Page 10 of Losing Lizzy
C hapter Ten
“ I have my wits about me!” she declared, fisting her hands in her lap, and it was all Darcy could do not to laugh aloud. If he was not mistaken, his dearest Elizabeth’s stubbornness had arrived. “How dare someone threaten Lizzy’s future!”
He handed the earlier message to Mr. Sheffield to read, while he cautioned, “Although I assume you believe, as I do, that my Aunt Catherine, is behind this threat, I must state unequivocally her ladyship is not the author of this note.”
“No,” Elizabeth hissed, “Lady Catherine is not the author.” She reached across the table to snatch the paper from where Darcy had left it on the table. “Your aunt has employed my cousin as her agent.”
“Mr. Collins?” he asked. “How can you be so certain?”
She held up the paper where he might view it again. “Mr. Collins often wrote to my father—times when he announced his visits to Longbourn—his crowing about winning Charlotte’s hand after my refusal—his warning me not to look above my station—and many more times than my father would have liked.” She frowned deeply. “You know enough of Mr. Bennet’s joy at the absurd to realize my father shared each of Mr. Collins’s letters with me. Sometimes, except for that last one, with the whole family. Look at each of Mr. Collins’s ‘ s’ s .’ Mr. Bennet called them ‘a hanging s ’ because of how each nearly lies on its side and falls into the line of script below. And each of his ‘ l’ s ’ appear to be crossed as if it were a ‘t .’ Papa always said he did not know whether to think Mr. Collins too pretentious or not intelligent enough to include the correct letter formation.”
Darcy took the note from her fingers to study it more carefully. “If I recall correctly, Collins is left-handed. See the smears on the paper, as if someone would not allow him time for the ink to dry before demanding him to continue?” He refolded the note and placed it on the table. “It is your decision, Elizabeth.” He knew he risked his future—their future, for she had sent him away at Rosings Park, but, like then, he would protect her, no matter what it cost him. “Do you wish me to leave? I will understand, and, somehow, please know, I will discover a means, without anyone knowing, to send you the necessary funds to provide for you and Elizabeth Anne. I will never abandon my child.”
She turned to meet his steady gaze with one of her own. “If such was my choice, would you marry?”
“I will not,” he said with assurance. “Although we did not exchange vows, I pledged myself to you.” He prayed she felt the same.
Mr. Sheffield cleared his voice as if to say something, but Elizabeth shook him off. “What of an heir for Pemberley? Even if we were together, I may not be able to provide you an heir.”
“I should have been here days earlier, but when I arrived back in London after calling upon your father, I was delayed because Georgiana presented my cousin Fitzwilliam with a son. The line of succession can pass to Georgiana’s children.”
“Miss Darcy has married the colonel?” Elizabeth asked.
Darcy knew he frowned, and he explained. “Their joining would not have been my choice for my sister, but they appear satisfied. It is difficult for me to consider Miss Darcy is married. In my mind, she remains the girl who always followed me about.” He sucked in a quick breath to steady his composure. “Fitzwilliam interfered with Lord Matlock’s plans to marry Georgiana off to his oldest son, Roland, Lord Lindale.”
“As I thought,” Sheffield said softly. “I overheard two conversations that had me wondering what his lordship had planned for Miss Darcy.”
Darcy explained, “From what Fitzwilliam said, my uncle thought to align our families, matching Georgiana with Lindale and Fitzwilliam with my Cousin Anne. Initially, the colonel was able to forestall those plans as the search for what was my fate remained unclear, and then invoking his authority as one of Georgiana’s guardians. When he feared my sister would be forced into an unwanted marriage while he was serving our King, the colonel resigned his commission and married his ward before Lord Matlock realized what Fitzwilliam had executed.”
He sighed heavily, “As Lindale has refused to marry Anne, I suspect my return to the ‘living’ has again brought my aunt hope I will make my Cousin Anne my wife.”
