Chapter 12

H is purpose in going to Matlock House was not only to speak to his aunt. Darcy would be able to spend time with Giana, and he was hoping Richard would be at the house, while at the same time wishing he would not be.

The dichotomy was caused by his knowledge his reasons for not informing his cousin that Wickham was in the Derbyshire Militia did not hold any more water than those he had told himself to excuse why he could not expose Wickham. Darcy did not know what was worse, that he had failed to act to protect the local populace, or it had been Mr Bennet who had acted, a man who was supposed to be indolent, and uncaring about what occurred to his family.

He had been wrong about so much. However, there was one positive he saw in all of this. It meant Miss Elizabeth knew the truth of the wastrel bastard, and perhaps she thought a little better of himself. Thinking of Miss Elizabeth, whom he still loved as much as he had when she had been in his company, made him ashamed all over again at the words he had delivered at the assembly. He had suspected that night she had overheard him. However, his improper pride had stopped him apologising immediately, just as any man who claimed the title of gentleman would have done.

Before he could wallow in his self-recriminations any further, the coachman brought the conveyance to a halt across Grosvenor Square from his own house. As soon as he had the step pulled out of the recess below the door, Thompson had it opened and was waiting for his master to alight.

Darcy drew in a deep breath and stepped down from his town coach. “Smithfield, there is no need to wait here, you may return to Darcy house so the horses may be released to the stables,” Darcy instructed his coachman.

“Aye, Master,” came the reply.

“Thompson, you and Paulson return to Darcy House with the carriage. You two may report back to Killion.” The two large footmen bowed to him and climbed onto their bench. Darcy watched as his equipage was pulled into motion by the two pairs of greys.

The Matlock House butler had the door opened for him before Darcy touched the knocker. The old retainer assisted him out of his great coat, took his beaver, gloves, and cane.

“Where are they?” Darcy asked. It had long been established there was no need to announce him.

“In the blue drawing room, Master William,” the butler replied with a bow. He had been in his post since before Mr Darcy had been born.

“Welcome, William,” Lady Elaine Fitzwilliam, the countess of Matlock, said warmly. “We did not expect you in London yet. Were you not to remain longer with your friend at his leased estate?”

“I am sure William could only take so much of Miss Bingley’s cloying attention, or did she finally descend to the depths and attempt to compromise you?” Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, of His Majesty’s Royal Dragoons wondered. “Thankfully even if she did, you would never give in to her machinations.”

“You will never marry that woman, will you, William?” Georgiana Darcy asked timidly, and then immediately looked down as if she had done something wrong.

Had his aunt and sister not been present, Darcy would have had some choice words to say about Wickham who had destroyed the little self-confidence his already shy sister had had before Ramsgate. He brought his anger at the libertine under control in a trice, rather he smiled warmly at his sister. “Giana, my sweet sister, surely you know I would never inflict that woman on any of us, least of all you, do you not?”

“Yes, you have said that before,” Georgiana responded without lifting her head.

“I have some news. We will never have to suffer Miss Bingley’s company ever again,” Darcy announced.

That caused his sister to look up. Three faces looked at him expectantly.

Rather than hide the truth from his sister, Darcy decided to follow his co-guardian’s advice and allow her to hear what he had to say. “I have a copy of the letter she wrote revealing the depths of her deceptive connivance.” He handed it to his aunt. “I have just come…” Darcy told all, including how the virago had attempted to obfuscate until she realised there was no talking her way out of the situation.

“You did not misspeak! If that harpy dares to show her face in society again, she will be very sorry,” Lady Matlock vowed with anger after reading the drivel the termagant had dared to write. Not only was she a leader in the Ton herself, she was an intimate friend of almost all of the ladies most influential in society.

“William, Miss Bennet? Is it Miss Elizabeth Bennet, or her sister, who took ill at Netherfield Park?” Georgiana asked softly.

