Page 25 of I am Jael (Pride and Prejudice Variation)

“Richard!”

Colonel Fitzwilliam suppressed a sigh and nodded at Darcy’s valet, who quickly effaced himself by slipping into his master’s former bedroom.

“Yes, Aunt Catherine?”

“I assume you are aware that Darcy went off with that woman earlier today?”

“If you mean Miss Bennet, yes. What did you expect would happen when you told Collins to cast her from the parsonage?”

“Expect? I expected Miss Bennet to leave my county and return to her rightful home, which would in turn protect Darcy from her seductive influence.”

The Colonel shook his head incredulously, “I find it amazing that you would think such a blunt approach would work with Darcy. He would hardly allow the woman he loves to travel alone on the common stage, would he?”

“She is not worthy of any such attention, Richard! He is meant for Anne! And what of Georgiana? He has abandoned her in favor of that hussy from Hertfordshire. My niece will be devastated to learn that her own brother has cast her aside for a low born temptress!”

The Colonel managed to keep his face completely blank. Obviously, Lady Catherine had not discovered that both her daughter and niece had fled Rosings. That was not as surprising as it sounded, given that the property was enormous and Lady Catherine was focused obsessively on Darcy and Miss Bennet.

“I assure you that I am well able to care for Georgiana,” he pointed out evasively. “I am her guardian along with her brother.”

“I wish you well then, Richard,” the woman huffed indignantly. “I assure you that your cousin will be most grieved over her brother’s decision to pursue a lowborn trollop.”

“That is enough, Aunt!” Richard snapped angrily. “Miss Bennet is an honorable gentlewoman!”

Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s hands clenched in anger, “I believe everyone has gone mad today! I will not be beaten, however; I will write your father about this shameful faux engagement, and I am convinced that he will talk some sense into Darcy!”

/

“Lizzy!”

“Dear Jane,” Elizabeth cried out, stepping out of the carriage with Darcy’s help and moving forward to hug her favorite sister with enthusiasm. “How good to see you again!”

“It is lovely to see you too,” Jane replied, “but I confess to some worry. Why did you return early from Kent?”

“That is rather a long story, but I am well,” Elizabeth assured her as she turned to face a timid Anne de Bourgh, who had emerged from the carriage with Georgiana.

“Miss de Bourgh, please let me introduce you to my sister, Mrs. Bingley, and her husband Mr. Bingley. Jane and Charles, please welcome Miss Anne de Bourgh, daughter of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who has accompanied Mr. and Miss Darcy to visit Netherfield.”

“Miss de Bourgh!” Jane said with a welcoming smile lighting up her beautiful face, “what an honor and pleasure to meet you.”

“Indeed it is,” Charles agreed heartily, stepping forward to bow to the women.

“Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Bingley,” Anne replied softly. “I fear that I am intruding.”

“Not at all,” Mr. Bingley stated firmly. “Any friend or family of Darcy’s is most welcome. Please, come inside.”

/

“Lady Catherine?”

Lady Catherine de Bourgh looked up angrily from her desk, where she was writing vigorously, “I gave orders that I was not to be disturbed, Mrs. Jenkinson.”

Her daughter’s paid companion cringed slightly but maintained her position, “Lady Catherine, I would not have done so except for the most urgent of reasons. Neither Miss de Bourgh nor Miss Darcy can be found in the house.”

Her employer stared in distracted bewilderment, “Nonsense. They must be in their rooms.”

Mrs. Jenkinson suppressed a sigh, “Their maids have checked, Lady Catherine. We have also searched the library, the parlors, indeed, the whole house.”

“Find Colonel Fitzwilliam. He took them out for a ride in the phaeton several hours ago.”

“I fear that Colonel Fitzwilliam is missing as well, my lady.”

Catherine de Bourgh surged to her feet, frowning. “The Colonel is missing as well? Perhaps he took them on another ride though if he has, I will be most displeased. Anne is not healthy enough for two outings on the same day.”

