Chapter 16

O n entering the room, Darcy did not see the opulence or who else was present. All he saw was the woman he loved sitting up in bed, her hair splayed out on the pillows. It was obvious that with the bandage on her head, her raven coloured wavy tresses could not be plaited, or anything else done to arrange her hair. The coverlet was covering her torso, and another was resting across her elevated left leg.

At that moment, Darcy knew had George Wickham been in front of him, he would have gladly ended the man’s miserable, wasted life. None of Wickham’s prior offences had pushed Darcy to feel that way before now. He had come close when he had discovered the bastard trying to pay court to his sister, but seeing what, from all reports, he had intentionally done to Miss Elizabeth Bennet, had been the final feather which broke the horse’s back for him. If he and Richard found the libertine, his cousin would have to wait to take his turn in meting out punishment.

An elbow from said cousin reminded Darcy; he had stopped in the middle of the chamber and was staring at the magnificent woman in the bed.

By the time the Fitzwilliams and Darcy were shown into the sick-chamber, Mrs Fitzherbert, Jane, and Emma had been joined by Lady Gardiner, Mary, Mary Anne, and Anna. With so many female chaperones, even if it became known that three single men visited the Heroine of Brighton while she was in her sickbed, no negative inference would be able to be drawn.

“Lizzy dear, you have not met the Fitzwilliams, have you?” Maria verified.

“I have not,” Elizabeth confirmed, her eyes on the tall, handsome man from Derbyshire, the one she used to think of as insufferable. Now she only thought him very handsome and knew he was as honourable as the day was long.

Mrs Fitzherbert made the introductions. No one had mentioned the attraction between her eldest sister and the viscount to Elizabeth, but there was no missing the way their eyes sought one another. She would have to ask Janey about that when they had some privacy.

“It is my honour to meet all of you,” Elizabeth stated, “unfortunately Messrs Winthorpe and Winklevoss would look down on me if I attempted a curtsey, my Lord and Lady.”

Darcy was amazed, even with her injuries she was still the same teasing woman he had fallen in love with.

“It is we who are honoured to meet one as brave as yourself, Miss Elizabeth,” Lord Matlock stated as he and his sons bowed to the lady in the bed. “The bravery and selflessness of your actions are astounding. Richard here,” Lord Matlock cocked his head to his younger son, “was saying he cannot think of an equivalent act of bravery he has ever seen, and he has seen combat on the Peninsula.”

“It was nothing more than any other who was close enough would have done,” Elizabeth demurred.

“I am forever in your debt for the heartache from which you saved my best friend, Maria,” Lady Matlock added. “You may try to downplay your heroism, but what my husband and sons have said is nothing but the truth. There are very few who would have sacrificed their own welfare as you did. As such, any time I can be of service to you, it will be my distinct honour.”

“Did I not tell you Lizzy is wonderful?” Emma gushed.

Elizabeth reached her hand out, grasped Emma’s hand closest to her, and squeezed it. “It seems I made a friend out of all of this,” she said. All of the talk of her heroism was uncomfortable for Elizabeth.

Darcy sensed Miss Elizabeth would like to speak of something else. “I am very pleased you and Anna met. I always thought you and my sister would be very good friends if you ever had the opportunity to meet,” Darcy stated evenly as his eyes locked onto hers. He did not miss the grateful look for the change in subject.

“How could I not like one as good and sweet as your sister,” Elizabeth responded as she smiled first at one Darcy and then the other. “It was very fortunate when I almost knocked her from her feet.”

“It was one of the best almost accidents I ever had. I could not imagine not meeting and getting to know Lizzy,” Georgiana agreed. The looks from the four Fitzwilliams told her that they were unaware of exactly how she and Lizzy met, so Anna told her relations a condensed version of the day they met, and of all the time they had spent together since before the attempted kidnapping. The Fitzwilliams smiled when she related Peter’s moniker for her and his claiming of her lap whenever he was near her. Although they did not say it, Anna’s relations were amazed at how much she had recovered since meeting Miss Elizabeth.

As much as he wanted to commandeer all the time and speak to Miss Elizabeth himself, Darcy restrained himself and was happy just being in her presence and being able to see her. He was delighted to see the familiar intelligence shining out of those emerald-green eyes, which had captivated him from the first time he truly looked at her.

So as to not tire the patient too much, most of her visitors left after about twenty minutes. Darcy was more floating on a cloud than walking. No matter what he had been told of her being out of danger, until he had been able to witness the same for himself, he had been extremely concerned. Not only was she on the road to recovery, but unless he was seeing only that which he wanted to see, he could have sworn she had been pleased with his being present.