“How do you know who the Bennets are?” Darcy asked in surprise. He saw his sister blanch, more than likely thinking he spoke in anger. “Giana, I am not upset at your asking. I am simply surprised you know the name. How is it you do? Who told you of the Bennets?”

“You did, William,” Georgiana responded.

Lady Matlock saw her nephew’s confusion. “In all of your letters from Hertfordshire, after the first one announcing your arrival, you mentioned Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and sometimes more than once in the same letter. Giana showed them to me and asked if I knew the family. I cannot say that I do.”

The letters he wrote to his sister swam before his eyes; and that was exactly what he had done. Regardless of what he had tried to tell himself, he had been intrigued by Miss Elizabeth Bennet, especially after she had refused to dance with him twice. He looked around the room and decided that it was best to mention Wickham to Richard in his mother’s presence, since he could count on his cousin, and co-guardian of his sister, moderating his reaction with his mother in the room. “Yes, I am interested in Miss Elizabeth. I may even hold her in tender regard, but thanks to no one but myself, she does not reciprocate my feelings, in fact I think she dislikes the very sight of me,” Darcy owned.

“How can that be? You are the best brother, master, and landlord,” Georgiana protested with a louder volume than she had used of late.

Darcy moved to take a seat next to his sister. He gently took her small hands into his much larger ones. “It was my own fault, because I insulted her at an assembly before I even met her. I did not realise it lit an intense dislike of my person, so when she met a certain man with a silver tongue who we all know and despise, she was open to his tales of misuse by me.”

“Wickham!” the Colonel exclaimed. “What was the bloody b…libertine doing in the area? And why am I only hearing about this now?”

“It is worse, cousin. He is, or was, a lieutenant in the Derbyshire Militia.” Darcy watched his sister. She did not react to the wastrel’s name to any degree, and if anything it gave her solace to hear of his errors and that Miss Elizabeth had also been fooled by the man. He raised his hands in surrender. “I am well aware I should have mentioned him to you as soon as I saw him. I used fallacious reasoning not to do so; please pardon me, Richard.”

“How did that copy of Miss Bingley’s letter,” he inclined his head towards his mother who had it in hand still, “written I believe by a female, come into your hands?” the Colonel asked suspiciously.

“The Bennets have a relative who used to live in Lambton. Mr Bennet felt that Wickham’s story smacked of deceit so at his request, Mrs Gardiner, the aunt in question, wrote to friends in the area, and I suspect by what they uncovered, that she is a friend of Mrs Robertson,” Darcy revealed.

“Gardiner? It must be Madeline Gardiner; she is the only one I know with that name who used to live in Lambton. Her late father was a parson,” the countess mentioned. “We serve on a charitable board together.”

All Darcy could do was to shake his head. When he had heard from Miss Bingley of the Bennets’ relatives in trade who lived in Cheapside, he had assumed they were as vulgar and ill-mannered as Mrs Bennet. “Do you know where she lives?” he asked his aunt.

“Yes, I have been to the house more than once. It is on Gracechurch Street, not far from Cheapside. Madeline’s husband’s warehouses are in that neighbourhood. Your uncle and Richard both invest with him,” Lady Matlock related. “If you did not know Mr Gardiner was in trade, you would think he is of the gentry.”

Why was he surprised the shrew had lied about this too? And he was the fool who had judged them as lacking before ever meeting the Gardiners. Not only that, it made him a hypocrite. Bingley was his best friend, a man who still earned some of his money from trade, and he had looked down on the Bennets’ relatives for no other reason.

“I appreciate Mr Bennet sending that pretentious, social climbing, fortune hunter’s letter. Were there other reasons he wrote to you?” Lady Matlock asked shrewdly. She suspected her nephew was not revealing all to them.

“Besides calling me on the carpet for insulting his second daughter, he took me to task for leaving the area without warning them about Wickham. It is no less than I deserve, as I am chastising myself over the same matters.” Darcy looked as ashamed as he felt. “What will you do about Wickham?” Darcy asked his cousin.

