by Beth Wood
“You still cannot fault me,” Darcy replied, hoping to disrupt his cousin's sudden melancholy. “I have not only matured several extra years, I have the experience of running an estate, as well as being guardian of my younger sister.”
“And how would you feel if you discovered Georgiana had run off to Gretna Green?” Lord Hastings asked. “No matter her reasoning, I am sure you would be disappointed.”
Darcy suddenly went white, causing Elizabeth to take his hand in hers and squeeze it reassuringly. Lord Hastings noticed his discomfort, then laughingly continued.
“You need not worry. Your little sister would never actually follow through with such a scheme. She may find your sudden elopement romantic, but she is much too meek to consider an elopement for herself. Even if the idea was presented, I have no doubt she would avail herself of the first opportunity to reveal her intentions so you would be able to stop the plans.”
“I, for one, would enjoy meeting such a paragon,” Mr. Bennet interjected. “I commend you for raising such a sensible young woman. The evidence is before us that I failed in instilling the importance of a proper wedding.”
“Do not be too hard on yourself,” Lord Hastings replied. “You may have raised a slightly reckless daughter, but I have never seen my young cousin affected so. She has succeeded in ways that none of the young ladies of our circle could have ever hoped. She has made him smile.”
The conversation moved on to much more neutral topics. After another half an hour, Darcy started hinting that his wife would like to retire. Lord Hastings encouraged Elizabeth to rest peacefully in the adjoining bedchamber, but made no move to leave the parlor. After another half an hour, Elizabeth opened the door connecting the parlor and the bedchamber.
“I am sorry to inconvenience you, Lord Hastings, but would you mind retiring to your own rooms. I am in need of my husband.”
“I am not yet ready to retire,” Lord Hastings replied, smiling.
“It does not concern me if you choose not to immediately retire to your rooms, but I would be extremely grateful if you were to leave ours.”
“There now, it was not such a difficult request to make, now was it?” Lord Hastings asked, cuffing Darcy's shoulder as he winked at Elizabeth.
“Oh, and Lord Hastings?”
“Yes, Mrs. Darcy?”
“Please take my father with you.”
“I do believe I need to redeem myself, in any case,” Lord Hastings replied. “I need to make up for the game of chess I threw in order to leave the common room earlier.”
“It would have been impossible for you to win that game,” Mr. Bennet replied. “You had already lost twice.”
“But the third time's the charm.”
“There really is only one way to conclude this argument,” Darcy interjected, ushering them out into the hall. Saying a quick good evening, Darcy closed and locked the door while they were still standing in the corridor.
* * *
Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam was not surprised when he received the note from his mother demanding his presence. He was not certain what kind of mood she would be in.
When he arrived at Matlock house, he was shown into his mother's favorite parlor. He hoped that was a good sign.
“I have been trying to puzzle it out all day,” Lady Matlock said by way of greeting to her son. “Just how long has Darcy been in a relationship with his new wife?”
“Good afternoon to you, as well,” Richard replied, giving his mother a kiss on the cheek. “It is always pleasant to receive a summons to your home.”
“Oh, do be serious,” Lady Matlock replied with a smile. “You know that all our neighbors are dying to know more. My home is to be invaded in the morning, and I would like as many answers as possible before they arrive.”
“Very well. I first met Miss Elizabeth Bennet on our latest trip to visit Aunt Catherine and Cousin Anne. We had scarcely arrived before Aunt Catherine's obnoxious parson came to greet us. I had quickly tuned him out, but he must have said something that sparked Darcy's interest because before I knew what was happening, Darcy had indicated we would follow him to the parsonage to greet his wife and guests. When we arrived, I was introduced to Mrs. Collins, her sister Miss Lucas, and her friend, Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I have never seen Darcy so tongue tied. We were in company often, but he rarely exerted himself to a discussion with Miss Elizabeth.
