Chapter 25 #2
“Not precisely. Thanks to your letter, we found her but couldn’t convince her to come away with us. Your father recovered her himself.”
“Without your assistance, Papa would have had no way of finding where they had gone.”
“Perhaps, but I couldn’t bear for you to be harmed by my failure to disclose Wickham’s entire sordid history. My silence was meant to protect Georgiana, but it placed you and your family in grave danger.”
She remained quiet as she considered what she had learned. “And now, you’re Mr Darcy again?”
He nodded. “That happened right after we left your uncle’s house on Wednesday night. Charles and I shook hands on a job well done, and in the next instant, we switched back to our true forms.”
She pursed her lips while studying his face. “If that were true, that would mean that…I dined beside you at every meal at Netherfield,” she said, her focus drifting off. “And I danced with Mr Bingley that night.”
He suspected she was still attempting to make sense of things. “I asked him to apologise for me, because I didn’t want you to have a poor opinion of me.”
“And when you danced with me at the assembly, that was really Mr Bingley,” she said, her eyes still unfocused.
“Yes, he acted on my behalf, and I did the same by dancing twice with your sister. I promised him to dance every set as penance for my rude behaviour at the first assembly.”
When she made no reply, he continued, “I did have the pleasure of dancing one set with you that night, but I appeared to all the world as Charles Bingley.”
She wearily shook her head. “I hardly know what to say.”
He hoped that she had finally accepted his outlandish story. “I felt exactly the same when you walked into the breakfast parlour that morning, splattered with mud and looking like the most bewitching creature I’d ever beheld. I’ve been enchanted ever since that moment.”
A rosy glow suffused her face. “But you couldn’t tell me that the man I thought was Mr Bingley was really you.”
He recalled his mistakes. “I slipped on a few occasions, but Charles and I agreed at the outset that no one should ever learn of our inexplicable dilemma. I still intend to keep it private, but if you are ever to trust me, there can be no secrets between us.”
“And now you want to court me,” she said with a half-smile.
This wasn’t precisely true. “I would prefer to marry you, but since your father withheld his consent, I’ll honour his wishes for a courtship.”
She nodded thoughtfully, then released a great sigh.
“You can’t imagine how relieved I am, Mr Darcy.
I couldn’t help forming a tendre for Mr Bingley, who saw to my every need and went out of his way to comfort and protect me.
I believed myself to be the worst sister in the world, pining for the same charming man that Jane loved. ”
His heart leapt with delight. “You pined for me?”
She pressed her hands to her flaming cheeks. “And when Mr Bingley wrote to Jane to beg her pardon for his extended absence, I was happy for her, but…oh, so wretched for myself. Of course, I would never consider supplanting my beloved sister, and resolved then to never marry.”
Charmed by this forthright confession, he reached for her hand. “Will you marry the man who loves you?” he said, kissing her hand. Then added, “When your father allows it, of course.”
“With the greatest pleasure, Mr Darcy,” she said, now beaming brightly.
“Well then, I shall hope that ours will be a brief courtship.”
“You’re quite optimistic to believe that my family’s disgrace can be resolved so quickly.”
Optimism had never been Darcy’s foremost trait, but he now had an abundance of it. “I have every hope that it shall. May I also hope that you will allow me to steal a kiss from you?”
She gazed at him with those dark, beguiling eyes. “If a kiss is allowed, then it can’t be stolen.”
Charmed by her quick wit, he pulled her closer. “I’ll rely on your generosity.”
She offered her lips, and he kissed her like a starving man, yearning for more. “My dearest Elizabeth.” Embracing her tightly, he vowed to never fail her again.
“You know, of course,” she said once he had released her, “that courting couples don’t kiss.”
“So I understand.”
“Nor are they ever alone together,” she said with a crooked smile.
“It’s quite regrettable,” he said, then pulled her into his arms and kissed her again. “But that works perfectly into my plan to be seen everywhere in Meryton with you.”