Not long after most of her visitors had vacated her chamber, Elizabeth began to feel like she needed to rest. Aunt Maddie decided to remain with her and the ever present maid. It was then Elizabeth remembered she had seen neither her father nor her uncle that afternoon. “Aunt Maddie, where are Papa and Uncle Edward?” she asked.

“They are meeting with the Regent, dearest. Before you ask a slew of questions which I will not be able to answer, I can see your eyes drooping. You still need much sleep, so allow yourself to do so,” Madeline recommended.

Elizabeth stifled a yawn and gave her aunt a sheepish look. “I suppose when Papa and Uncle Edward have something to share with me, they will.” Not many minutes later Elizabeth was breathing evenly as she slept.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Lady Catherine was not happy they had had to spend a night at de Bourgh house in London. As much as she wanted to press on after being treated so rudely by the butler at Darcy House, her coachman had told her, in no uncertain terms, that the horses would not last another hour if they were not rested overnight. Lady Catherine did not believe in having her team swapped for inferior horses when she travelled. As she normally did not leave Rosings Park, that was generally not an issue.

At the risk of his employment, the coachman had told the mistress that unless she wanted to kill her horses, not only did they need to rest that night, but they would need to break the journey to Brighton into three days, if she did not want to face the necessity of putting down her horses and purchasing a new team.

The prospect of such an outlay of funds overrode her desire not to be gainsaid. Due to this, which she claimed was by her own design, the next day they only travelled about thirty miles and not at the pace Lady Catherine would have preferred.

Although she had commanded Mr and Mrs Collins to accompany her, Lady Catherine did not offer to pay for the two nights in the inns on the way to Brighton. The first night an irate Charlotte turned to her husband when they entered the small chamber they would have to share, thanks to lack of funds to rent a suite. “Mr Collins, why have you not said a word to your patroness about the expenses she is costing us after insisting we join her? It is not only the inns and our food, but you will have to remunerate the curate for the time he is performing your duties! Why have you not insisted Lady Catherine bear the expenses she has caused? As far as I know, we have not budgeted for these additional costs,” Charlotte complained.

“But, my dear Charlotte, how can I, a lowly parson, demand anything of Lady Catherine who is a peer of the realm?” Collins whinged.

“Mr Collins, are my mother and father peers?” Charlotte asked seemingly incongruently.

“No, my dear, your father is but a knight of the realm, the lowest of the titled ranks,” Collins replied.

“And remind me. What pray tell was the late Sir Lewis de Bourgh’s rank? I believe I have heard you mention it many times so I am sure you have not forgotten what it is,” Charlotte insisted.

“He was a knight,” Collins unsuccessfully attempted to puzzle out why his wife was asking that which she knew.

“The same rank as my father, is that not correct?” Collins allowed it was so, still scratching his head as to what his wife meant. “In our society, when a man and woman marry, does the man take the lady’s rank, or does she take his?” Charlotte pressed.

“As men are superior, the lady always takes the man’s rank and position in society,” Collins puffed his chest up with pride as he was sure he knew the answer.

“Do we both agree that Lady Catherine was married to a knight?” Collins nodded as his brow furrowed, trying to work out what his wife was about. “In that case, please explain how Lady Catherine is ranked higher than my mother, who is also the wife of a knight. Like my mother, Lady Catherine is a commoner, not a noble.”

Collins was scandalised that his wife could speak such words which were tantamount to blasphemy. “But she is the daughter of an earl, and sister to one.”

“As much as I hate to disagree with you, that is a courtesy title, and not one which gives the lady a peerage. If, as you said, every lady assumes her husband’s rank on marrying him, why is that not true for your patroness?”

His mouth opened and closed four or five times as Collins tried to think of something to refute his wife’s assertions, but he found he could not. At the same time he was fully aware that if he repeated any of this to Lady Catherine, or asked her to pay for the costs she was causing, she would sack him, and then where would he and Charlotte be?

“There will be no more discussion about Lady Catherine’s rank,” Collins commanded.

Neither were pleased when they went to bed that night and slept as far from one another in the bed as was humanly possible without falling out onto the floor below.

The next morning, that night, and the following day as the coach finally arrived in Brighton, not a word passed between Mr and Mrs Collins. He did what he always did and flattered his patroness, and when Charlotte was not feigning sleep, she found the scenery rolling by the window fascinating.

Lady Catherine did not want to admit it to her underlings, but now that they were in the city, she had not a clue where to seek out either her nephew or the jezebel who had tempted him.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Both Bennet and Gardiner were gobsmacked. Bennet was the first to recover enough to speak. “Your Highness, as generous as your reward to Lizzy, to all of us is, it is far too much,” Bennet managed as they sat in the Regent’s study with his private secretary at his post. “You must know that when Lizzy saved your…Mrs Fitzherbert’s daughter a thought of reward never crossed her mind. For the whole of her life, she has helped others and never expected anything in return, not even recognition.”

