Like The Gentleman He Was: A Pride and Prejudice Variation (Elizabeth and Darcy : An Alternate Path

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

November 1811, Meryton

It was a very cold day, and the wind whipping her pelisse made Elizabeth Bennet shiver involuntarily. However, the storm brewing within made her oblivious to the cold as she hurried away from her home. A home that no longer felt like the sanctuary it was.

“That dowdy Charlotte Lucas will be the mistress of Longbourn! Oh, the very thought is insupportable. Now I know that we are all destined for the hedgerows, because I am sure that she will take pleasure in throwing us out of our home when the time comes.”

Her mother had paused to draw an angry breath, then continued, after throwing a furious glance at Elizabeth. “And it will happen only because Lizzy is an obstinate and wicked girl who refuses to do her duty, and you, Mr. Bennet, could not, nay, would not, prevail upon her! I honestly have no idea what I have done to deserve such a thankless and selfish child.”

Elizabeth shuddered as she remembered her mother’s scathing words. There had been more—much more—in the same vein, but she had been too heartsore to continue listening to the tirade. She had always known that she was not her mother’s favourite, but she had never imagined that Mama could resort to such cruel words. Feeling distressed by the unkind words, she exited the morning room, only to run into Mr. Collins in the hallway. Their cousin was following a footman carrying his trunk to the carriage waiting on the Longbourn portico. The knowing smirk on Mr. Collins’ pudgy face had been the last straw; she had hurried outside, desperate to escape all the negativity and hurt. Unfortunately, she carried the hurt within her.

Elizabeth walked on unmindfully, scarcely aware of her surroundings or the tears streaming down her face. However, her feet involuntarily led her to the place she frequented whenever she sought comfort from pain or answers to a dilemma. It was a serene place within the woods that surrounded Longbourn’s back boundary. A place where the swiftly running Meryton stream gentled to a meander and widened into a pool.

Elizabeth came out of her stupor and looked around only when the hem of her gown touched the icy waters of the stream. Her gaze was drawn to a large boulder inside the pool, which was bathed in watery sunshine. It was not far from the shore, and over the years she had spent many a happy hour sitting on it. All of a sudden, feeling desperate for the warmth that the sunrays signified, Elizabeth hitched up her gown and started making her way towards the boulder. She walked on a series of flat rocks lining up to her destination.

It was a path she had taken innumerable times without incident. But today, she was not her usual careful self, and disaster struck just as she was about to reach her goal. In her haste, she took her eyes off the last stone step, and her left foot twisted as it landed on a slippery patch of moss deposited on it. The next instant, with a distressed cry of alarm, she fell face-down in the frigid waters of the pool.

The fall and the freezing water stunned her even as she righted herself instinctively. It was only as uncontrollable shivers wracked her body and the cold started to numb her limbs that a semblance of consciousness returned. The water was too shallow for her to float, but she could easily wade her way through to the boulder, or so she thought. It took all her effort to pull herself up when her soaked garments were doing their best to drag her down. Somehow, she managed to stand up, but as soon as she put weight on her feet, she collapsed with a whimper of pain. Her left foot appeared to have suffered some damage when she fell, and now it would not take her weight.

Oh Lord! What am I to do? Elizabeth closed her eyes in despair as she realised the extent of her troubles. For one wild moment, she wondered if she would die here, all alone.

“Miss Elizabeth? Are you well?”

Her eyes flew open at the very unexpected but familiar voice raised in concern.

“M... Mr Darcy!” she exclaimed through chattering teeth as she observed him purposefully navigate his way towards her.

Do I look well? The churlish thought came unbidden, but she immediately felt ashamed of it. Miraculously, help was at hand, and she was being snide. Perhaps it was because she was miserable and heartsore?

“Uh... I am a... afraid I am n... not all that w... well, Mr Darcy. My l... left foot...”

Darcy interrupted Elizabeth’s stammering response. “Do not worry, Miss Elizabeth; I will have you out of here in a moment,” he said as he bent down to gently pick her up in his arms.

“Y... your clothes will be r...ruined,” Elizabeth remarked inanely, even as violent shivers continued to wrack her slight frame.

“A little water would hardly ruin my clothes. But even if such were to happen, I can assure you that Banes, my valet, is a wonder at getting my apparel back to its pristine form.”

“Hmm...” Elizabeth mumbled in response. The sudden realisation of her rescue from an uncomfortable, if not downright dangerous situation made her feel limp with relief. Exhausted, she closed her eyes and rested her head on Mr Darcy’s shoulder.

