Chapter 9 #2
“I apologise, Bingley, but I cannot countenance blatant pretention like that. Did they not teach social order at your sister’s seminary?” Andrew asked pointedly.
Before her brother answered, Mrs. Hurst excused herself and followed her sister to her bedchamber. As he always did, Bingley looked uncomfortable with confrontation. “We have tried to tell her,” Bingley stated weakly.
“That is brown, Brother,” Hurst stated with a single bark of laughter. “I told her; Darcy told her; but you refused to say anything!”
Bingley had no answer; he only looked embarrassed and avoided the gaze of all those in the room. “By the way, Bingley and Hurst, Mr. Bennet is remarrying. He will marry Miss Lucas on Saturday and we are invited,” Darcy informed his host.
“Did you hear dear old Georgie’s troubles started because the soon-to-be Mrs. Bennet was not taken by his lies and then noticed his shopping habits, all on credit?” Richard relayed to the men.
“Richard has the right of it. I already noticed one positive consequence of her influence. Mr. Bennet used to sit back and laugh at his youngest daughter’s bad behaviour, but no more,” Darcy stated.
“The youngest, Miss Lydia, who is younger than Gigi, is both brash and an incorrigible flirt. Evidently, she was ready to physically attack Miss King for ‘stealing her Wicky’ from her. At least he was apprehended before he ruined her as well.”
“Who did he ruin?” Bingley asked in horror.
“Recently? Some merchants’ daughters here in Meryton,” Richard supplied. He and Andrew knew Bingley had no knowledge of the Ramsgate affair, and Darcy preferred to keep it that way.
“I suppose I should be thankful the man did not get near Caroline. Did you not say he is a fortune hunter, Darce?” Bingley asked.
“He is, but as he was arrested and will be transported, he will not trouble us again,” Darcy closed the discussion of Wickham.
“I envy you, as you were with Miss Bennet today. Is she not an angel? I have never seen beauty such as hers before,” Bingley stated.
Andrew raised his eyebrows but remained silent. Bingley was certainly shallow if all he saw was Miss Bennet’s looks. Unlike himself, Mr. Bingley had known the lady for some time now. No one mentioned to Bingley his angel’s supper set was no longer available.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The next morning, Darcy was riding Zeus across the fields when he spied Miss Elizabeth walking at a brisk pace. Her bonnet was loosened and hanging behind her neck, allowing her chestnut curls to blow in the wind. He drew close and jumped down from his horse, allowing him to graze freely.
“Good morning, Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy greeted her.
“Good morning,” Elizabeth returned. “Will that big beast not wander off?” Elizabeth asked as she watched the horse warily.
She had never recovered from her fear of horses since she was eight, when she took a bad fall and broke her arm.
Since then, the closest she had gotten to a horse was sitting in a carriage.
“Zeus is well trained; as I walk, he will follow. Do you object if I join you, Miss Elizabeth? Darcy asked.
“I do not object, Mr. Darcy, as long as you do not ask me to sit upon that huge horse of yours.” Elizabeth eyed the stallion with fear, but he paid her no attention as he munched a clump of grass.
Darcy offered his arm, gratified when Elizabeth placed her dainty hand lightly upon his forearm. “How is your sister, Mr. Darcy? If I understood the little you and your cousins did say yesterday, Wickham almost ruined her.”
“Gigi, that is Georgiana, is much recovered since the summer, but is still far more withdrawn than she was. She was always shy, but now it is far worse,” Darcy related. “May I tell you the full story?”
“If you choose to I will listen, Mr. Darcy. Before us, you see Oakham Mount,” Elizabeth pointed to the hill about two hundred yards ahead of them. “There is a big rock under the old oak tree on the summit; it is a good place to talk. What about your horse?”
“Zeus, his name is Zeus. He will wait for me. I see a stream, so he will be at his leisure to eat and drink until we return from the top.” With that Darcy made a show of telling his horse to wait for him, and, as if the stallion understood, he ambled slowly toward the stream and began to drink.
“This is very pretty, Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy said once the gained the flattened summit.
“It has been my sanctuary since I was a little girl. I should not speak ill of the dead, but my mother and I did not see eye-to-eye, so this was where I often escaped to,” Elizabeth shared. It warmed Darcy’s heart she was willing to tell him something so personal.
“You are correct, Miss Elizabeth; the rock under the tree is the perfect place to sit and talk. I thank you for being willing to listen to me,” Darcy stated will all sincerity. The more he was with this woman, the more he was seeing she would be his ideal match, his family’s expectations be damned.
When he thought about it honestly, his Aunt and Uncle Fitzwilliam would accept anyone he chose, if she loved him and not his position and wealth.
The only one who would take umbrage would be his Aunt Catherine and, after all, what did he care for her opinion?
