His Best Hope

by Charlotte Patterson

  ****

  Jane and Bingley’s marriage was set for the second Saturday in October but neither Darcy nor her sister were invited. “Why have you not invited Mr. Darcy and his sister? They have always been good friends with Mr. Bingley.”

  “Lizzy, I have told you that Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy had angry words and Charles said he no longer wished him for a friend. He will chose Mr. Hurst as his best man. No, Lizzy, Charles will not change his mind. I believe their friendship is over, and you might be best served to forget the man. Lydia was correct, you had a better chance of finding a husband if you had gone to Brighton.”

  “I do not look for a husband that way, Jane. When did she say these things about me?”

  “It was after you left to go to your room that night after they arrived. Not to worry, Lizzy, for I am certain that Mr. Bingley has other friends. You are still young and very pretty and have so much to offer. Perhaps you will meet another Mr. Darcy who better appreciates you.”

  Elizabeth suppressed a good cry at receiving such news. Darcy had taken Elizabeth’s words to heart after being rejected. He lost a friend but nevertheless he united Jane and Bingley. Darcy had earlier confided in her that Bingley and Colonel FItzwilliam were his best friends. Now she realized that Darcy was a man of honour and he had done these things for her, even at the cost of losing a dear friend.

  She continued to dream of him most nights and found herself thinking of him most of the time. That Lydia nearly destroyed her family’s good name bothered her greatly, but did Darcy hate Wickham so much that he would forever disassociate himself from her?

  The day of Jane and Bingley’s wedding was refreshingly cool. A gentle southerly wind added to the pleasure of the day and the fall colors were spectacular as the sun’s light made the leaves dance with a flickering light against a bright blue sky. A wedding breakfast was held at Netherfield and later that afternoon the Bingleys left for town. It was all that Elizabeth could do to control her temper when she heard Caroline Bingley’s caustic comments about Elizabeth and Darcy.

  When she overheard Caroline tell a cousin that Darcy had once appeared to approve of Jane’s sister, Elizabeth next heard the two women laugh.

  Many days later, Elizabeth found her father alone in his library.

  “You are not walking today Lizzy? I have never known you to walk so much as you have recently.”

  “I walk for the exercise and to have time to think of things. Can we talk?”

  Her father knew that his favorite daughter would soon come to talk with him. For some weeks he had suspected that she loved Darcy and a letter from Edward Gardiner suggested that both Darcy and Elizabeth were in love. Now Mr. Bennet, a greying man near fifty, looked over his spectacles and spoke to his favorite daughter.

  “Now Lizzy, I get more comfort from talking to you than I get from the rest of the family combined. I had hoped we could chat. You have been most unhappy recently. It this all about Mr. Darcy?”

  Elizabeth had invited trouble on herself but now there was no way out. She had told Jane that Darcy had proposed but had told nobody else and knew that Jane would keep her secret from her husband and everyone. Now was the time for her to unburden her heart. She knew her father would keep their their talks secret but she needed his advice. Slowly she went over her history with the man and his proposal and his letter and the time she and the Gardiners visited him and his sister at Pemberley.

  “Yes, Lizzy, I believe he may still be in love with you. He must have thought the same when he and Bingley were staying at Netherfield, but it took time away from you to discover his true feelings. From what I have read about the man, he has always been too busy working on estate matters than to look for a wife. He and you are both novices in matters of the heart, but most people fall into that category.”

  “That certainly does apply to Mr. Darcy and myself.”

  “I believe that he might have proposed a second time if Lydia had not run away, but that was my fault for not listening to you. Lizzy, I am very sorry and I can see that you love the man, but all is not lost.”

  “I hope that is the case, Papa. I wonder what he still thinks about me. Do you think that Mr. Darcy is worried about marrying me and gaining Mr. Wickham as a brother?”

  “Well, I am certain that he would not like that but real love will overcome such things. I believe that he is presently back in town or at Pemberley and that he is heartbroken thinking of you. And are you not the same, Lizzy?”

  “Yes, Papa, I cannot stop thinking about him. After I returned from Lambton I told Jane that I did not know if I can stand living in the world with him thinking ill of me. I do love him and I wish no other man for my husband.”

  Mr. Bennet watched as his daughter was moved to tears but still he comforted her.

  Telling him these things cleared up her mind and gave her a new start.

  “Lizzy, you are not a quitter, so do you have a plan to win him back?”

  “Papa, from what Lydia said, they travelled straightaway to Scotland and married as soon as they arrived. I saw the marriage certificate and the date must be wrong. They could not have travelled by coach from Brighton to Scotland so quickly. Besides, Captain Denny told Colonel Forster that Mr. Wickham had little money and said he just wanted Lydia as a plaything. He never loved Lydia and he doesn't love her now.”

