A Companion For Miss Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Variation Page 21

  ‘A week?’ exclaimed Wickham.

  ‘A week. And you are lucky to get that. You will never return to Derbyshire. If I see you anywhere near Pemberley then I will call you out. Do you begin to see a theme?’ asked Colonel Fitzwilliam with another dangerous smile.

  Wickham swallowed. He tried to speak but no words came out. He had known Colonel Fitzwilliam for almost thirty years. He had played with him as a boy, when the Fitzwilliam family had visited their relations at Pemberley. Even as a boy, Colonel Fitzwilliam had been a very good shot. He had provided game for the table and helped to keep the pantries stocked. As an adult in the army, he had twice been decorated.

  ‘I think we understand each other,’ said Colonel Fitzwilliam. ‘I will bid you good day.’

  He made no bow, but turned on his heel and strode out of the room.

  Wickham cursed as soon as he had gone.

  ‘Best know when you’re beaten, my dear,’ said Mrs Younge. ‘There will be plenty of heiresses in the north of England. Why not go to Manchester, or Leeds?’

  ‘It seems I will have to. But if I will not rest until I can find a way to pay Darcy back for this, him and his tame soldier.’

  Chapter Twenty

  It was later that day when Mr Bingley arrived at Darcy House and was made most welcome.

  Mr Darcy was in the drawing-room when Mr Bingley was announced. Georgiana, Miss Bingley and the Hursts were also there. They had not all been together since the day Mr Darcy had suddenly left Netherfield Park and so they had a great deal of news to exchange. Georgiana rang for tea and soon they were all taking refreshment.

  Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst told their brother all about their shopping trips with Georgiana, and their visits to places of interest. Mr Darcy gave his friend news of their London club, and their mutual acquaintance. Mr Bingley listened with a distracted air and then, when there was a lull in the conversation, he said, ‘I have some news of my own.’

  Miss Bingley became rigid. She paused with her cup halfway to her mouth. Mrs Hurst, too, became still.

  Mr Darcy was not surprised. Seeing his friend’s excitement, he guessed what was coming, and he knew it would not be welcome news to Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst. It was not welcome to him, either. He had long cherished a hope that Mr Bingley would, one day, marry Georgiana, but now he had a presentiment it would never happen.

  ‘I have asked Miss Bennet to marry me and she has said yes.’

  There was a chilly silence in the room.

  At last it was broken by Miss Bingley.

  ‘My dear Charles, Miss Bennet is a charming person, no doubt, but she is too young to marry. Her uncle said so, when Mr Collins approached him on the matter. You should not have proposed to her without his consent.’

  ‘I have just now come from Gracechurch Street, where I have spoken to her uncle, and he has given me his permission,’ said Mr Bingley.

  ‘But this is very odd, when he would not give his permission for her to marry Mr Collins,’ said Mrs Hurst.

  ‘It is not odd at all,’ said Georgiana, with surprising courage. ‘Mr Collins was not an agreeable man and that is why Mr Gardiner refused his permission.’

  ‘Miss Bennet did not seem to think so. She was going to marry Mr Collins, before her uncle refused his consent. Really, Charles, I think you had better not set too much store by her answer. She seems to change her mind about marriage with astonishing frequency,’ remarked Miss Bingley dismissively.

  ‘Indeed she does,’ agreed Mrs Hurst.

  Mr Bingley had changed colour at their spiteful remarks, and he became as angry as it was possible for such a mild-mannered man to be.

  ‘I am sorry if it does not meet with your approval, but Miss Bennet and I will be married in the spring,’ he said firmly.

  ‘I am very pleased for you,’ said Georgiana with a smile. ‘Jane is the dearest, sweetest lady of my acquaintance and I am sure you will be very happy together.’

  Mr Bingley looked relieved to have found at least one supporter in the room.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said, making her a bow. ‘I am glad someone is pleased for me,’ he added, trying to make a joke of it, for the silence from everyone else was very noticeable.

  ‘I only hope you do not live to regret it,’ said Miss Bingley.

  The atmosphere was decidedly strained and Mr Bingley soon took his leave.

  Once he had gone, Miss Bingley made an effort to restore a more harmonious air and suggested to Georgiana that they should play some duets.

  ‘Thank you, but I am not in the mood for music. If you will excuse me, I have a headache. I think I will retire to my room.’