“Lady Catherine, we already checked the stables. The phaeton and other carriages are present, but the Colonel’s horse is gone. Furthermore, Miss de Bourgh’s bedroom shows signs of certain items being removed.”

For the first time, Lady Catherine de Bourgh felt a stab of real fear.

She quickly placed her letters in the desk, locked the drawer, and walked rapidly to the nearest staircase.

Within a minute, she was in her daughter’s bedroom, which did indeed show signs of a hurried departure by an inexperienced hand.

No maid of Rosings would leave a drawer partially open!

Could Anne have run away?

Surely not. Not Anne. She would not dare!

Indeed, what reason would she have to depart Rosings, where she was protected and guarded by her diligent mother and a host of equally devoted staff? It was absurd. Nonetheless, Anne was missing, as was Georgiana.

Her heart suddenly beat faster. Could someone have taken them? She had been distracted today by Darcy’s intransigence. Could some evil individual or nefarious group crept in and snatched both young women?

Really, that was quite impossible. The house was crawling with servants coming to and fro, and there were footmen at each door.

Even as she thought frantically, Lady Catherine opened drawers and cupboards until she came to the bottom left hand receptacle of the wardrobe. Anne kept a miniature of her late father there. Anne would never leave Rosings without it.

The drawer was empty of a painting, but it did have a note with her own name inscribed on the enclosure.

Stunned, Lady Catherine carried the note to a nearby window seat and sank down as she opened the note with trembling hands.

Dear Mother,

I have left of my own free will with Georgiana and Richard.

I am weary of being treated as a child. I never wanted to marry Darcy yet you did not listen to my quiet protests.

Your anger over Darcy’s engagement to Miss Bennet is distressing, discouraging and overbearing.

Richard offered to escort me away from Rosings, and I have accepted.

I am safe and well. Do not fear for me. I will return home when I am ready.

Your loving daughter, Anne

Lady Catherine read the note once, twice, thrice, then crumpled it slowly in her hands.

Anne was gone.

/

Georgiana struck the final chord and smiled shyly as her small audience applauded enthusiastically.

“What a delightful performance, Miss Darcy,” Bingley said with his typical enthusiasm. “Indeed, you grow more accomplished every time I am privileged to hear you play!”

“She puts me to shame,” Elizabeth agreed.

“You play delightfully, Miss Bennet,” Darcy assured his beloved, gazing at her with such love in his eyes that she blushed.

“You sing beautifully too, Elizabeth” Georgiana pointed out, rising from the seat next to the pianoforte. “I’m afraid my voice is not my strong point.”

“No one is a true proficient in everything,” Mrs. Bingley said kindly.

“Mrs. Bingley, I think it is time that you retired,” Bingley suggested, striding over to his wife and holding out his hand.

“Indeed,” Jane Bingley acknowledged, rising to her feet. “I fear I am extremely weary this evening. Please do not feel obliged to end this evening’s entertainment on my behalf.”

Elizabeth frowned in concern and glanced around the room, “Would you mind terribly if I accompanied my sister to her bedchamber? I wish to catch up on some of the news about my family.”

“Not at all,” Darcy replied for all of them, bowing slightly.

Elizabeth followed her sister and Mr. Bingley out the door, leaving Darcy, Anne, Richard, and Georgiana behind in the west sitting room.

“Do you truly believe I have done the right thing in leaving Rosings?” Anne asked suddenly.

Georgiana looked up from her perusal of a sheet of music and quirked a puzzled eyebrow, “My dear cousin, of course we do.”

“It was the only course to take,” Richard concurred. “You are of age, Anne, and your mother treats you like a schoolgirl who needs to be wrapped in lamb’s wool.”

Anne sighed and rose to her feet, wandering over to stare out to the west where the sun was sinking toward the horizon.

“I know my mother means well,” she murmured.

