Page 28

Miss Darcy’s brave and noble guardian had begun to pace in small, furious circles.

“The nerve of him coming here! I wish I had seen the bastard before he saw me, I would have dragged him from the ballroom and beaten him in the street with my one good arm! I will kill him for this, and for all Forster’s indolent assurances I will give him a lashing, too! ”

Caroline observed his protective fury with admiration, but she could see that it only frightened Miss Darcy.

She stroked the girl’s hair as Louisa had once done for her, before their sisterhood had soured.

“And we are proud of you, dearest, for coming forward, and not agreeing to my harridan sister’s awful scheme.

Whatever your actions may have been, you have shown every good judgement in bringing this problem to your cousin.

When he is quite finished with his fit, we will make a plan together. ”

This seemed to recall the colonel to his senses, for he stilled and corrected his posture. “Well said, Miss Bingley. But we must get you both inside and out of this rain, or there may be some real sickness in the house.”

He winked at Caroline, brazenly drinking in the sight of her in a damp ivory day dress, her wet hair beginning to fall around her face.

Then he doffed his overcoat, wincing as he fumbled to remove the sleeve from his injured arm.

He placed it over his cousin’s shoulders, and then repeated the process with his fine blue linen coat.

He cried out a little, but gently set the coat over Caroline’s shoulders, his eyes twinkling with mirth despite his discomfort.

When she had overcome her shock, Caroline took her turn at looking him over, clad only in his waistcoat and shirtsleeves. She bit her lip and smirked at him before they all hastened for the manor.

The colonel sent his cousin up to take a hot bath, and though Caroline knew she ought to do the same, she instead had the delight of watching Colonel Fitzwilliam storm into the drawing room, where Louisa was observing a game of chess between Charles and Mr. Darcy while Mr. Hurst slumbered upright on the sofa.

“Bingley, I would have a word with your sister immediately,” the colonel thundered. Caroline lingered in the doorway - he had not told her she could not observe, and she longed to see her sister finally punished.

Mr. Hurst jolted awake with a grunt, and the colonel rounded on him. “Yes, you too, sir. Either you are in league with your wife, or you are ignorant of her wickedness.”

Charles paled. “Louisa, what have you done?”

A tremendous amount of chaos ensued as Colonel Fitzwilliam told them everything Miss Darcy had related.

Mr. Darcy was predictably murderous, and the colonel stoked his ire with more of his own imposing posturing.

Charles was all apologies for his friends, but said very little to Louisa as she shrieked and wailed in the face of the colonel’s wrath.

Amidst all this, Mr. Hurst berated them all in drunken confusion.

But it was Colonel Fitzwilliam who led the charge, demanding that Louisa leave Netherfield at once, and illustrating the dire social consequences that might befall her if she ever spoke a word of Miss Darcy’s secret.

When he looked up and met Caroline’s eye across the battlefield of the drawing room, she knew that it was not only for his cousin that he scolded Louisa so relentlessly.

Caroline smiled and drew his coat tighter about herself; she could see in his eyes that it was also for her.

***

Elizabeth was wary at finding Mr. Wickham at her aunt’s card party, but had not even managed to warn her sisters not to speak with him when a few more officers arrived, spoke tensely with the blackguard, and departed the gathering with him in their custody.

It was managed discreetly, though nothing got past her gossip-loving aunt.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she watched him roughly escorted from the premises.

It was worth it, then, that Jane should miss a chance to see Mr. Bingley, for if the gentlemen from Netherfield were dining with Colonel Forster, they must be the reason Mr. Wickham had been apprehended.

He deserved whatever punishment they gave him.

Her sisters were less pleased by the deprivation of his charming company; between their antics and Mr. Collins’ determination to pay them all his shambling addresses, Elizabeth took little pleasure in the evening.

Though she had defended her relations to Mr. Darcy after his insult, she might have said far worse of them at the card party.

She made a mental note to ask Mr. Darcy exactly how far away Pemberley was, for it may be some inducement to reconsider his proposal.

Jane stayed the night at Netherfield, and sent word in the morning that she was feeling poorly, and would remain where she was until she felt recovered.

Elizabeth wished to go to her sister at once, but Mr. Collins, who had spent the morning meal perusing a letter sent to him express, demanded a private audience with her.

Mrs. Bennet hesitated, muttering something about the colonel, but decided that their guest must say his piece, and Mr. Bennet laughingly agreed that it was best to let him have done with it.