“Wickham and I used to be friends, until his vicious propensities came to the fore.
As he grew older, he became more envious and coveted what I was to inherit.
All he saw was the wealth, not the responsibility that comes with it.
“My sister had good memories of him, and I made the mistake your father did not when he allowed all of you to hear the truth about Wickham. I thought I was protecting my father and sister by not telling them the truth about Wickham,” Darcy looked to the heavens where his parents were, “I should have told you, Father.”
“I am sure your father understands.” Elizabeth told Darcy before he was overcome by melancholy.
“Earlier this year, Richard and I hired a companion for Gigi. In hindsight I know we did not exercise due diligence in checking the woman’s characters.
Her name is Mrs. Younge. The references were glowing, and what we did not realise was they were too perfect.
When Mrs. Younge suggested it would be good for my sister to spend some time at Ramsgate, I agreed immediately.
We have a cottage there and I sent word to have it opened. ”
“I travelled with them, and after a sennight I returned to London. I had business which would keep me busy for three weeks, but they both knew I intended to return three weeks hence. What Richard and I did not know was that Mrs. Younge was, in fact, one of Wickham’s paramours.
Once he received word about the journey from his accomplice, thither Wickham went also.
” Darcy was getting angrier as he related the tale, which Elizabeth understood.
“If it is too hard for you, there is no need for you to continue telling me, Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth soothed. Her words broke his tension and he relaxed.
“Mrs. Younge made sure her paramour knew where Gigi would be.
At first, he would run into them by chance.
After a while, he came calling and Mrs. Younge and Wickham encouraged my na?ve sister to believe herself in love.
She eventually agreed to an elopement, which was to take place the day before my expected return.
I arrived unexpectedly two days before the elopement, having concluded my business early.
“When I knocked, Mrs. Younge answered and almost swooned at seeing me, which put me on alert. I found my sister on a settee, sitting next to that libertine. She happily told me she was engaged; she was but fifteen,” Darcy remembered.
“Lydia’s age,” Elizabeth stated quietly.
“When she saw my visage, she understood I was deeply angry. I succinctly conveyed the restrictions on my sister’s fortune of thirty thousand pounds, which was the rake’s object along with revenging himself on me.
Had he succeeded, his revenge would have been complete indeed.
Once he understood he would not see a penny of her dowry even had they eloped, he made some derogatory comments about her and myself and left the place.
” Darcy hung his head, drained by the retelling.
“I just remembered another lie he told me. At the time, I thought you proud and disagreeable, he told me your sister was like that as well, only worse,” Elizabeth recounted. “It would be good to meet, Miss Darcy.”
“Now, with no possibility she will encounter Wickham, I will leave before sunup on the morrow and return with her before the ball,” Darcy related. Implied in his response was his desire for Elizabeth to meet his sister.
Elizabeth recalled Charlotte’s telling her this man did not disdain her; he instead saw her as an object of affection. She was beginning to believe Charlotte was correct. Oh Lord, that would mean Miss Bingley was a wit! Elizabeth smiled at the thought.
Darcy thought she had never looked prettier than she did the very moment she smiled. Not long after, the two returned to where Zeus had been grazing, waiting patiently for his master.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Collins was walking to the parsonage to visit his betrothed when he saw Mr. Darcy walk his Cousin Elizabeth to the back wall behind the kitchen garden and lift her hand to bestow a kiss on it.
He scurried to the parsonage as fast as his legs would carry him and requested quill, ink, and parchment.
He needed to write to his esteemed patroness about his impertinent cousin using her feminine whiles on Miss de Bourgh’s betrothed.
He excused himself and hurried back to Longbourn to place the missive in the salver. His intent was to have his cousin pay the postage forgetting it would be his patroness who paid for the postage when she received the letter. After he had completed his mission, he returned to his betrothed.
Charlotte was touring her soon-to-be home with the housekeeper.
She had been looking over the mistress’s bedchamber with Mrs. Hill when she looked out of the window and saw Collins staring at something with disgust. When she followed his line of sight, she could see he was staring at Eliza and Mr. Darcy, and that Darcy was kissing her friend’s hand.
Charlotte made as if she had much to look at in the bedchamber and did not miss Collins lumbering back to the house with a missive in hand some minutes later.
Once she heard the front door close a second time, she descended the stairs and saw a letter to Lady Catherine de Bourgh in the salver. Charlotte picked up the missive, and as she passed the fire in the drawing room, she consigned it to the flames.
When Collins returned to Longbourn later in the afternoon, he made a point of asking Mr. Hill if all the day’s letters had been posted.
Mr. Bennet’s manservant confirmed that all letters in the salver had been posted, and Collins felt very pleased with himself, knowing that his patroness would be grateful for the information.