Chapter 8 #2
“I can only apologise for believing what that blackguard told me about you, Mr. Darcy. I should have known to not believe him at face value. What a foolish old man I was to be taken in by one such as he,” Mr. King lamented.
“You are not the first to have the wool pulled over your eyes by that wastrel, Mr. King,” Andrew informed the man. “In fact, you are one of many.”
“You have my heartfelt thanks for helping me to protect my Mary; she is all I have left of my family now. We will depart for Manchester at first light, and not return until we know the man is no longer a danger to my niece.” Mr. King stood, bowed to the room, and took his leave.
When looking at the Bennet daughters, one would have had a hard time deciding whether Elizabeth or Kitty were paler.
“Before we continue, I must apologise to Mr. Darcy for believing any poison Mr. Wickham poured in my ears about him. Even though my stepmother-to-be . . .” Elizabeth stopped, realising she just announced her father’s betrothal to all in the room.
“It is well, Eliza. Other than Mr. Darcy and his cousins, there is no one in the room not aware that I am marrying your father on Saturday,” Charlotte relieved Elizabeth’s concern.
“On behalf of my brother and cousin, I wish you both happy,” Andrew stated.
“To continue, after the insult you delivered to me at the assembly, I was looking for anything which would lower you in my estimation, so Mr. Wickham found a willing and foolish reception to his lies,” Elizbeth owned contritely.
“William! You insulted a gentlewoman?” Richard asked, deeply aghast.
“The assembly was the day I arrived. Miss Bingley had been grating on my nerves, along with Ramsgate, and Bingley would not leave me alone, insisting I should dance. The truth was, Miss Elizabeth, I hardly saw you; my aim was to get Bingley to return to his partner and leave me in peace. When I looked at you, truly looked at you, I saw an extremely handsome woman and hoped against hope you did not hear me. Please accept my heartfelt apologies,” Darcy beseeched.
“I will grant you my pardon as long as you do the same for me, for allowing my good sense to be overruled and believing Mr. Wickham’s lies,” Elizabeth said.
“Easily done, Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy agreed.
“What did my cousin say to you, Miss Elizabeth?” Andrew asked. “I am sure my parents would love to hear how their nephew behaves when he is abroad.”
Elizabeth looked at Darcy with an arched eyebrow, and he lifted his hands in surrender. “He said I was tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt him and he would not give consequence to young ladies slighted by other men,” Elizabeth reported.
“William! Could you think of no better way to make Bingley subside?” Andrew asked.
“As ungentlemanly as it was, it was the only thing I thought of at that moment. I apologise again, Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy averred.
“It is I who made the greater error; I allowed my vanity to overrule my good sense,” Elizabeth insisted.
“Let us not argue who owns the larger part of the fault. May we start again, Miss Elizabeth and try and move past the errors I made?” Elizabeth nodded.
“I need to share some information with you, and I ask it does not leave this room,” Darcy scanned everyone present.
Everyone vowed not to repeat it while his cousins looked at him questioningly.
“I need to share this so they will understand the depths of his depravity,” Darcy explained to his cousins.
“I do not think we are unaware of how depraved the man is, Mr. Darcy,” Charlotte spoke. “Let us decide what needs to be done to protect our town from the wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
“I find I need to make another apology, Miss Lucas. I could have warned the residents of the area, but I chose not to. I did not want my private concerns known in order to protect my sister. Wickham attempted to harm her as well. It was a failure on my part she was ever in the situation she was.” Darcy lowered his head, the shame of almost failing his sister again overwhelming.
“William, if it were not for you, Gigi’s life would have been ruined!
But for the chance of your deciding to visit her two days earlier than planned, she would have been lost to us forever!
” Richard insisted. It was one of his cousin’s few failings, that he always tried to take what was not his fault onto his own shoulders.
For the first time, Andrew Fitzwilliam looked around the room and then he saw her—Miss Jane Bennet was a vision.
