be attending my wedding,” he had said.
Darcy had given him a questioning look, and Bingley had elaborated.
“I went to invite them, and they were appallingly vituperative and insulting to my dear Jane and her family, in addition to their insistence that she does not care for me, which I know she does, Darcy; she loves me as I love her! They could not refrain from abusing her family even after I said we were betrothed. No, I do not think they would have been cordial, and I expressly forbade them to attend.”
Darcy, no great admirer of Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst, did not repine their absence.
It was a pity that neither lady could subsume their dislike of the match enough to wish their brother and his bride happy, but since they could not, it was best that they be absent.
No, the real sting of sorrow lay in the position where Jane Bennet’s favorite sister should have been.
Elizabeth, not Mary Bennet, should be pacing down the aisle behind the bride, and she should have stood opposite to Darcy during the ceremony.
Instead, she was hidden safely in Mrs. Gregson’s house in Half Moon Street.
Darcy could not, for her own safety, disclose this knowledge to anyone, not even sweet Jane Bennet, who still worried for her sister despite the note Elizabeth had sent.
Based on Bingley’s remarks, it seemed that Mr. Bennet had not relented in his persecution of his second daughter.
To save face and avoid having to admit to his own ill-treatment of his daughter, Bennet had put it about that she had contracted scarlet fever in London and remained with the Gardiners.
Darcy’s thoughts were interrupted by the beginning chords of the wedding music, and the servants waiting in the back of the sanctuary swung wide the double doors.
The radiant bride appeared, stunning in blue and ivory and pearls, pacing with slow dignity on her father’s arm.
Darcy looked at her briefly before turning a considering look on Mr. Bennet walking beside her.
The man did not look joyful at the prospect of his eldest daughter’s marriage to a wealthy man or sorrowful at having to give away a treasure.
His expression was set, his back stiff, with a deep furrow between his brows.
A generous man could interpret these signs as worry for Bennet’s second daughter or remorse that she was not there to make up a part of the wedding party.
Darcy was not feeling particularly generous, and he did not think Bennet’s posture should be interpreted as concern or regret.
He could not claim to know the man well, but he knew the look of anger, and Bennet appeared to him to be angry.
Though Darcy was a firm believer in familial duty and filial piety, he was an equally firm believer in the obligation of fathers to their children, and he did not trust Bennet to execute his responsibility of affection and protection towards Miss Elizabeth.
***
En Route to Darcy House
14th December 1811
Three Days Later
The streets of London seemed completely drab; gray cobbles, gray walls, gray leafless branches and twigs in gray gardens, and gray heavy skies above all.
It was a rather cold and depressing view, but inside Mrs. Gregson's carriage, Elizabeth was snug and warm, swathed in rugs with a hot brick on the floor.
Physically, she was quite comfortable, but her mind was uneasy, and the uninspiring view out of the windows was doing little to take her mind off of jittery nerves.
Each block, each corner, brought them closer to Darcy House, where the two women had been invited to dine.