  She stood up and made a curtsey, then left them all to their own amusements.

  Mr Darcy, concerned to see that she was distressed, followed her from the room.

  ‘Georgiana,’ he called.

  She turned to face him.

  ‘Will you join me for a few moments in the library?’

  Georgiana knew that, although he had phrased it as a question, it was in fact a command, and she acquiesced.

  Mr Darcy stood aside to let his sister precede him into the room. Once inside, he waited for her to sit down before he, too, took a seat in a leather-buttoned chair.

  ‘It was not polite of you to answer Miss Bingley so coldly. She has devoted a great deal of time to amusing you recently. I hope you will be more friendly towards her at dinner. And no, do not say you have a headache. I know you well, and I know your head is not hurting, just as I know when it is. I am speaking to you now as an adult, you see, and expecting adult standards of behaviour from you.’

  ‘Then I wish you would expect them from yourself,’ she retorted heatedly. ‘Mr Bingley is your oldest friend but you did not congratulate him on his betrothal. How could you have left him to sit in silence when he had just told you something so important? If I had not told him how pleased I was, then he would have left this house without one kind word from anyone. It was too cruel.’

  This touched a nerve with Mr Darcy. He had been dismayed at Mir Bingley’s news, for it placed him in a difficult position. He did not see how he could take Georgiana to Netherfield Park once Mr Bingley was married, when the new Mrs Bingley’s sister was plotting to harm his sister. Nor did he see how he could invite Mr Bingley and his new wife to Pemberley for the same reason. He did not want to lose his friendship with Mr Bingley, and yet his sister’s safety came first.

  It was these thoughts that had kept him silent in the drawing room, and prevented him from congratulating his friend. And it was these thoughts that now made him respond angrily to his sister’s words, which had so closely matched his own guilty feelings.

  ‘I will not have you speaking to me like that,’ he said. ‘Go to your room.’

  She turned and looked at him defiantly.

  ‘That is where I was going when you called me into the library,’ she said.

  Then she turned on her heel and walked out.

  ‘Georgie . . .’ he called.

  But it was too late. She had gone, shutting the door behind her.

  Mr Darcy paced the room angrily. Miss Elizabeth Bennet had now done him another wrong. She had come between him and his sister.

  Gradually his anger began to subside. Georgiana’s anger, too, would cool. But he wished with all his heart that Mr Bingley had not asked Miss Bennet to marry him; or that, if he had asked, she had not said yes.

  In the drawing room, Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst were discussing this latest news, whilst Mr Hurst dozed on the sofa.

  ‘I was afraid this would happen if we left Charles on his own in Hertfordshire,’ said Miss Bingley.

  ‘So was I,’ Mrs Hurst admitted. ‘But it is a small price to pay if it is the means of securing you Mr Darcy’s hand in marriage. You were right to come to London, Caroline. He has been very grateful to you for looking after Georgiana. He has said so to you more than once, and he has said it to me very often. He is beginning to see you as necessary to Georgiana, and he will s
oon see you as necessary to himself. I truly believe you will be Mrs Darcy yet.’

  ‘I hope so, Louisa. I sincerely hope so,’ said Miss Bingley fervently. ‘I have devoted so much time and energy to the cause, I will be devastated if it does not come to pass. I must be Mrs Darcy. I will be Mrs Darcy. Then nothing else will matter. Charles’s unfortunate marriage will be of no account, as long as I can become the mistress of Pemberley.’

  Chapter Twenty-One

  In Meryton, the Netherfield ball was the chief topic of conversation or the next few days. It was talked over by all the ladies of the neighbourhood as they visited each other. Mr Bingley had left the area shortly afterwards and was in London. He had written to Jane, telling her that her uncle had given his consent to the marriage, and he was seeing to some business affairs as he was there. He intended to return shortly. Mr Wickham had also left for London, and this, too, formed part of the gossip. But all of these things were put in the shade when the Lucases returned from visiting their relations and it was revealed that Miss Charlotte Lucas was betrothed to Mr Collins!

  The news ran round the town with great speed and soon everyone in Meryton, and for miles beyond, knew that Miss Charlotte Lucas was about to make a most advantageous match.

