Chapter 18 #2
The dismissed men followed the two who were ordered to deal with Mr Collins. Elizabeth would not wish to be her attacker on this journey, for the officers were angrier than a nest of disturbed bees.
The captain turned to her. “I apologise, Miss…”
“Miss Eliz-zab-beth B-b-ennet-t.” Now that the matter was done, the realisation of what might have befallen her was sinking in. Her bravado failed and she began to tremble.
“Oh, dear. Do not fall to pieces yet, miss. Not yet. We must take you home first. May Lieutenant Walmsley and I accompany you to your family?”
“Yes, p-please.” Elizabeth was so grateful she nearly cried. The captain was correct. She must reach the cottage before she fell apart.
“I am Captain Penry, miss. Take my arm, now, and we shall bring you home safely.” The captain was kind and gentle.
“I suppose I am ruined now,” she worried five minutes later as they made their way. “This will be all over Ramsgate by noon.”
The captain patted her hand in its ruined glove.
“Not to worry, miss. We are under orders to embark tomorrow with the tide. The men are confined to camp unless they are on manoeuvres. The colonel will not permit them to turn cowardly and run off, nor get disguised in the pubs and left behind. The men will have no one to speak to before we leave, and the magistrate seems like a sensible man.”
Mr Bennet was furious when Elizabeth was delivered to the door. Charlotte and her sisters were all crying in relief for her safe deliverance when Darcy entered the drawing room frantically.
“I encountered the officers in the lane. I came because I never saw Miss Elizabeth when I was out riding today. I was riding past the cottage in the hopes of learning if she was well. They refused to say what happened, only that they just delivered an injured lady to her family!”
Elizabeth, now safe, was nearly incoherent.
She was bundled upstairs by her sisters as Darcy was left to hear of the incident from her enraged father.
The two men, both nearly blind with fury, left together to go to the camp where Captain Penry indicated that Mr Collins would be held until charged with a crime.
When Mr Bennet returned three hours later, he was grim. Elizabeth had rested in her room for a while and was now quietly sitting with her sisters in the drawing room. Jane gently brushed her hair.
“It appears that the naval chaplain who was to be on board the ship when the company embarks tomorrow died unexpectedly two days ago, and could not be replaced so quickly. They have never pressed a chaplain before, especially one who committed a crime against a lady, but the colonel and the ship captain assured me that he will be held in low rank and not be assigned as a warrant officer. He will do the same work as all pressed men, unless he is needed for services or clerical duties. We decided it was for the best. Elizabeth’s experience will not fall under the purview of the magistrate.
Mr Darcy is to return to Darcy Cottage to speak to his father about Lady Catherine.
I would not go, not just now, for if I encounter the woman, I shall hit her. ”
“You ought to have hit Mr Collins,” his wife tutted.
“Perhaps I did.” He grinned at her. “Look at my poor knuckles. I believe they need ice.”
He turned and bent to touch Elizabeth’s head. “I am grateful you are safe, dear Lizzy.”
He left the ladies to give thanks for this news, speaking over one another as he left for the small room he used for a study.
Five minutes later, the maid announced Mr Bingley, who was appalled to find Jane braiding Elizabeth’s hair.
“Miss Bennet! You must be more careful! Twisting your wrist around in such a fashion cannot be safe!” The young man continued on in this manner for a few minutes until Jane, irritated beyond her usual serenity, rose and handed off the braid to Mary, then left the room without a word.
Minutes later, Mr Bennet arrived at the door of the drawing room. “Mr Bingley. A word in my study, please?”
The young man followed him. Jane joined the ladies again quietly, and when Mr Bingley left the cottage five minutes later, Mr Bennet returned, briefly.
“It shall be as you asked, Jane,” he assured his daughter.
“What did you say, Papa?” Jane asked worriedly. “I simply could not do it myself. I have never turned a gentleman away before!”
“Not to worry, my dear. That is what your father is for. Perhaps I did not let him down as gently as you might have done, for I told him your reasons, just as they were. That he is obviously looking for an invalid, and when you are not injured or ill, you are an active and industrious lady. His attentions are stifling, and you would rather saw your hand off completely than be related to his sister, even by marriage.”
“Mr Bennet, you could have been more civil than that!” Charlotte objected, laughing.
“Not at all, my dear. That sister of his is such a termagant, someone should tell him what a detriment she is to his future happiness, if he is to have any at all.” He looked about the room at his ladies, satisfied that they were all at home and safe.
He turned to Elizabeth. “Lizzy, I stopped to see Lady Barry on my way home from the camp. I was careful not to alarm her, but I informed her of your experience and that I do not wish for you to go out again today. Mr Darcy agreed that he and his sister will allow you to rest undisturbed this afternoon. I insisted upon it. Tomorrow is soon enough to face the world again for you, I think. Rest, daughter. And from now on, you will take our stableboy with you when you walk in Ramsgate.”
The Darcys were as good as their word and did not invade the Bennet Cottage that day. But that did not prevent a knock upon the door just before tea time, with an enormous delivery of flowers and goods from the confectioner.
“Miss Darcy is so devoted to her confectionery adventures!” Lydia sampled a tin of marzipan.
“Hmmm…Miss Darcy indeed.” Charlotte gave Elizabeth a knowing look but said nothing else.