He shrugged. “I suppose you are correct. May I ask with whom you attended the balls while you were in London.”
“I only attended one, and that was with Lord and Lady Monttard, who had offered to sponsor me. My experience did not change my mind that I had no interest in being part of the ton, so that was the only ball I attended with them.”
“Why would you not want to be a part of the ton,” asked Bingley. “I should think every gentlewoman of lower rank would seek to marry a man who would give her higher rank.”
“Many do, Mr. Bingley,” said Jane, “but Lizzy and I have decided that a marriage purely for the sake of security and a higher status is of no interest to us.”
Elizabeth smiled at her sister. Bravo, Jane. You have made your position clear to him. Now, if you truly like him, will you show him in your look and your expression your preference for him? I believe he is a man who will need some kind of encouragement from you.
“Come now, Miss Bennet,” said Darcy. “Do you mean you would not marry the eldest son of an earl unless you loved him, and he loved you? There are many advantages to being a countess in this society and it would certainly assure your family’s future.”
“I believe such an eventuality is impossible, but I am willing to state that I would rather not. We can only marry once, and I want that marriage to be felicitous.”
“But is not the prospect of never being married worse than having a marriage where there is little or no love.”
“Truthfully, I do not know, but my heart and my mind tell me it is not. I cannot say I will not change my mind as I age, but at present, that is what I feel.”
“I think that is very brave of you, Miss Bennet,” said Bingley, “and applaud your determination. Now, I believe it is time to return to Longbourn.”
“I agree,” said Darcy, “but there is no way we can arrive without muddy shoes and the bottoms of the ladies’ dresses and our pants splattered with mud. I am going to enquire about sending someone to ride to Netherfield and have my carriage come for us. It will delay lunch a little but would be much easier on our clothes and our tempers.”
“That sounds like a capital idea, Darcy. Would you two be willing to wait here a half an hour or so until we can get a carriage?”
“I have a better idea,” said Jane. “I will write a note to Uncle Peter and ask if he could send his carriage for us, explaining the situation. If he is home, I am sure he would accommodate us, and his house is only two blocks away.”
“I think that is an excellent idea,” said Elizabeth. “Do you have something to write on?”
Darcy took a small notepad out of his pocket and handed it to Jane with a pencil. “You can use this. By the way, who is Uncle Peter?”
“Thank you, Mr. Darcy. Uncle Peter Phillips is the husband of my mother’s sister, a solicitor, and the magistrate for this area of Hertfordshire.”
After Jane had completed the note, she said. “I will have Mrs. Sloan send Tommy to Uncle Peter. We should have a reply in a few minutes.” She then arose and found Mrs. Spencer, who called on one of the men who worked for her and soon he was on his way to the Phillips’ house. Twenty-five minutes later, the four young people were exiting the carriage at Longbourn and thanking the Phillips’ driver for providing them a ride.
Chapter 9: Intentions
As they entered the parlor at Longbourn, Mr. Bennet greeted them. “I was beginning to think I may need to send a search party for you. That was quite a thunderstorm we had. I think we had a week’s rain in half an hour. You do not look soaked, so I must assume you found a good place to sit out the storm.”
“We did, Papa,” said Elizabeth. “We just barely made it to the Meryton Inn before it started.”
“What did you do with the dogs?”
“Mrs. Spencer let us keep them by us in the tea shop. After the rain storm passed, we sent a note to Uncle Peter asking if he would send his carriage to bring us home, and the dogs followed us home behind the carriage and were taken to the stables to be cleaned and fed.”
“So, Jane. Were they good chaperones?”
“They were. Mr. Bingley and I had privacy to talk, but they always stayed close enough to see us.
“And did you two manage to get along, Lizzy?”
She looked at Darcy and then said, “I think we did. What do you think, Mr. Darcy?”
“I found it to be quite an enlightening experience. I will be happy to chaperone with you anytime, Miss Elizabeth, particularly if we can have our dogs with us. I would prefer to ride, however, rather than walk.”
