Page 2 of Brighton Rescue (Pride and Prejudice Variation #23)

“Elizabeth, what is wrong?” Mrs. Madeline Gardiner asked of her niece. The Gardiner children were being put to bed by Jane and their nursemaids, and Mrs. Gardiner had followed Elizabeth to her bedroom.

Elizabeth had managed to dry her tears and present a mostly calm face at dinner that night, but her aunt, who knew her well, had realized that something was distressing her.

“Oh Aunt,” Elizabeth began, and then shook her head. “I do not know that I should share my concerns. There is nothing to be done, after all.”

Mrs. Gardiner sat down on the window seat and patted the place beside her invitingly. “I do not know whether I can do anything or not, but trouble shared is trouble halved, as they say. Do tell me what is upsetting you.”

Elizabeth sat down slowly, hesitatingly, and then drew Lydia’s letter out of her sleeve. “Read this, Aunt.”

Madeline Gardiner did so and then looked up in confusion. “My dear, this is certainly most indelicate, but you are not taking it seriously, I hope? Surely Mr. Wickham would not actually run off to Gretna Greene with Lydia! ”

Elizabeth tightened her fists in anguish. “No, Aunt, I do not believe that Mr. Wickham will elope with Lydia to Scotland. I do believe he will ruin her if she offers him the chance.”

Her aunt gazed at her in troubled wonder. “Elizabeth! I thought you were very fond of Mr. Wickham.”

“I once was, most certainly, but only because I am a fool. Oh Aunt, when I was in Kent, visiting my friend, Charlotte Collins, I met Mr. Darcy and ... and I reproached him for what he had done to Wickham regarding the church living which the elder Mr. Darcy meant for his godson. Mr. Darcy told me the truth, that Wickham was given three thousand pounds to give up rights to the Kympton living, that he is a profligate spender, a gambler, and a libertine. He is a horrible man, Aunt, and Lydia...”

Her voice trailed away, suspended by tears, and Madeline Gardiner leaned forward to wrap her arms around her niece. “My dear Lizzy, that is distressing indeed! When we met him last December here at Longbourn, Mr. Wickham seemed a most excellent young man.”

“He has the face and demeanor of an angel and the soul of a snake,” Lizzy said with a gulp.

Mrs. Gardiner wrapped her arms around the girl and allowed her to cry for a few minutes, and then solemnly provided a handkerchief when Elizabeth seemed ready to converse again.

“I assume you told your father of the letter?” the older woman asked compassionately.

Elizabeth nodded, her lips compressed, and explained, “He discounted my concerns entirely. He said he will write to Colonel Forster and mention that Lydia is enamored with Wickham, but it is not enough! The Colonel admires Wickham – he is very popular in the regiment – and Lydia has had her head filled with romantic nonsense for a full twelvemonth. I do not believe I can trust her to hold the line, and I certainly do not trust Wickham!”

Madeline Gardiner cogitated for a few minutes and leaned forward a little. “Elizabeth, let me speak to your uncle Gardiner. Perhaps he can suggest something to do. It would probably help if you gave me the letter to show him.”

Elizabeth nodded, choking down one last sob. “Very well, Aunt.”

/

“Well, Lizzy, I hope you have a fine time with your aunt and uncle,” Mrs. Bennet said, lavishly buttering her slice of bread, “though how you are to find a husband when you keep traipsing off to the wilds of Kent and Derbyshire is quite beyond my capacity to imagine. What is there of interest in trees and rocks and mountains?”

“Lizzy loves the outdoors, Mama,” Jane said gently. “You know that. She and our aunt and uncle will no doubt have a marvelous time together.”

“At least Lizzy is allowed to go somewhere ,” Kitty whined. “Jane spent time in London earlier this year and Elizabeth was in Kent and now with the Gardiners, and Lydia is enjoying herself in Brighton! I never get to go anywhere! It is not fair!”

“Now, now,” Mrs. Bennet reproved. “You must not be jealous of Lydia. It is not her fault that she is so bright and pretty!”

“Elizabeth,” Mrs. Gardiner said, stepping into the dining room with her four children crowding at her heels, “are you ready to depart?”

Elizabeth took one last sip of her hot chocolate and rose hastily, along with Mr. Bennet and Jane, both of whom followed the Gardiners and Elizabeth outside to the waiting carriage.

“Have a wonderful trip,” Jane said with a fond embrace.

“Thank you, Jane.”

“I will miss you, my Lizzy,” Mr. Bennet declared, reaching out to grasp her hands in his own. “Promise me that you will not worry about your silly youngest sister.”

Elizabeth blinked back tears. “I cannot promise that, Father, but I will pray that you are correct and that she will be well.”

