Chapter 24
Before the Gardiners departed the estate on the morning they were to confront the seducer, Collins approached them. He bowed but not the genuflection he previously did, the way Lady Catherine had demanded.
“Were you able to write the letters to make sure that Lady Catherine will not be allowed to appoint my replacement?” Collins enquired.
“We have letters, that being one of them, we will post in Meryton. That letter will be sent by express,” Gardiner replied. “I see the footmen are bringing your trunk down the stairs? You have not been asked to leave, have you?”
“No, I made the decision myself. As I invited myself here at Lady Catherine’s behest, it is only right that I return to Hunsford,” Collins stated.
“It may be for the best. As far as resigning the living, wait until an emissary of the Bishop of Kent contacts you. That way you will know that your soon-to-be former patroness will not be allowed to make another preferment, and at that time, you will be able to make your request for additional education,” Maddie advised.
Collins saw Bennet approaching. “Cousin Bennet, will you give my farewells to your family on my behalf? Please thank your lady wife for the hospitality she bestowed on one who imposed his company on your family,” Collins requested.
Not expecting anything approaching good sense to pass his cousin’s lips and hearing just that, made Bennet’s eyebrows climb to his hairline.
“I will do so,” he promised without any teasing or sarcasm.
“We all wish you a safe trip. I must thank you for agreeing to end the entail. It will make my family’s life much better and more comfortable. ”
“It benefits both of us,” Collins said as he gave a half bow.
“May we give you a ride into Meryton?” Gardiner offered. “My coach is ready to take the three of us, and there is more than enough room for you as well.”
The offer was accepted graciously. Gardiner signalled to Biggs who was with them that morning, and the huge man picked up the trunk like it was weightless. As soon as it was lashed to the conveyance, the four stepped out of the house.
After alighting at the Red Lion Inn, Collins was happy to discover a post coach would depart for London in an hour, and he was able to secure a seat inside.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
By the next day, Darcy’s self-recriminations had not lessened.
If anything, they had increased. How could he have behaved the way he did, not only in Hertfordshire, and specifically towards Miss Elizabeth, but also in general?
The shame burned when he finally admitted that his parents would not be impressed with the way he related to others.
When he thought about his parents, a realisation hit, almost as hard as a kick from one of Zeus’s hind legs.
Darcy admitted to himself that he had been a selfish being all his life, in practice, and at times in principle.
As a child he was taught what was right, but he had never learnt to properly correct his temper.
He had been given good principles, but he was left to follow them in pride and conceit.
He had been an only son and for many years an only child.
As such, Darcy had been spoilt by his dear parents.
Although good themselves, in fact they were all that was benevolent and amiable, they had allowed and, in some cases, encouraged, almost taught him to be selfish and overbearing; to care for none beyond his own family circle; to think meanly of all the rest of the world; to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with his own.
Darcy owned that as good as his parents were, they too had a certain level of improper pride which he had adopted.
Such he had been from eight to seven and twenty; and such he might still have been but for finally realising how deficient his pretentions were. He finally felt properly humbled.
He should have dealt with that damned Wickham a long time ago—certainly after Ramsgate.
Instead, he had used the damage he may do to Anna’s reputation as a crutch.
How could he have allowed Wickham to walk among the people of Meryton unmolested?
If it were not for the fact he knew not what the Gardiners’ plans for the miscreant were, he would have departed for Hertfordshire that very day.
Rather than remonstrate with Richard for selling Wickham’s debts to the Gardiners, he planned to praise his cousin’s actions.
Time and distance were doing nothing to remove Miss Elizabeth Bennet from his head or his heart. As such, Darcy finally admitted what he had secretly known, he had fallen in love with her, but he also knew that she disliked him.
He had to wait for a letter from Lambert.
Darcy had sent a detailed letter, not sparing himself or trying to make the way he had behaved sound better than it had been.
To make sure it would never fall into the wrong hands, it was sent with his most trusted courier who should reach Lambton that day.
The man would wait there until Lambert had a reply.
