Page 36

Elizabeth dried her eyes and sat silently for a time before going home. While she was finished crying about her plight, her heart remained heavy. She tried to dispel the unbidden and morbid thought that kept playing in her mind. Her hopes for a marriage of love had been shattered by a broken carriage axle in Bedfordshire and a bullet in Spain.

Mrs Bennet screeched in delight when Elizabeth entered the room and rushed to her.

“Oh, Lizzy, I am beside myself with joy. You sly thing not saying a single word about this.”

A feeling of dread washed over Elizabeth. “About what mother?” Holding her head high and defiantly.

“I am proud of you. To think you will be a countess,” her mother crooned, embracing her. Elizabeth looked over her mother’s shoulder at Lady Lucas, who avoided her gaze.

“I have no idea what you have been told. Whatever it may be, it is untrue.”

“You do not have to play coy with me, dear. Your secret is out. Everyone in town is talking about you and Mr Darcy, or should I say, Earl Fitzwilliam.”

“Then they talk nonsense. Nothing happened, and I have no desire to be a countess and have no plans to marry nor submit to it anytime soon,” Elizabeth declared, trying to free herself from her mother’s grasp. “Be it Mr Darcy or anyone else at this time.” She declared defiantly, crossing her arms and giving Lady Lucas a glare of contempt.

“Bah, don’t be a silly girl. Think of how grand you will be. You will have carriages, jewels, and a house in town. Maybe even two or three. You will be the envy of every lady in the kingdom.” Her mother pulled her to a seat and set her down like she would a child. Lady Lucas watched but still would not make eye contact.

“I don’t want to be envied. I want these vile rumors to go away.” She stated, crossing her arms.

“Go away? Don’t be ridiculous. They will not just go away, nor do the acts that started them in the first place.” Her mother said with a look that showed she believed them to be true.

“Mother, I will say this again. Nothing happened.”

“Then why would they spread such a tale?”

“Idle gossip from imaginations of what was or was not seen or imagined.”

“You may be unable to deny it in a few months.” She replied, looking at Elizabeth’s midriff.

“Mother!” she cried indignantly as she rose from her seat.

“Settle down, my dear. It would not be the first time…”

“Of that, I have no worry. I will say this for the last time. Nothing happened with Mr Darcy.”

The conversation suddenly stopped as the front door slammed shut. It began again once the footsteps faded, and another door was opened and closed. Mrs Bennet ignored the commotion to focus her joy back on her daughter.

Mr Bennet looked up from his book as his door opened without a knock. His cousin entered, face red with exertion, anger, and embarrassment.

“Cousin Bennet, I have never been so humiliated in my life.”

“Perhaps you can enlighten me as to what has distressed you so,” Bennet said, already knowing what it must be.

“Your daughter…”

“Which one?” He interrupted.

“Cousin Elizabeth,” he spluttered.

“What has she done to distress you?”

“She has not done anything to me. It is what she has done with another man.”

Mr Bennet sighed. “Perhaps you would care to elaborate.”

“She has thrown away her virtue to a stranger when you allowed her to stay and care for her sister.”

“That is a serious charge. Where did you come by this allegation?”

“Her own sister! Miss Lydia!”

“That explains it. I have long thought she is the silliest girl in the entire kingdom.”

“Mr Bennet, you need to take these accusations seriously.”

“Mr Collins, I have found over many years since that girl first learned to talk that anything coming from Lydia is dubious at best.”

“To give cousin Elizabeth the benefit of the doubt. I took it upon myself to discover the truth.”

“You did?”

“I did.”

“Hopefully, not in any of the ale houses.”

Collins looked baffled for a moment. “Where else would I go?”

“Seeing as you are a man of the cloth, you are most likely unaware of the gossip in such establishments. The more titillating the story, the faster they are apt to spread and, I might add, exaggerated upon. I believe the ale imbibed there has a hand in it.”

Mr Collins was unsure what to think. He could not tell if his cousin was serious, and considering the topic, he should be.

“I must call off the wedding.”

“I was not aware that you had proposed to her.”

“I have not.”

“Then what wedding are you referring to?”

