Vol 1, Chapter 14 #3
“You learn fast, Andrew. Take it from years of experience it is better to canvass the opinion of a strong woman and not make assumptions on her behalf.” Andrew saw that while the words were meant for him, that his father was looking at his mother as he spoke, causing her to light up with love and pleasure.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Once Andrew offered, Jane read the letter from Mr. Darcy.
“Your father must have taken him to task in a great way for it to have wrought the desire to change so fundamentally in your cousin. My family will be vastly pleased to know he has seen the error of his ways and intends to apologise, and this before he is aware of our true situation.” Jane thought for a few moments of her younger, and most stubborn, sister.
She had promised her parents to have an open mind, but Jane decided reading the letter could only help soften Elizabeth’s opinion on the matter of Mr. Darcy.
“Andrew, would you permit Lizzy to read this?”
“As I have offered for you to read it, there could be no reason to refuse the same for Elizabeth,” Andrew agreed easily.
The other slight disclosure of Darcy’s being in love with Elizabeth could not but be assisted by the man’s words.
Being the unwitting party would mean Darcy would owe him a future favour should he win the object of his affection.
It was always satisfying when Darcy owed him rather him owing Darcy, for it made life so much more fun.
“Mrs. Ponsonby, please have a footman summon my sister,” Jane requested, and not too many minutes later Elizabeth joined them.
Jane opened the topic by explaining about the letters that all four Fitzwilliams had received.
When asked if she would like to read the letter, Elizabeth answered in the affirmative.
“He does seem sincere, does he not?” Elizabeth confirmed while she blushed at the allusion to herself in the letter.
Her companions nodded, ignoring her reaction to the words about her in the letter.
“I will reserve final judgement until I hear from him in person, but it pleases me that he is working to correct the faults he sees in his character,” Elizabeth said softly.
“That he is able to acknowledge his faults shows great strength of character.”
“And he is willing to make changes and apologise without any knowledge of our true situation. Mama was correct, Lizzy. There is more to Mr. Darcy than we thought,” Jane pointed out to her younger, headstrong sister.
“I, too, was wrong, which mother has reminded me more than once. After his slight, I interpreted every word he spoke and each of his actions through the lens of my prejudice against him,” Elizabeth owned.
“If Gigi—that is what we call Georgiana—had been physically hurt, William would never have forgiven himself. As it was, he blamed himself for the trauma she suffered, even though his decision to make a surprise visit to Ramsgate gave him the chance to intervene and save her. You will not find a more loyal man to those he cares for, and that includes his servants and tenants. As soon as he moves past the arrogance and pride that became part of his mask, you will see a completely different facet of the man,” Andrew explained about the man he knew and loved.
“He will be the same in essentials but will be more pleasant to be around.”
“Has he always been this way?” Elizabeth asked.
“No, he was much more easy going before he came out in society and was chased by every debutante and their mothers, and some fathers as well. He, like Gigi, was always shy, so he created a defence to try and ward off the huntresses. We call it his ‘mask.’ Even as he was when you saw him, had you seen him at Pemberley with no social pressures, and without worrying about his sister’s recovery from her situation, you would not have recognised him as the one you met in Hertfordshire,” Andrew related to the sisters.
“I suppose we all wear a mask of some sort in public,” Elizabeth said thoughtfully. “We hide our wealth and connections to protect us, which, now that I think on it objectively, is just a different form of mask from the one your cousin chose.”
“You are correct to a certain extent. The difference is while I wore a mask in society, as did your family, we were not overtly rude, nor did we give offence wherever we went. William could have protected himself while still being a gentleman in every respect. There is no good excuse for his behaviour, but that is the part I believe he is correcting in his character,” Andrew smiled ruefully.
“If Mama had not stopped me that night at the assembly, I would have spread the story of Mr. Darcy’s slight to all who would have listened.
I know I am quick to temper and sometimes act without thought; just as he has to correct certain aspects of his character, so do I,” Elizabeth offered introspectively, gazing into the distance as she considered this.
“None of us is perfect, Lizzy,” Jane soothed.
“Except for you, Jane,” Elizabeth teased.
The three chatted for a while longer until it was time for Andrew to take his leave. They decided to ride in the park again in a few days to get in at least one more ride, weather permitting, before they decamped for Broadhurst.