“But I confess I felt much relief when I left home this morning. Rosings, while a palatial building, is quite oppressive in its own way. Mother insists that everything be just so. There is a different feeling here at Netherfield. Mrs. Bingley is so kind and welcoming. The party at dinner was so friendly. It was extraordinary to hear normal conversation between dinner partners instead of my mother holding forth about any and every topic, and talking down to anyone who dares to opine something counter to her own beliefs.”

“Mrs. Bingley is a wonderful lady,” Georgiana acknowledged with a smile of pleasure.

“And remarkably beautiful,” Anne said without envy.

“She is beautiful,” Georgiana agreed, “but I have met beautiful women whose characters were hard as stone. Mrs. Bingley is beautiful both inside and out.”

“That she is,” her brother commented. “Bingley chose well.”

“I still feel uneasy and guilty,” Anne admitted in a rush.

“I know my mother cares for me and wants what is best for me. Was it truly right for me to flee from my home, to distress her? She wishes to protect me, I know that. Given that her intentions were good, can I morally pursue this course which will anger and hurt her?”

Georgiana sank down onto the couch next to her fragile cousin and put her arm around the older woman.

“Anne.”

“Yes?”

“I know you and Aunt Catherine visited Pemberley many years ago, did you not?”

“Yes. I was sixteen, so it was nine years ago. Uncle Darcy was still in reasonably good health and you were but a child, Georgiana.”

“Do you remember the son of Pemberley’s steward, George Wickham?”

Anne turned to stare at her cousin in wonder, “George Wickham? Indeed I do. He was Uncle Darcy’s godson and Darcy’s friend. Truly, he was the most handsome and charming man I’ve ever met and that was when he was but nineteen or twenty years of age. I can only imagine what he is like now.”

The others in the room exchanged troubled glances.

“He is dead, Anne,” Richard said gravely.

“Dead? How? When?”

“He was hanged in December for desertion from the militia and thievery,” Darcy explained.

Anne lifted a shocked hand to her mouth, “That charming man? Uncle Darcy’s godson? A deserter? A thief?”

“Indeed, Anne,” Darcy continued, sitting down on the other side of the heiress of Rosings.

“George Wickham was not the man you thought he was. Even at nineteen he was a reprobate, but I hid that from my father because his health was deteriorating. Then, tragically, I hid his behavior from Georgiana as well because I did not care to sully her happy memories of him.”

Anne looked around at her cousins, all of whom looked extremely serious.

“What happened?” she inquired softly.

“He tracked me down during my holiday at Ramsgate last summer and bent his considerable charm on me in the hopes that I would elope with him,” Georgiana stated matter-of-factly.

Anne gasped in horror, “Oh Georgiana, what happened?”

“My brother came and rescued me before Wickham could take me away,” Georgiana explained, her thankful gaze on her brother now. “So I was saved. Wickham was, as you say, very charming, Anne. I did not know who he truly was.”

“Which was my fault,” Darcy stated heavily.

“Georgiana’s point with all this, Anne, is that sometimes parents and yes, older brothers, seek to protect their loved ones and harm them instead.

I sought to keep Georgie safe from the ugly knowledge of Wickham’s crimes, which left her open to Wickham’s conniving tongue.

Your mother seeks to keep you safe by hiding you away in Rosings.

I would not, of course, advocate either you or Georgie boarding a ship to the Americas and striking out on a daring adventure alone, but you are an adult and Georgiana is nearly grown.

Yes, Aunt Catherine seeks to protect you as I sought to protect Georgiana.

I have realized that part of being a good brother and cousin and relative is learning to trust that those whom I love can determine the right path on their own, so long as they are provided with the proper resources. So long as they know the truth.”

/

“Jane, what is wrong?” Elizabeth asked worriedly. “You never retire so early and do not imagine I cannot see the weariness in your countenance. Are you sick?”

Jane Bingley smiled through her tears at her beloved younger sister, “No, Elizabeth, I am not ill. I am with child!”