Mr Darcy- My Hero

by Zoë Burton

  “What do you mean? You are not in charge here.”

  “Not of you, perhaps, but I am in charge of my wife.” He turned to Louisa. “We are not leaving.” Seeing his spouse nod, Hurst turned back to Caroline. “There are things afoot that you are not aware of, Sister, and I can tell you now that your brother will not bend to your will in this. If you wish to leave, I am certain he will allow it, but Louisa and I will remain to support him and Darcy, and the Bennets.”

  “We will be ruined! Surely your parents will not appreciate their name being dragged through the mud.”

  “My parents are eminently sensible, and far less class-conscious than you are. When the situation has been explained to them, they will understand. Once the truth has come out, it will not be the Bennets whose reputation is ruined.”

  “What do you know, Reginald?” Louisa’s eyes had grown large.

  Hurst took his wife’s hand and squeezed it. “I cannot tell you just yet, and not here.” He glanced at his sister before returning his gaze to Louisa. “You must trust me in this. Will you do that?”

  Louisa looked into her husband’s eyes. “I do trust you, and when you can tell me what is going on, I will be glad to hear it.”

  Hurst patted Louisa’s hand and then hefted himself off the settee. Bowing to Caroline, he reminded her of his words, and then turned and walked out of the drawing-room.

  Caroline watched him leave. “I thought he was asleep,” she declared in disgust. “What could he possibly know that could make this situation better?”

  “I do not know, but he has never steered me wrong in the past. Reginald is far more observant than he lets on.”

  Caroline snorted. “I do not know how he could observe anything with the amount of time he spends asleep.”

  Louisa grew red and her manner stiff. “That is my husband, and you will be respectful of him. He is a far better man than you give him credit for being, and if you do not watch your mouth, you may find yourself swallowing my fist one day.” With those terse words, Louisa lifted her chin and strode from the room, leaving her sister gaping after her.

  Longbourn

  As Elizabeth and her sisters approached the house, they could hear Mrs. Bennet wailing. They stopped, casting concerned glances at the building.

  “I wonder what is wrong?” Elizabeth was uneasy to hear her mother taking on so after the uncomfortable situation she had just found herself in.

  Jane had tilted her head to listen, but immediately upon hearing her sister’s question, looked at Elizabeth. “I do not know. Her words are not clear. In any case,” Jane paused. “It is probably best if we enter quietly and do not test Mama’s nerves any more than they already are.”

  Mary nodded. “I believe you are correct. I would not wish to cause her any more anxiety.”

  Inside, the house was in chaos. The housekeeper and maids ran to and fro, and Mrs. Bennet’s moans and cries lent the air a sense of doom. The girls followed the sounds of their mother into the back parlour.

  “There she is! She is ruined, the ungrateful child. What were you thinking?” Mrs. Bennet’s screech was enough to hurt Elizabeth’s ears, and she cringed, lifting her hands to cover them.

  “I have not the pleasure of understanding you, Mama. What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, my nerves,” Mrs. Bennet moaned. She waved her handkerchief at her sister, Mrs. Phillips, who sat nearby. “You tell her, Emma. I cannot bear to think of it.” Mrs. Bennet subsided into the chaise on which she was lying.

  Elizabeth and her sisters turned their attention to their aunt, who beckoned them closer. They sat on the nearby settee, Elizabeth, Jane, and Mary on the seat and the other two perched on the arms. Their eyes darted back and forth from mother to aunt and their brows were drawn together.

  Mrs. Phillips leaned closer. “Lizzy, there are reports circulating around Meryton that you have been engaging in … marital relations with several of the gentlemen in the area.”

  Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open and she gasped. She drew back, her eyes large in her face. “What?” She turned to Jane, whose hand was over her mouth. Looking at her aunt once more, Elizabeth demanded to know where she had heard such an untruth.

  “Is it untrue, Lizzy? You are well-known for walking about for hours, all over the countryside.”

