Page 6

Library

Longbourn

“Well, Mr. Darcy,” Bennet said gravely, “I appreciate your willingness to marry my Lizzy, but I hope it will not come to that, as I am well aware that you dislike one another profoundly.”

Darcy winced and said, “Sir, I am all too familiar that Miss Elizabeth thinks poorly of me, but I…”

The door flew open at this moment, and Darcy turned as Mrs. Bennet lunged into the library, her lace cap askew, its ribbons dancing, her blue eyes wide with distress.

“Oh, Mr. Bennet, you are wanted immediately, as we are all in an uproar,” she shrieked. “You must come and make Lizzy marry Mr. Collins, for she vows she will not have him!”

Darcy shrank back against his chair, which was facing away from the door, his mind whirling with horror. The idea of Miss Elizabeth marrying that bumbling fool was a truly dreadful one, but the man was the heir of the estate, after all …

Bennet rose and took a few steps towards his wife.

“I have not the pleasure of understanding you. Of what are you talking?”

“Of Mr. Collins and Lizzy. Mr. Collins just asked for her hand in marriage, and Lizzy refused him! What have I done to birth such an ungrateful daughter? You must speak to her, Mr. Bennet!”

“Of course,” Bennet agreed promptly. “Please have her sent for.”

A bell was rung, and within a minute, Darcy heard the voice of Miss Elizabeth Bennet. “Yes, Father?”

“I need to speak with you, Elizabeth. Mrs. Bennet, if you will give us some privacy?”

“I will, but mark my words, Lizzy, if you continue in this ridiculous refusal, I will never see you again!”

A door slammed and Darcy rose to his feet and turned toward father and daughter.

Miss Elizabeth gasped and demanded, “Mr. Darcy? What are you doing here?”

“My heartfelt apologies for this intrusion,” he said uncomfortably. “I felt obligated to speak to Mr. Bennet about… ”

“About?” the lady demanded, her arms now akimbo.

“Please sit down, Elizabeth,” Mr. Bennet said gently, and the lady did so, though her brow was furrowed and her lips compressed in a narrow line.

Bennet sat down after his daughter and said, “Well, this is quite a remarkable situation, my dear. It appears you have received two offers of marriage in less than a day, and you have no interest in either!”

Both Darcy and Miss Elizabeth flushed at these words, and Bennet waved a hand. “My apologies to both of you, but you must admit, it is quite humorous!”

Darcy grimaced and said, “I am aware that you do not find it amusing, Miss Elizabeth. As to your question, I wished to inform your father of last night’s events, especially regarding my conclusions with respect to that locked library door. I am confident that it was not locked by chance.”

“Mr. Wickham did it,” Elizabeth said, her voice calm, though her eyes sparkled with anger.

Darcy jerked in surprise and said, “That was my conclusion as well, although I have no proof. Is it possible that Wickham actually told you that he tried to compromise us? ”

“He did not need to,” Elizabeth declared in disgust. “I came upon him in the ball room after my escape from the library, and the look of amazement on his face left no room for doubt. He is obviously guilty of attempting to cause a compromise.”

“Yes,” Darcy agreed. “I assume that you were able to make your way surreptitiously back into the ball room after ...”

“Climbing down the trellis?” Elizabeth finished. “Yes, as I know Netherfield well, as I used to play with the Platchett boys when I was a child, and we climbed that very trellis more than once, to the horror of my nursemaids. Indeed, that is why the library door has a lock, as the Platchetts sensibly decided that it would be wise to close off the library from their overly lively offspring.”

“I did not know that,” Bennet remarked, his eyes still narrowed in amusement.

Darcy swallowed hard and forced his expression to remain calm. Bennet was truly a quixotic and bewildering gentleman. He was obviously clever and well read, but he also displayed a startling lack of concern about his daughters’ well being.

“In any case,” Elizabeth continued, “I understand now that Lieutenant Wickham is not to be trusted and will be careful not to put myself in a dangerous position when he is nearby. I believe that is all I need to say for the time being regarding that unfortunate event. Mr. Darcy, I must speak to my father on another matter, so if you would be so kind as to leave?”

This was a blunt request, but given the circumstances, he could hardly take offense. Miss Elizabeth had obviously been through a great deal of trouble in the last day and all due to the behavior of not one, not two, but three gentlemen, and he was one of those gentlemen.

“Of course,” he said, rising to his feet. “Miss Elizabeth, I apologize again for my words at the assembly some weeks ago, and as I told your father, I am bound by honor to protect you if your reputation is damaged in some way.”

The lady huffed and said, “Thank you, sir, but given that you and I both have no desire to tell what happened, I believe we are safe enough.”

“Wickham knows as well,” Darcy pointed out.

Elizabeth lifted one eyebrow in a genuinely enchanting way and said, “Do you truly believe that Lieutenant Wickham would confess to having locked us in the library together?”

“It is conceivable that he will speak impetuously, but we need not borrow trouble,” Darcy said. “I merely wished to explain to your father that I will assist you and your family in any way possible, Miss Elizabeth.”

This provoked genuine surprise on the lady’s face, and she said, “Thank you.”

He bowed to them both and retreated out of the room, where he found the butler waiting with his hat and gloves and cane.

“If you prefer, sir,” the man said, “you can leave through the side door, which will allow you to attain the stables more rapidly.”