Thinking of Lambert made Darcy remember the sister his friend always spoke of, the one he had never met, and had been trusted with the information about Ramsgate as Lambert had vouched for her discretion. The advice she and her husband had given had been sound.
If only he had met her and could approach her and her husband for advice right now.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
On following the Gardiners into Longbourn’s manor house, and once Gardiner had made the introductions, Richard Fitzwilliam’s breath caught in his throat. Besides the parents, there were four Miss Bennets present, each one beautiful in her own right.
Looking at them, he was sure he knew which was the one Bingley had abandoned.
Miss Bennet was exactly the type of lady Bingley would drool over and call his latest angel.
That meant that the one William insulted was either Miss Elizabeth or Miss Mary, as he had been told Miss Kitty was not out yet. He was welcomed warmly by Mrs Bennet.
With the new calmness which Fanny felt since first her conversation with Maddie and the knowledge that neither she nor any of her unwed girls would lose their home, she did not exclaim over the fact that Colonel Fitzwilliam was the son of an earl, or that he was in the regulars.
In the past she might have pushed her daughters, even Lydia in the nursery, to gain his attention.
The new, calmer, Fanny Bennet had Jane ring for tea.
When the trays arrived, Fanny poured, Jane handed out the tea, and Lizzy offered each person the selection of treats on the two plates Cook had sent from the kitchen.
While the two sets of parents spoke to each other, Fitzwilliam turned to Misses Elizabeth and Mary. “Which one of you was the one my blind, pompous cousin insulted at the assembly?” He asked.
“I have that distinction,” Elizabeth owned. “However, I must own that from that moment on, my behaviour left much to be desired.”
“Yes, Gardiner and Mrs Gardiner informed us that Wicky spun his tale of woe for you,” Fitzwilliam responded. “And pardon me if this is forward, but I will recommend to my cousin that he make sure he can see, there are none of you not handsome enough to tempt a man into a dance.”
“And I allowed myself to be taken in by that seducer. So much for my intelligence,” Elizabeth huffed after she stopped blushing at the Colonel’s compliment.
“Lizzy, you were not the only one he fooled,” Jane pointed out. “At least, he did not attempt with you what he did to the late Miss Bellamy or with our youngest sister. To think, I tried to make both him and Mr Darcy good.”
“What Miss Bennet says is true. Mrs Gardiner shared that you know that my ward was almost one of that ba…libertine’s victims. After what he attempted to do with Anna, for him then to call her proud, it makes my stopping his attempted escape the first day we arrived so much sweeter.
” Fitzwilliam saw four questioning looks from the Miss Bennets; Miss Elizabeth arched an eyebrow.
He told them a sanitised version of what had occurred, with no mention of Wickham soiling his breeches.
“Have you been posted to the peninsula?” Jane enquired. “I follow the exploits of our brave soldiers in the newspapers. Our father allows us to read the broadsheets after he has read them.”
Fitzwilliam was impressed. Miss Bennet was more than a pretty, mindless bauble who would grace some man’s arm.
In fact, the more he spoke with the Bennet sisters, the more he came to see how different they were, and that none of them were shrinking violets who would agree with a man no matter what he said.
It was rather refreshing to speak to ladies who did not see him for his connections.
“Colonel Fitzwilliam seems to be happy to speak to the girls,” Fanny observed. “Brother and Sister, when do you return to London?”
“We will wait until Monday,” Maddie replied.
“Mr Bingley told Jane he would be back by Friday at the latest, I do not believe he will honour his word. As his landlord, Edward will have some words with him when we return to London, because he appears to have abandoned the estate. It is just as well, in the short time she was present, Miss Bingley caused more than fifty pounds worth of damage.”
“The balance of the lease which has been forfeited will more than pay for the damages,” Gardiner added.
“How long will Colonel Fitzwilliam be at Netherfield Park?” Bennet queried.
“He has taken leave from his unit so he will be here some weeks. After the flogging on the morrow, he intends to wait until the blackguard is able to travel and see him delivered to King’s Bench Prison,” Gardiner explained.
“Why not Marshalsea?” Bennet wondered.