Vol 1, Chapter 17
Collins arrived in Meryton the day before his wedding.
His cousin had refused his request to stay at Longbourn, so even though his venerated patroness had granted him a sennight off, he delayed his coming to the day before to avoid the expenditure of staying more than one night in the Red Rooster Inn.
As there would be no wedding breakfast, there was a celebratory dinner at Lucas Lodge the night before the wedding. Jane and Elizabeth had returned from Town the Monday before the wedding so they could spend some time with Charlotte beforehand.
When they arrived at Lucas Lodge, they found the soon-to-be bride sitting in the chamber which had been hers since her father left his trade and purchased Lucas Lodge after being knighted by the King.
Charlotte, who had claimed she was not a romantic, was in love.
She had not meant for it to happen. Richard had been a perfect gentleman, never crossing any lines, as she had not either, but it had happened all the same.
They had spent much of their time in one another’s exclusive and well chaperoned company over the holidays.
He challenged her, and she him. Neither pandered to the other, and, above all else, Richard respected her.
He was interested in what she had to say, requested her thoughts on many issues, and yet often they had just sat in companionable silence and took comfort in the fact that they were together.
Charlotte had come close to breaking her engagement.
Richard had never asked that of her, had not even hinted at it, and should she have done so, it would have been of her own volition had she taken that drastic step.
But the banns had been read, and the shame and ridicule her family would have endured would not allow her to follow her heart’s dictates.
Charlotte had always considered her views on marriage, those she had learnt at her mother’s feet, were the correct ones, while her friends Jane and Eliza and their fanciful dreams of true love, mutual respect, and felicity were childish indulgences.
Too late, Charlotte knew they had the right of it while she was the one with the wrong expectations of matrimony.
She had thought herself so clever when she had gotten the simple Mr. Collins to marry her by effectively proposing to him.
All she had seen was security and a home of her own.
Charlotte had known from the first time she spoke to Mr. Collins that her husband-to-be was ridiculous and a sycophant, but she believed she would be able to manage him.
Through his letters, she was learning that the way he revered his patroness, as if she were a god who had descended from the pantheon walking among the mortals, would make it almost impossible to redirect.
It was all too late now anyway; in the morning she would marry the man.
In less than twelve hours she would be Mrs. Collins.
The one bright spot on the horizon was Eliza had agreed to arrive in mid-March and remain a little over a month, departing after Easter in mid-April.
Charlotte was in true anticipation of seeing how her friend would deploy her scintillating wit when Mr. Collins’s patroness displayed her lack of education and tried to advise Eliza on subjects of which the great lady knew nothing.
Charlotte’s mother had given her a short talk, telling her to endure her husband’s attentions as best she could.
Most of the time had actually been used to give Charlotte stratagems on how to avoid the marital bed.
The night before her wedding, Charlotte Lucas dreamt of Richard Fitzwilliam, much as she had every night since she started falling in love with the man.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The soon-to-be ex-colonel had a fortnight’s leave from his training duties with the Royal Dragoons.
Knowing that he was in love with a lady who was about to be married and wanting to make sure he was not close enough to ride to Meryton to object, Richard rode to Pemberley to be with his cousins.
As much as his heart yearned for the lady he loved; his honour would not allow him to act on his feelings.
“Richard, why are you so forlorn?” Darcy asked. It was the night before her wedding and the cousins were sitting in the master’s study with snifters of brandy.
Before he answered, Richard had to check himself.
He had to be careful how much he revealed.
He realised that with Andrew courting Jane, he could be truthful about his problem without revealing where they had been.
“I met a friend of Jane’s and Lizzy’s with whom I fell in love.
There is only one slight problem, which is, she is already betrothed. ”
It cut Darcy to the quick that Richard was allowed to call the lady of his dreams by her familiar name, even though he understood they were just friends having spent time together while keeping an eye on the courting couple.
“Which of their friends? Not the one who is engaged to the sycophantic parson of Aunt Cat?”