There was a sudden feminine shriek from the front of the house, and Darcy winced and said, “That would be excellent. Thank you.”

He followed the butler out of the requisite side door, and sucked in the chill air as he strode over to the stables, where his black stallion, Phoenix, was waiting.

Within a minute, he was on his horse, and two minutes after that, his stallion was trotting toward Netherfield.

He had always found solitary riding an excellent time to think and was grateful for this opportunity to consider the events of the past day. On the one hand, he was confident that speaking to Mr. Bennet was the right thing to do, and he was relieved that Miss Elizabeth understood that Wickham was a villain .

On the other, his interaction with Mr. Bennet had thoroughly taken him aback. The Bennet estate of Longbourn was entailed away to Mr. Collins, and the Bennet daughters were penniless. He had therefore half expected Mr. Bennet to insist that Darcy marry his second daughter.

But no! Bennet had not suggested, by word or gesture, that he wished Darcy to marry his daughter, in spite of the vast wealth of Pemberley and Darcy’s position as nephew of an earl.

It was a bewildering turn of events as he had, for as long as he could remember, been pursued by young ladies and had assumed, without even thinking about it, that any offer he made would be accepted.

And now he had been rebuffed by a young woman and her father. It was confusing and thought provoking and, yes, dismaying.

***

Library

Longbour n

“I will not marry Mr. Collins,” Elizabeth asserted, pacing up and down the floor of the library.

“I do not expect you to do so, my dear,” Bennet said, leaning back in his chair and smiling at her fondly. “The man is an idiot.”

“He is,” Elizabeth agreed with a groan. “You should have heard his offer! It was not quite as insulting as Mr. Darcy’s, but it was more ridiculous and repulsive!”

“So, Darcy actually did offer marriage?”

Elizabeth grimaced and said, “More or less. He said if we were discovered, he would marry me, and then spoke at length about my poor connections and poverty and the dreadful behavior of Lydia and Kitty and how it would be a great sacrifice on his part. As if mutual disdain would be any kind of foundation for a good marriage!”

Bennet sighed and said, “I suppose I ought to remonstrate with you for climbing out of a window and endangering life and limb, but you were wise to do so, and I am thankful that you were successful in escaping, as it seems that Mr. Darcy would prove a poor husband. Such squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity are not worth a regret.”

“I certainly do not regret it in the least,” his daughter declared. “Mr. Darcy is obviously a better man than I gave him credit for, but I would be miserable married to him, just as he would be miserable being married to me. But Father, you will defend me in this matter of Mr. Collins, I hope?”

“I will, though you will doubtless be forced to bear your mother’s wailing and fussing. But do not fear, my dear Lizzy; I will not allow that fool of a man to carry off my most intelligent daughter to Kent!”

***

Pig in the Poke Inn and Pub

Two Hours After Noon

George Wickham stepped into the main area of the pub and looked around with narrowed eyes and a mild headache. He had imbibed heartily at the ball the previous night and then had enjoyed part of a flask of brandy in his own room before falling into his bed, with the sad result that he had woken at noon with a painful head and a bilious stomach.

Colonel Forster had decided that there would be no official duties for the officers today, and thus there was no particular reason to get up. Wickham had therefore enjoyed the last dregs of brandy and crawled back under the covers for more than an hour until he felt well enough to rise and dress and search out sustenance.

He was a little surprised that none of his fellow officers were in the pub. Surely he was not the only officer to stay up very late and get up even later? Ordinarily he would be disappointed, as he was a gregarious soul, but given the events of the previous night, perhaps it was best that he had time for rumination.

Sally, a buxom and cheerful servant girl, hurried over to take his order and then bustled away to fulfill it. Wickham waited for his ale and ham and eggs and toast as he bent his thoughts toward the preceding night and the events that most were unaware of.

He was still frustrated over his failure to compromise Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. It would have been a delightful combination to punish her for not defending him to Darcy, while also making Darcy look even worse in the eyes of those around him when the proud master of Pemberley refused to marry a penniless country girl. It was irritating that there had been a key within the library as well as out in the hall!

Unfortunately, he had probably betrayed himself to Miss Elizabeth. She was a clever young lady with sharp eyes, and he had displayed genuine astonishment when she appeared in the ball room when he had believed her safely locked in the library.

So she doubtless suspected that he had locked her in, and she was also now aware of his shading of the truth regarding the Kympton living.

Did it matter?

At this moment, Sally appeared with his meal, and he nodded his thanks before returning to his contemplation.

The simple answer was no. It did not matter at all what Darcy knew and Miss Elizabeth suspected. The lady would never reveal that she had been trapped in a room with Darcy because of the resulting scandal. As for Darcy, he was far too honorable and righteous to gossip about a lady, even one he did not particularly like. Nor would Darcy take any steps against his father’s godson because Wickham held Miss Georgiana Darcy’s reputation in his hands. It had only been a few months since Wickham had almost managed to run away with Miss Darcy for a marriage over the anvil in Scotland, and while he had failed, it gave him some power over Georgiana’s older brother. He could not, of course, oppose the wealthy master of Pemberley in an open way, but there must be some way to cause problems.

He possessed a silver tongue and a convincing manner, and Darcy had neither. It would give Wickham considerable pleasure to surreptitiously make trouble for the lady and gentleman who had been confined together, however briefly, in the library at Netherfield Hall.