  There were those in the neighbourhood who felt she had used the Miss Bennets ill, for the gossips had considered Mr Collins the rightful property of one or other of them. But when Mr Bingley returned from London, and his betrothal to Miss Jane Bennet was announced, then attitudes to Miss Lucas softened. The general opinion was that Miss Lucas had displayed a great deal of intelligence – some said cunning – and she had done very well for herself.

  The gossips continued to hope for a betrothal between Mr Wickham and Miss Elizabeth Bennet – a hat-trick of weddings, as Mrs Purvis put it – but no such betrothal was forthcoming. His well wishers hoped he would inherit a fortune and be able to make Miss Elizabeth Bennet as happy as her sister, but as no such fortune materialised, he carried on much as before.

  Elizabeth was not as disappointed as the gossips imagined. Indeed, the news about Charlotte wounded her more.

  ‘I cannot believe Charlotte would be so underhand,’ she said to Jane, as the two of them strolled in the garden at Longbourn one fine morning in December.

  There was just enough of a chill in the air to remind them of the season, which misted their breath in front of them, but not enough of a chill to make the walk unpleasant. The sky was blue, without a cloud, and the stark trees were graceful against it. In their pelisses, cloaks, bonnets and gloves they were comfortably warm.

  ‘I will not believe that Charlotte went to see her grandmother for the purposes of trapping Mr Collins into matrimony,’ said Jane. ‘I feel sure she genuinely wanted to visit her grandmother, and met Mr Collins as a matter of chance.’

  ‘Jane, you are too good,’ said Elizabeth. ‘For myself, I do not doubt it, and I am saddened by it. It has lowered Charlotte in my estimation and I will never be able to feel the same towards her.’

  ‘I hope you will not show your feelings when she dines with us tonight,’ said Jane. ‘My aunt has made quite a party of it. She has invited the officers —’

  ‘Of course!’ remarked Elizabeth.

  Mrs Philips took every opportunity to invite the young officers to the house, and some of them either dined at Longbourn, took tea at Longbourn or played lottery tickets at Longbourn every day.

  Jane smiled.

  ‘Yes, of course. But I hope you will not lower Charlotte in their estimation by making her feel ridiculous.’

  ‘Never fear, I will try to hide my feelings, for your sake, but it will be difficult. Charlotte has tied herself to one of the silliest men in the kingdom, and for what? A home of her own, only a few miles from the home she already has.’

  ‘I like to think of Charlotte living here, rather than a stranger,’ mused Jane. ‘Mr Collins must have married at some time, and Charlotte is our friend. I must confess to you, Lizzy, that I felt guilty about hurting Mr Collins and I am relieved he has found someone else to accept him. He may not be the most intelligent of men, but I believe he has a good heart and will make Charlotte happy.’

  ‘Oh, Jane, you are too generous,’ said Elizabeth. ‘I fear they will both be unhappy, but we will not argue about it. You, at least, will be happy. Have you set a date?’

  ‘No. We must wait at least three weeks for the banns to be read but my aunt wishes us to wait until the Spring. It will give us time to order the wedding clothes and make all the necessary preparations.’

  ‘And what do you wish?’ asked Elizabeth.

  ‘I would gladly marry my beloved Charles tomorrow, but I would like to please my aunt and so we have agreed on a spring wedding. You, or course, will be my chief attendant. I only wish that you could know this happiness, Lizzy. If Mr Wickham does well in his profession . . .’ She broke off, on seeing Elizabeth’s face, and said, ‘What is it?’

  ‘I am beginning to think that Mr Wickham is not the man I believed him to be,’ said Elizabeth.

  ‘How so?’

  Elizabeth hesitated. She had heard something that morning which had unsettled her.

  She explained this to Jane, saying, ‘He excused himself from the Netherfield ball, saying he was unwell, but one of the young officers we met on our walk into town this morning let slip that Mr Wickham had gone out carousing after leaving the ball.’

  ‘There must be some mistake,’ said Jane.

  ‘It is possible,’ Elizabeth admitted. ‘The officer was very young and Captain Denny said he was new to the neighbourhood, so he may have mistaken someone else for Mr Wickham. But it set me thinking, Jane. If Mr Wickham was not ill, why did he leave the ball? And why did he go white when he saw Colonel Fitzwilliam?’

  ‘I cannot answer that,’ said Jane.

  ‘Neither can I,’ said Elizabeth. ‘But is it possible he went white because he did not want to meet Colonel Fitzwilliam? And is it possible that his sudden visit to London was occasioned by the same event?’