“Yes, Miss Lucas, Charlotte,” Richard confirmed.
“Please tell me you did not…” Darcy started to ask.
“Good heavens no! What kind of cad to you think me? A Wickham? I would never dally with a gentlewoman’s affections!
We were always in the company of others and never once did we come close to breaching propriety.
Before I knew where I was, I was in love, truly in love, with a woman for the first time.
No, not in lust, and not puppy love. She is marrying an imbecile tomorrow and all is lost,” Richard lamented his unrequited love.
“At least she bore your company with equanimity. Miss Elizabeth rightfully hates the very sight of me!” Darcy stated hollowly.
“Not quite anymore, William,” Richard consoled.
“What do you mean?”
“Your letter to Andrew, the one similar to those you sent to Mother, Father, and me,” Richard hinted.
“Yes, what about my apology letters?” Darcy frowned at the reason they needed to be written, not that they were being brought up.
“Andrew allowed Jane and Lizzy to read his as you never stated it should be held in confidence. If you meant what you said in the letter, then I would predict your exit from the doghouse!” Richard felt a little better as he saw the pleasure suffuse his cousin’s features.
“I am not sure I should tell you this, then again, no one told me not to.”
“What Richard, tell me what?” an expectant Darcy demanded.
“Lizzy will be at Hunsford from about the middle of March until a week or so after Easter. She is to visit her good friend, who will be Mrs. Collins at that point.”
“What say you we write to Aunt Cat and tell her we will arrive on the twentieth day of March?” Darcy asked keenly.
“You know what she will assume at our coming early do you not?” Richard warned.
“I care not what she thinks! The first time she brings up my non-existent engagement to Anne, I will not leave it with us being at cross purposes. I will inform her in terms she will not be able to misconstrue that the match she desires between Anne and myself will never take place. Do you know that idiot man called Anne my betrothed at the ball Bingley held before he was evicted from Netherfield?” Darcy scoffed at the parson’s temerity.
“I heard about Bingley losing his lease and rent,” Richard said absentmindedly thinking of his lost love.
“How would you know that information, Richard?” Darcy asked somewhat suspiciously.
Richard realised that he could answer the question without having to dissemble too much or giving away information he had been requested to keep to himself for the time being.
“When we were at Lord and Lady Jersey’s estate, the landlord was present.
Do not ask, he does not want his name widely known,” Richard stopped the question on the tip of his cousin’s tongue.
Darcy tried to probe for the name a few more times, but his cousin would not budge.
The subject changed to Bingley and the breaking of the friendship.
Richard agreed there was no other option after what had happened with Bingley showing up at Pemberley uninvited with his sisters in tow.
That night, Richard was well and truly in his cups trying to block out the thoughts of despair that perturbed him.
The woman he loved would be married to a buffoon in a matter of hours.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The morning of her wedding, Charlotte awoke to resignation that she had crossed the Rubicon; for in a few short hours she would be a married woman.
To console herself, she held tight to the fact that she had, after all, met the goals of matrimony she had set for herself.
Was he decent and respectable? Yes. Did he have a good home over which she would be mistress?
Yes. Would she no longer be burden on her parents or her brother in the future? Yes again.
But no matter how many times she went through the list it did not dispel the forlorn feeling that she was about to make the biggest mistake of her life.
She had chosen in haste when she thought it was her one opportunity; now her suspicion was she would repent at leisure for the remainder of her life.
As much as she wished it otherwise, she would walk down the aisle on her father’s arm.
At nine, Charlotte met her father and made the ride with him to St. Alfred’s Church in Meryton.
As she stood in the vestibule, a maniacal urge to run struck her, but she resisted it and was soon walking up the aisle to where Eliza was standing, ready to assist her.
Franklin, Charlotte oldest brother, was standing up with her betrothed as he had had no friends or family he could call on after Mr. Bennet had demurred when offered the honour.