“Cousin Bennet, I must ask that you pay attention and take this matter seriously.”

“I assure you that I do. That is why I am trying to figure out why you went into town to investigate the matter on your own. If you made public inquiries, it would only give the rumor validity and help it spread.”

“It was my duty.”

“Mr Collins. I am still a master of Longbourn. More importantly, Elizabeth is my daughter. Therefore, I believe that duty would fall upon my shoulders, not yours.”

“Lady Catherine expected me to bring home a gentlewoman, not a…”

Mr Bennet held up his hand and glared at the man.

“I would choose my words carefully, Cousin.”

“I mean no disrespect, but I must withdraw the olive branch I sought to offer to your family.”

“I have three other daughters that are free and unencumbered by unfounded gossip of misbehavior. To be honest, I think Mary your best choice.”

“I cannot marry into a family with a tarnished reputation,” he replied indignantly.

“Then this would not be the time for me to remind you that you are a part of this family, however distant.”

Collins blanched at the realization and stuttered for a response.

“Oh, do not worry so. We are far enough removed out here in our little part of the country that I am sure your bishop, or more importantly, your patroness, will not hear of it.”

Mr Bennet could not believe his cousin’s face had gone from red to paler than it normally was in an instant, and his eyes began to bulge from his head most alarmingly.

“Lizzy, Lizzy,” Lydia yelled as she made her way down the hall to the drawing room. She burst into the room, ignoring everyone as soon as she saw her sister. “Lizzy, you should hear what is being said about you in town,” she cried in delight. “It is the most dreadful thing,” she said before laughing hysterically.

Elizabeth put her head into her hands and wanted to cry and scream at what was happening.

“I do not care at this point,” she muttered, trying to calm her emotions.

“I happened to see Mr Collins at the church and told him about it,” Lydia said gleefully.

Elizabeth looked up and glared at her sister. “You did what?” She cried out in anger and frustration.

“I thought he should know since he wants to marry you, but you do not want to marry him. And now I have gotten you out of it as you wanted,” she said, clapping at her self-perceived cleverness.

“Lydia,” Mrs Bennet cried, “is it not grand that your sister will be a countess?”

“I am not getting married!”

“And to think, I thought Mr Collins would make a good match for you. He is nothing compared to an earl.” Mrs Bennet said as thoughts of grandeur went through her head. “Think of it, Lydia. With your sister married to an earl, you could marry a duke.” She said, clapping her hands in delight.

“Or a Prince,” Lydia replied, twirling around and finishing with a curtsy before giggling at the thought.

“That would be grand, so much better. Then Kitty could have the duke.” Mrs Bennet said before looking about as if she expected her other daughter to be there. “Where is she anyway?”

“I told her to stay with Aunt Phillips in case they heard any new gossip.” She replied with a titter, looking at her sister and winking.

“You’re such a clever girl,” her mother cooed.

“There can be nothing new unless it is a complete fabrication.” Elizabeth declared.

While she presented a strong exterior, she felt anything but inside. Her world was crumbling, and those she should have been able to count on were happy. She looked over at Jane, who had said nothing the entire time. Her sister had barely moved, and her face was unreadable.

“It is too late, so no matter. Isn’t that right, Lady Lucas?”

“Unfortunately so,” her friend replied, who had come as soon as the rumor had reached her own ears.

“Perhaps your Charlotte, being Elizabeth’s special friend, will benefit as well. A knight like her father or maybe even a baron could be in her future.”

“Mother, you are forgetting the most important part of this plan of yours. Mr Darcy would have to want to marry. He knows as well as I do that there is nothing between us but a misunderstanding.”

“Is that what they call it these days?” She laughed.

Elizabeth felt trapped. As Mr Darcy had said, it was getting out of control, and she could do nothing to prevent it. Her father, always a natural ally of hers, had already made his position clear, and Mr Collins was not an option. With Mr Darcy going to town, her only hope was that he stayed there. If what he said were true, a better option might fling herself at him or fall into his lap. The remembrance of waking up that fateful morning came unbidden to her mind. She groaned. Why was she always thinking of him?