Much Ado About Many Things

by Sophie Lynbrook

  This was consistent with her impressions of Mr. Darcy, although she was particularly shocked to hear that the son had denied Mr. Wickham the living which had been guaranteed by the father.

  “But perhaps I should not be so surprised,” she said after expressing her outrage. “Mr. Darcy has little regard for the feelings or the welfare of those whom he thinks beneath him.”

  “I see that you understand him all too well. He is very capable of being agreeable to people whose consequence makes them worthy of his notice, but those whom he deems unworthy receive very different treatment. I take it that you have been on the receiving end of his disdain?”

  “Only in a small way. He did not care to dance with me when it was suggested to him. He did not think that I was tolerable enough to be his partner.”

  “What an offensive thing to say! I am very sorry that you suffered such an insult.”

  “It was just as much a source of amusement as an insult,” she assured him. “My friends and I had a merry laugh afterwards. I did not choose to let Mr. Darcy cause me any suffering.”

  “I see you share my view of things. Darcy has injured me excessively, but I do not allow my feelings to be ruled by disappointment.”

  “You strike me as somebody who would not let himself succumb to bitterness.”

  “It is far better to keep up a cheerful disposition than to sink into resentment. That has been my motto throughout some very difficult years. Today, however, I am faced with an unexpected and very awkward situation. I wonder if I might seek your assistance in dealing with it.”

  “I will be happy to help you in any way that I can.”

  “Thank you. My problem is that I must find some way to withdraw from this play without being rude to Mr. Bingley and his sisters. Rudeness is something which I always make a particular effort to avoid, perhaps because I have often been witness to Mr. Darcy’s incivilities. I am half surprised that he did not settle the matter by having me thrown out at once, but as he did not, I feel obliged to come up with some excuse for removing myself in order to avoid the inevitable hostility which will cause discomfort for everybody else.”

  “I can easily imagine him capable of throwing people out,” Elizabeth agreed, “but I suppose he was held back by this not being his own house.”

  “I do not think that would necessarily stop him, but he does have a dislike for drawing attention to himself. It may be that he has decided to suffer my presence rather than opening his actions up to speculation, even though he must be wanting me gone. Of course, he may yet make a private demand for me to leave. But I think that he is leaving it for me to go away on my own so that all the rudeness will appear to be on my side.”

  “Then you must not go,” she said. “That is my advice. You have not been rude today. Your manners and conduct will stand up to any amount of scrutiny. I think that you should stay and show Mr. Darcy that he cannot drive you away.”

  “I do not know if I should. It does not seem fair to others.”

  Elizabeth felt confident of her advice, however. It had already been demonstrated that he had the resilience to endure this situation. And Mr. Darcy should not be allowed to get away with driving somebody off.

  “If there is any awkwardness, it will only be on his part,” she said. “And it will not even be remarkable. Everybody in this neighbourhood is already accustomed to Mr. Darcy being disagreeable.”

  “Are they indeed? I had thought that perhaps he was well liked. That is often the case with people of his stature, whether deserved or not.”

  “It is not the case in this neighbourhood. Mr. Darcy is not at all liked here. His pride and arrogant manners have given everybody a great dislike of him.”

  “I am surprised to hear it, but I must admit that this gives me some relief. If he does throw me out once he returns, perhaps not everybody will believe me to have done something wrong.”

  “I doubt that anybody will. They are used to seeing him as an unfair man. But if he does nothing, will you choose to stay? I can offer you one other relief. We are to divide our rehearsals between several rooms, and your character has nothing to do with Mr. Darcy’s, which will minimize your interaction with him.”

  “That will make things a great deal easier.”

  “There is one more thing to consider. I fear that if you make some excuse, it will reflect badly upon your fellow officers. They would share in the disgrace of what might appear to be your ill manners.”

  “They would indeed. You make an excellent point, Miss Bennet. I am glad that I sought your advice. It seems, then, that I must stay and endeavour to make the best of things. I shall simply have to avoid any close proximity with Darcy so that nobody will have to endure any awkward scenes. But at least I shall be showing him that his animosity will not drive me away.”

  “Which is an excellent thing. I am sure it is not good for him to always have his own way.”

  “It was always the case. His father was very indulgent of an only son. My guardian had few flaws, but unfortunately, the greatest of them was his blindness to the ones in his son’s character. I wish it had been otherwise, but there is no purpose to dwelling upon the past.” He smiled cheerfully. “You are right. Mr. Darcy shall not dictate my actions or spoil my enjoyment of this play. He will undoubtedly be disagreeable toward me, and Colonel Fitzwilliam as well, since he has always taken his cousin’s part in everything, but at least the rest of the company will make up for their hostility. I hope I may count upon you to be a friendly face whenever I am in need of one.”

  Elizabeth was reminded of her own desire for the same remedy to a hostile environment. Charlotte’s surprise appearance this morning had given her the comfort of another friend in the room. She could easily understand Mr. Wickham wishing for the same.

  “You certainly may,” she promised.