“One day, while I was walking the grounds, I happened to see them walking together. I may or may not have overheard a bit of their conversation wherein Darcy implied that on future visits to Kent Miss Elizabeth would be a guest at Rosings Park instead of the parsonage. This intrigued me to such an extent that I attempted to intercept them again the next day. Unfortunately, I found Elizabeth on her own, but I did talk to her about Darcy, trying to gauge her reaction.
“I had fully expected Darcy to declare himself before we left, but no such announcement was made. He was incredibly agitated when we returned to town, but refused to speak of it. I did not hear him mention Miss Elizabeth again until he sent me a letter explaining his plan to elope to Scotland in order to secure her as his wife.”
“You mean to tell me you were forewarned that Darcy had eloped, and neglected to inform your family?”
“Yes, I suppose I was. He didn't send you a letter?”
After eyeing her son for a few moments, Lady Matlock replied that it was unbecoming to pretend ignorance.
* * *
As in most households, it was nearly impossible to stem the tide of gossip below stairs. So, when the maids that had been tasked with providing refreshments for Lady Matlock returned below stairs, it was not unexpected that they would discuss the elopement. It was generally understood that all such talk was to stay in the house, and normally it would. Unfortunately, it being Sunday, there were one or two servants that were visiting with siblings employed in other houses.
As gossip is wont to do, the story was added upon until it barely resembled the original. Within two hours of Colonel Fitzwilliam's visit to his mother, there was a generally accepted rumor spread about the kitchens in town that Darcy and Elizabeth had been secretly engaged since Easter. It was not until retiring for the evening that many ladies were to learn of the rumor from their maids while preparing to retire for the evening.
Chapter 7
As Darcy awoke on Monday morning, one thought pervaded his mind: We will arrive in London today. He could not wait until they had shed the company of Lord Hastings and Mr. Bennet. He did not regret inviting Mr. Bennet to travel in their carriage as he knew Elizabeth would not have desired for him to travel by Post. Yet, it did not make his presence any less taxing.
He was still mildly confused as to how his cousin, Lord Hastings, managed to join their party. He was fairly certain he had never invited the man, but he was most definitely travelling with them. By the end of the day he would be rid of his cousin as well, they just needed to deposit Lord Hastings on his doorstep.
It was not long past dawn when Darcy and Elizabeth descended from their room at the Inn. Although they had not slept much the night before, there was still a long day of travel ahead of them. The first two days of their return journey from Gretna Green to London had started later than they had originally planned, and they had not made as good of time as they had hoped they would. They were within a day's travel to London, but it would be a long day.
When they arrived in the common room, it quickly became apparent that neither Lord Hastings nor Mr. Bennet were waiting for them. Leaving Elizabeth with Carson and Sally he quickly ascended the stairs in order to encourage the men to make haste.
Darcy had not been gone long before Elizabeth noticed that many of the other occupants of the common room were stealing furtive glances at her, while seemingly absorbed with their newspapers. Although Elizabeth did not think there was much of a chance that her marriage would already have made it into the newspaper, she asked Carson to acquire a newspaper from the Innkeeper. She was astonished when she turned to
the society pages, and written in bold for all the world to see was the headline: Fitzwilliam Darcy Elopes.
Worried about the complications that could come by having their elopement widely known before they found Lydia, Elizabeth began examining the rest of the paper.
* * *
Although Charles Bingley considered himself an amiable gentleman, he was finding himself quite put out with his sister, Caroline. The journey from Derbyshire to Hertfordshire should have only taken them two days. He could not understand why his sister would choose to dawdle as much as she did, extending their rests for as long as possible, then requesting that they stop for the night when it was still only mid-day. Even with his sister's machinations, he had hoped to be able to make the trip in three days, so that they would arrive at Netherfield Park by Saturday evening.
