Chapter 8
Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam strode to the Netherfield Park stables to check on his stallion, and then to choose one of Darcy’s horses for the short ride to Longbourn. As the groom saddled a horse called Falstaff, Richard considered Darcy’s attitude.
He was used to a confident and competent Darcy.
Even as a boy, Darcy’s size, strength, and intellect helped to make him capable of everything from climbing the tallest trees to thwarting a surprise-attack by Wickham and winning the wrestling match that resulted.
All three boys knew Darcy was the heir to the grand estate of Pemberley and the enormous family fortune, and somehow that knowledge gave even the young Darcy a certain amount of self-possession.
But Richard was surprised—and very, very pleased—to see Darcy so confident about Elizabeth’s love and loyalty.
The colonel mounted Falstaff, consulted the groom for directions to Longbourn, and rode off, still considering his cousin’s romance with a mix of affection and anxiety.
He wished he was as confident as Darcy that they would succeed in finding Elizabeth.
Considering the matter, Richard decided that it was not mere confidence but an almost fanatical determination that he sensed in his cousin.
When the family had received letters announcing Darcy’s engagement to Miss Elizabeth Bennet, Richard’s parents had been stunned. “Who the devil is this Miss Bennet?” the earl had demanded.
“Could she be a fortune hunter?” the countess had asked in her most poisonous tones.
For Richard, it was as if a thousand unexplained facts shifted and fell into place.
For the first time he realised why Darcy had seemed distracted and anxious after his months in Hertfordshire.
He understood why, during their last visit to their aunt’s estate of Rosings, Darcy had greeted the news of the local parson’s recent marriage to a lady from Hertfordshire with a thunderous frown that had dissolved away, never to be mentioned, when he saw the new Mrs Collins.
It also explained the shock and pleasure he had briefly seen in his cousin’s eyes when he spotted the pastor’s houseguest, Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
He was not certain if the melancholy that had hounded Darcy after they left Rosings was due to his sorrow that he had not managed to overcome his reticence to propose, or if he had proposed and been turned down.
However, the eventual news of the engagement had certainly indicated that every puzzling mood had a single cause: Darcy had fallen in love.
For all that his cousin was seven and twenty, Richard was pretty sure that Darcy had never before been in love, and knowing his deeply loyal character, Richard thought it unlikely that Darcy would ever fall in love again.
Richard felt his own determination rise: Darcy and Elizabeth would have their chance to marry, to be together, to be happy!
Filled with such resolve, Richard strode up to the door, gave his card to the butler who responded to his knock, and said quite brusquely, “As the son of the Earl of Matlock, I must see Mr Bennet on a matter of some importance.”
He did not have to wait long before he was guided through a modest entrance hall and corridor into a small study crammed with books, some of which sat in two of the five chairs.
A man who looked to be in his fifties stood from the chair positioned behind the desk.
Mr Bennet’s clothes fit the label “country squire,” being respectable but neither new nor fine.
He wore spectacles and a rather unexpected smirk.
“Colonel Fitzwilliam,” he said, bowing, “to what do I owe the pleasure?” He sat and waved to the two chairs facing the desk. “Please, take a seat as you explain.”
“I believe that you owe my parents, Lord and Lady Matlock, an update in your mutual project.”
It was a bold move to speak as if he knew all about what was happening, when he knew almost nothing. Still, in the past he had seen such bold statements sometimes rewarded, whether the assumptions were or were not correct.
In this case, there was an enormous reward, in that Mr Bennet promptly confirmed that his parents were, indeed, involved. “I already wrote them an update,” the man assured Richard. “I sent it express, as ordered.”
“Curious,” Richard said, frowning. “They did not receive it.”
Mr Bennet had a puzzled look, and his smirk had transformed into a frown. He said nothing.
Richard decided that he must stick with a bold strategy. “Look, sir, something has changed. I must ask Miss Bennet—Miss Jane Bennet, I believe?—about the clothing she packed for her sister.”
Again, there was no verbal answer, although the man’s eyebrows popped up. Mr Bennet briefly chewed his lip, then sighed and nodded. He rang for the servant and asked him to locate Miss Bennet and send her in.
When the lady entered, Richard was shocked at how beautiful she was.