  Another gasp came from Elizabeth before she could stop it. “You are my aunt; how can you even ask me such a thing! Of course, it is not true. I am not that kind of girl.” Elizabeth stood up, her face darkening, her hands curled tightly at her sides, and her jaw clenched. “Where did you hear these lies? Who is saying such horrible things about me? Tell me!”

  Mr. Bennet appeared in the doorway behind his daughters, and stepped into the conversation. “What is going on in here? Mrs. Bennet, cease your caterwauling this instant.”

  At her husband’s unprecedentedly firm command, Mrs. Bennet immediately quieted but within seconds was pouring out to him the gossip about his favorite daughter that had been brought to her.

  Bennet listened without comment until his spouse ran out of breath. He turned to his sister and asked her confirmation of the tales.

  “Oh, yes, Brother. It is all over town. Mr. Phillips would not share with me all of the stories he has heard. He said they were not for the ears of delicate ladies.”

  “And yet,” Bennet began, his voice full of irony, “you hastened your steps to my door, to pollute my wife and daughters with them. How kind of you. But then, I should not be surprised, given that you just condemned Lizzy outright, and to her face.” He pulled himself up to his full height and allowed his anger to show. He was secretly pleased to see Mrs. Phillips shrink back from him. “You will leave this instant, Sister, and do not come back until you can be a support to the nieces you claim to love as your own.”

  Mrs. Phillips jumped up with a squeak and scurried out the door. Mr. Bennet turned to his wife. “Come to my book room, Mrs. Bennet. We have need of a conversation.

  Chapter 7

  Mrs. Bennet followed her husband to his book room. "You must do something about Lizzy," she began. "I am so ashamed that one of my daughters would behave so wantonly!"

  "I am ashamed that you would think such a thing of your own daughter," exclaimed Mr. Bennet. "Lizzy is a good girl. I would sooner believe Lydia capable of such acts than to think that Lizzy did them." Mr. Bennet watched his wife as she clutched her handkerchief to her mouth. "When I am done speaking to you, I will bring her in here, and I will ask her about it. However, if you wish to avoid scandal, you must keep your thoughts to yourself."

  "But Mr. Bennet, we must do something, for the scandal is already all over Meryton. We must send Lizzy away to save the reputations of the rest of our girls."

  "If you restrain yourself, we may be able to stop the spread of the rumours,” Bennet spoke sharply to his wife, his words accompanied by a scowl on his face and a slashing of his arm through the air. We will worry about saving reputations later. For now, we must ascertain the roots of the rumors, and find out who began spreading them." Mr. Bennet was uneasy. He clearly recalled the words of Mr. Darcy when that gentlemen warned him about Mr. Wickham. Mr. Bennet was an intelligent man. He could easily see how, on the heels of his talk with Darcy about a rake, that the two things could be related. In the meantime, you will stay at home. Do I make myself rightly understood?”

  Mrs. Bennet’s attention had been riveted to her husband as he spoke, her handkerchief clutched to her breast and her eyes wide. She was clearly at a loss for words; she nodded her acceptance of her husband’s edict and her understanding of his meaning.

  “Very well, then,” Bennet continued, waving his hand toward the door. “Send Lizzy to me and then go do whatever it is within the house you would normally be doing. It is important that we not behave any differently than we always have.”

  Mrs. Bennet nodded again, silently, before exiting the room. A few minutes later, a knock sounded on the door, and Bennet called out for the person to come in. Elizabeth
entered hesitantly, brows raised and face still flushed from her earlier upset.

  “Come in, my child.” Bennet gestured to the chair beside his desk that Elizabeth favored. “Sit down and talk to me.” He waited while she settled herself into the well-worn and comfortable seat and when she opened her mouth to speak, held up his hand. “Before we begin, let me say that I heard what your aunt said to you. I assure you that I do not believe for a single moment that you would behave in the wanton manner she described.”

  “You heard everything?” Elizabeth had turned her eyes to her hands, clasped together in her lap, and was now studiously examining them.