  “Well then, how did he get the money to buy a commission? Are you suspecting that he went to see Mr. Darcy and begged for the money?”

  “No, Papa, one thought is that my uncle found the couple and arranged everything.”

  “No, Lizzy, for Lydia would have blurted out those words. I am convinced that Wickham never told her how he came into this money. Also, I was with your uncle all those days looking for your sister and Mr. Wickham.”

  “Then I am merely thinking that Mr. Darcy did look for Mr. Wickham and Lydia and did find the man and bought him off. If that is true, then perhaps he did not want it to be known that he was involved and so Lydia does not know how he got the money.”

  “Yes, Lizzy, that makes sense. Lydia would have spoken of this if she knew of Mr. Darcy’s involvement.”

  “I believe Mr. Darcy would have spoken with Mr. Wickham alone and forced the man to be quiet and not tell Lydia or anyone. He probably arranged with his cousin to buy Mr. Wickham a commission in the regulars and keep him from any trouble from deserting the militia and paid for his cost to go to Gretna Green and marry.”

  “But why would he have done that?”

  “He told me the last time I saw him that he felt responsible for not making Mr. Wickham’s character known to all. I believe he wanted to save our family from disgrace but he never wanted it to be known. Think about it, Papa, Mr. Wickham could not have won so much money gambling and he needed money to travel to Gretna Green. If my uncle did not do this, then I believe Mr. Darcy and his cousin arranged to buy his commission and Mr. Darcy paid for it all.”

  “Lizzy, you just summarized what we spoke of a minute ago”

  “You are correct Papa, and just think, Mr. Darcy has also lost his best friend in Charles Bingley. It is because he told his friend that he was wrong about Jane’s feelings that they are now married.”

  “You are correct, Lizzy, but never say never. What do you wish to do?”

  “Papa, I wish to go to town and visit the Gardiners and once there I can do some investigative work.”

  I will support that decision, for that is the least I can do. You warned me that Lydia was too immature to go to Brighton and was a determined flirt, yet I thought she would be well since she was living in Colonel Forster’s house. You also suggested Mr. Wickham’s character was flawed. No Lizzy, I have brought all of this trouble on this house.”

  “No Papa, that is not true. I cannot imagine that happening with her living under the colonel’s roof.”

  “So we are settled on this matter and I will write to your uncle today and tell of your plans to visit, but I shall not tell of your purpose.”

  �
��Thank you, Papa, I should have spoken with you earlier. I love you, Papa.”

  “And I love you as well, Lizzy, but now you must go and get some answers.”

  CHAPTER 2

  Elizabeth left for town a week later with the full expectation that she would discover more about Lydia’s elopement. By now she had become obsessed but she knew that she had to be careful around the Gardiners. It was still possible that her uncle had arranged for the marriage. If she moved too quickly and asked too many questions or confronted them, there might be problems, and she did not want that. Her understanding was that her uncle’s importing and exporting business was thriving.

  She knew that her father and uncle did not always search together and that it was possible that he found Wickham and arranged for everything, but after speaking with her father she mostly believed that Darcy was behind it all. Before her coach arrived in town, Elizabeth was certain that her uncle could not have been the one to fund the elopement. The marriage certificate showed they were married the next day after they left Brighton, and they would have already been married by the time her uncle arrived. With such a distance to travel, her uncle’s involvement, and even Darcy’s involvement did not support the marriage taking place so soon. It was impossible. They did not marry so soon. Also, her uncle did not have the connections to buy a commission for a man who had deserted his post, but Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam did.

  As the coach turned onto King Street in the fashion district and headed to the station nearest Cheapside, Georgiana caught a glimpse of a young woman inside. She thought immediately that she had seen Elizabeth Bennet and had her driver take her near to the coach station where she could judge for herself if the young woman she had seen was Elizabeth. She did this covertly and soon returned to Darcy House.

  Darcy had never told his sister about Lydia and Wickham, but Georgiana knew that the Gardiners and Elizabeth had to leave Lambton suddenly because they were needed back at Longbourn. Though her brother left Pemberley that next morning to return to town on urgent business, or at least that was his reason, Georgiana believed that his return had much to do with the same reason that Elizabeth and the Gardiners returned early.

  Later, after Georgiana returned to town, she found her brother in high dudgeon, not unlike the previous November when he and the Bingleys returned from their stay at Netherfield. One thing was clear to her and that was her brother appeared happiest when he was with Elizabeth, and without her he was a tormented soul. Georgiana liked Elizabeth and wanted to see her again and wondered about her brother’s silence and his reclusive personality. She had hoped he and Elizabeth would marry, but he never spoke of the woman again and acted uninterested. The servants at Darcy House also noticed that he had changed and confirmed that one day Darcy showed his temper and yelled at a servant for breaking a dish and immediately went to his study and slammed the door. He did apologize to the servant later that day.