“That is one of the many reasons she deserves this and more,” the Regent insisted. “Besides, my awarding your other four daughters a dowry of five and twenty thousand pounds each is not a direct reward to Elizabeth. You would not refuse to allow your daughters’ futures to be secured, would you?”

“I would never stand in the way of my daughters’ security, but such a sum each. Would ten thousand each not be more reasonable?” Bennet pleaded. In his mind’s eye he saw his daughters becoming the target for every fortune hunter in the realm, and it petrified him. Bennet took a deep breath and saw the resolve in the Regent’s eyes. He could not insult the future King and refuse such an offer. He did have one condition. “On behalf of my four daughters, I accept your generosity gratefully. I assume you will not mention them being dowered in the notice you intend to send to the papers?” The Regent allowed that it would be so. At least, they would be able to guard the news, which meant his wife could never be told of Jane’s and the younger three girls’ dowries. “Before you send the announcement regarding Lizzy to the papers, I ask that we speak to her first. My daughter is very particular about not having decisions made for her without being consulted.” He turned to his brother-in-law. “I assume you will allow me to invest the money for the girls’ dowries with you, even if it is such a huge sum already.”

Sir Edward gave a nod.

“There is no objection to what you propose. Let us, with Mrs Fitzherbert and the Matlocks, speak to her in the morning. I would like the notice to appear in the local papers the next day and be on its way to London as soon as may be. As much as we have been able to control the gossip, I am told there are some rumblings locally, this way the truth will stop any speculation.” The Regent cogitated. “Mother will want to meet Elizabeth. Even though there can be no official recognition of Mary Anne and Emma, Mother loves them both dearly. When my letter reaches her, she will endorse my actions without reservation. She will not travel away from Father any longer, since his…malady has become so advanced. Hence she will wait until Elizabeth is able to travel once again.”

“What about Fanny?” Gardiner mused aloud. “You know as soon as what is in the papers is related to her, it will be all about her, and she will demand to travel hither.”

“Once we have spoken to Lizzy, I will make for Longbourn for a few days to make sure my wife understands that for her nothing has changed, unless she is ready and willing to make genuine amendments to her behaviour.” Bennet looked at his brother-in-law. “Yes, I know it is outside of her capabilities, but I still pray it may occur.”

“Bennet, I ask this not as your Regent, but as a man, if you will allow me.” Bennet nodded for the Prince to proceed. “From everything you and Gardiner have said, you have nothing in common with your wife.”

Bennet allowed that was so.

“Then why did you marry her?”

“The oldest reason there is. I was taken by a pretty face, mistook infatuation for true feelings, and never allowed myself to see who she was until it was far too late. Gardiner here gently attempted to warn me off, but I was so enamoured with having been granted the hand of the most beautiful girl in the neighbourhood, I suspended my logic and was blind to her true self. It would have been easy for me to see before the wedding had I only been willing to keep my eyes open.” Bennet shook his head. “It is the reason I have been so reluctant to send her out to a cottage. It was not her fault I did not make sure we were compatible.”

“Why do you not divorce her?” the Regent queried.

“Besides the fact I have none of the grounds as laid out by the law, I could not do that to her because of my own error,” Bennet revealed.

“You know I am my father’s representative as the head of the church, I could…” Even though he was the Regent, Bennet held up his hand. The Prince did not chastise him, he just raised his eyebrows.

“For the same reason, I will not seek a divorce, I would not ask you to intercede and have the Archbishop dissolve my marriage. As much as she annoys me, and vulgar and bad as her behaviour is, as mean of understanding as she is, the fault lies with me,” Bennet insisted. “With what is about to occur with Lizzy, I may have no choice but to banish her from the home and make sure she cannot run wild in the neighbourhood, but I will make that decision when I see her reaction to the news.”

“As I said, I did not ask as Regent. As such I will respect your wishes and not do anything with regards to your marriage. However, know I will assist if you make the request.” The Prince cogitated. “I assume for the same reason you would not accept a title?” Bennet nodded. “Speaking of which, although the Granger line ended with the murders and Weasley was the last in his line which ended when the blackguard lost his head, Portnoy has discovered that there is a distant family member alive, one who is completely unaware of the familial connection to the Grangers. First we speak to Elizabeth, and then I will have the soon to be Baron contacted. In fact, I think I will elevate the title, but I have time to consider that.”

The men drained their glasses of port, then Bennet and Gardiner stood, bowed to the Regent and made their way back to their families and friends.