  “I did. Well, I heard everything from the moment you returned home. I was hiding in here before then.” Bennet’s sardonic admission was delivered with a wry twist of his lips to one side. “I heard the door close when you girls came in the house and intended to follow you into the drawing-room. I was in the hall when your aunt accused you.”

  Elizabeth had raised her head to give her attention to her father when he began speaking, but at his last words, pressed her lips tightly together and looked down once more.

  Tilting his head to try to see her expression, Bennet continued, “I know very well that you are a proper young lady and would never think to give your virtue away, much less sell it to anyone who asked.”

  “No, I would not.” Elizabeth’s voice was low, fury and tears infusing it. She sniffed, and her father could see a single tear making its way down her cheek.

  Bennet pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to his daughter. “I would accuse you of being missish, but the situation is too serious for that. I do suggest, however, that you not waste tears on it. We need to analyze it and investigate.” Bennet sighed. “If the rumors have gone beyond tenants and servants, we will know soon enough.”

  “Well, the shopkeepers seem to know. That can be the only reason I can imagine for their treatment of us this morning.” Elizabeth then shared with her father the happenings of the earlier part of the day, both her own experiences and those that Kitty and Lydia had described.

  Bennet observed Elizabeth carefully as she spoke, stopping her periodically to ask questions. When she finished her recital, he sat back and considered her words for a few minutes. “These are indeed very serious accusations, and the repercussions even more so. We must determine the likely source of the rumours, do you not agree?”

  “I do. I cannot imagine who would have said such things about me. I should like to confront that person and demand an explanation.” Elizabeth’s color began to rise as righteous indignation took hold once more. Her set jaw and downturned lips displayed for her father the depth of her anger.

  “Hmmm,” Bennet replied, noncommittally. “Let us discover the source before you go calling someone out, shall we?” He chuckled to himself at the outraged look on Elizabeth’s face at his comment. “Now, then, have you angered anyone lately?”

  Elizabeth glared at her father for a second more, but then looked out the window as she worked to gain control of her temper. When she felt able to speak civilly, she turned her attention back to the man behind the desk. “I cannot think of anyone recently. The last person I angered was Robert Goulding, when I turned down his marriage proposal, but I hardly think him capable of starting rumours like these. Why start them now, months—no, years!—afterwards?”

  Bennet, leaning back in his chair with his clasped hands in front of him, forefingers steepled and tapping his lips, listened to his daughter and, when she had finished speaking, thought back to the time he had refused to force Elizabeth to marry their neighbor. Drawing a deep breath, he let it out before he spoke. “I think you are correct. I do not know that young Goulding would be intelligent enough to design the tales that are going around. I have no doubt he is still resentful, of course. He avoids me at every turn.”

  Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Me, as well. I am grateful he does, for I can do without his petulance and lack of conversation.”

  Bennet chuckled again, this time aloud. “Indeed.” He paused, bringing his hands down to rest, still entwined, over his belly. “So, we agree that Mr. Robert Goulding cannot be the person who created the rumours. It does not follow that he is not the one who spread them, do you agree?”

  Elizabeth was taken aback. Her eyes grew large as she realized that her father was correct. “I do. But, who would have thought them up? Everyone knows me; well, not all the tenants, but the merchants in Meryton and all of the four and twenty families in the area. They should all know I would never do any of those things.”

  “What one knows and what one believes are often two separate things, my dear.” Bennet once again lost himself in thought as he considered and discarded neighbors one by one. His lips pursed as the words of Mr. Darcy once again ran through his mind. The more he tried to discard Darcy’s warning about Mr. Wickham, the more certain Bennet became that the lieutenant was the source of the stories being spread about Elizabeth. Reluctantly, he told his daughter his fears.

  Elizabeth, with her resentment over her father’s handling of that information still strong, did her best to respond calmly and without rancor. Keeping her face smooth took a great effort, but she was certain she had managed it when her father did not respond negatively to her words. “I know that ruining me was Mr. Wickham’s goal. It seems that he might have succeeded.”

