By Consequence of Marriage (A Pride & Prejudice Novel)

by Elizabeth Ann West

  "Well, Elizabeth, what have you to say for yourself?"

  Elizabeth began to weep afresh. "I cannot control when Mr. Collins was going to attempt to propose to me, Papa. I did everything in my power to discourage the man and to encourage his attentions towards Mary. She would make him a fine wife. He was aggressive with me and twice he placed his hands upon my person in an attempt to bully me."

  Elizabeth expected some sign of sympathy from her father, but instead she had only made him angrier. "I thought I had made myself quite clear,young lady, regarding my expectations. You sat right here," Mr. Bennet pointed at her place by the window, "and I shared my vision for your continued happiness. You promised me you would give that man an honest chance but I've observed you Elizabeth, and not once in the last two weeks have you shown any ounce of genuine kindness toward your cousin. You have been mean, you have been missish, and you have taken it upon yourself to make decisions affecting this family when it is not your place to do so." Mr. Bennet lectured.

  "No Papa, I cannot marry that man. I never meant to defy you or disrespect your position as my father."

  "Be that as it may, it is too late to change what you have wrought.” Mr. Bennet finally took a seat behind his desk.

  For a moment the only sound in the study was Elizabeth’s continued sobs. She had never considered that her father would take her rejection of Mr. Collins to be a direct flout of his authority. She assumed he found the man as ridiculous and unsuitable as she did. She could not understand why her father had chosen her to fall on the family’s sword of injustice.

  Unfortunately Mrs. Bennet took the silence between her husband and her least favorite daughter as indication that once more Miss Lizzie would receive a reprieve for her headstrong ways.

  "Mr. Bennet, I insist that you –"

  “There will be no further discussion of this matter until after Jane's wedding breakfast. Elizabeth go upstairs, wash your face and put on a brave smile."

  "But Mr. Collins –" Mrs. Bennet started again.

  "I'll handle Mr. Collins. The man won't wish to be embarrassed any more than we wish to be embarrassed amongst our friends and neighbors. A jilted man has no desire to spread his tales, though I highly doubt your youngest daughters will allow that.” He scowled for a moment, then gazed at his wife. “The wedding, Mrs. Bennet, you have more than enough on your plate to handle with the wedding."

  Utterly defeated, Elizabeth curtsied and quit her father’s study, leaving her parents alone to discuss matters further. There was nothing more she could say and she did agree with her father that today was Jane's day.

  She wiped her eyes a final time and found her sisters standing solemnly in various states of dress upon the stairs. Managing a smile, Elizabeth looked at Jane.

  "Only two more hours and you'll be a Bennet no more!" Elizabeth reminded Jane of the happiness still to come. As she took the stairs, she was surprised that it was Lydia who offered her comfort by embracing her shoulder as they were at the end of the Bennet girl line-up on the stairs. Within minutes, all of the bedrooms were a flurry of gowns, ribbons, bonnets and gloves as today would be so very important for all of them, but especially Jane.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Fitzwilliam Darcy examined the sparsely populated church and noted the majority of frowns. In fact, the only person smiling in the entire church was Georgiana Darcy. Clasping his hands in front of him, Darcy gazed up to the ceiling and said a prayer of thanksgiving his own wedding would not be so miserable. He and the colonel secured a way to smartly sidestep his heavy-handed Aunt Catherine.

  The Archbishop of Canterbury, who also happened to be Georgiana's godfather, finished the ceremony, as Darcy again inspected the few people his aunt invited to bear witness. He did not find his friend Charles Bingley present, and he was certain after their exchange at the club Bingley would attend. The bored and halfhearted cheers seized Darcy's attention back to the matter at hand and he flexed his hands as George Wickham openly kissed his sister, sealing forever his place in the family.

  Dragging his feet behind the happy couple, Darcy paused at the first pew to speak to his aunt who was still applauding the completion of the wedding.

  "Did you not invite Charles Bingley to the wedding?"

  Still acting her part, Lady Matlock viewed her nephew with a confused expression on her face. "The tradesman's son? Why ever would I invite him?"