But all the beauty in the world would mean nothing if she was vapid and did not have a good character.
Like his cousin and brother, he had looked among the ladies of the ton, but was yet to find one who had garnered his attention.
This was not the time, but he intended to dance with her at the ball and discover if there was more than external beauty to the lady.
Charlotte explained what had roused her suspicions about Mr. Wickham, and what they had learned of his debts and the young girls with whom he had meddled in Meryton.
“Colonel Forster, do you have an estimate of how much Wickham owes in debts of honour?” Charlotte asked after she finished explaining what they knew of the profligate’s debts and seductions.
“I do, Miss Lucas. With debts of honour plus loans from his fellow officers, he owes close to one thousand pounds,” Colonel Forster reported angrily. “I suppose with his debts in Meryton, plus the vowels he had signed to my officers, we could have him sent to Marshalsea for a time.”
“We can send him away for life!” Darcy exclaimed. “I have over three thousand pounds’ worth of his vowels.”
“William, why did you not send him away after he attempted to elope with Gigi?” Richard demanded. Noticing the confused expression of the lady in the corner, he added that that “Gigi” was Darcy's sister Georgiana’s preferred nickname.
“I always felt I would somehow dishonour my father if I took action against his godson, so I kept buying up his debts. I will do so again here, including his debts of honour, Colonel Forster,” Darcy pledged.
“You take too much on yourself Sir,” Charlotte opined.
“If you ask me, after what that man attempted with your sister, your late father would have been at the front of the queue to send the man away. Do you think he would have allowed Mr. Wickham to not pay for whatever it was he attempted with your sister?”
While he had been observing, Colonel Fitzwilliam did not miss the surreptitious looks William had directed at Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Never had Richard seen his cousin look at a woman twice, never mind multiple times in a single meeting.
“No, Miss Lucas, I believe you are correct,” Mr. Darcy replied at length.
“It is time to allow the man to feel the consequences of his actions. I will send an express to Sir Randolph Norman, requesting he send all of Wickham’s vowels he holds for me as soon as he is able.
” Darcy looked around, seeing only four Bennet sisters. “Where is Miss Lydia?” Darcy asked.
“She is no longer out, and is back in the nursery,” Bennet responded, “My betrothed and I agree it is the best course with her.”
“Your betrothed?” Darcy asked with raised eyebrows. Then he remembered the reference Miss Elizabeth had made to that subject.
“Did I not mention Miss Lucas has agreed to be my wife? We marry on Saturday.” Just as Bennet finished speaking, the door was pushed open and Mr. William Collins sauntered into the drawing room, his pompous attitude as much on display as Lydia’s anger had been.
“You did not inform me you were to have guests, Cousin,” Collins stated as he puffed himself up with self-importance.
“Since when do I need to notify a guest in my house about what I do or do not do, Mr. Collins?” Bennet asked acerbically.
“Collins, you are a pastor are you not?” Darcy asked.
“I am, but I was not addressing you, sir,” Collins turned back towards his cousin.
“As I believe you are the rector in Hunsford, which is under the gift of my aunt Lady Catherine, I am sure she will enjoy hearing how you spoke to one of her nephews,” Darcy replied nonchalantly.
“Mr. Bennet, will you introduce this man to us?” Andrew asked, as he was the highest-ranking person in the room. Collins was too flustered to note the request as he was trying to figure out how to introduce himself to someone of such venerated status as the nephew of his patroness.
“Viscount Hilldale, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Mr. Darcy, this is my distant cousin, Mr. William Collins, heir presumptive to my estate…” Before he completed the introductions Collins was close to an apoplexy.
He had just slighted Mr. Darcy, not only her ladyship’s favourite nephew, but he was Miss Anne de Bourgh’s, who was the rose of Kent, betrothed! If his actions got back to his patroness, his life would become a living hell. Not only that, but the Earl’s sons were present.
Mr. Collins fainted.