Page 40 of The Fire at Longbourn (Pride and Prejudice Variation)
A Few Hours Later
Gray was beginning to limn the horizon in the prelude to a cloudy dusk as Darcy and Bingley rode together back towards Netherfield.
The darkness did not hide wildly prepossessing scenery; the trees had lost the last few of their leaves and creaked mournfully together in the rising wind that was sending rolling cloudheads scudding across the darkening sky.
Darcy turned up his collar against the chill as a matter of course but was barely aware of it in truth; the bright glow of his happiness warmed him from within.
“Darcy,” Bingley said, urging his horse into a trot, “I am ecstatic over your engagement, but I confess to being as much surprised as delighted. I knew that you admired Elizabeth, but did not realize that you were prepared to make an offer, or that you...”
He trailed off and Darcy found himself grinning as he urged Phoenix to match the pace of his friend’s steed.
“That I am desperately in love with Elizabeth?” he asked.
“I confess I tried hard to fight it, my friend. The truth is that I have been strongly drawn to her for a month now, but I idiotically refused to consider the match because of misplaced pride in my own wealth and connections. I am sincerely grateful to you, Bingley; not only did you have the good sense to take Netherfield, which allowed me to meet my beloved Elizabeth, but your devoted pursuit of Miss Bennet made me think about the issue of marriage in a new way. In the last weeks, I have come to realize that it is a foolish man who marries based on the money and prestige of a woman. I have no doubt that you and I will be very happy with our wives, and our children will be blessed by our congenial unions.”
Bingley stared at his friend in pleased wonder. He had long looked up to the master of Pemberley, knowing that Darcy was more intelligent, better connected, and wealthier than he was. It was gratifying to learn that he had been a good influence on Darcy in this most important matter.
“Elizabeth will make you a very happy wife, and you will make her an equally happy husband,” Bingley commented.
“She is very clever, more so than my Jane, which matters not the least to me, of course. I expect you will be able to keep up with Elizabeth’s intellectual leaps, as you have always been clever and bookish. ”
“I have,” Darcy agreed dreamily, his mind filling with the agreeable vision of quiet nights by the fire in the library at Pemberley together with his fair Elizabeth. They would be happy together.
/
The Next morning
Lucas Lodge
Charlotte’s needles clicked industriously, the muffler heaping up in her lap as the yarn unrolled to her other side.
The fire beside her was comfortably warm, and she let her mother’s planning and Maria’s enthusiastic squeals wash over her.
She herself felt calm satisfaction at the thought of her upcoming wedding and the subsequent breakfast; soon she would be a married lady and have an establishment of her own in Kent.
The door opened and their butler stepped inside. “Mrs. Bennet, Miss Mary Bennet, and Miss Kitty Bennet,” he announced lugubriously as the three ladies sailed in.
“Oh, Mrs. Bennet!” Lady Lucas cried out. “It is so good to see you today, and Mary and Kitty as well. Mary, my dear, how are you feeling?”
“I am…,” Mary began, only to be interrupted by her ecstatic mother, who squealed, “Oh, do not worry about Mary, she is well enough. Lady Lucas, have you heard the news? My Lizzy is to marry Mr. Darcy!”
Lady Lucas gasped and even choked before casting a resentful look at her elder daughter. “Charlotte! Is this what you and Sir William were whispering about after dinner last night? Why did you not tell me?”
“Elizabeth asked me not to tell anyone until her mother and sisters at the lodge had learned the wonderful news,” Charlotte explained, and she then turned to the Bennets and said warmly, “Many, many congratulations, I have no doubt that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth will be happy together.”
“Oh, to be sure they will!” Mrs. Bennet declared, nearly bouncing in her delight. “Ten thousand pounds a year and a large estate in Derbyshire. What pin money my Lizzy will have! I can hardly believe it!”
“Do sit down, Mary,” Kitty murmured, and Mary obediently took a place next to Charlotte, who asked, “Are you indeed doing well?”
“I am well enough,” Mary said. “My arm continues to mend, and my head rarely aches anymore.”
“That is wonderful,” Charlotte said, just as her mother inquired, “Where is Elizabeth? I must congratulate her!”
“Oh, as to that, she left for Town this morning with her father, Lydia, and Mr. Darcy,” Mrs. Bennet crowed.
“I did not even get to see her before Mr. Darcy swept her and the others away. Such a masterful man! Of course, he and Mr. Bennet need to make arrangements for the marriage settlements, and Mr. Darcy wishes to introduce Lizzy to his relations. Oh, Lady Lucas, after Longbourn burned, I thought we were quite ruined! And now my two eldest daughters are engaged to wealthy men. I am so very happy!”
A maid entered with tea, and Miss Lucas composedly poured tea as the two matrons chattered and Kitty and Maria murmured and giggled.