“We only have one horse available for a woman to ride, so it would not be possible for Jane and me to both ride, and despite the fact I occasionally enjoy running, I do not think I could keep up with them on foot.”
Darcy thought for a moment about the horses he had in London, wishing he had brought one of the mares with him. “Would you object, Mr. Bennet, if I brought a sidesaddle-trained mare and a saddle to Longbourn from my house in London for Miss Elizabeth to ride when we accompany Bingley and Miss Bennet, should we decide to go out again?”
“You would do that just to have her company when you chaperone?”
“It would actually be a favor to me, Mr. Bennet. The horse is not being ridden in London. It would be good to give it exercise when my sister is not there. Then, even if I am not here to chaperone, Miss Elizabeth can chaperone them, should they decide to take a ride.”
“I do not see why not. I believe I can afford to feed another horse, if it will give both Jane and Lizzy horses to ride during the winter and early spring, until you return to London. I assume you will be there for the Season.”
“Yes, we will.”
“You are very generous, Mr. Darcy,” said Elizabeth. “I do not have a chance to ride as often as I would like. I promise I will keep your horse well exercised and groomed.”
“Good. I will send my man to London this afternoon, and he will have the horse here by tomorrow noon.”
At that moment, Mary entered the parlor and said, “We were worried you would be late, but the timing is perfect. Will you please come to lunch now?”
When they entered the dining room, Darcy was introduced to Kitty and Lydia, and they sat for lunch. The conversation was first about the morning walk and their adventure with the rain, and then the coincidence of meeting Mr. Furness. Mr. Bennet was pleased with the way Bingley kept looking at Jane and speaking to her. He was obviously taken with her. He also noticed Darcy looked at Elizabeth often and despite trying to appear uninterested, there was something about the way he and Elizabeth acted toward each other that told him they somehow had more of a relationship than met the eye. When he saw how the dogs treated each other when they supposedly first met, he decided they were not strangers to one another. He knew Calabas and Polegra were from the same litter, but still, if they had not seen each other for four years before they were introduced at Longbourn, there should have spent much more time sniffing each other. He had the thought that Mr. Darcy may have encountered Elizabeth on one of her walks, and for some reason, she had not admitted it.
When lunch was over, Mr. Bennet asked Bingley and Darcy into his study for a brandy, a request with which they were happy to comply. Once Malcolm left, after taking Mr. Bennet to his favorite chair, Mr. Bennet said, “Mr. Bingley, I am told you danced with my daughter often at the assembly and now you have called on her the next day. As an interested father, I wonder what your intentions are.”
“I can assure you, they are honorable, sir. I have never met a woman like her and wish to know her better. To be frank, if we are as compatible as I think we are, I expect I will eventually ask her for a courtship, but that will not be until I am sure she is comfortable with me, and I am comfortable with her.”
Mr. Bennet shook his head. “That is a reasonable answer. Have you asked to call on her again?”
“I have. She has consented to let me call on her Monday, probably in the afternoon, but it has not been settled yet. She need
s to ask Miss Elizabeth when she could chaperone us because she knows Miss Elizabeth is usually busy with estate business Monday morning.”
“That is true. She regularly visits at least one of our tenants Monday mornings and often takes them goodies, but she is usually done by early afternoon. I am sure she will look forward to riding your horse, Mr. Darcy, and perhaps taking Jane with her, now that they will both have a horse to ride.”
“I am glad I can be of service to her.”
“Mr. Bingley, may I suffer you to join Jane again? I wish to discuss something personal with Mr. Darcy.”
Bingley jumped out of his chair. “Certainly. It will be my pleasure.”
After he had gone, Mr. Bennet invited Darcy to sit in the chair closest to his desk. “Now, Mr. Darcy, I want to know your intentions toward Elizabeth. It is obvious to me that your relationship did not start this morning at ten o’clock. It was also clear that your dog and Calabas had met before you came here with Bingley.”
