His Best Hope

by Charlotte Patterson

  HIS BEST HOPE

  CHARLOTTE PATTERSON

  (A PRIDE AND PREJUDICE VARIATION)

  Copyright © 2017

  by Charlotte Patterson

  HIS BEST HOPE ~ (A Pride and Prejudice VARIATION) Copyright © 2017 by Charlotte Patterson

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, in whole or in part, in any form whatsoever.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters depicted in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  EPILOGUE

  DEDICATION

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  My short “WHAT IF” story is about how Jane Austen’s book, Pride and Prejudice might have turned out if Fitzwilliam Darcy had lost Mr. Bingley’s friendship after he returned from Rosings after his Easter visit. It was in town when he told his friend that he had been involved in separating Bingley from Miss Jane Bennet, Elizabeth’s sister.

  Darcy did not know what Charles Bingley’s reaction would be once he confessed his involvement in the affair, but it could not be helped. Darcy had proposed to Miss Elizabeth Bennet during his visit. She had been at Hunsford to visit with her friend Charlotte, who had recently married Mr. Collins. He was the parson for Darcy’s cousin Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

  Darcy expected Elizabeth would accept him but she did not. The proposal was poorly done and to the extent that she said he was not a gentleman and was the last person in the world she would consent to marry. He stayed up all that night writing a letter to her that addressed her many concerns when she refused him. A big concern was that Darcy had been responsible for separating Bingley from Jane because he did not believe that Jane was in love. Darcy met Elizabeth in the grove that next morning and delivered his letter and walked away a broken man, but he was still as much in love as ever.

  The book then takes a few twists and turns as other events beyond their control change them forever. I sincerely hope you will enjoy my little story.

  CHAPTER 1

  It was mid-afternoon on a cloudy day in London when the hackney arrived at the Gardiner home in Cheapside. Lydia Bennet and her husband George Wickham had just returned form Gretna Green. It had been over a fortnight since any family or friends had heard from the couple since they left Brighton and eloped.

  When Lydia and her husband were announced, her Aunt Madeline welcomed them inside with hugs as the servants took their things. The unexpected arrival of her youngest niece had her aunt thinking about all the days that her husband and Mr. Bennet had looked for Lydia and the man. George Wickham was a junior officer in the militia when he left Brighton and eloped with Lydia. Their appearance this day was surreal to the older woman and she wondered how her husband would react on seeing his sister’s youngest daughter. Mrs. Gardiner was told that the couple wanted to stop for a night before returning to Longbourn, the Bennet home in Hertfordshire.

  Indeed, Mr. Bennet and Mr. Gardiner had searched for the couple in London but to no avail and Mrs. Bennet, ever the woman to wail and blame others for her troubles, stayed in her room back at Longbourn, fearful that her daughter had suffered some injury or worse and that the family name was damaged beyond repair.

  “My! Lydia, this is a great surprise. You do know that we have all been worried for you. Your uncle is at work and should be back in a few hours. Where have you been for so long?”

  The woman listened as Wickham answered her question and next Lydia interrupted to say that she had written both her mother and the Gardiners. Her aunt caught Wickham’s look of censure and thought her niece was not being truthful, but this was not the time to question or pick an argument.

  The couple had arrived just before the sky opened up along with gusts of wind and loud clasps of thunder accompanied by lightening, but the storm was of short duration and later the sky was blue again.

  After taking a respite to refreshen some, the couple returned downstairs but the aunt did not want to censure her niece and the man, leaving that work for the Bennets. Actually, she was repulsed that a man of twenty-seven, an officer in the militia, would run off with a girl barely sixteen years. Mr. Gardiner arrived later and also was surprised to find the couple and would have time later to talk privately with his wife. He let the others talk as he looked for inconsistencies in their stories and he found many. Still, he treated his niece and her husband with civility, but privately he was happy that they would leave in the morning to return to Longbourn.

  Mr. Gardiner and his wife had laid awake much of the night talking about the couple. Lydia Bennet was the youngest and silliest of the five Bennet daughters and her mother seemed to delight in observing Lydia’s immaturity and often encouraged her youngest daughter to flirt with the officers of the militia. Mr. Gardiner knew that his second niece, Elizabeth, had warned her father not to allow Lydia to accompany Colonel Forster and his wife to Brighton. Lydia had been invited by the colonel’s wife as her particular friend, to travel with them and live with them in their home. Mr. Bennet thought the trip would be good for Lydia and everyone and dismissed Elizabeth’s concerns, saying she would suffer no problems since she lived under the colonel’s roof. Of course, no person expected the couple would elope from Colonel Forster’s home.

  Early the next afternoon Lydia and Wickham arrived unexpectedly at Longbourn and the family rushed out to greet them. The trip from town went well and the rain in London the previous day had not visited Hertfordshire. A bright sunny day accompanied their arrival. Mr. Bennet was the first to see them as he watched the carriage approach and saw Lydia as it pulled up in the drive. Almost immediately he was at a lost for what emotion he should show, but he was happy to know Lydia was safe as George Wickham assisted her from the carriage. Mr. Bennet knew his wife would wish to forget and forgive her favourite daughter. All the family was pleased to see Lydia was safe and married, but she had put her family through such an ordeal that her silliness still made her sisters and father angry, except the mother who suddenly acted as if her youngest daughter had done nothing wrong.

