Chapter 29
When William returned, he was sans Mr Darcy, for which Elizabeth was glad, as her father repeated that Lydia had eloped with Lieutenant Wickham. But it was many hours later that she thought she would not like for Mr Darcy to know that they were all ruined.
She would have been astonished if she had overheard her cousin’s conversation with Mr Darcy.
“It was not until I returned from Hertfordshire that I recalled where I had heard the name Wickham,” he said.
“When I first arrived, Lady Catherine was quite vocal about his behaviour towards your family, and when we were introduced in Hertfordshire, I could not immediately remember why the names Wickham and Darcy were joined in my head. It was only after your aunt recalled to me that you were her nephew that I remembered the whole of it, including the events of last summer.”
Mr Darcy’s face had gone red, and his fists were clenched at his side. “Are you now seeking some reward for your silence?” he asked, the words coming out between tight lips.
Mr Collins looked shocked and shook his head. “No, but the dreadful news Elizabeth is even now being told is that my youngest cousin, Lydia, has eloped with Mr Wickham.”
Mr Darcy went pale at this news, but a part of him was still angry at this man and Elizabeth, or Miss Elizabeth, as he should think of her, as, unlike the parson, she had not given him permission to address her as such.
He replied, “And what is that to me?” even as he was thinking about what he could do.
Mr Collins shook his head, “I think I know enough about your interest in Elizabeth to be sure that it is something to you.”
Mr Darcy sighed and replied in a quiet voice, “You wish to bargain on my feelings even as you use her given name to me,” he said. “Tell me, do you have an understanding?”
Mr Collins’ eyes went wide at this, and he replied, “Indeed, we understand that we are to be as close as siblings, for the Bennet family has taken me as their own brother.” And when the word brother filled the air, the tension with which Mr Darcy had held himself relaxed, and he beseeched the parson to tell him the whole of it, that he might do what he could.
Once Jane had been revived and they had all drunk some hot tea, their father questioned them.
He asked if they had seen any interaction between Lydia and Lieutenant Wickham that had concerned them.
They both shook their head, saying that neither she nor he had demonstrated any particular interest in each other to their knowledge.
Their father had sighed and said that matched Kitty’s account, which had been passed to him by Mary.
To her knowledge, Lydia had no special affection for him, and she was as shocked at these events as the rest of them.
Their father told them that from Mary’s letter Miss Farnsworth was the equal of Mrs Bennet in her distress.
Mary reported that Miss Farnsworth was inconsolable, blaming herself.
Mary had reported one final thing, which was at least a small blessing; no word had passed beyond the family, save for Colonel Forster and Hill.
The story circulating in Meryton was that Lydia had gone to join with her father and sisters in visiting their uncle in town.
Elizabeth remained lost in her own thoughts, wondering if she had missed something that would have alerted them to this possibility.