"Hmmm Jane sounds like she would suit Bingley, he has much the same desire to avoid confrontation. Miss Mary might like a finishing school perhaps?" Darcy suggested, "Miss Kitty could join her."
"Perhaps but my father will not stir himself to even think about doing anything to help any of them," Elizabeth answered.
At a loss as to what else to say, and not wanting Elizabeth to think that her family had driven him away, Darcy leant down and kissed her again. Elizabeth melted in his arms. Both knew beyond a doubt that their hearts were engaged.
Unknown to either of them, they were being watched by three pairs of malevolent eyes.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Soulmates Revealed
"Lizzy I'm glad you're home," Jane said. "You were seen."
Immediately Elizabeth blushed. "Who by Jane?" She thought of the courtship she and the unknown gentleman had just entered and wondered if the scandal this was sure to cause would drive him away. She sighed knowing that whatever happened her course was set. She would not be at Longbourne much longer.
"I'm not sure. Three people saw. Two of them I don't know and only saw their faces, but the third was Mr Collins." Jane replied she hesitated after that, "The other two I saw in my vision was a couple that was in the wooded area of Oakham Mount to couple. Neither of them though have any intention of marrying the other. I had a vision this morning while I was spared Mr Collins 'attentions' for a couple of hours. I had no idea that he was wandering around and would come upon you and your mystery man" Jane looked worried when she said this.
"Oh, dear Jane," Elizabeth said. "What do you think Mr Collins intentions are?"
"I don't know Lizzy. I think he is like us, but I cannot read him. He has some protection that even in my visions I cannot read below the surface." Jane said.
Elizabeth shrugged. "Do you think we should warn Mama and Papa later? There is nothing to be done right now, but to get ready for tonight.”
"That could get awkward Lizzy. Remember that I have never discussed my visions with anyone but you. How do we explain how we know what we know?" Jane screwed her face up. "I think it better if we keep this between ourselves."
At this, the two girls started to get ready for the evening. However, the peace was about to be shattered. Their cousin had just returned home and was not in a happy mood.
Mr Collins thought that he had it made. Jane Bennet was such a sweet girl that he knew that with just a little bit of manipulation he could gain her consent to be his wife. To his comfortable parsonage would be added the advantages of having a wife; a wife that he would not have to bother too much at entertaining and would be at the mercy of his whims. Tomorrow he would make his proposal, and she would almost definitely accept. There was no reason he could think of as to why his plan would not work out. Perhaps even on a rare visit to Jane’s father under the guise of being a good daughter and son-in-law he could hasten Mr Bennet’s demise and come into his inheritance even quicker. Mr Collins didn’t like Jane, in fact every expression of regard was the complete opposite of the revulsion he felt in her presence. He fancied himself to be a master manipulator and thought everything around him to be the way it was because he had wanted it to be so. It did not cross his mind that he was not the most qualified to hold the position of reverend at Hunsford, nor did it cross his mind that Lady Catherine had gifted him the rectory simply because nobody would buy the preferment.
This morning before breakfast he had held tight to Jane’s side, however he soon found her sweet gentle temperament could not hold his mind. It vaguely crossed his mind that Miss B of the Dastardly trio would be better suited to his personality. He shrugged off the thought, There was no way he was going to get saddled with any female that did not bring with them certain advantages. Miss B he knew had a good dowry, however Jane would ease what shreds of guilt he had about displacing the mother and other siblings when he inherited Longbourne. Guilt, like love is a weakness and one that Collins didn’t have any time for. He certainly would not dwell on such a useless emotion.
After breakfast Collins found his restless mind would not settle on Jane’s sweet temper, so he took a walk instead. Vaguely recalling that he had seen his cousin Elizabeth disappear off before breakfast on a walk he decided to walk in the same vague direction and see if he could find her. It was by chance that he met Mr W, and Miss B at the base of Oakham mount. As the three of them made their way to the top of Oakham Mount Wickham and Miss B recognised Darcy while Mr Collins recognised Elizabeth. The three of them kept to the woodlands on one side and observed Darcy and Elizabeth’s actions. Mr Collins smiled thinking that he could portray himself as the benevolent saviour of a fallen family by marrying Jane, despite her sister’s ruin and the stain that it would bring on his own name. Mr W and Miss B just looked on livid, and plotting to blackmail Darcy.
All three of them felt a black mood come upon them as they felt that this was an end to their hopes. They would not be beaten easily, and agreed to conspire together in the same place at the same time. Mr Collins returned home and his black mood deepened. He briefly considered exposing Elizabeth’s actions straightway, but thought better of that plan, preferring to wait and see how things transpired. Collins plan of action at that time was to send to all his ‘fair cousins’ a hope that they were well, and upon arrival in the sitting room after changing for the evening engagement, Collins repeated over and over his compliments to all the young ladies on their attire for the evening. At discreet and opportunistic times Collins sent very significant looks to Miss Elizabeth which left her in no doubt of their meaning.