“Do you know the name of the Colonel in command of the regiment?” the Colonel enquired.

“I do, it is a Colonel Forster,” Darcy averred.

“That is fortunate, I know him well. We were captains at the same time in the Dragoons. His leg was injured and once it healed it precluded him from riding into battle. I had heard he remained in the army, but until you mentioned his name, I was not aware he was in the militia. Good and brave man that,” the Colonel revealed. “In that case, I will use some of my leave and go pay Forster a visit. Will you join me, William?”

“I do not think I will be welcomed in the area. I will, however, give you funds to settle any of the debts Wickham surely owes in Meryton. Also, I will make for Darcy House and write a letter to Mr Bennet. Would you deliver it for me, please Richard?” Darcy requested.

“Only for you cousin will I be a personal express rider,” the Colonel ribbed. “Yes, I will deliver it, especially as I would enjoy meeting this woman who seems to have unknowingly captured your heart. How many sisters are there? It is possible I will find my future wife among them.”

“There are five sisters, the other three are younger than Miss Elizabeth who I believe is twenty. Even if you fall in love with one of them, they have little or no dowry. Have you not always said you need to marry an heiress?” Darcy queried.

“I did say that,” the Colonel confirmed. He did not mention that his investments with Edward Gardiner had grown significantly, so a potential mate’s dowry was not as important.

Darcy took his leave and made the quick walk across the green. It did not take him long to write his letter expressing his contrition for several things flowing from his behaviour in Hertfordshire. He knew Richard would not depart on the morrow as it was the sabbath, but rather first thing on Monday morning.

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

“Lydia allowing Mr Wickham to take such liberties with her person is all Mr Darcy’s fault,” Elizabeth huffed.

“Lizzy, I thought you had let go of your prejudices against Mr Darcy, once you became aware you had been very wrong about many things,” Bennet challenged. “Please explain your logic. How can Lydia’s reprehensible behaviour be ascribed to Mr Darcy?”

“If he had not thought himself above us, he would have warned us about Mr Wickham, and then Lydia would have been forewarned,” Elizabeth explained.

“Come now, Lizzy, given how you felt about Mr Darcy, and were assisting Mr Wickham in sinking his character, had he warned us, would you not have been one of the first to dismiss his assertions? Also, as we have established, the way she was, Lydia would not have paid any of us heed. As soon as she decided she needed to win Mr Wickham from you, she was lost,” Bennet argued.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to refute her father’s points, but she found she could not. ‘ Am I still so very prejudiced against Mr Darcy just because of his insult? ’ Elizabeth asked herself silently. ‘ Come now, Lizzy, you are better than that. Blaming Mr Darcy for that which you well know cannot be laid at his door is neither the Christian thing to do nor correct. ’

“Lizzy, did you not say that the night of the assembly Mr Darcy seemed to be in a very poor mood?” Bennet verified. Giving her father a questioning look, Elizabeth allowed it was so. “Kitty, ask Hill to stand outside the drawing room door and make sure we are not interrupted, then return, and close the door securely.” Bennet waited until his daughter returned and pushed the door closed until it clicked. “What I am about to reveal is not to be repeated. It can ruin a young girl who, unlike Lydia, has done nothing I know of to deserve it.” There were five emphatic nods. “That dastard attempted to claim a phantom compromise of none other than Miss Darcy in an attempt to blackmail Mr Darcy into interceding on his behalf. For some reason when I mentioned the uncle who is an earl, Wickham almost expired from fright.

“He spoke about Ramsgate this summer past where he tried to get Miss Darcy to elope with him. Thankfully her brother arrived unexpectedly and put paid to the whole affair. Based on my surmise, I would speculate Mr Darcy’s mood when he arrived in our neighbourhood was fuelled by his concern for a narrow escape his sister made. I believe Miss Darcy was but fifteen or sixteen at the time.”