Darcy was caught unawares. He had not even realized that Mr. Bennet seen the dogs greet each other or that he had discerned that he and Elizabeth knew each other before that morning at ten. He knew Elizabeth would rather her father not know, but, in good conscience, he could not lie.
“Although I believe Miss Elizabeth did not want me to tell you because each time a dog was our only chaperone and we had not been formally introduced, I find I must be truthful. I met her the first time when we came to Netherfield to examine it. I happened to take a ride to the top of Oakham Mount and, in a sense, met her there.”
“What do you mean, in a sense, met her?”
“She was up a tree and refused to come down and let me see her” He smiled and shook his head as he remembered her first response. “In fact, when I asked her to come down, she said that it would not be a proper introduction and also claimed she was ugly and misshapen and did not want me to see her. However, she eventually admitted she did not think it appropriate we be seen together unchaperoned, even if Calabas was with her. Thus, all we did was talk and her final words to me were that I should tell Bingley that Netherfield was well kept.”
“Then the second time you met her was here, this morning?”
“It was this morning, but not here. Early this morning I chose to ride to the top of the Mount again, except I had my dog, Polegra, with me this time. Knowing she had been to the assembly, I did not expect her to be there and was surprised when she was. This time she was not up the tree; therefore, I finally was able to meet her face to face. Again, because we had not been formally introduced, she would not allow us to speak for long. However, we did talk a few minutes, and among other things, we discovered we were to be joint chaperones for Bingley and Miss Bennet. I left within ten minutes of arriving.”
“You say you did not expect her on Oakham Mount this morning, but did you perchance go there hoping you would see her?”
Darcy shrugged. “I suppose it was in the back of my mind. I certainly remember thinking, as I was riding there, it would be pleasant if she were there, because she could then meet Polegra and have Polegra meet Calabas.”
Mr. Bennet chuckled. “Mr. Darcy, I believe you would have gone there, whether Polegra was with you or not, but I will not press the point. Therefore, I am back to my original question. What is your intention? I suppose you believe you have not compromised her, but I suspect, if someone saw you come off Oakham Mount and then she came off a little later, they would believe you might have compromised her. Are you both absolutely certain that no one saw you?”
“How can I be absolutely certain? I did not search the woods on either side of the trail as I rode down off the mount, nor, I am sure, did Miss Elizabeth, although, had someone been there, I believe our dogs would have detected them. All I can say is that as far as I know, no one saw me, and I have told no one. Also, I can assure you, nothing untoward occurred. Having said that, I will admit that I realized, as we were on the trail to Meryton, that I had been talking to Miss Elizabeth as if I had called on her rather than having the impersonal conversation two unmarried chaperones should have. I am not supposed to even consider a young woman of her status, but I am sure you know, there is no one quite like her. It is hard to forget her, once you know her, and once you know her, all you want to do is know her better. I fear I have put myself in an untenable situation.”
“Is it really? Or is it just that you must be willing to consider that perhaps the rules of the upper-class by which you live may not be best for you?”
“Do you know her relationship with Mr. Farrington?”
“Yes. He wants to court her, but she is ambivalent about him.”
“He is a good friend of mine, and I must admit, knowing he was seriously interested in her made me believe that perhaps I should also be. However, I did not want to consider it seriously until Mr. Furness told me I was crazy if I did not try to court her. It made me think that perhaps Miss Elizabeth and I were fated to meet, but I am not sure what she thinks of me.”
“Then you are not very observant, young man. If she agreed to walk with you as a chaperone without another escort, she is interested, believe me. In fact, I just had the thought, given you say you first met her a month ago. She may have refused Mr. Farrington the day of the assembly because she was so taken with you the first time you met her, she wanted to see what might happen between you and her when you met face to face. I know she was awestruck by Pemberley, and seeing how handsome and intelligent you are, I suspect you have been placed on her list of potential suitors, possibly near the top.”