Upon his return to the inn, Darcy's mind was in a whirl. Was Elizabeth a member of the Blessed? He had sensed during her story that Elizabeth had a similar gift to himself. How hers manifested, he wasn't quite sure, but his own had always put him on the path of truly good people. In truth, he had two gifts, one he knew when people were in trouble and danger. The other gift was more complicated; he could look into the eyes of people and see their life story. Elizabeth was the only person he had met where this had not occurred. Looking into Elizabeth's eyes, all he saw was her emotions. He could only partially read her. He knew there were others like him in the world; his sister had shown no signs of any particular gift, so he wasn't sure if she had gifts or not as he didn't know much about that side of his heritage. One thing he did know was that she had time for it to develop. Wickham he knew had only the silver charm of a perpetual rake and the blackest of souls. He sighed. The Blessed had to hide away from the world what they truly were. It was another reason that Darcy was uncomfortable with strangers. He hated deceit, yet he could not reveal who he truly was as this in generally engendered fear amongst those not of the line of the Blessed. Some of the Blessed had fallen foul of the witch hunters in years past. At sixteen his father gave him a book about the 'Blessed,' but he had not even looked at it, until now he had no interest in the book and no desire to know more. It was not a book he could write to Pemberley and have sent either. It was a banned book that only a few possessed, it had to stay hidden. The knowledge of the Blessed was dying out. Does she know what she is? What gifts does she have? Further, how could he help her with her situation? All these questions and more were going through his head. His concern for his sister was as much as ever, but to this, he was beginning to add intriguing questions, and new ideas were forming in his mind all because of this unknown Miss. He pondered this all the more while his valet helped him dress for the evening's entertainment. He smiled, tonight he would find out who she is... Tonight he would quietly approach her father for the courtship... Tonight was to be an important night for both of them.
Destiny had called, and Destiny was calling. Darcy wholeheartedly answered. This young Lady was the one for him! As Bingley would say Darcy had found his Angel and nothing and nobody else would do. Nobody else affected him the way this young lady did. He liked and wanted the way he felt around the young lady. Without her his world would be bleak indeed.
Lucas Lodge was nothing
like Darcy had been expecting. It was neither gaudy nor fashionable. As the home of a man whose fortune was from trade, he had expected it to be more in line with his Aunt Lady Catherine De Bourgh’s home, Rosings, which was horribly ostentatious and gaudy. Everything was designed to impress on the visitor that the owners had a massive fortune and make the guest most uncomfortable. Every visitor had to feel inferior and uncomfortable. The truth was every guest was uncomfortable, but Rosings' fortune was dwindling. Many of the tenants had fled to London or further north to work in the great mills and factories that were springing up. Lady Catherine refused to invest in modern advancements, and so the Rosings income which had at one time exceeded Pemberley had become half of that of Pemberley, sitting with the technology of a bygone age, not attracting new tenants. Darcy had been surprised when Lady Catherine had written about a new rector in Hunsford, as the living had remained open for the better part of three years due to Lady Catherine's personality. Darcy slowly exhaled, silently shook off his musings, and greeted his host and hostess as he entered along with Mr Bingley and Bingley’s sister Caroline. Caroline Bingley latched onto Darcy's arm and instantly turned her nose up at those that were gathered. She knew that these were her future neighbours and that she should make an effort with them, but her shrewish nature made a good impression almost impossible.
"Mr Darcy, I do not know why my brother accepted this invitation. We do not yet even have possession of Netherfield. These people are not fashionable, nor are they part of London society. We should not be here; I don't want to be here" she whispered in his ear.
Mr Darcy removed her hand from his arm and coldly replied in a whisper "Why don't you plead a headache and return to the Inn then? I'm sure nobody will miss you!" With that, he walked away leaving her looking shocked and unhappy. Once Sir William and Lady Lucas had finished greeting all their guests, Darcy approached them for introductions around the room, a request that Mr Bingley was almost too ready to second. Darcy knew that Bingley had already seen his latest 'angel' and wondered what the outcome would be this time. Sir William acceded to their request with alacrity introducing them around the room, leaving the Bennet family to last. Sir WIlliam and Lady Lucas were unassuming good people who made everyone from all walks of life welcome. The fact that Sir William’s family had left London society at the time of Christopher Bennet’s prophecy had not in the least resulted in any malice or ill will in Sir William, who had enjoyed the millinery shop that his great grandfather had started and would happily still be running it had The King not bestowed a knighthood upon him. Sir William and Lady Lucas were both happy souls who enjoyed being around other people. Being simple people their characters are such as to be easily developed. They lived to serve and be served. Darcy found himself liking them very much.
The minute they saw each other, there was a recognition on their faces. Nothing could hide both the joy and nervousness that they felt. Their anonymity was gone. Now they could get to know each other fully. Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet were revealed to each other in their public guises. As they bowed and curtsied to each other formally, something happened that would only be seen by the Blessed.