Charlotte could not help but be pleased with Mr. Darcy’s plan; Mrs. Bennet and Lady Lucas were the foremost ladies in local society, and they would be kept so busy discussing weddings and the like that there would be little discussion of Wickham’s dreadful behavior, especially if her father and Colonel Forster did their jobs well.
Moreover, with both Elizabeth and Lydia in Town, no one would see their battered bodies until they had healed.
/
The Miltons’ House
“Have no fear, sirs,” Joe said to both his employer and Sir William Lucas. “I can keep my mouth shut. I promise I will not say a word about what happened with Mr. Wickham and the ladies.”
Sir William was not prone to glaring, but he did this time. “See that you do keep quiet, man. It would be devastating to both families if any hint of this got out.”
“You can trust Joe,” Milton said with absolute certainty. He took a moment to be thankful that Joe had been the one driving the carriage; the man was silent to a fault, and the other coachmen in his employ were much more garrulous individuals.
/
The Kings’ House
Meryton
“Oh, my dear, I did not want you to be sad,” Mr. King croaked, and then coughed repeatedly until Mary King, her eyes wet, gestured to her grandfather’s valet, who helped the old man sit up.
“Do have a drink of lemonade,” she said, lifting the cup to his lips. It was mixed with laudanum to ease his pain, and he grimaced a little at the bitterness. “I love you, Grandpapa. I want to spend every moment I can with you before you pass on through Heaven’s Gates.”
“My dear,” her grandfather murmured, patting her hand with his own skeletal one, “you are young. You ought to be dancing and flirting with officers, not sitting with a dying old man.”
Mary sucked in a pained gasp in remembrance of one particular officer, and tightened her grip on her grandfather’s hand. “There is nowhere else I would rather be,” she said fervently, and then added, “and you are the very best man in all the world for me.”
This was true, of course, and her heart broke that soon they would be separated, barring a miracle.
But oh, how thankful she was to the Bennets for saving her from the worst mistake of her entire life.
And now, with Abby sworn to secrecy, and the Bennets spreading rumors of a far more cheerful event, Mary had every hope that her grandfather would die without learning how closely she had come to being united in marriage to an utter rogue.
/
The Officers’ Barracks
Meryton
Captain Denny strolled into the mess hall and looked around in surprise.
It was not quite noon yet, and many an officer chose to sleep until noon on days when there were no morning maneuvers.
Thus, he was startled to see the hall full of his fellow redcoats, all of whom wore expressions of excitement or dismay.
“Denny!” Lieutenant Pratt cried, leaping to his feet and rushing over. “Have you heard the news about Wickham?”
Denny blinked and eyed his fellow officer warily. “I returned only moments ago from London,” he said, “and no, I know nothing about Wickham’s latest antics. What has the chap been about? Has his luck at cards finally turned?”
“He is dead,” Pratt said dramatically.
The captain stared at his friend for a moment and then released a doubtful chuckle. “Dead? Nonsense, Pratt. I know you enjoy a joke, but I rose early this morning and rode hard, and I am not in the mood...”
“It is no joke,” Lieutenant Chamberlayne said, and Denny, looking into the man’s eyes, felt his heart sink within him.
There was no doubting the sincerity in those blue orbs, and Denny found himself grasping a nearby chair to support himself.
He did not count Wickham a close friend, but still, only two days past the man had been a lively, pleasant comrade, and now he was dead?
“What happened?” he rasped, dropping into the chair.
“No one quite knows,” Chamberlayne said, “though there is plenty of speculation. He was injured in some sort of altercation and died after a period of unconsciousness.”
“He was in a fight?” Denny asked, his voice almost unrecognizable in his own ears. “ Wickham ?”
“At the receiving end of someone’s fury, anyway,” Lieutenant Smythe declared.
“He probably ran afoul of some merchant or tenant farmer,” Chamberlayne said coldly. “I know he was your friend, Denny, but he was always chasing a skirt, and you know that the locals are not inclined to let an impecunious lieutenant ruin their daughters.”
“Either that, or one of his creditors caught up with him,” Smythe said drily.
“Word is that the man ran up debts in London and everywhere he went, which is not the sort of thing to ingratiate himself to his fellow man. At any rate, Colonel Forster has the matter well in hand and has ordered us to stay out of it.”
Denny swallowed hard, his mind working busily, and said, “Well, that is a great pity, though I would say I was more an acquaintance of Wickham’s than a friend. We knew one another casually, but no more.”
“I doubt any of us knew Wickham particularly well,” Pratt mused. “He was all surface charm, but I never pretended to know his heart.”
“Neither did I,” Denny said promptly, and was relieved to see others nodding their heads. He felt quite the fool for having invited Wickham to join the regiment, and he devoutly hoped that he would not be tarred with the same brush as his spendthrift, lascivious acquaintance.