  The various conversations in the church swirled and Darcy felt an innate sense of dread overtake his person. Charles clearly stated the wedding was to be held November 13. What wedding was he possibly referencing if he did not mean Georgiana's? Darcy's long strides carried him out of the church and down the steps with his cousin Richard nipping at his heels.

  "Darcy! Darcy, the carriages are over here!"

  Darcy continued walking to the east towards his own townhouse. He called over his shoulder, "Not now, tell Aunt I'll be at the breakfast. I have an emergency I must handle."

  Swiftly arriving home, Darcy surprised the staff and found them celebrating the marriage of Miss Darcy. He asked Mrs. Potter not to interrupt the staff as he bolted for his study, praying his man Simmons had not cast the social invitation pile to the flames just yet. Relieved to find the invitations next to the letters he had marked for post, Darcy flipped through the pile, casting all but Bingley's to the flames in the fireplace. He had ignored the letter as it was written in too careful a hand to be Bingley's, but now he hastily ripped it open.

  Inside was an invitation to a ball at Netherfield Park next week. A folded piece of parchment fluttered to the floor from the envelope. Darcy retrieved the letter and read the contents with haste. The missive was in Bingley's wretched penmanship, the many smudges and cramped letters took Darcy a number of passes to fully decipher. He made out Charles was to wed Jane Bennet on November 13 in Hertfordshire. This likely meant the bride at the dressmaker's shop was Jane Bennet and not her sister Elizabeth! Darcy shouted in joy as his cousin Richard entered the room.

  "Stalling is over, old man, we may not be able to keep our food down, but we are expected to attend this breakfast."

  Darcy waved the letter from Bingley in triumph. "She's not married!"

  "Who is not married?"

  Darcy paced the study in tense agitation, nimbly counting on his fingers the various plans he needed to make without delay. He hoped Charles would forgive him for missing his wedding, but he harbored a greater need to hasten to Hertfordshire.

  "She's not married! Charles married her sister, so there's still hope! Don't you see?"

  "No, Cousin, I'm afraid I do not follow, but you may explain the gist to me on the way to breakfast." Richard Fitzwilliam moved to stand behind Darcy to encourage him towards the door. His cousin complied but continued to spout nonsense about some woman in Hertfordshire he nearly killed with his horse but now wished to marry. Richard only interjected to remind Darcy that until Easter, he had to appear as engaged to Anne. This reminder stopped Darcy's ranting cold. He renewed his rambling as the carriage arrived at Matlock House.

  "But I must at least go to Hertfordshire and apologize to Charles. I'll send Georgiana and George on a honeymoon trip to Bath. They can stay in Lady Catherine's town home there."

  "And how do you intend to explain to this lady—"

  "Miss Elizabeth."

  "How do you intend to explain to Miss Elizabeth you are tacitly engaged to another woman?"

  A stormy Darcy and jovial Richard entered the most somber wedding breakfast London had ever seen. With a few hints, Darcy managed to convey how it would slow the tide of society regarding their marriage if perhaps the Wickhams took a trip to Bath for a few months honeymoon.

  "You are the best brother!" Georgiana Wickham exclaimed as she overheard the conversation. "I knew once you finished being angry with me you'd admit the wonderful match I made! I would adore a trip to Bath and to walk on the shores! Mr. Wickham, Mr. Wickham, would you not also enjoy a trip to Bath?"

  George Wickham looked
to his relatives who held the purse strings. Since this morning when he learned of the fine print he signed in the marriage contracts, the best he could manage was indifference to Fitzwilliam Darcy and his ilk. Always Darcy was denying him his due!

  "Anything that will bring you happiness my dear will indeed gain my approval." He offered his new, young wife a bow.

  "Splendid, splendid." The Colonel clapped George on the shoulders, making the groom jump. "Darce, why don't you head back to Darcy House and make the arrangements? I shall put in papers tomorrow for a week's trip to Bath. Just to assure our happy couple is indeed happy, mind."