“I see,” she said in tones that had him desiring the same type of assurances from her: a statement she would never marry another, but she made no such promise. Instead, she said, “It is obvious you must leave Brighton.”
Darcy’s heart dropped. “If it is your wish.”
Puzzlement marked her features before a flush of color stained her cheeks. “I mean we must allow whoever is watching us to think I have sent you away, just as the person who ordered your removal has instructed. You will continue to search for Mr. Townsend, who I believe is more likely to have Lizzy than would Lady Catherine.”
He reminded her, “All I know from the earlier message is Townsend was supposedly from Kent. I have no idea where to begin my search.”
Sheffield cleared his throat to draw their attention. “Earlier, since saying Kent is a large shire, I have been thinking upon something Townsend said recently. Once, several weeks back, he was in the store, and we struck up a conversation about how it would be nice to have a day where one might go fishing. The weather of late has not been fit for much of any outside entertainments. I told him about fishing with my brothers in Cumbria when we were children and he mentioned something to the effect of how he enjoyed fishing along the islands off the Kentish shoreline. Said the fishing was better toward the Isle of Sheppey than it was near his home. I think he mentioned Tunbridge, or perhaps it was Tunbridge Wells. Then he quickly changed the subject, not talking about a favorite place or with whom he fished, as I had done. I thought it odd at the time, but, in retrospect, he likely realized what he had disclosed.”
“It is a place to start,” Darcy declared. “Thank you, Sheffield.” He glanced to his lady. “And what role will you play, Elizabeth? I doubt you plan to remain at home when our daughter is missing?”
She finally lifted the bread with the conserves from her plate to take a bite. “If Mr. Sheffield is well enough to accompany me, I mean to make a call upon Rosings Park.” She looked affectionately upon Darcy’s former valet, and Darcy knew a bit of jealousy again. She had shared more of herself with Sheffield than she had with him. Learning more of each other was another thing he had lost when he lost his freedom. “If you are not yet well enough, please do not think you must attend me. The confrontation I anticipate will be far from pleasant. I have enough funds set aside to hire a coach and driver, if necessary.”
Sheffield said adamantly, “We began this journey together, and I do not intend to desert you now. Lizzy Anne means too much to me not to continue. We will take my carriage.”
Darcy said, “Then we should do some planning on how we mean to communicate with each other and how to deal with each of those involved when we catch up to them.”
* * *
Darcy fought to keep the smile from his lips: His Elizabeth could have had a career on the stage. She dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief and gestured toward his waiting carriage. Over her shoulder, his eyes scanned the street, the other shops, and the narrow alleyways, searching for someone who could be watching them. Finally, his eyes fell upon a familiar figure in the window of the mercantile across the street: John Harwood, Lady Catherine’s long-time man-of-all-work .
Elizabeth asked softly, “Did you see someone familiar?”
“My aunt’s man-of-all-work,” he said in equal caution.
“Mr. Harwood?” she asked.
“You know him?”
“Only by sight from when I tarried with Mr. Collins.”
“Likely the man named ‘Hardy’ the boardinghouse owner had mentioned,” he explained.
She nodded her head in understanding.
“When I depart,” he warned, “watch whether he follows. I do not want him to trail you to Rosings Park.”
She did not wish to look toward the man. “How may I be certain?” she asked with a frown.
He caught her to him as if he meant to exercise his will over her. For a few exquisite seconds, her body aligned with his before Elizabeth remembered she must resist him. It did Darcy’s heart well to know she still could not resist the pull between them. She shoved against his chest, and Darcy reluctantly released her. With a crisp bow, he turned on his heels and strode away toward his carriage. However, he paused before reaching it to stand very still and stare in the direction where Harwood watched for Darcy’s departure. He held his distance, but he made certain Harwood realized Darcy knew of the man’s presence in Brighton. With a nod of his head, he turned and stepped into his coach.