It began slowly as two individual and separate lights expanding. Eventually the light surrounding Darcy merged with the one surrounding Elizabeth until they shone as one single light. It was as they straightened up that they saw what was being witnessed by all present who could see. Darcy and Elizabeth both wondered what it meant. They looked around they saw that Jane and Mr Bingley had also become a single shining light. Lady Lucas was amazed as she witnessed the spectacle, and gently nudged her husband away so that the gentlemen and the young ladies could get acquainted. Mr and Mrs Bennet pretended not to see anything. Neither Darcy nor Elizabeth understood what had happened, they only knew the joy of knowing each other at last.
Sir William was thankful that, after being introduced to Darcy yesterday, he had alerted the Elders of the Blessed that they would need to be in Meryton tonight, that the houses of Darcy and Bennet were likely to meet once more. An emergency meeting was already planned for the next morning before breakfast.
Part of the prophecy was fulfilled, they had to be ready for the rest.
Caroline Bingley was angry. Within the Ton, she felt sidelined and out of place. Being the daughter of a tradesman she had always thought that it was the source of her families money that was the cause of her feeling out of place. All tradesmen seemed to be similarly despised. It certainly wasn't the first time that she had witnessed a transformation on the features of a young gentleman upon his first introduction to a lady and had always thought it to be plain lust. Tonight she saw it happen with her brother and Mr Darcy, and she was not about to lose her home or her place in society because some witches had put some spell on the her brother and the man she wanted. Witchcraft was the only explanation Caroline come come up with, there could be no other explanation.
Love and Hate, are strong emotions and diametrically opposite. Caroline could not feel either and did not understand how much of a driving force they could be in the person’s life. Since a child, Caroline had felt emotionally dead. All emotion except anger and jealousy was missing in her life. People were there to be used or abused as fancy took her. She did nothing that did not benefit herself, thus when she had not been able to see the connecting of the lights and had only seen that Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley suddenly took on the looks of two very besotted young men she was seething with anger. She wanted Darcy's fortune, and he should have been her prize. It was her that he should have been looking at so besottedly. She vowed revenge on the young lady. As for her brother she thought that she could manipulate him into leaving this latest fling, after all, she had done so before! All it would take was a few well-placed words and a well-timed tantrum to get him to leave the area.
As usual when she witnessed the meeting of soulmates Caroline’s jealousy rose. It was not fair! Why should she be sidelined for every other simpering miss and trollop that threw themselves at the gentlemen. In her mind Miss Elizabeth was no better than her for throwing herself at Darcy on Oakham mount. There was no reason that she could not yet prevail and get her way was there? What was it that marked these other women out as different from her. Why had her Father constantly said that she was “blessed” if she was constantly left out in the cold? It seemed as if everything she wanted was eventually taken away from her. Not this time! Darcy would be hers, even if it meant that she had to commit the most nefarious and cruel of acts. Caroline was determined to get her prize. Tomorrow could not come soon enough for her.
Mr Bingley barely left Jane's side that evening, and neither of them paid any attention to the rest of the room the whole night. For both the excitement and joy of a meeting of minds was too new. They were not aware that they had ignored the room, but rather it had seemed as the room had narrowed into being just the two of them.
After dinner, Elizabeth circulated most of the evening but kept returning to Darcy's side. At one point Charlotte Lucas joined Darcy and Elizabeth. And they sat in a trio having quite a tête-à-tête. "Eliza that was quite a display you and Mr Darcy made when you were introduced" Charlotte started.
"How so, nobody seemed to notice anything" Mr Darcy queried, not understanding that which had happened.
"This is not the time for explanations Mr Darcy, most here do not know about the ways of the Blessed and therefore do not understand what it is that happened. To those who could not see you and Mr Bingley just look like you are obsessed with Lizzy and Jane. To them you are strangers who are not to be trusted with the girls of our town. Many are scared either of their own heritage or simply what they do not understand. Mrs Bennet, we are not sure if she does not know, or refuses to acknowledge that she comes from a long line of Blessed individuals. Please, could you both come to Lucas Lodge tomorrow after breakfast? My mother and I will be happy to explain things to you both. Please bring Jane, and Mr Bingley also. However, Miss Bingley is a threat. She must not under any circumstanc
es come with the four of you. If she were to find out anything of what you two will learn she could harm the whole balance of the world.” Charlotte said
"Charlotte, I'm sure that there's nothing to worry about," Lizzy said, forgetting Jane's warning that there were three people who had seen her and Mr Darcy just that morning, and all three posed some threat.
"Lizzy, you are my best friend. I have known since you were little that you were one of the 'blessed,' but I could not reveal it. Mr Darcy that is one of my gifts. I can see who is one of us, and who our greatest threats are. What I can say is don’t allow anyone to dissuade either of you from the path you are now on. There is a danger on the horizon and I don’t know what is going to happen. Events have now been triggered that cannot be stopped.” Charlotte stated.
The Meryton War Page 6