  ‘You are very suspicious, Lizzy. I know that your experiences with Mr Darcy were unfortunate, but you must not let them make you distrustful of people in general.’

  Elizabeth sighed.

  ‘Perhaps you are right,’ she said.

  They walked on silently for a moment, then Elizabeth stopped and sat on a rustic seat. It commanded a fine view of the Longbourn grounds, with their rolling lawns and specimen trees. Most of the trees had shed their leaves and stood as stark sentinels, but the evergreens still retained their needles and their fine bushy shapes.

  ‘There is something else worrying you,’ said Jane, looking at her sister in concern. ‘You have not told me everything.’

  ‘No. I have not,’ Elizabeth admitted. ‘Do you know who Colonel Fitzwilliam is?’

  ‘A friend of Colonel Forster,’ said Jane.

  ‘Yes, that is so. But he is more than that. He is Mr Darcy’s cousin, and he is joint guardian to Georgiana. She mentioned him on more than one occasion. I believe Mr Bingley knows of the relationship. Did he say nothing of it?’

  ‘No,’ said Jane, then blushed.

  Elizabeth guessed the reason for the blush at once and smiled.

  ‘I should not be surprised, for I am sure you and Mr Bingley have far more interesting things to talk about than Colonel Fitzwilliam!’ she teased Jane.

  Jane’s blush spread from her face to her neck.

  When at last it had subsided, Elizabeth became more serious.

  ‘Perhaps you are right, Jane, and I am becoming too suspicious, but I have begun to wonder whether Mr Wickham was perfectly honest when he spoke about his dealings with the Darcy family.’

  ‘How can you doubt him?’ asked Jane.

  ‘To begin with, I trusted him completely,’ said Elizabeth. ‘He gave me so many details that I could not doubt his story. But it seems strange that Mr Darcy would react so violently to Mr Wickham’s presence on account of his low social standing. He did not mind
his sister talking to other people who were not of his rank. Indeed, he allowed her to go to the Meryton assemblies so that she could learn to mix with people from all walks of life.’

  ‘That is true,’ said Jane. ‘Miss Darcy was always polite to everyone in Meryton. She never avoided anyone or behaved as if they were beneath her, and Mr Darcy did not complain.’

  Elizabeth was thoughtful.

  ‘There is another thing bothering me, Jane. Mr Wickham gave me all the details of the situation, but he did so when he had only just met me. I was a stranger to him and yet he divulged personal information very quickly.’

  ’That is because of your kind face,’ said Jane.

  Elizabeth smiled at her sister’s compliment.

  ‘Perhaps,’ said Elizabeth. ‘But it was still odd. I say nothing against Mr Wickham, except that I am not entirely easy in my mind about him. Perhaps it is unwarranted, but even so, I feel I need to know a lot more about Mr Wickham before I can trust him. I am more wary than I was, especially after my experiences with Mr Darcy. I do not want to trust unwisely again.’

  ‘Do you mean to avoid Mr Wickham, then?’ asked Jane. ‘It will be difficult, as he is already engaged to dine with us at Longbourn.’

  ‘No, quite the opposite,’ said Elizabeth. ‘I mean to spend as much time with him as I can without being immodest. I want to know the truth about him, and I can only do that by talking to him and getting to know him better.’

  ‘I will ask Charles to invite him to Netherfield,’ said Jane. ‘It will give you an opportunity to see Mr Wickham in another setting.’

  ‘You might have some difficulty in that,’ said Elizabeth. ‘Mr Darcy does not like Mr Wickham, and Mr Bingley is Mr Darcy’s friend.’

  Jane’s eyes sparkled adorably.

  ‘I think I may safely say I have more influence with my dear Charles than Mr Darcy.’

  Elizabeth, smiling, stood up and held out her hands to her sister. Jane took them, and rose to her feet.

  ‘It is no wonder Mr Bingley would do anything for you. You are the kindest, sweetest sister and I know you will make the kindest, sweetest wife. Very well, use your influence. I would like to see how Mr Wickham behaves at Netherfield. I will also be interested to hear what my Aunt Gardiner knows of him. She grew up in Derbyshire and perhaps she can give me more information. I will write to her about it. But now, enough of Mr Wickham. Let us talk about you and your beloved Mr Bingley, and your plans for your wedding.’