  George Wickham's smile faded. The earl and countess took their leave to circulate amongst their other guests, uninterested in Darcy's escape from the wedding breakfast. If his haste were less, Darcy might have spared a moment to congratulate his cousin Richard's brilliant tactical skills.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  As the coach for the newly married Bingleys and Mary Bennet wheeled away under the heavy load of luggage for three people, followed by Bingley's regular carriage for the staff attending them on their wedding trip to Bath, the remaining Bennet family and Mr. Collins dutifully bade them farewell. The barren gray sky of late autumn's temper matched Elizabeth's mood as tears streamed down her face. The full weight of losing her sister Jane crushed her heart. Kitty handed her a handkerchief and Elizabeth cleaned her face. The caravan of vehicles turned the sharp bend half a mile down the road and the family could no longer see them.

  "Well Mrs. Bennet, I admit I had my doubts but you were correct that our Jane would make a splendid match." Mr. Bennet offered his wife a rare compliment in front of their girls. He tugged at his tight cravat and loosened the fabric's chokehold on his neck.

  "I've always said she could not be quite so lovely for no good reason. Now with Jane married to Mr. Bingley, all of our girls will be thrown in the way of rich men, mark my words." Mrs. Bennet narrowed her eyes as she stared pointedly at Elizabeth who immediately felt the shame of the day's earlier debacle. Not up to starting an argument with her mother, the new eldest daughter of the house stared down at her shoes.

  "I am happy to report that I have been generously invited to dine with Sir Lucas and his family. If it is no trouble to you, Mrs. Bennet, I believe I shall begin walking my way over to their happy homestead and bid you all a fair afternoon." Mr. Collins doffed his hat and made a half bow.

  "The Lucases?" Mrs. Bennett's voice trembled. "How peculiar, I mean particular, they invited you to dine today during Jane's wedding breakfast." She glanced to her husband who returned a disinterested frown. "We all must be good neighbors, good neighbors are good fences as they say, so do enjoy your time Mr. Collins. I hope we shall see you later this evening?"

  Mr. Collins took a few steps back increasing the space between himself and the current residents of Longbourn. "I believe it might be quite late before the Lucas carriage returns here. I do look forward to my last few weeks here in Hertfordshire before I must return to my patroness, Lady Catherine, in Kent."

  Elizabeth wondered at Mr. Collins failure to invoke his parish when he talked about needing to return to Kent. As a pastor, she would think his allegiance was first and foremost to the church, another failing of his character she could not reconcile. She wisely kept these observations to herself.

  As Mr. Collins bowed once more and dismissed himself from their company, it was Mr. Bennet who turned first to go inside. As the rest of her family filed in, Elizabeth's feet clung to the ground beneath her. Even one step into her future life that would not include Jane felt impossibly difficult. It was not until Lydia began complaining for Elizabeth to come in that she allowed herself one last glance down the road and turned to go inside.

  The air inside felt wrong somehow. Elizabeth scarcely closed the door behind her before a terrible pain seized her. Mrs. Bennet grabbed Elizabeth's hair by the dozens of carefully pinned curls at the nape of her neck and pulled her towards the stairs. Elizabeth cried out, mimicked in her cry by the younger girls in distress at the sudden abuse of their sister.

  "No traitor in my household! No upstarts who would happily throw her mother and sisters out into the hedgerows!" Mrs. Bennet shouted as she thrust Elizabeth forward. Crashing to her hands and knees upon the stairs, Elizabeth cowered in a defensive position, preparing for another onslaught.

  Mrs. Bennet charged again, grabbing Elizabeth by the arm and dragging her up the stairs. She continued to yell abusive epithets about Elizabeth's betrayal of the Bennet family. On and on she screamed how she was not fit to consider herself a part of the family. Arriving in the room she shared with Jane, Mrs. Bennet did not let go of her wayward daughter until they neared the bed.

  "Take it all, Lizzie, take it all. You will not step one foot over the threshold again as long as I am mistress!"

  For a moment all Elizabeth could do was stand there and cry, utterly baffled by her mother's abrupt change, but her mother had other plans. As Mrs. Bennet stormed over to the closet Elizabeth once shared with Jane and began tossing the remaining dresses out, Elizabeth bolted for the door. Ignoring the pain in her ankle, she ran down the stairs in a staccato echo of feet crying for her father at the top of her lungs.

  "Papa, Papa!" As Elizabeth made it to the bottom of the stairs, she locked eyes with her father who was standing in the doorway of his study.

  "Papa?" Elizabeth pleaded.