  “And hopefully there will not be too much to endure,” Mr. Wickham said. “Especially if I bury myself in the character. Then I might forget that it is he and I, and think only that we are Benedick and Borachio.”

  “Mr. Denny mentioned that you have some acting experience.”

  “Not of the professional sort.” Mr. Wickham laughed. “That would be an affront to Mr. Darcy. I almost wish that in my attempts to earn a living I had gone on the stage just to disoblige him. But no, I have only acted in a private way. It is indeed a favourite activity of mine.”

  This diverted them into a new subject, and they talked of acting and plays until Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam returned.

  CHAPTER 15

  A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

  RICHARD III, SCENE V, ACT IV

  “How can this be?” Colonel Fitzwilliam asked as soon as he and Mr. Darcy were away from the drawing room. “I never thought to see you and Mr. Wickham in the same room.”

  “It is not by my choice. I was as astonished as you were to see him this morning. I did not even know that he was in this part of the world. It seems that he has just joined a regiment which is quartered in Meryton for the winter. Mr. Bingley invited some of the officers to join us in this play, but I had no idea that Wickham would be among them.”

  “Can we not get rid of him?”

  “That is the question I have been asking myself for the past half hour. I do not see how it can be done. Mr. Bingley would willingly accommodate any request of mine, but it will not be good for his reputation if he turns Mr. Wickham out of the house without anyone knowing of reasonable cause. And our cause is not one which I wish to share with the world.”

  “True enough. But there must be something we can do.”

  “Flee at once. That is all I can come up with.” Mr. Darcy gave a half-hearted smile. “If only that were possible. I would very much like to make some excuse and depart as fast as my horse can be saddled, but it cannot be done. I will neither be so rude to my friends nor desert them to the company of such a man.”

  “No. I can see your point. Knowing Wickham as we do, I feel an obligation to help you keep an eye
upon him while he is among your friends. Do you mean to tell them what he is?”

  “I cannot decide. On the one hand, I feel obligated to warn them to be on their guard, and on the other, I fear that any revelations will only serve to make them feel very uncomfortable. No, it is better to say nothing. Wickham is only here for the winter, and we shall all be back in London before long. In the meantime, I cannot see him trying to take advantage of anybody.”

  “Not with us observing him,” Colonel Fitzwilliam agreed. “That would be a foolish risk to take.”

  “It is extremely unlikely that he could do any harm anyway. Miss Bingley knows her value far too well to be deceived by him, Mrs. Hurst is already safe, her husband is well known for not liking to part with a penny, and Bingley is not as easily cheated as people often think. He often acts in haste, like when he took this place on a whim, but he is no fool, particularly when it comes to finances. He takes his agent’s advice very seriously, and his father taught him to always be certain of the value in any investment before parting with his money. As for the rest of the company, their lack of fortune keeps them from being in any danger. Wickham may smile and charm, but that will be the extent of his deception. We are the only ones who shall suffer. Unfortunately, his inclusion in the cast threatens to spoil our enjoyment of these theatricals. I am half sorry for having invited you, but I am also very glad to have your company while there is so much to endure.”

  “I am glad to be here for your support, but you must try to set your mind upon finding enjoyment despite his presence. It would not be the first time either of us has had to endure unpleasant company. Just think of that dreadful lot we had to put up with at Matlock last summer. We made the best of that.”

  “A gentleman does. At least there are some mitigating circumstances in our current situation. For one thing, he is to play Borachio.”

  “How very fitting.”

  “Yes, that is what I thought. At his friend’s suggestion, he was very nearly the friar, which would have been a dreadful reminder of our past dealings.”

  “It would indeed.”

  “There was some talk of his having a face which proclaimed his goodness.”

  “He should have been born with a face to proclaim his villainy to the world.”

  “Alas, the Fates were not so accommodating. But they have spared me from having to act with him. As things have turned out, his character and mine have no speeches together. The worst thing is only that we shall both be on stage at the same time during the masque scene. And another blessing is that Miss Bingley has the idea of using several rooms for everybody to practice. Since he will be rehearsing different scenes, it should not be very difficult for the two of us to be in the same house while seeing almost nothing of each other. Wherever he is, I shall try not to be.”

  “So will I, and it would not surprise me if he is eager to avoid us as well.”

  “You are probably right.”

  “It will almost be as though he is not here.”

  “Not quite that. I detest even knowing that he is in the neighbourhood, let alone in the house, but we are committed to this play now, disagreeable though the prospect is. If only Miss Bingley had not been so persistent in her notions of romance. I thought of numerous plays which we could have done on our own or with just one or two extra people, but none of them suited her. She had to have us playing a courting couple. That is another reason why I would gladly flee from this place if it were possible. I am sure she hopes that our play will end in a proposal.”

  “She can desire it all she wants, but as long as you have your wits about you, there is no danger.”

  “I hope I will have my wits. I was already distracted before Wickham came along.”

  “Distracted by what?”