  Lydia took much pride in introducing her husband and showing off her ring. She also refused to let her sisters enter the house before her and her husband, saying that she was a married woman and they were not, and thus she could rightfully enter before her unmarried sisters. Elizabeth and Jane looked at each other and rolled their eyes but the middle sister, Mary, just stared at Lydia and the second youngest, Catherine, who they called Kitty, happily entered the house before her father, who entered last.

  It seemed everyone was speaking at the same time when Lydia proclaimed they were married as soon as they arrived in Gretna Green. This gave her mother a reason to celebrate that her daughters were not ruined after all, because Lydia and Mr. Wickham had married as soon as they could. Questions were asked by her family but Mr. Bennet took everything in for a later time. Wickham told that he had purchased a commission in the regulars and that Colonel Forster had allowed him to leave, but Mr. Bennet knew that was not true. When Jane asked why they took so long to contact the family, Lydia told that she wrote them a letter and the same to the Gardiners, but said it was likely the letters were lost or not post marked correctly. Again the two eldest sisters rolled their eyes as did Elizabeth with her father, but they were still very happy to see their youngest sister.

  By now the servants had taken the trunks to their room and Mrs. Bennet had directed the cook to prepare a special dinner as the arrivals refreshed from their trip. The couple said they woul
d stay four days and the mother protested, but Wickham said he had to leave then to arrive at camp and it was a long journey up north.

  When Lydia retired to her room for a nap, this allowed Elizabeth to take a long walk and she hoped that the exercise would later help her sleep. Though she walked briskly and thought of her youngest sister’s return, there were still many things that did not add up and she could not reconcile them. The appearance of Lydia and her husband had been a shock but she was still grateful they had married. Elizabeth saw the way that Wickham and Lydia had practiced what they would say and could see whenever her sister made a mistake that Wickham then took over the talking. She wondered what her father would say later but for now he took everything in, but she could see her father’s eyes roll on some of what the couple had said.

  That evening Elizabeth joined the others for dinner and it was a happy time for everyone. Still, the long day was not over as Elizabeth and her sisters stayed up late with Lydia and Wickham. She had already heard too much from her silly sister who still did not believe that she had done anything wrong. All these things she would discuss later with Jane, but now she sought comfort by herself in her room. Her remaining sisters followed short minutes later and soon all had settled down for a good sleep, but Elizabeth could not sleep and for several hours she revisited her past with Darcy, letting her mind wander freely.

  One reason she could not sleep was her mother. Even though Mrs. Bennet often tried to convince her that Darcy was not interested in her and thus did not join in the search for the couple, for some reason Elizabeth was not convinced that he had totally abandoned her. It was short weeks earlier at Pemberley, Darcy’s estate in Derbyshire, when Elizabeth saw Darcy and she was convinced that he had changed from the man she had met the previous October at the dance in Meryton.

  Apparently the coach carrying Darcy and his sister arrived whilst Elizabeth and the Gardiners were taking a tour of the great house. They had been told that Darcy and his sister were away and were not expected to arrive for another two days. In fact, Darcy had left his coach after a long ride, and because it was a very hot day, he chose to swim in the lake just outside the mansion to cool off and let the coach carrying his sister continue on to the great house. Georgiana arrived and came inside and neither was aware they had visitors present.

  Elizabeth and the Gardiners still had not seen the coach and were walking outside when Elizabeth and Darcy saw each other at the same time. As he came nearer she tried to suppress a giggle as he looked so different, for now he had wet clothes and they were clinging to a shapely and sculptured body that left too much for a young maiden to see or think about.

  He even looked larger as he came up the slope. The man was tall, over six-foot and his body was strong and lean, with broad shoulders and large hands. With his dark eyes looking intently at her and his dark curly hair in great need to be combed, suddenly her heart was softened. And this Darcy seemed like a different man than the one who had proposed so rudely to her in Kent.

  It was a day that she would never forget. For a moment Darcy looked on in embarrassment as Elizabeth did not take her eyes from him in a prolonged perusal of his person. Once she realized this, her blush deepened. They were both startled and nervously began to talk at the same time and Darcy twice asked of her family’s health. It was the first time they had seen each other since he handed her his letter during a morning walk in the meadows at Rosings that Easter, after his failed proposal the previous night.

  Her mind carefully went over all that had passed between her and Darcy and her thoughts were not in chronological order. Ever since that unexpected meeting at Pemberley, she had dreamed of him often.

  Before that meeting at Pemberley, she and Darcy had last met at Easter, in Kent, when she visited her friend, Charlotte Collins in Hunsford. The former Miss Lucas stayed with her husband, at the parsonage where he enjoyed the living that was provided by his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. The parsonage was near Rosings and it happened that Darcy and his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, were visiting at Rosings with their Aunt Catherine and her daughter, Anne. Lady Catherine was the elder sister to Darcy’s mother. She was also the younger sister of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s father, the Earl of Matlock. Darcy and Elizabeth’s meeting in Kent was not planned and neither knew the other was close by.