It was not too many moments later that he was setting her down on firm ground.

“Please keep the weight off your injured foot,” Darcy said softly, and with a nod, she leaned back against a tree trunk, taking care not to put weight on her left foot. Mr Darcy took off his great coat and snugly wrapped it around her. Then he lifted her up in his arms once again to place her atop his horse, Poseidon.

“Is there a way we can enter Longbourn from its back boundary?” he enquired as he quickly mounted the beast after her. And as soon as Elizabeth provided him with the directions, he guided Poseidon out of the woods.

∞∞∞

They rode in complete silence as his horse quickly ate up the distance to Longbourn. After a while, her unnatural stillness made Darcy anxious. To make sure that all was well, he looked down at the woman nestled in his arms. As he observed her white face and felt the faint tremors still shaking her body, a fierce feeling of protectiveness welled up inside him. He tightened his arms around her in the hope that the warmth from his body would take the edge off the chills plaguing her. He then glanced away from her and released a sigh of relief when the back gate of Longbourn came into view.

He had chosen the less frequented and shorter path to the back gate of Longbourn. While getting Elizabeth to a warm, safe environment at the earliest had been his primary concern, his decision had also been influenced by his worry over them being observed in such a compromising situation. It was thus a matter of great relief when they arrived at Longbourn without encountering anyone on their way thither.

Darcy glanced once more at Elizabeth. She did not appear to be in a position to bother about such things at the moment, but he did not want any sort of scandal to attach to her name that would force her hand in any manner. He felt a twinge of unease as he tried to imagine Mrs Bennet’s reaction when he would carry Miss Elizabeth into her home. Then he put the thought away with a philosophical shrug. Even if Mrs Bennet tries to take advantage of the situation, it cannot be helped now.

Soon he was dismounting his horse in front of the Longbourn stables. A pair of grooms came hurrying towards them, and one of them caught hold of Poseidon’s reins and led him away. Darcy instructed the other to alert the household about Miss Elizabeth having suffered a small mishap, even as he carried her towards the front door.

The throbbing in her injured foot and the cold permeating her body made a miserable Elizabeth close her eyes and gently rest her head on her rescuer’s shoulder.

As soon as he saw the front door of Longbourn, Darcy felt a sliver of satisfaction for bringing Miss Elizabeth to her home without a calamity. Alas, he had celebrated too soon.

He had put his foot on the first of the seven steps leading to the front door of the manor house when it opened, and out came Mrs Bennet with a gaggle of middle-aged matrons from the neighbourhood. Darcy’s eyes widened in dismay as he recognised Lady Lucas, Mrs Bennet’s sister—Mrs Phillips, and another woman whose name he could not recollect, crowding behind their hostess. His arms tightened around Elizabeth instinctively and she raised her head from his shoulder with a murmured protest.

“Mr Darcy! What on earth have you done to Lizzy?”

Darcy grimaced at Mrs Bennet’s shrill voice and accusatory tone. Trust the woman to make an unseemly fuss about an unfortunate accident, he thought angrily as he felt Miss Elizabeth tense in his arms. Perhaps he would not have been so uncharitable to Mrs Bennet’s theatrics, had he seen the image he and Elizabeth were presenting at the moment.

Even a mother with considerably more sense and decorum than the Bennet matriarch would have suffered the fit of vapours on observing a bedraggled gentleman carrying her bedraggled daughter in his arms. Especially when the said daughter was wrapped in an identifiably masculine garment and her visibly wet hair hung in rattails over the young man’s arm.

As Darcy opened his mouth to respond, he saw the unknown matron—Mrs Goulding, he recollected suddenly—whisper something into Lady Lucas’s ears. It was something that caused the nearby Mrs Phillips to purse her lips unhappily and glance at her sister. Fortunately, Mrs Bennet was too busy observing him and Miss Elizabeth to take note of this byplay.

Darcy too, ignored the happenings and replied to Mrs Bennet. “Please calm yourself, Mrs Bennet. The only thing I have done is bring Miss Elizabeth back to Longbourn after she suffered an accident and sprained her ankle. I was out for a ride when I saw her struggles and offered the services of my horse since she was in no position to walk under her own steam.” He tried to downplay the whole incident.

Unfortunately, his response did not seem to placate Mrs Bennet. The only change that did occur was that she directed her ire at Elizabeth instead.