  “Nothing,” Mr. Darcy said hastily. “Just the arrangements for the play. I had to go through it and decide which parts could be doubled up. That sort of thing.”

  “That is a task, not a distraction. I wonder if your difficulties might be caused by a young lady of lively mind and ready wit.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that the distraction which concerns you so greatly appears to be Miss Elizabeth Bennet. The same lady whom you mentioned in your letter as being unmarriageable. At first I thought that you were warning me against falling for the lady, which I was inclined to take amiss, but by the end of your third paragraph about her flaws and faults and lively disposition, I realized that the warning was not meant for me.”

  “I am sure it was not three paragraphs.”

  “It was.”

  “I just wanted you to know what company you would meet when you arrived here.”

  “You only gave a slight description of the other sister.”

  “Miss Bennet has only recently recovered from an illness. For the first few days that they were here, I only saw Miss Elizabeth, so she was the one who naturally came to mind when I mentioned the family’s shortcomings.”

  “You wrote a list of reasons not to marry her. Only a man who was considering such a course of action would be so thorough.”

  “I am certainly not thinking about marrying her.”

  “So you are not trying to talk yourself out of falling in love with her.”

  “No, I am not.”

  “You are not the least bit captivated by her lively mind and pretty eyes?”

  “I did not write anything about her eyes.”

  “You did.”

  Mr. Darcy cast his mind back to that day. He had written the letter quickly and sealed it in a hurry, without looking it over. “Well, she does have pretty eyes,” he said defensively. “I suppose I might have mentioned it.”

  “You definitely did. Perhaps it was the distraction which led you to be so honest.”

  “There is no reason for you to think anything particular of it.”

  “Is there not?”

  “She is very likely to soon be engaged to Mr. Collins.”

  “You cannot mean that awful man who was so eager to introduce himself to me.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “What a dreadful prospect! But perhaps she will not accept him. If she is as spirited as you described, then she will very likely refuse him.”

  “She may have little choice. Her mother is obviously determined upon the match. The family estate is entailed upon him, and as I wrote, they have little fortune.”

  “You have more than enough.”

  “I am not thinking of marrying her. She is entirely unsuitable. You already know that. I told you all about her mother’s relatives and the dreadful sisters. And now there is Mr. Collins, who is also her cousin. He makes the connection even more appalling.”

  “Your fixation upon that gives away your feelings perfectly. If you had no interest in her, you would not waste your time going on about unsuitability. You have failed to convince me, and I doubt that you are having much success in convincing yourself.”

  “I am not trying to convince myself of anything.”

  “No?” His cousin looked at him in disbelief. “You have no interest in her?”

  “None at all.”

  “Well, I suppose that is a good thing. If she is going to marry our aunt’s parson, then I expect we shall be seeing her every Easter. I am glad you will not have to be tormented by the annual sight of the two of them together.”

  The very idea gave Mr. Darcy a surge of anguish.

  “So you will be tormented,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said. “It is no use denying anything. I can see it in your face.”

  He was right. Mr. Darcy knew that he had revealed his feelings in that moment. “She is bewitching,” he confessed. “I cannot stop thinking about her. That is the truth of it. I should have fled already.”

  “Flee from love? I think you should embrace it. All these objections of yours are nothing if you really love her.”

  “You make it sound so easy, but as you well know, I cannot ignore the expectations of family and society.”

  “Yo
u should learn to. The path to happiness is not paved with expectations. Let yourself have what you want, Darcy.”

  “I do not know what I want.”

  “Then I think you had better sort it out. And soon. Before the pontificating parson proposes and the meddling mother disposes.”

  CHAPTER 16

  I had been drown’d, but that the shore was shelvy and shallow

  THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, ACT III, SCENE V

  Well, this is the moment, Mr. Wickham thought when Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam came back into the room. Will he throw me out, or will he suffer my presence for the sake of his reputation? Should I have left first? I think not. If he does anything, I can easily play the innocent victim. I have already made a good impression upon the regiment, and now Miss Elizabeth as well. I believe she is correct that everybody will believe me.

  Even if Darcy tells the truth about the living, they may still believe me. And it is certain that he will never say anything about Ramsgate, which is the only real danger. The rest could be brushed off as a little misunderstanding if necessary. No, I do not really have a great deal to fear, although I did want to get away. I do not like being under his righteous stares.

  He does nothing. Except for glowering. It appears that he is not going to act. But how furious he looks! He does not like that I am making friends. He knows that in any confrontation I will be the one with the greater number of allies. It is a good thing that I just took the opportunity to establish my story with one of them.

  Yes, it appears that I am to stay. But the sooner we are in separate rooms, the better. I do not want to be around Darcy. I am glad that Miss Elizabeth was fooled into thinking me unconcerned, but I would much rather not tempt fate. I did act the part of an innocent victim very well. And I convinced her that all my concerns were about the effect of Darcy’s hostility upon others. I am an excellent actor. It is a pity that my role in this play is only Borachio, but at least I will be able to keep to the background.

  CHAPTER 17