  Mr. Bennet shook his head and closed the study door.

  Instantly, Elizabeth's emotions of pure abandonment seized her chest and she collapsed on the stairs. Catherine Bennet rushed forward to embrace her sister, and as she held her in her arms she rocked Elizabeth gently back and forth.

  "Sssh, shhh, you'll be safe. Mama is just angry," Kitty whispered.

  Francine Bennet stood at the top of the stairs, formidable in the late afternoon shadows, the hallway enveloped in darkness except for the lone candle that illuminated her face. As she cleared her throat, her two daughters sitting on the stairs stared up at her.

  "Elizabeth Bennet you have business to attend. In one hour the carriage will take you to the post change in Meryton."

  "Where am I to go?"

  "That depends entirely upon you." Mrs. Bennet began to descend the stairs, making her daughters jump out of her way. As she reached Elizabeth, her second eldest daughter stood this time prepared to fight back if need be, her fists clenched by her side. "The law demands you will have your settlement, but not another farthing. You brought this upon yourself, young lady." Mrs. Bennet marched past her daughters and began barking orders at Hill for preparations of dinner.

  Abused and hurt, Elizabeth stared at Kitty in abject horror. The second to youngest Bennet daughter was ill equipped and unprepared with words so she merely offered to help her older sister pack her trunks. As soon as Lydia realized that Elizabeth could not possibly pack all her belongings and would likely be giving any castoffs to Kitty, she also offered to assist her sister. But while Kitty actually helped Elizabeth strategically fill her trunks, Lydia was little more help than laying on the bed and listing all of the places Elizabeth could possibly go.

  The more Lydia talked, the more fanciful the locations became. Ramsgate, Brighton, even so far as towns in Scotland! For a moment, Elizabeth forgot her distress, thoroughly impressed with Lydia's unexpected knowledge of geography. When her hands clasped the book of Shakespearean sonnets belonging to Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth smiled. There was truly only one place she would go and with any luck, make her mother rue the day she threw Elizabeth Bennet out of her father's house.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Fitzwilliam Darcy arrived unannounced at Netherfield Park by midmorning on November fourteenth. Flustered he had forgotten to send a note ahead of his arrival, and now that he stood in the grand entryway of the manor house, realization dawned upon him at how very rude he appeared. His friend Charles would not be interested in entertaining a friend on the first day of his love match with Jane Bennet. So he was not surprised when
it was Miss Bingley who came to accept his arrival and welcome him into the drawing room.

  Mrs. Hurst lay on the sofa, heavily in the family way, but she appeared genuinely happy to see Mr. Darcy and greeted him thoughtfully.

  "Yes, Mrs. Hurst I did travel well, thank you for asking. I am here to apologize to Charles. I believe I missed his wedding due to a gross misunderstanding that occurred in London last week."

  "I worried so deeply, Mr. Darcy, when you did not arrive for the wedding. Why I fussed and fussed at Charles something horrific must have befallen you but he said you likely had affairs keeping you in London. Is that what happened?"

  Darcy stared at Caroline, unsure of how to respond. "Miss Bingley as you can see I'm uninjured. It was simply a misunderstanding."

  "And your affairs? Are they settled, as we say, in London?" Mrs. Hurst asked from the sofa, struggling to gracefully sit taller on the sofa while carefully mincing her words.

  Darcy closed his eyes and inwardly flinched for a moment before opening them again to behold two of the shrewdest women of his acquaintance. From their pointed questions, Charles must've told them about Georgiana. This would be one of many times in which others would needle him for information and he would deny them without fail. "My business is as it always is, neither more or less of a burden than usual. I'm sorry, but is Charles here? I realize now I am a great inconvenience and merely wish to speak to your brother if possible."

  "Would you care for some refreshments, Mr. Darcy?" Caroline offered, waving to the servants before the man could answer.

  "Er – no I believe I am imposing . . ."

  "Nonsense!" The two sisters sang in chorus, striking Darcy aback. Looking around the room for his options, Darcy selected the lone wingback chair in the room, away from the two women.

  "I really must see Charles. I understand if perhaps he and Mrs. Bingley have not arisen yet today, I can go for a ride and return later."