On Saturday afternoon, they were not ten miles from Netherfield Park when Caroline claimed she had a horrible headache and could not possibly be expected to travel any further that day. Bingley had been tempted to ride ahead of her, but Caroline complained so abundantly, that he finally gave in and spent the rest of the day, as well as Sunday, not ten miles from his preferred destination. Although Caroline attempted to linger as long as she could on Monday morning, when Charles threatened to ride ahead of her, she admitted that there was nothing else she needed in order to be ready for the day, and they made their way to Netherfield Park.
The housekeeper, Mrs. Nicholls, was relieved when the Bingley carriage finally made its way down the drive. Mr. Bingley had sent a message the week before, asking her to expect him and his sister on Friday. Although she had learned the year before that her employer could be capricious, he had always been accurate when informing her about his travel plans (even if some of those plans were hastily made). She was contented that whatever caused the delay in travel, it did not appear as if any harm had befallen them.
As soon as the carriage came to a stop, Bingley sprung from the door, then turned to assist his sister. After getting assurances that their rooms were prepared for them if they would like to freshen up, Mrs. Nicholls told them to expect a repast in the front drawing room within the quarter hour.
Bingley was delighted to be home. As he made his way to the drawing room, he assured his housekeeper that he would attend to any correspondence or pressing business that afternoon. As the tea things were set out in the drawing room, Mrs. Nicholls deposited a small pile of newspapers next to the tray.
“As we were expecting your arrival on Friday, I have the newspapers for the last few days if you care to view them,” she indicated the pile.
“Thank you, Mrs. Nicholls, you are as efficient as ever.”
After Mrs. Nicholls left the room, Bingley started fiddling with his cup and saucer. He knew it was much too soon to call on the Bennets as he had arrived less than an hour previous, but that was all he really wanted to do. As he waited for Caroline to descend from her rooms, he absently picked up the top newspaper and started thumbing through it, without really absorbing any of the words. Hearing Caroline making her way to the room, Charles started to set the paper back down. He changed his mind when one headline caught his eye. Grabbing the newspaper back up, he quickly scanned the article, grinning excitedly.
“Really, Charles, what could possibly cause you to have such a grin on your face?” Caroline asked as she prepared her tea.
“When he told me that he would likely not be a single man the next time we met, I had thought he was talking about being betrothed. I had no idea he was planning on getting married so quickly.” As Bingley was completely absorbed with what he was reading (a rare occurrence) he failed to realize his sister would have no idea who he was talking about.
“Who are you speaking of, has one of your friends married?”
Caroline was always eager for gossip, so approached her brother in order to read over his shoulder, thinking she would need to scan down the list of wedding announcements. It was unclear which made a louder noise: her teacup shattering on the ground or the shriek that erupted from her throat.
Bingley barely even registered his sister's reaction. He was simply happy that he now had a good excuse to call on the Bennets, even though it was still the day of his arrival.
* * *
Lydia Bennet was irate. Although she had to admit that her own elopement had not gone according to plan, she did not understand why no one seemed to be upset that Elizabeth had eloped with the boring Mr. Darcy. If anything, her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner had been pleased to see the news in the paper, but not at all surprised.
In the midst of her aggravated contemplation, she was surprised when Colonel Fitzwilliam was shown into the sitting room where she was sitting quietly with Mrs. Gardiner.
“Have you come to gloat, Colonel Fitzwilliam?” Lydia asked petulantly. “I do not need another reminder that I acted foolishly. I do not think I will easily forget your conversation with Mr. Wickham.”
Although Mrs. Gardiner gave her a stern look, Lydia simply adjusted her position so that she could no longer see her aunt's face.
“I came to do nothing of the sort,” Richard replied. “I am only concerned at your wellbeing.”
“Then perhaps you can explain something to me,” Lydia replied. “If an elopement is so scandalous, why does no one disapprove of Lizzy's elopement with Mr. Darcy?”
“Do you truly not understand?” Richard asked, perplexed. When Lydia indicated that she did not, he went on to explain. “The only reason your sister has eloped is in an attempt to save your reputation. Darcy would have rather married her in the more traditional manner, but it was clear that word of your elopement had already begun to spread. They hope that by eloping, it will be generally accepted that Miss Elizabeth was the only Bennet sister to have behaved so scandalously. Gossip is often inaccurate. It should not be too much of a leap for your neighbors to believe you only left Brighton after hearing of your sister's elopement.”