  Ignoring Elizabeth’s statement, Bennet began speaking his next thoughts out loud. “We need to find a connection between Lieutenant Wickham and Robert Goulding, if one does indeed exist. Someone will have seen them speaking to each other at some point, I should think.” By this time, Bennet’s affront at the accusations had receded, and his natural tendency toward indolence took over. Glancing out the window at the late afternoon sun, he remarked that it was too late to make enquiries today.

  Elizabeth was stunned. She stared at her father, her mouth hanging open. This is my reputation, she thought, and he cannot be bothered to investigate immediately? Knowing that her father was best handled carefully at this point, Elizabeth closed her mouth and took a minute to gather her thoughts, then spoke slowly. “Would it not be best to look into it this afternoon? Do we not need information sooner rather than later if we wish to refute the charges against me and restore our family to the good graces of the townsfolk and our neighbors?”

  “None of us plan to go into town this evening. There are no events scheduled, just a simple night at home. It will not hurt anything to wait until a proper hour for visiting, not with the distance the rumours have travelled to this point.” Bennet poured himself a fresh glass of port from the decanter on the table at his elbow and took up the book he had discarded when his attention was caught by his wife’s cries. “You may go; we will discuss this again tomorrow, and decide upon a plan of action.”

  Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched in anger. She took a deep breath and stood, curtseying to her parent and then spinning on her heel and stalking out the door.

  ~~~***~~~

  Elizabeth headed straight to her chambers after leaving her father’s book room. She closed and locked the door, grabbed her journal and writing desk off the table, and plopped down in the window seat. She pulled out her ink bottle and quill and set about mending her pen while she silently fumed over Mr. Bennet’s lax attitude. Finally ready to write, she dipped the quill into the ink and began describing her day. Writing it all down calmed much of her anger, but it also brought questions to her mind, questions for which she had no answer. She was just finishing up when a knock sounded on her door.

  “Lizzy, it is Jane. May I come in?”

  Elizabeth sighed. While she really wished to be alone, she knew that Jane would want to know what happened during her conversation with her father, and would be able to help her gain some perspective on it all. And I certainly could use her advice! “Just a moment,” she called out.

  Putting away her supplies, Elizabeth rose and hurried across the room, dropping her desk and journal off in t
heir places on the table. Unlocking the door, she reached out and pulled her elder sister into her room, then shut and relocked the door.

  “Are you well, Lizzy?”

  “No, Jane, I am not,” Elizabeth sighed as she dropped onto the bed. She moved over to make room and leaned against the headboard, kicking off her slippers. “Papa is so frustrating! At first, I thought he was going to make this … situation … a priority, but at the end, he decided it was too late today to do anything and put it off for tomorrow.”

  Jane settled beside Elizabeth, taking her hand to comfort her. “I am sorry. It is rather late in the day to be making calls. I am certain that, come tomorrow morning, he will have his stallion saddled before breakfast and will be vigourously defending you.”

  “Perhaps.” Elizabeth turned her head away from Jane, trying to swallow down her frustration once more. Looking next at her hand where it joined that of her sister, Elizabeth described the entire conversation, ending with, “The situation needs to be investigated to determine who fed Robert those lies. I hope you are correct and that Papa does go out tomorrow and looks into it.” She looked at Jane again. “If he does not, or if he cannot prove the stories wrong, my reputation and that of all my sisters will be ruined.” Tears filled Elizabeth’s eyes and her breath hitched with her next words. “What will Mr. Darcy say? What will he do? Surely he does not want a wife tainted with a scandal of this magnitude. He would not want his sister exposed to ridicule, and she surely would be if he went ahead and married me.” Elizabeth buried her face in her hands as she started to cry. She felt Jane’s arm slide around her back and allowed herself to be drawn to her sister’s shoulder, where she sobbed out her worries and pain.

  “I cannot imagine your Mr. Darcy leaving you, Lizzy,” Jane whispered into Elizabeth’s hair. “He is as besotted with you as you are with him. I am certain he will ride into the paddock as soon as he hears the news. He will not be able to keep from declaring his love.”