Her golden hair was smooth, including the shiny corkscrew curls framing her face, and her smile reached her guileless blue eyes.
While her smile was not brilliant, as he remembered Miss Elizabeth’s being, it was gentle and lovely.
The memory of Darcy’s certainty that this innocent-seeming maiden was a part of the conspiracy made Richard steel himself against believing in any of it: her smile, her eyes, her sweet voice as she acknowledged their introduction.
Richard said, “There has been some trouble with your sister. Did you pack something she could use as a weapon? I know you would not pack embroidery supplies with needles and scissors, but perhaps you included stays and hairpins?”
“Something she could use as a weapon?” Miss Bennet asked. “Of course not. I was specifically told no stays and no hairpins, so I packed neither.”
“Hmm….” Richard stared into the young woman’s eyes, willing her to say something that would give the searchers his cousin had hired a lead.
“Is Elizabeth well, despite whatever trouble there was?” Miss Bennet asked. “Is she safe and sound at the house?”
Richard noted the word house, and although it was not a very helpful word, she would not have used that word if Miss Elizabeth was being kept in a cave.
Would Miss Bennet use the word house if her sister was locked up in a castle or cabin?
Quite likely she would; it was even more likely that she had no idea of where her sister was being kept.
“I actually do not know of her physical well-being nor her current emotional state. I had heard that she was originally sobbing over ‘Papa’ and ‘Jane,’ which I assume means that she knows the two of you acted against her.”
“Against her?” Miss Bennet sounded astonished. She was either an excellent actor or a gullible fool who had swallowed some unlikely tale.
“I assume that is how Miss Elizabeth would see it.” Richard shot a glance at Mr Bennet, who seemed content to sit with steepled fingers, listening but not speaking, not showing any reaction.
Miss Bennet shook her head. “Of course Lizzy would not see our actions as attempts to work against her, Colonel. My sister would know, deeply and truly, that I would only act to her benefit. And she has always had a close, trusting, loving relationship with our father. Neither Papa nor I could ever act against her, not even for a minute.”
Keep telling yourself that, Richard thought. Or…was this serene-seeming woman hiding a jealous and vindictive personality behind her angelic countenance?
It suddenly hit him that this was Bingley’s “angel” who he had mooned over while in Hertfordshire.
When Bingley’s social-climbing sisters had complained about him courting one of the Bennet ladies, Bingley had asked Darcy’s advice.
Richard remembered that his cousin had opined that Bingley would be better off choosing another lady—he remembered that quite clearly—but what criticism had he levelled at Miss Bennet?
She smiles too much. At the very moment that Richard remembered those words, uttered so long ago by Darcy in describing Miss Jane Bennet, she gave Richard a sad smile and said, “I know that you can understand that we are doing the very best for our Lizzy.”
Richard felt a slight tremor of revulsion seeing her smile during this conversation.
He recalled the other thing Darcy had related from his long-ago discussion with Bingley: “I got the feeling that she is not wholly sincere. I would hate to see you marry a lady who covers her thoughts and emotions with pretence, while you are so open about your feelings and intentions.” It occurred to Richard, now, that his cousin had been quite right with his warnings.
Taking a deep breath, Richard said, “Well, I am not sure what to report, if you were truly careful with what you packed. I wonder, will you be visiting her? I was never told what visitations would be allowed.”
Mr Bennet finally spoke up, and Richard watched him as he said, “We are not to visit. Someone might follow us, after all.” Richard judged that he was telling the truth.
“Yes, of course. However, I am impressed by your trust in the servants to be reporting on her condition and treating her well, with no one offering oversight.”
He saw Mr Bennet blanch, and he became certain that the man did not know who was taking care of Elizabeth. What folly!
“I would be happy to visit her and check on the jailers, as it were, if you wish to give me the direction. I am a soldier and therefore trained to travel without being followed.”
Miss Bennet seemed to gasp a bit, but her father swiftly said, “Actually, that is not a bad idea, Colonel; you should ask your parents for the direction. Thank you in advance for checking on our dear girl.”
Richard felt dismayed that he had learnt so little and was not at all convinced that any of the Bennets knew Elizabeth’s location. He assured him that he would do his best and bowed out of the study and the entire house.