“Now do you understand why I keep asking you not to go traipsing out on your own? But do you ever listen to your mother, obstinate, headstrong girl that you are...”

Before she could continue her tirade, two things happened simultaneously. Firstly, Lady Lucas’s carriage that was to transport the guests to their respective homes arrived at the doorstep. Secondly, alerted by the groom of Elizabeth’s mishap, Jane and Mr Bennet came hurrying out the front door.

“Lizzy! What has happened? Are you well?” Jane cried out as she and her father swiftly made their way to where Darcy stood waiting with Elizabeth in his arms.

At the same time, showing great presence of mind, Mrs Phillips herded the other two women towards the waiting carriage. “We will now take your leave, Fanny. Lizzy needs you to look after her.” Although Mrs Goulding was keen to see events unfold in her presence, the waiting carriage, and Mrs Phillips’s hand on her back left her with little choice. Perforce, she left, but not before she threw an all-encompassing glance at Darcy and Elizabeth. She would not want to pass on inaccurate information if the conversation veered to this strange incident at her card party this evening.

“Mr Darcy, please bring Lizzy inside,” Jane urged Darcy, who followed her gratefully. As he carried Elizabeth to the parlour and set her down on a comfortable sofa, the rest of her family also entered the room. Mr Bennet then invited Darcy into his study and requested information on the happenings, which Darcy shared with candour.

Mr Bennet thanked Darcy with suitable gratitude. At the moment, the father in him was too worried to think beyond his daughter’s wellbeing. Consequently, he did not think about the implications of Darcy bringing Elizabeth back to Longbourn, especially in the presence of the neighbourhood matrons. Fitzwilliam Darcy, on the other hand, did, and even as he took his leave of Mr Bennet, he knew that if things came to pass as he feared, then he might have to return to Longbourn on the morrow to make an all-important offer to Miss Elizabeth. Strangely, the idea did not perturb him as much as it should have.

∞∞∞

As Darcy rode back to Netherfield, he shook his head at the strange vagaries of fate. Only a few hours ago he had been on the verge of leaving this neighbourhood, probably never to return if Miss Bingley had her way. He had decided to go along with Miss Bingley’s plans to follow Bingley to London because her arguments had resonated with his own. He too believed that his friend was in danger of being trapped into marriage with an indifferent if pleasant young woman with an avaricious mother and a thoroughly unsuitable family. However, if truth be told, he had been only too eager to fall in with Miss Bingley’s plans because he was scared. He was scared of his growing fascination with Miss Elizabeth Bennet and his weakening resolve to talk himself out of offering for her despite her unsuitability for the position of Mrs Darcy of Pemberley.

As they had arranged the day before, Miss Bingley and the Hursts had already left for London this morning. He had declined to join them in their carriage on the pretext that he would prefer to ride, as Poseidon needed the exercise. The real reason, though, was that he had found he could not leave Meryton without a last glimpse of Miss Elizabeth and formally taking his leave of her. Their last meeting two days prior—on the night of the ball—had ended in acrimony over their discussion about that lying cad Wickham. He did not want his last memory of her to be tainted by rancour, especially because of him.

As a result, as soon as the Hursts’ carriage left Netherfield, he had ridden towards Longbourn. However, before he could reach the Bennets’ home, he had seen Miss Elizabeth walking away from Longbourn towards a grove that ran parallel to its boundary. He had been disturbed to observe that she appeared to be crying. He had debated whether or not to invade her privacy at such a time, but only briefly. His concern for her had overcome his inhibitions, and he had followed her inside the woods. He could only be thankful for his decision to pursue her when he found her in that pool, struggling to get up.

Darcy came out of his reverie and saw the gates of Netherfield looming before him. He once again shook his head, and a rueful smile quirked his lips. When he left for Longbourn this morning he had gone to bid farewell to Miss Elizabeth. But now... if he had rightly interpreted Mrs Goulding’s demeanour, he would most likely end up offering his name and protection to Elizabeth, and they would be together—forever. He caught himself smiling at the thought. The most shocking aspect of this whole disaster was that rather than being upset about his hand being forced, he wished that things might come to such a pass! He wished that circumstances would make him stop fighting his inclinations and he could offer for the woman he admired with a clear conscience. In the sudden lightening of his spirits, he forgot about the undesirable situation of the Bennet family and the inevitable opposition and backlash from his family and friends both!