  Armed with the intelligence that she had seen Elizabeth, Georgiana waited until dinner to bring up the subject.

  “William, you will never guess who I saw today.”

  Darcy’s heart quickened and his silent prayer was that Elizabeth was in town.

  “So who did you see?”

  Darcy acted unaffected but held his breath.

  “I will let you ask five questions to guess the person.”

  “Georgiana, I am in no mood to play such a game.”

  “Very well, you are no fun anymore. If you want me to tell you who I saw, you must work with me. Now what is your first question?”

  Darcy was surprised at his sister holding her own and for a brief moment thought of another young woman doing the same. But this other young woman had refused his proposal that previous Easter and had ripped at his heart. But he saw her unexpectedly with the Gardiners at Pemberley and was more in love with her than ever and might have proposed a second time if Elizabeth had not received letters telling of the elopement of Lydia and Wickham.

  What Georgiana knew for certain was those few days that her brother and Elizabeth were together that he had never been more happy. Then suddenly the Gardiners and Elizabeth left for town and her brother left early that next morning.

  “Then I get to ask five questions. Is this person a friend?”

  “I believe so.”

  “Is the gender a man?”

  “No.”

  “Have you seen me with this person, before?”

  “Yes”

  “Is she Caroline Bingley?”

  “No. That reminds me, I have not seen Mr. Bingley for many weeks. Is he sick or has he moved away?”

  “Georgiana, do not interrupt me when I am asking questions. I have one more question to ask. Does she live in town?”

  “No, and that is your last question.”

  Darcy wanted to ask if the woman was Elizabeth but then his sister would know that he had feelings for her and she would see his discomfiture. He tried not to show his emotion and calmly asked if the woman was Mrs. Younge. That woman had last been Georgiana’s governess and had plotted with Wickham for him to elope with Darcy’s sister, but Darcy uncovered the plot and fired the woman.

  “No, it was Miss Bennet that I saw. I suppose she was on her way to stay with the Gardiners. It would be wonderful to see her again.”

  “Now that depends on how long she might visit. It might be she is only staying a short time before leaving town.” Darcy now coughed to try and hide his nervous voice, but Georgiana saw he was affected and saw his fingers shake as he picked up a paper he was reading earlier.

  Darcy’s heart rejoiced and he tried not to show emotion. “So she was probably coming to visit with the Gardiners. Did you speak with her?”

  “No, I just managed a glimpse of her but I do not believe she saw me. William, I do desire to see her again, and why are you acting so indifferent? You have not mentioned her name for weeks. Are you mad at her or yourself? All the staff at Darcy House can see that you have been in high dudgeon ever since you returned from Pemberley and said that you were gone many days and nights as if you were looking for something or some person. And what was the business that called you back to town so suddenly?”

  “That is enough for tonight young lady.”

  “You have not answered any of my questions. William, I so want Elizabeth for a friend and was never as happy as when I met her at Pemberley. You know that I have never had a friend.”

  The truth hurt her brother and he felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. He wished his sister had not confronted him but it was still possible that Elizabeth and Georgiana could become good friends, but Darcy still wanted to protect Georgiana from learning that Wickham and Lydia had eloped.

  “Georgie, did it ever occur to you that I want what is best for you?”

  “I believe you, but you should treat me as an adult for I am a big girl now and seeing Elizabeth again will make me happy. Would you be happy to see her again? Are you afraid of Elizabeth? Are she and Mr. Bingley engaged?”

  “I hope not, and where did that come from? He once favored Elizabeth’s older sister, Jane, but I have only spoken with Mr. Bingley once since last Easter.”

  “Then you had a falling out, did you not?”

  Suddenly Darcy had a worried look on his face. Perhaps Bingley returned to Netherfield and found Jane would not forgive him. If so, Elizabeth may have comforted him. No, it cannot be, he would not dare!

  Now Darcy had as many questions as Georgiana did and he was intent on getting Georgiana and Elizabeth together. But that was fraught with danger and Darcy was not certain how his sister might react to the news of Wickham and Lydia’s elopement. But Darcy was also worried that Bingley and Elizabeth might be engaged. The very thought of his Elizabeth and Bingley together made him mad, but it might be true. The men had not spoken since Darcy confessed his role in leaving Netherfield. Bingley’s silence since then might be a sign that he had got even with Darcy by becoming engaged to Elizabeth. Darcy was almost in panic mode and his face g
rew red in anger and he took in a deep breath.

  “William, are you unwell?”

  “Georgie, I think you are correct. Give it a couple of days and you can invite her here for a visit, or you can visit her at the Gardiners. Would that work for you?”