Humbled, Lydia grudgingly acknowledged that her sister had made a large sacrifice on her behalf. The fact that it was a rich young man in a red coat that explained the situation to her may or may not have made a difference.
It was not many minutes later that Richard asked Lydia to take a drive with him through Hyde Park. Giving the impression that he was trying to lift her spirits, he asked only that she not talk about how she came to be in London during the excursion.
Richard had rightly guessed that Lydia was easily distracted by all that London had to offer. She had often heard of Hyde Park, but as she was rarely in London due to her Father's distaste for the city, she had yet to enjoy the paths during the fashionable hours.
While on their drive, Richard was sure to stop and introduce Lydia to everyone he was even slightly acquainted with, stressing her last name. Lydia was ecstatic with all the attention that she received, and all the questions that people asked her. If a disproportionate number of the questions were concerning her sister, Elizabeth, Lydia truly did not notice. This was an adventure she would be sure to write to Kitty about immediately.
* * *
When Darcy returned downstairs, he was surprised to find his wife with her nose in a newspaper. As he leaned over her shoulder to see what could interest her, he was surprised at the headline greeting him.
“They certainly did not waste any time,” Darcy commented quietly.
“Yes, but there is another small line in a different article that I find much more interesting,” Elizabeth replied.
“Oh, and what would that be?”
Elizabeth quietly showed him the comment concerning Colonel Fitzwilliam and the “unknown young lady,” a look of relief clearly on her face.
“That is marvelous news,” Darcy replied, bringing her hand to his mouth for a quick kiss. “Now, come with me. I have given Hastings and your father a five minute deadline before they must be in the carriage or we will leave without them.”
Although Lord Hastings made it to the carriage within the allotted five minutes, it took Mr. Bennet a full s
even minutes, as he stopped by the kitchen for a small breakfast that he could take with him.
The time in the carriage passed surprising quickly for the Darcys, as they succumbed to exhaustion after only a few minutes. As Lord Hastings and Mr. Bennet shared a laugh over the speculation in the newspaper article, the friendship that had begun to form over the proceeding days solidified.
* * *
When Mr. Bingley arrived at Longbourn, the Bennet ladies were in the midst of devouring the article concerning Elizabeth's elopement. Mrs. Bennet was preparing herself to receive the well wishes of all her neighbors at this evidence of her daughter's successful marriage. They were surprised that the first person to come to call was none other than Mr. Bingley.
Although the Bennets had heard that Mr. Bingley was expected back in the neighborhood, they had anticipated hearing of his arrival before actually seeing him.
As Bingley expressed his well wishes on the marriage of the second eldest Bennet daughter (along with unnecessary assurances in the honor of his friend), his eyes could not stray far from Jane. For her part, Jane found it difficult to raise her eyes from the ground. She most definitely did not feel capable of actually meeting his gaze.
When Bingley offered to write a letter to Darcy offering him the use of Netherfield Park at any time in order to visit his new family, Mrs. Bennet was in raptures. She did manage to wait until after Bingley left to speculate loudly that having one daughter stay at Netherfield Park as a guest was surely only a step toward having another of her daughters installed as its mistress.
By the time Bingley was taking his leave, Lacy Lucas, Mrs. Phillips, Mrs. Long, and Mrs. Goulding had all arrived to express their well wishes. It did not take much to press him to stay and relate all that he knew concerning the happy couple. All were astounded to hear that Bingley had actually seen the young couple in company not a day prior to their elopement. He was happy to relate that they seemed to seek each other's company, and could often be found gazing at one another. All the women sighed at this evidence of love. When they left the Bennet home, it was to share slightly embellished tales of Darcy and Elizabeth's secret rendezvous in Derbyshire.