Kitty and Lydia only giggled as they fled the room, and Mary smiled sympathetically at Elizabeth’s pleas to stay with her, but was pulled from the room by their mother.

“Fairest Cousin Elizabeth,” Mr. Collins said, plucking a flower from a vase on the table and offering it to her.

Elizabeth sat unmoving in her chair. “Sir, I must go to my sister at once. She is ill, and I wish to care for her.”

“Your generosity of spirit will only make you more appealing to Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who has selected you, from amongst your sisters, as the worthiest choice for the companion of my future life.”

A burble of astonished laughter escaped her lips. “I beg your pardon?”

“You may harbor some disappointment that I did not instantly single you out from the moment I entered the house. I required consideration, for my noble patroness has instructed me to take great care in selecting a wife from amongst my cousin’s daughters.

It was always my intention to do so, for I think it a right thing, not only for any clergyman to set the example of marriage, but that I should choose from the daughters of the estate I am to inherit, and thus make the loss a little less melancholy. ”

Elizabeth went rigid with indignation, “Sir!”

“You need not affect any surprise, though your natural modesty must compel you; your mother assures me that she understands my intentions, and only wishes me to select a daughter whose affections are not engaged elsewhere. However, I see now that I may aspire to do a better turn than this, and offer myself and all my future prosperity to one who has aspired where she should not, and thus prevent a terrible grievance against the esteemed lady to whom I am most humbly beholden.”

“I have not the pleasure of understanding you,” Elizabeth said drily; this was not an uncommon sentiment.

He took the letter he had received from his coat pocket.

“This post was sent in all urgency by Lady Catherine, who informs me that you have presumed to an alliance which can never take place. The consequences of a union between yourself and Mr. Darcy would be infamous, constituting an injury to Miss Anne de Bourgh which Lady Catherine would never allow. You may think it a fine prospect, for I am aware of what a life of luxury his future wife shall enjoy, and you are ignorant of the impossibility of such a match, though you were not born to it. You must allow me to counsel you against employing any arts and allurements as would tempt him from recollecting his duty to his family, and the expectations of all the world.”

Elizabeth finally stood from her chair and began to back away from him. “Sir, I will hear no more. Lady Catherine’s thoughts and wishes about her nephew can be nothing to me, least of all when my most beloved sister is unwell.”

“You cannot seriously mean to refuse me,” he sputtered. “I have explained to you that it is unlikely you shall ever receive any other offer. If I have offended you, I beg leave to now assure you in the most animated language of my admiration and affection.”

“I cannot,” Elizabeth cried. She took a few more steps toward the door and then stopped, suddenly struck by an interesting idea.

“I cannot accept your addresses, sir, when I know them to be desired elsewhere. It is true that Mr. Darcy is far above me in status, and that you shall someday have Longbourn, which must be inducements enough, but for the strength of my friendship. I know that Miss Lucas desires you pay her such addresses, and I would be a poor friend indeed to usurp the attentions you paid her at the ball, which I know have given rise to such expectations….”

Elizabeth cringed at every word that came out of her mouth, but Mr. Collins was far from objecting.

He wanted only a little more persuasion.

“You may assure your patroness that you have conveyed her warning to me and that I comprehend her feelings perfectly, but you need not carry out your duty any further, and forfeit such an affectionate attachment - though it was noble of you to think of it.”

It was no word of a lie, though Elizabeth had neglected to mention her intention of laughing heartily with her sister and friends at Netherfield when she told them what she thought of Lady Catherine’s warning.

She had flattered Mr. Collins just enough, and perhaps she had done her friend a good turn.

Mr. Collins nodded as he considered all that she told him, and swiftly convinced himself that it was all his own idea.

“Your intuition does you credit, Cousin Elizabeth. Yes, now that I have done my duty to Lady Catherine, and you have generously released me from my obligation to your father’s daughters, I must say that it is to Miss Lucas’s credit that she understands the circumstances which are highly in my favor, and desires my addresses.

She is a most amiable and sensible young woman, and from all that I have heard from her father of St. James’ I am sure that she will know how to demean herself most respectfully to Lady Catherine. ”

Elizabeth smiled her agreement and made her escape before the parson could change his mind.

A quarter of an hour later, she was walking to Netherfield to tend to her sister, and she knew that after she had sufficiently amused Jane with all that had transpired that morning, she would have to find a way to break the news of her courtship with Mr. Darcy to Caroline.