His Best Hope

by Charlotte Patterson

  “Yes, Jane, I have feelings for him and his sister. I believe he has been misunderstood. Do not forget, he told Charles that he had been wrong about your feelings for him. You might never have seen Charles again if Mr. Darcy had not told him. It was you and Charles who did not invite Mr. Darcy to your wedding and Charles who sent his friend away and said he he no longer wanted his friendship.”

  Elizabeth watched as her sister faded into sleep but Jane’s eyes were wet from crying. Next Elizabeth left the room and asked her brother to invite the staff and servants to hear about Jane’s sickness and learn what to do. Minutes later they gathered downstairs around Elizabeth and she explained her recommendations for staying healthy. All the while, Darcy looked on the young woman with much pride and admiration.

  Elizabeth stayed five days with Jane and chose to sleep in a large chair brought into Jane’s room. Meanwhile, Darcy ran errands to procure what was needed from the apothecary and helped her by visiting the Gardiners to keep them informed of Jane’s status and to bring Elizabeth’s clothes and other things she requested. He stayed all night the first night and past midnight the remaining nights and returned every morning after breakfast.

  Darcy left the room when privacy was requested but Jane often could hear the couple and knew they were in love. It was only normal that Darcy and her husband would become friends again, but Bingley next became sick and the process was repeated. Once again Darcy faithfully stayed with his friend for near another week, but Elizabeth was worn out.

  During their time together, both Darcy and Elizabeth learned more of each other and became closer than ever. She had not written to Longbourn because she was needed to help Jane and Bingley, but now she did not want to return home.

  When Bingley was well, he thanked Darcy for helping him and apologized for not inviting him and Georgiana and their cousin to the wedding. He then asked if they could be friends again and Darcy said he had remained a friend the entire time.

  Jane and Bingley then returned to Netherfield and Darcy and Georgiana were extended an invitation to come and visit anytime. Oddly enough, Lydia and Wickham were not discussed. Elizabeth knew that soon she must tell her father everything of her visit. She knew that things had changed and that if Darcy proposed a second time, that eventually her father would have to approve of their engagement. Once her father knew the truth, he would silence the mother without telling her or anyone what Darcy had done.

  Darcy had business out of town for a few days and so Elizabeth visited with the Gardiners and rested from her ordeal. Georgiana also visited with her and helped Elizabeth with the children. While visiting, Elizabeth told Georgiana that Wickham and Lydia had eloped from Brighton and married in Scotland at Gretna Green. She could see that this news hurt her friend but next Georgiana told of her own history with the man, but then said she felt better after telling a friend, for she had never spoken to anyone but her brother.

  Later, Darcy returned to town and continued to see Elizabeth and days later Darcy invited Elizabeth, the Gardiners, Georgiana and Colonel Fitzwilliam to be his guests for a play at the theatre. That evening they sat in Darcy’s box seats and it was an excellent evening out for all the friends.

  When they returned home that evening the Gardiners and Elizabeth continued to talk of the good time they had.

  “Lizzy, I do not believe that most of the people at the theatre got a good look at the play. They were staring at you and Mr. Darcy for most of the evening.”

  “Yes, Lizzy, you might read of this in the paper. You know that Mr. Darcy is one of the most sought after bachelors in the country, do you not”

  “Uncle, I am not surprised. After seeing Pemberley and Darcy House, he certainly is very rich.”

  “And handsome too, Lizzy,” said her aunt.

  “And he is also a good man,” replied Elizabeth.

  “Yes, I know you once said you disliked him, but you had different feelings after seeing him again at Pemberley and since you returned to town to visit us. He and Georgiana both care for you. Shall we expect an announcement soon?”

  “Aunt, I do not know how to answer your question. Elizabeth then giggled and said only goodnight to her relatives and left for bed.”

  ****

  Back at Longbourn, the Bennets were surprised that Jane and later her husband had become sick but were not surprised that Elizabeth had been there to treat both of them. Mrs. Bennet remained clueless and asked Jane why Mr. Darcy had been there. Jane’s reply was that Mr. Bingley had to go to Darcy House to find Elizabeth and that Darcy wanted to help.

  “But I thought that the two men were not speaking.”

  “That was the case but Mr. Darcy was kind to Charles and called him a friend and helped Lizzy care for first me and later Charles. Mama, Mr. Darcy is mainly responsible for Mr. Bingley’s and my marriage. When Lizzy visited Charlotte in Kent, Mr. Darcy was also visiting with his Aunt Catherine at Rosings and they often saw one another. After Lizzy accused him of separating Charles and me, he later admitted to Charles that he believed that he was wrong and that is when he encouraged his friend to return to Netherfield.”

  “But Mr. Bingley told him he did not want to be friends with him.”