As he looked out the coach’s window, Elizabeth made to retreat inside the bookstore, but she turned at the door to watch his carriage depart. If he were not mistaken, there were rea l tears in her eyes this time.
* * *
She stepped inside to watch Mr. Harwood exit the mercantile. The man tugged his hat down lower on his forehead in an attempt to conceal his appearance, but he made the mistake of shooting a glance toward the bookstore’s window, and she had seen him clearly. “Run home to Kent,” she whispered as she watched Harwood mount to follow Mr. Darcy’s coach. “Warn your mistress I shall not be dictated to by anyone.”
With the “closed” sign upon the door, she returned to the kitchen area in the back of the store. “Lady Catherine’s man, Mr. Harwood, followed Mr. Darcy’s coach,” she told Sheffield.
“Harwood?” he questioned. “I know the man. Not the nice sort.” Sheffield put away the cleaned dishes they had used for their breakfast.
“Do you think Mr. Darcy is in danger?” she asked in concern.
“Was the master aware of Mr. Harwood’s presence in town?”
Elizabeth smiled easily. “Mr. Darcy is no longer your master, Albert.”
“I served Mr. Darcy since he was twelve. He will always be the young master to me, just as he said Miss Darcy will always be the young girl who followed him about the halls of Pemberley,” Sheffield argued. “You will understand when Lizzy Anne is in her twenties, but you still see her as the young girl wishing to crawl upon your lap for a hug.”
“I suppose,” she said with a grin. “To answer your question, Mr. Darcy was the first to spot Mr. Harwood in the mercantile.”
“Good,” Sheffield announced. “Mr. Darcy will know how best to mitigate Mr. Harwood’s mission.”
Elizabeth frowned. “Do you think Mr. Darcy is in danger?”
“If the master could survive what he shared of his ordeal, Mr. Darcy will experience no problems with Harwood. Moreover, Jasper and Mr. Farrin will protect him.”
“I know you are correct, but I cannot keep from worrying,” she admitted. “Do you think Lady Catherine will employ others to prevent Mr. Darcy from discovering Lizzy? I do not want either of them in danger.”
“The more people Lady Catherine involves, the more she must open herself up to those who can incriminate her. In my years of observing her ladyship and hearing those below stairs speak of her while I was in service to Mr. Darcy, Lady Catherine trusts few, even those who have served her for years,” he reasoned. “She prefers to intimidate. I imagine your defying her was a shock to her consequence.”
Elizabeth did not want to dwell on her interactions with Lady Catherine. Instead, she asked, “How long will it take William to reach Tunbridge Wells?”
“Four to five hours,” Sheffield shared.
“Then there is a possibility he may discover Mr. Townsend today,” she reasoned.
“I pray such proves true,” Sheffield cautioned, “but, if Lady Catherine is behind this madness, her ladyship will not relent willingly.”
Although she would have preferred another answer, Elizabeth grudgingly agreed with Mr. Sheffield’s estimation. “When do we depart?”
“We will leave the shop closed, which would make sense under the circumstances. I expect several of the gossipy sort will attempt to call upon us today. We will allow them to know we are at home, but we insist upon our privacy. I plan to call upon Mrs. Harris this morning to display my concern and to provide the lady our version of how Lizzy Anne’s father made an unexpected appearance and why you have chosen to send him away.”
“And what am I to do while you are out?”
“Pack a small trunk for yourself and a few toys and books for Lizzy. Our darling girl will require a bit of hom e once we find her.”
“Naturally, you are correct,” she conceded. “I simply want Lizzy’s return.” She sat heavily. “When will we depart?”
“We should be seen out and about for a few hours,” he insisted. “I know you do not wish to go out, but perhaps you could rearrange the shelves in the shop. As long as a few view you through the window, they will not think it odd when you are not seen upon the street for several days. We will wait until everyone breaks for their midday meal. In that manner, fewer will take note of our leave-taking. The carriage will be waiting for us at the opening in the common alley at that hour.”