  Darcy had first met Elizabeth at a dance in the little village of Meryton, the previous October. Meryton is near her home at Longbourn and Darcy was staying at Netherfield, the nearby mansion that his good friend Charles Bingley had recently rented. At the dance his friend suggested that Darcy dance with Elizabeth. But Darcy refused to dance with her, and she still remembered every word he said to his friend. She is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me. Bingley, I am in no humor to give consequence to young ladies who were slighted by other men.

  He had not thought he had been overheard and soon he had deep feelings for Elizabeth, though she heard his words and felt the opposite and from that day she disliked him.

  Mr. Bingley and the others quit Netherfield at the end of November and returned to town. Almost immediately, both men pined for the two sisters. Darcy and Bingley’s sisters had convinced Bingley that Jane Bennet was not in love with him. They were wrong and Elizabeth held that against Darcy when she rejected his proposal. When he walked away that morning at Rosings after handing her his letter explaining the concerns she had in rejecting him, she soon had different feelings about the man. Still later, she learned that Darcy had misjudged her sister’s feelings for his friend and told Bingley that he was wrong and apologized to the man.

  Elizabeth had been correct in not accepting Darcy’s proposal. After his initial insult at the dance in Meryton, she disliked him and saw Darcy’s once friend, George Wickham as the better man. She was easily convinced of the truth of all Wickham had said about Darcy. His proposal offended her and Darcy had not spoken well of her family. She believed herself justified that she had told others how much she disliked him and favored his one time friend, George Wickham. Darcy had even criticized her family saying that he must marry her in spite of the difference in class between the two families, and though he would be scorned for marrying her, he said all of that could not be helped and he must marry her.

  In her refusal she attacked him and accused him of not being a gentleman and said he had destroyed her sister’s chances to be happy and even told him that he was the last man in the world she could be prevailed upon to marry.

  But Darcy’s letter changed things. After reading the letter many times, Elizabeth Bennet now saw things differently. As she reflected more on the man, Elizabeth kept his letter and never let anyone see it, nor did she talk about it. The letter cleared up most misunderstandings and now she realized that she had wronged a good man who actually was in love with her. She would continue to dream of him and how vulnerable he was to her words and her conscious bothered her at the same time her heart was moved.

  Those few days that she and the Gardiners visited at Pemberley were the happiest days of her life but next came Jane’s letters about their sister’s elopement with Wickham and she thought she would never see Darcy again. In his letter he had revealed that Wickham had earlier tried to elope with Darcy’s sister to gain her considerable inheritance. Elizabeth now knew why Darcy disliked Wickham and she understood that such a man might not wish to associate with a family that included such a man.

  Now she recalled his sadness when he met her in Lambton, near Pemberley, just after she had read Jane’s letters telling of the elopement. Darcy wanted to help find the couple and he told her so. Her heart would not let her forget the man and how friendly he had been to her and the Gardiners after he and his sister, Georgiana, arrived at Pemberley.

  Until today the Bennet daughters were disgraced by the actions of the youngest sister and all the Bennets knew that until Lydia and Wickham proved their marriage, that the family would be shunned, for who would wish to marry into such a family? Just the day before, Bingley had p
roposed to Jane and she accepted and Mr. Bennet quickly approved. Her mother had been quick to point out that Bingley proposed to Jane even though Lydia’s fate was unknown. She next asked Elizabeth where was her Mr. Darcy when they needed to find the couple, but her second daughter did not respond. Elizabeth knew the man had set things right between Bingley and Jane, even though he lost a good friend in the process.

  Suddenly, Elizabeth’s heart was broken and she laughed and cried and realized that she had fallen in love with Mr. Darcy, but would prayers alone bring him to her? The more she thought of her past with the man, the more she began to see that Darcy did love her, even when they exchanged broadsides during their arguments.

  She now remembered that he would often stare at the window when they were in the same room, but he did so to glance at her reflection and so he would not appear to stare at her. At Pemberley, Darcy mentioned that he had not seen his friend but once since Easter. Elizabeth believed what Jane had told her, that the men had met after Darcy returned from Rosings and that Bingley told Darcy that he no longer wanted him for a friend.

  All of these thoughts were on her mind and sleep finally found her, but she was exhausted. The coming days passed quickly and Lydia and Wickham left to go to Newcastle where he would join the regulars. That was another thing for Elizabeth to ponder. Lydia had told her that Wickham had come into some money, but Captain Denny, Wickham’s friend, had told Colonel Forster that he had loaned Wickham a small sum of money the very day he left Brighton. Lydia had told her family that she and Wickham had travelled to Scotland without rest and had been together the entire time. Whilst most of her family was willing to believe all Lydia said about the elopement, Elizabeth believed that Wickham was given money along the way and so must have received it in town and then made arrangements from there to proceed to Gretna Green. Elizabeth now believed that Wickham was bribed to marry Lydia, and she wondered if her Uncle Gardiner had been the one to discover the couple. Even Colonel Forster told Mr. Bennet that Captain Denny had informed him that Wickham said he would not marry Lydia. Yes, Elizabeth was convinced that someone had paid Wickham off.