The shame Elizabeth felt when she heard what her father said was nothing to what she had experienced when she had remonstrated with herself just a few moments past. No wonder the man had told her what he did about Miss Darcy. He had been angry his disgusting schemes had been spoiled. In this light, was it possible that the slight had nothing to do with her person at all?

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

Not long after the meeting, Charlotte Lucas arrived to call on her friends at Longbourn. She asked the three eldest Bennet sisters to join her in the parlour where she shared her news with them.

“Mr Collins? How can you engage yourself to that dullard? Especially after the way he behaved at the ball,” Elizabeth exclaimed.

“Eliza, you well know I am not a romantic, and just because he chose me and not a daughter of Longbourn is not a reason to denigrate my fiancé,” Charlotte replied rather indignantly.

“Did he not tell you? It was not his choice to not offer for one of us, In fact, he meant to offer for Lizzy. Our father refused to allow him to marry any of us and asked him to vacate Longbourn and not to return,” Jane responded. “None of us would have accepted him. In fact, none of us have a need to marry him, or at all.”

Charlotte looked at the three sisters quizzically. As much as she wanted to know what Jane meant, unless Jane, Eliza, or Mary volunteered the intelligence, she could not ask. “I am sorry that we will displace you from your home one day. Entails are a nasty business. The men who write them do not consider the womenfolk in a case like this, when there is no male heir,” Charlotte offered in a conciliatory fashion.

“Mr Collins may not be the heir. In fact, he may only be fourth in line,” Elizabeth said before she could stop herself. Her sisters shot her looks of warning.

“Of what do you speak?” Charlotte asked sharply.

“Lizzy spoke out of turn. Nothing is certain yet,” Mary soothed. “If and when there is a change, I am sure Papa will write to Mr Collins. You have my wishes for happiness.”

“And mine,” Jane added.

“Please pardon me for my outburst, Charlotte. It was not my place to question you. Just because it would not have been my choice does not give me the right to judge you for yours,” Elizabeth stated contritely. “I too hope that you have a felicitous union.”

That her accepting Mr Collins had not caused the rift between them Charlotte had thought it might, pleased her greatly. A half hour later on her walk back to Lucas Lodge the fact Mr Collins had not been truthful about his not being allowed to offer for one of the Bennet sisters, the assertion they had fortunes enough they did not need to marry, and that there could be more heirs ahead of Mr Collins with a claim on Longbourn invaded Charlotte’s thoughts. Was she making a mistake? As the woman, she could call the engagement off without any scandal, however, as far as she knew he was not vicious, and she would have her own home, regardless of whether her fiancé eventually inherited Longbourn.

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

Bennet was told by Hill that a footman from Netherfield Park was at the kitchen door with a message for him. He instructed his butler to show the man into his study.

The servant handed over a folded note. “Mrs Nichols tol me no answer be needed,” the footman told Bennet. He was waved away and followed the butler out.

He unfolded the page and Bennet began to read.

2 November 1811

Netherfield Park

Mr Bennet,

My master urged me to inform you that nothing his sister wrote to Miss Bennet is true. He has ordered the house reopened, and he will return as he had said he would.

Mrs Nichols

Without delay, Bennet stood, and with the short missive in hand, made for the drawing room.

He found all within, except Lydia. “Jane, this was for me, but I think you should read it to your mother and sisters,” Bennet suggested as he handed the page to his eldest daughter.

Jane read it silently once first, and seeing her face wreathed in smiles, her mother and sisters knew it was extremely good news. She then read it aloud. “Lizzy, you were correct. Nothing that pernicious woman wrote to me was true. Mr Bingley will return to Netherfield Park soon.”

The first one to pull her into a hug was her mother, then Jane’s father followed, and was soon replaced by her three sisters in the room.

That night, Jane Bennet fell asleep with a smile on her face.