“She will,” her father assured her. “Brother, Sister, take good care of my Lizzy.”

“Of course we will,” Mrs. Gardiner said, bestowing last embraces on her children, who would be looked after by two nursemaids and Jane. “Come along, Lizzy.”

Elizabeth climbed in hastily, fearful that her emotions would spill over at this last moment. She loved her aunt and uncle and had looked forward to this trip immensely, but she knew that the entire journey would be tainted by her fears for Lydia.

The carriage jolted into motion, and Elizabeth waved toward Jane and her father, the only members of her immediate family to see them off. Her little cousins were hopping up and down and screaming farewells until the carriage turned and Longbourn slipped out of sight.

“Elizabeth,” Mr. Gardiner said as soon as their conveyance had reached the main road, “your aunt told me of the letter from Lydia and your fears for her. We spoke at length and have decided that instead of going north, with your permission we will go south to Brighton to assess the situation.”

Elizabeth stared at her aunt and uncle in hopeful disbelief. “Are you quite certain? Aunt Gardiner, I know you have been longing to visit your old friends in Lambton for many years!”

“My dear Elizabeth,” her aunt said fondly, reaching forward to pat her knee reassuringly, “do you imagine either your uncle or I could enjoy our journey knowing you are terribly worried about your sister? The trip north will wait.”

Elizabeth burst into tears for the third time in two days.

Really, when had she become such a watering pot?

In the midst of her gratitude, she was aware of a throb of genuine fury at her father.

It was not the Gardiners who should be taking responsibility for the honor and protection of the youngest Miss Bennet, but since Mr. Bennet had refused to do his fatherly duty, Lydia’s aunt and uncle were forced to sacrifice their own pleasures.

“Thank you,” she sobbed, wiping her face with her handkerchief.

“I hope that I will find myself mistaken about the danger to Lydia, but I will feel so much better seeing her with my own eyes. She respects you both, I know, far more than she respects my father, and I daresay your presence will give her food for thought. ”

“Of course,” Mr. Gardiner said soothingly. “Now since I know nothing about Brighton, we will be stopping in London for the day. I wish to consult with an acquaintance about where we might stay during our sojourn there. I hope that one day will not matter.”

“No, I am certain it will not,” Elizabeth agreed, dizzy with relief.

/

Darcy House

London

“Mr. Darcy?”

Fitzwilliam Darcy, master of Pemberley, looked up from his desk at his butler and answered, “Yes, Hopkins?”

“Sir, a Mr. Gardiner has asked to see you, most urgently. I told him that you were not home to visitors, but he requested that I give you his card, with the assurance that he will depart if you do not choose to see him.”

Darcy rose to his feet with a puzzled frown and walked toward his butler with his hand outstretched. “I do not remember a Mr. Gardiner but… ”

He looked down and read the words; Mr. Edward Gardiner, Importer and Exporter, followed by an address in Cheapside. So his visitor was in trade. There was a slight buckle to the card and Darcy turned it over, only to have his breath catch in his throat at the words written there.

“Mrs. Bennet of Longbourn in Hertfordshire is my sister, and Miss Elizabeth Bennet is my niece. I wish to speak to you of a matter of importance.”

Elizabeth!

In an instant, Darcy’s thoughts flew back to three months previously, when he had proposed marriage to Elizabeth Bennet while the lady was visiting her friend, Mrs. Charlotte Collins in Kent.

He had been irrevocably, reluctantly in love with Miss Bennet – she was beautiful, lively, intelligent, and determined, but her mother was a tradesman’s daughter, and her younger sisters entirely out of control.

He had thought that he was doing her a great favor by offering his hand in marriage and had been entirely shocked, and yes, devastated, when she had rejected him out of hand.

“See him in,” Darcy rasped, noting absently that the hand holding the calling card was shaking.

“Yes, sir.”

Darcy retreated to his desk, struggling to slow his breathing, to obtain some semblance of calm.

Not a minute passed before the door opened again and Hopkins showed in a man of some five and thirty years, of average height and with an intelligent countenance, dressed in well-made but not overly fine clothing.

“Mr. Gardiner,” Hopkins intoned solemnly, and withdrew, shutting the door behind him.

“Mr. Darcy, I apologize for what is no doubt an unwarranted intrusion.”

“Not at all,” Darcy said hastily, “please do sit down.”

Both men did so and Gardiner leaned forward slightly. “Mr. Darcy, I will come straight to the point. I assume you remember my niece, Miss Elizabeth Bennet?”

Remember her? Remember her? She haunted him during the day, and his dreams were full of her fine eyes, her pleasing figure, her laugh…

“Yes, of course, Mr. Gardiner.”