Unexpectedly, Darcy grinned. I think he has just given me the compelling reason Elizabeth would not tell me why she refused Farrington. For some reason, she wanted to see how our relationship developed before she would accept a courtship with him. I am going to confront her with that and see what she says.
“I had already decided I would ask to call on her, probably the next time I came here with Bingley, but I suppose I should ask her today?”
“Are you aware that, since my accident three years ago, she has been essentially taken over management of Longbourn?”
“No one has told me that directly, but given she helped Lady Inez manage Netherfield Park, I assumed she might be helping you manage Longbourn.”
“Mr. Darcy, I will guarantee you, she is a woman, the likes of whom you have never met before. She is highly intelligent, well read, self-confident, and very independent-minded – not the sort of woman most men of your rank would consider suitable. Why would you wish to call on her?”
“Because I believe all those qualities you have listed, along with a caring and loving character and pleasant personality make her more desirable to me, not less. For years I have been looking for a woman in my level of society who possesses such qualities and, as you might expect, there are none that I have found. I have finally concluded that they are more important to me than wealth, high social standing, and significant family heritage, which most in my level of society consider most important.”
“Are you truly willing to go against the standards of your society and the desires of your family to marry a woman so far below you and with so little wealth?”
“If she has the personal characteristics I wish, then yes I am.”
Mr. Bennet pursed his lips, as he considered Darcy. He hated the thought that Darcy might be just the kind of man his Lizzy might need. The thought of losing her so soon greatly distressed him. “I will be frank, I am just as skeptical of you as I am of Mr. Farrington, whom, I am sure you know, is also interested in her. I am sure Lord and Lady Wingate would vigorously try to deter him from marrying Lizzy, as would your aunt, Lady Catherine DeBourgh. She seems to believe you must marry her daughter.”
“How could you know that?”
“Mr. Collins, her clergyman, is the recipient of the entail which exists on Longbourn. When I die, he will become master of all of this. He visited us earlier this year at your aunt’s suggestion to choose a wife from among my daughters. He subsequentl
y made an offer for Jane, and she refused him, with my consent. While he was here, he told me in a private discussion about Miss Anne DeBourgh and you. As far as I know, Lizzy does not know about your supposed engagement.”
“I assure you, sir, Anne and I are in perfect agreement about the falsity of that claim. We are not engaged and have no intention of marrying – a statement we have made to Aunt Catherine many times. Unfortunately, it seems that as long as I am unmarried, she will refuse to accept it. However, I certainly agree she will be displeased, should I become engaged to someone other than Anne and will admit there are others in my family who will be upset if I were to marry a lady considered to be below me. However, I am my own master, Mr. Bennet, and only I decide who I will marry.”
When Mr. Bennet hesitated before responding, Darcy continued. “May I ask, do you wish to refuse allowing me to call on Miss Elizabeth?”
“To be frank, I wish I could find a reason to deny it, but I cannot. However, I will also admit that I will resist allowing her to marry until she reaches her majority next March. I need her here to help me as long as I can keep her here.”
“Mr. Bennet, I have waited for years to find the right woman. If it is she, I believe I can wait until March to marry her. However, we are getting far ahead of ourselves. I did not come her to ask for her hand in marriage – only to be allowed to call on her.”
“I know that, Mr. Darcy, but I firmly believe, given what you have said, that you cannot help but fall in love with her, and truthfully, I can well imagine she might fall in love with you. Just remember what I have said, when you start discussing a future together. Now, let us discuss your three meetings again. Would you say that what you discussed in one or more of them were topics which you would have discussed had you called on her?”
Darcy nodded. “We both concluded that on the walk we took to Meryton this morning and both admitted we were treating the walk as if I had called on her.”
“Therefore, you have essentially called on her twice and possibly three times?”
The Lady of the Mount and Patience Rewarded: Two Stories of Darcy and Elizabeth Page 7