“How long will it take us to reach Rosings Park,” she inquired .
“It is more than seventy miles to Rochester and Higham. You must postpone your altercation with Lady Catherine until some time tomorrow.”
“Would it be too obvious to seek out Mr. Darcy in Tunbridge Wells?” she asked in what she knew were hopeful tones, but Elizabeth could not resist praying for an early end to this madness.
“Mr. Darcy provided me a place to call upon where he will leave word if he has found any information of Townsend and Lizzy. Otherwise, we should continue on with our role in confronting Lady Catherine.”
They had departed Brighton later than either she or Mr. Sheffield had liked. After his call on Mrs. Harris, Sheffield had seen their trunks were stored away safely; however, as he had predicted, there had been a steady stream of fellow shopkeepers, and even a few customers, calling at the back entrance. As they did not want others to know of their plans and being concerned more than one person had been hired to spy on them, ‘they’ had, more truthfully, Mr. Sheffield had, accepted the callers’ well wishes and prayers, while all she could do was to pace the floors, silently wishing them all away, despite their best intentions. As she, literally, traced her steps over and over again, Elizabeth attempted to recall what exactly she and Lady Catherine had said to each other on that fateful day.
“You can be at no loss, Miss Bennet, to understand the reason for my journey hither. Your own heart, your own conscience, must tell you why I come.”
“Indeed, you are mistaken, madam. I have not been at all able to account for the honor of seeing you here.”
“Miss Bennet,” her ladyship had cried angrily , “you ought to know I am not to be trifled with. But however insincere ‘you’ may choose to be, you shall not find ‘me’ so. My character has ever been celebrated for its sincerity and frankness, and in a cause of such moment as this, I shall certainly not depart from it. A report of a most alarming nature reached me two days ago. I was told not only your sister was on the point of being most advantageously married, but you, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, would, in all likelihood, be soon afterwards united to my nephew, my own nephew, Mr. Darcy. Though I ‘know’ it must be a scandalous falsehood, though I would not injure him so much as to suppose the truth of it possible, I instantly resolved on setting off for this place, that I might make my sentiments known to you.”
Elizabeth recalled coloring with astonishment and disdain before answering . “If you believed it impossible to be true, I wonder you took the trouble of coming so far. What could your ladyship propose by it?”
“At once to insist upon having such a report universally contradicted.”
Coolly, Elizabeth answered , “Your coming to Longbourn, to see me and my family, will be rather a confirmation of it; if, indeed, such a report is in existence.”
“If! Do you then pretend to be ignorant of it? Has it not been industriously circulated by yourselves? Do you not know that such a report is spread about?”
Elizabeth managed to keep the smile from her lips. “I never heard that it was.”
“And can you likewise declare there is no ‘foundation’ for it?”
“I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your ladyship. ‘You’ may ask questions which ‘I’ shall not choose to answer.”
“This is not to be borne, Miss Bennet. I insist on being satisfied. Has he, has my nephew, made you an offer of marriage?”
Elizabeth had wanted to laugh. If Lady Catherine had known what had occurred at Hunsford Cottage, she would not be asking such an inane question. “Your ladyship has declared it impossible,” she responded in order to needle Mr. Darcy’s aunt.
“It ought to be so; it must be so,” the grand lady had declared . “While he retains the use of his reason. But ‘your’ arts and allurements may, in a moment of infatuation, have made him forget what he owes to himself and to all his family. You may have drawn him in.”
Elizabeth wished to tell her ladyship she had managed to earn Mr. Darcy’s affections by despising him. Arts and allurements were far from her repertoire. Rather, she said , “If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it.”
“Miss Bennet, do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such language as this. I am almost the nearest relation he has in the world and am entitled to know all his dearest concerns.”
Elizabeth was beginning to lose patience with this conversation, and she had no intention to bend to Lady Catherine’s will. “But you are not entitled to know ‘mine’; nor will such behavior as this, ever induce me to be explicit.”
