Chapter 4

“My dear Miss de Bourgh, I do thank you very much,” Elizabeth Darcy exclaimed. “If anyone could get through Mr. Collins’s thick head, it is you.”

The Darcys and Bingleys had descended from their bedrooms rather late, and thus had missed Mr. and Mrs. Collins’s morning visit. Anne could only be thankful, as she had enjoyed putting Mr. Collins in his place without worrying about the responses of the man’s relatives. Mrs. Darcy would, she thought, have been amused by the conversation, but Mrs. Bingley was a more sensitive soul. As for Darcy, who wore a rather forbidding frown, Anne quite thought the master of Pemberley would have tossed Mr. Collins out by the ear. Even Mr. Bingley, who was a genial soul, looked quite angry when apprised of Collins’s verbal attacks against Elizabeth.

“Would you be willing to call me Anne?” she asked Elizabeth impulsively. Anne did like Mrs. Darcy very much.

“I would be honored,” Elizabeth agreed happily. “And of course, you must call me Elizabeth.”

“And may I call you Jane?” Anne asked of her hostess, who was placidly knitting what appeared to be a baby sock.

“Of course, Miss de Bourgh.”

“Please, call me Anne.”

“Anne,” Jane Bingley declared with her lovely smile, “I too must thank you for your championship of Elizabeth’s marriage. I know there were servants in the room, so the news will fly around Meryton that you and the Matlocks are entirely pleased.”

“Not,” Darcy interpolated with a scowl, “that their opinion was of great import. I am happy that they have accepted Elizabeth into the family, but everyone in our circle will learn, I hope sooner rather than later, that Elizabeth is my primary concern. I will not allow family pride or disapproval to harm her.”

“Dearest Fitzwilliam,” Elizabeth murmured, leaning closer to her husband. “You are a delightfully fierce and even frightening protector. I feel very safe as your wife.”

“That is my intention, my love. Your security and comfort are my primary concern.”

Once again, Anne had the odd feeling of being quite separate from the two couples in the room. Her limited observance of marriage had led her to believe that most couples were united not by compatibility, but by a desire to advance family standing or wealth. Both the Bingleys and the Darcys displayed such tenderness in their dealings, such commitment, such a willingness to sacrifice for the other partner.

It almost made her rethink her opposition to seeking out a husband for herself.

Elizabeth, who had been staring lovingly at Darcy, shook herself free and blushed as she observed Anne’s interested gaze.

“I hope,” she commented, “that with Charlotte’s influence, Mr. Collins can be persuaded to keep quiet on the matter in the future. Now we only need to worry about our aunt Philips, our mother and our younger sisters embarrassing us.”

Anne, who had met the two youngest Bennet girls the night before, thought it entirely likely that there would be some poor behavior before the Christmas holidays were complete, but naturally she would not express those concerns.

“I am certain all will be very pleasant,” she assured her hostess.

Elizabeth and Jane exchanged an anxious glance.

“I fear that our sister, Lydia, often finds new and exciting ways to shame us,” Elizabeth commented with a sigh.

“If Lydia behaves exceptionally poorly, Bingley and I will carry her upstairs and lock her in her bedroom,” Darcy stated.

Bingley, who had been gazing at his wife’s knitted baby sock with a fond smile, looked up in surprise, “Erm, really, Darcy? Are you serious?”

“I am entirely serious,” Darcy stated. “Miss Lydia has been permitted to run wild for quite some time and must be shown a firm hand. It would not do for her to bring humiliation to our extended family.”

“Our mother will be outraged,” Jane said hesitantly. “She has always been pleased by what she terms Lydia’s ‘high spirits’.”

“Then she too will learn something important,” Elizabeth proclaimed. “Fitzwilliam is right. We have an opportunity now to work with Lydia and Kitty before their characters are entirely set in stone. Mother largely ruled Longbourn with her vapors, because Father did not have the strength of will to stand against her. Fitzwilliam is one of the most determined men I have ever met.”

“Which is a good thing,” Darcy suggested.

“Indeed, it is.”

Again, a look passed between the husband and wife, and Anne found herself strangely breathless. Oh, to be in a marriage of such commitment, such love!

Elizabeth turned her attention back to Anne and smiled, “Miss ... Anne, would you be interested in joining us on a trip to Meryton after nuncheon? I wish to visit the bookstore and say good-bye to its proprietor; I do not know when I will next be in Meryton, and Mr. Smyth has been a good friend to our family. Of course, you can stay here with Jane and Charles if you wish.”

Anne perked up at this, “Oh, that would be lovely! I did not see much of Meryton on our way here and would be pleased to see more of it.”

She already had a novel forming in her head of a poor gentlewoman, lively but virtuous, who had been raised in a dreary market town only to be dumped impetuously into London Society. Yes, her heroine had some similarities to Mrs. Darcy. Anne intended to make her heroine a willowy blonde to obfuscate the resemblance, but in any case, she wanted more information about market towns. She had never been permitted to wander the shops of a little town before, naturally. Lady Catherine would hardly allow her only child to sully herself by interacting with commoners in an unregulated environment.