“Instead of promenading at Hyde Park or sharing ices at Gunter’s Tea Shop, we’ll be seen in Fletcher’s Butcher Shop and Honeyfield’s Green Grocery. If we give the appearance of a couple in the throes of the deepest affection, they’ll have something other than Lydia to talk about.”
“We’ll not have the slightest difficulty doing so, and when Charles returns, he’ll do the same with your sister,” he said, then took her hand. “I’m intrigued by this spinney you mentioned. Perhaps we might explore it together.”
Her eyes glimmered, and she laughed merrily. “I think you’ll find it quite diverting, Mr Darcy.”
When they returned to the house, Elizabeth joined her sisters upstairs, and Darcy found Mr Bennet in his study.
“Come in, Mr Darcy,” he said, offering a cup of coffee. “I’m sorry you had to witness that scene in church this morning. I never would have suspected that my boyhood friend would betray me so spectacularly.”
“Who?” Darcy said, stunned by this suggestion.
“Sir William intended the snub as a personal affront to me,” he said, pausing for a sip of coffee.
“We grew up together. If you can imagine two scrappy boys running around the neighbourhood, that was Will Lucas and me. He was the green grocer’s son, and I was a gentleman’s son, but we were inseparable…
until I went away to Harrow, and he was put to work in the shop. ”
Darcy hadn’t considered Sir William’s role in this morning’s disaster, but now realised he had been the chief instigator. “I have a similar story with Wickham, except we went to school together.”
Mr Bennet nodded thoughtfully. “How we idealise those early friendships, thinking nothing could ever change.”
“I certainly wouldn’t have thought it possible,” Darcy said, recalling his shock upon learning of the elopement scheme in Ramsgate.
“I believe we may blame this morning’s incident on the power and influence of the crowd. They witnessed Sir William’s slight and followed his example.”
“With the exception of the vicar and the Fletchers,” Darcy said, recalling their kindness.
“Indeed, which leads me to a possible solution. Private encounters might be more successful, especially with the merchants in their shops,” the older man said.
“I doubt the butcher wishes to lose me as a customer, nor the milliner. Mr Ward has already lost Lydia’s business and wouldn’t also want to lose my wife and remaining daughters. ”
“I see your point and suspect the Finches also wish to preserve my patronage, and Mr Bingley’s.”
“Precisely,” Mr Bennet said in a confident tone. “With some careful planning, we might be able to win them over.”
Darcy advised his host that he already planned to be seen everywhere in the village with Elizabeth.
“We might even spread the story that Lydia has been sent back to the schoolroom as punishment for her mischief. When your neighbours see that I haven’t abandoned the Bennets, but have accepted you, they might be convinced that Lydia is redeemable. ”
Mr Bennet glumly shook his head. “How ironic that we are being scorned for Lydia’s folly, while she suffers no consequences whatsoever. What’s more, she’s being rewarded with an excellent education.”
An image of Lydia labouring over her textbooks flashed into Darcy’s mind. “I doubt she’ll share your opinion when she’s forced to study the classics, mathematics, Italian, music, and a myriad of other subjects.”
Mr Bennet laughed heartily. “I should like to witness her comeuppance, but I suspect my brother will keep me informed of her progress.”
“On the other hand, Wickham will likely get on famously in the army and suffer no ramification for his excesses,” Darcy said, recalling his indolent friend.
“That reminds me, he left a few debts behind, so I must take a full accounting at the shops tomorrow. With your permission, I’ll bring Elizabeth with me and take the opportunity to announce our courtship. ”
Mr Bennet nodded his consent. “You’ll need a chaperone, so bring Jane, too,” he said, then sat back to regard Darcy. “Are you certain you wish to align yourself with a house of scandal?”
“I am entirely at your service.”
In all honesty, everything Darcy planned to do was for Elizabeth’s sake.
He couldn’t take her away from her family while they still suffered the scorn of the community, nor would she agree to leave them to their fate.
No, Elizabeth was worth waiting for, and he would do everything in his power to please her.