“Let me be rightly understood. This match, to which you have the presumption to aspire, can never take place. No, never. Mr. Darcy is engaged to ‘my daughter.’ Now what have you to say?”
“Only this; that if he is so, you can have no reason to suppose he will make an offer to me.”
Lady Catherine hesitated then . “The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy, they have been intended for each other. It was the favorite wish of ‘his’ mother, as well as hers. While in their cradles, we planned the union: and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters would be accomplished in their marriage, to be prevented by a young woman of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to the family! Do you pay no regard to the wishes of his friends? To his tacit engagement to Miss de Bourgh? Are you lost to every feeling of propriety and delicacy? Have you not heard me say that from his earliest hours he was destined for his cousin?”
Elizabeth wondered for a few brief seconds what Mr. Darcy would have said to this madness, but she was alone in defending herself. “Yes, and I had heard it before. But what is that to me? If there is no other objection to my marrying your nephew, I shall certainly not be kept from it by knowing his mother and aunt wished him to marry Miss de Bourgh. You both did as much as you could in planning the marriage. Its completion depended on others. If Mr. Darcy is neither by honor nor inclination confined to his cousin, why is not he to make another choice? And if I am that choice, why may not I accept him?”
“Because honor, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it. Yes, Miss Bennet, interest; for do not expect to be noticed by his family or friends, if you willfully act against the inclinations of all. You will be censured, slighted, and despised, by every one connected with him. Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned by any of us.”
Irritated beyond reason, Elizabeth had said curtly , “These are heavy misfortunes. But the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to repine.”
“Obstinate, headstrong girl!” her ladyship had wailed. “I am ashamed of you! Is this your gratitude for my attentions to you last spring? Is nothing due to me on that score?” Her ladyship had sat on the bench, and Elizabeth had had no choice but to follow suit. “You are to understand, Miss Bennet, that I came here with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose, nor will I be dissuaded from it. I have not been used to submit to any person’s whims. I have not been in the habit of brooking disappointment.”
By this point, Elizabeth’s patience had worn thin . “‘That’ will make your ladyship’s situation at present more pitiable; but it will have no effect on ‘me.’”
Lady Catherine barked, “I will not be interrupted. Hear me in silence. My daughter and my nephew are formed for each other. They are descended, on the maternal side, from the same noble line; and, on the father’s from respectable, honorable, and ancient—though untitled—families. Their fortune on both sides is splendid. They are destined for each other by the voice of every member of their respective houses; and what is to divide them? The upstart pretensions of a woman without family, connections, or future! Is this to be endured! But it must not, shall not be. If you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere in which you have been brought up.”
Fury had rushed through Elizabeth’s veins, but she made herself not physically lash out against Lady Catherine . “In marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal.”
“True. You ‘are’ a gentleman’s daughter. But who was your mother? Who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition. ”
Elizabeth had so wished to strike the woman. To demand an apology. Yet, she knew in many ways Lady Catherine de Bourgh had the right of it. Through tight lips, she said , “Whatever my connections may be, if your nephew does not object to them, they can be nothing to ‘you.’”
“Tell me, once and for all, are you engaged to him?”
Though Elizabeth would not, for the mere purpose of obliging Lady Catherine, have answered this question, she could not but say, after a moment’s deliberation, “I am not.”
Lady Catherine seemed pleased . “And will you promise me never to enter into such an engagement?”
“I make no promise of the kind.” It had felt good to say the words aloud, for another offer of Mr. Darcy’s hand had been her most cherished wish.
“Miss Bennet, I am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more reasonable young woman. But do not deceive yourself into a belief that I will ever recede. I shall not go away till you have given me the assurance I require.”
She had stood her ground . “And I certainly never shall give it. I am not to be intimidated into anything so wholly unreasonable. Your ladyship wants Mr. Darcy to marry your daughter, but would my giving you the wished-for promise make their marriage at all more probable? Supposing him to be attached to me, would my refusing to accept his hand make him wish to bestow it on his cousin?” Elizabeth knew such was not true, for she had already refused his hand—months earlier, and Mr. Darcy had made no attempt to join with his cousin in that time. “Allow me to say, Lady Catherine, the arguments with which you have supported this extraordinary application have been as frivolous as the application was ill-judged. You have widely mistaken my character if you think I can be worked on by such persuasions as these. How far your nephew might approve of your interference in ‘his’ affairs, I cannot tell, but you have certainly no right to concern yourself with mine. I must beg, therefore, to be importuned no farther on the subject.”
“Not so hasty, if you please,” Lady Catherine had insisted when Elizabeth made to return to the house. “I have by no means done. To all the objections I have already urged, I have still another to add. I am no stranger to the particulars of your youngest sister’s infamous elopement. I know it all: that the young man’s marrying her was a patched-up business, at the expense of your father and uncles. And is ‘such’ a girl to be my nephew’s sister? Is ‘her’ husband, the son of his late father’s steward, to be his brother? Heaven and earth! Of what are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”
Elizabeth resentfully stated. “You can ‘now’ have nothing further to say. You have insulted me in every possible method. I must beg to return to the house.”
Elizabeth had risen, but Lady Catherine had followed her to her feet. Her ladyship was still highly incensed and would not concede her efforts to be futile. “You have no regard, then, for the honor and credit of my nephew! Unfeeling, selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you must disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?”
In truth, Elizabeth had considered that reality, but she would never permit Lady Catherine to know her ladyship’s words had found their target. “Lady Catherine, I have nothing further to say,” she repeated. “You know my sentiments.”
“You are then resolved to have him?”
Elizabeth had turned on her then. She had hissed , “I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.”
“It is well. You refuse, then, to oblige me. You refuse to obey the claims of duty, honor, and gratitude. You are determined to ruin him in the opinion of all his friends and make him the contempt of the world.”
She had replied, “Neither duty, nor honor, nor gratitude have any possible claim on me, in the present instance. No principle of either would be violated by my marriage with Mr. Darcy. And with regard to the resentment of his family, or the indignation of the world, if the former were excited by his marrying me, it would not give me one moment’s concern, and the world in general would have too much sense to join in the scorn.”
In reflection, Elizabeth wished she could take all those words back. Wished she had never confronted Lady Catherine de Bourgh. For her ladyship had finished the conversation with a threat to which Elizabeth had not paid close attention. Such was now her nightmare. “And this is your opinion! This is your final resolve! Very well. I shall now know how to act. Do not imagine, Miss Bennet, that your ambition will ever be gratified. I came to try you. I hoped to find you reasonable, but, depend upon it: I will carry my point.”
“I am grieved we could not reach Tunbridge Wells this evening,” Mr. Sheffield said as he squeezed the back of her hand. They had taken refuge at an inn still in Sussex, unable to reach Kent before an evening storm had driven them from the road.
She nodded sadly. “At least, we have reason to believe Mr. Darcy arrived in Tunbridge Wells and has continued the search for Lizzy.” Tears pooled in her eyes. “Even so, I cannot bear to consider how frightened Elizabeth Anne must be without her mother and her Uncle Albert to tuck her into her bed with a kiss.”
“Just be comforted by the idea Mr. Darcy will never rest until he finds his daughter. The master is singular when it comes to family,” Sheffield declared with a hitch of emotion in his voice.
Elizabeth belatedly realized if she and Lizzy became part of Mr. Darcy’s household, Mr. Sheffield would be alone in the world. He had done so much for her, the idea made her sadder. She smiled weakly. “I have no doubt. If I require any evidence to the gentleman’s tenacity, I have only to look to our unconventional courtship.” They sat in silence for several minutes before she asked, “Should I have told Mr. Darcy what measures we executed to protect Elizabeth Anne?”