  “That is in the past and we are married and I wish the same for Lizzy one day. I know that Charles regrets not inviting his once friend to our wedding, but they are friends again.”

  “But Lizzy must quit town and try and find a man who will love her. Look Jane, both you and Lydia are married but not your stubborn sister. She has lost her chance when she refused Mr. Collins. Well, who will marry her now? I know what it is. Lizzy thinks she is superior to everyone she meets. No man would wish to have such a headstrong woman for a wife. And she will not get anywhere with Mr. Darcy. Perhaps she is friendly with the man’s sister to find a husband through her. She would never seek out Mr. Darcy for she cannot stand the man.”

  Jane knew better but said nothing. She knew a man who would marry her sister today if that was possible.

  Her father heard the full exchange and waited for Jane to leave to return to Netherfield before his wife entered his library and began to talk about their Lizzy. He was more certain than not that Mr. Darcy would soon knock on his door and ask for his approval to marry his second daughter.

  “Mr. Bennet, what are we to do about Lizzy? She has no prospects and what kind of man would offer such a headstrong woman who thinks herself superior to everyone she meets?”

  “Now Fanny, why are you in such a race to marry off all your daughters? In the last few weeks both Lydia and Jane have married. Do you want Lizzy to marry in hopes that she will move far away?”

  “Thomas, that is an unkind thing to say about me.”

  “Is it? Look, Fanny, you cannot deny that you would prefer that Lizzy be in Newcastle and Lydia be nearer to Longbourn. Is that not true?”

  “Well, she is younger. I would feel better if she were nearer us. Why are you always taking sides with Lizzy coming out on top?”

  “Lizzy comes and talks to me and we share a common interest on many things. You must know that I love all of our children the same, but Lizzy treats me as her friend and her confident and the others do not. I have often asked the others to come into the library and talk but they are never interested unless it is to get me to join them against you.”

  “So she sees you as her confident? Do you not think it is unfair not to tell me of what she and you discuss in private?”

  “No, Fanny, I am her confident because she expects me to tell no other person, including you. Fanny, if Mr. Darcy returns to visit at Netherfield, you are to treat him with kindness. If you do not, than I will hold back on the money I give you. Is it not enough that the man helped make things right between Jane and Mr. Bingley?”

  “But I do not wish for Lizzy to waste her time with a man she hates. Anyway, I will treat him well and Lizzy too. The only thing the man has going for him is that he is wealthy and quite handsome, but Lizzy is not his type.”

  That c
onversation ended soon enough and Mr. Bennet once again had his library all to himself. Next he reread the letter that his brother had written.

  30 November 1812

  Dear Brother,

  I am late on writing to you and this will be but a brief letter. Things are well in town and Madeline and I hope all of you are healthy and happy. Lizzy will soon return to Longbourn and her visit resolved many things. I will leave it to Lizzy to tell you everything in private because I do not know all the details, but Lydia and Wickham married right away after they arrived in Gretna Green, and the marriage certificate attests to that.

  Apparently Lizzy cares for Mr. Darcy very much and I suspect that he has been in love with her since they first met. Yesterday, I read in the paper about them visiting the theatre recently. Madeline and I also joined with Mr. Darcy and his sister and Lizzy and Colonel Fitzwilliam and we set in Mr. Darcy’s box seats. Lizzy was dressed beautifully and wore a new dress that I had bought for her, and Madeline let her wear her better jewelry. You should have seen the people staring at her and Mr. Darcy and indeed, the story in the paper asked the question if Mr. Darcy had found the woman of his dreams.

  Thomas, I do believe she and Mr. Darcy are in love, so be easy on him. He is a good man and they should marry. My thoughts are that Lizzy will soon travel back with Mr. Darcy and his sister in her brother’s coach. Do not be surprised if he comes to talk with you. Both Madeline and I are very impressed with Mr. Darcy and his sister, Georgiana. Meeting the man and his sister and having them play with the children has warmed our hearts.

  Should other news demand it, I will write and tell you the latest. For now, I will send this letter and wish all of you the best.

  Your Brother

  Edward Gardiner

  Mr. Bennet smiled as he put the letter aside. He was assuaged by his brother’s letter and wondered exactly what Elizabeth had discovered. Whilst Elizabeth was away, her father had thought on the matter much and had convinced himself that Mr. Darcy was involved in making Wickham and Lydia marry. But he would not mention that for obvious reasons.

  The man now waited for Elizabeth to return and he hoped it would be soon. Winter was approaching and he could hear the wind and it had suddenly turned colder as the late fall days grew darker. Next he sighed as he put another log on the fire and thought of all the times he and his Lizzy had discussed all manner of subjects and how she remembered everything they had talked about.

  He knew that few men could equal her intelligence and her wit but thought that Mr. Darcy might be the one man that might make her happy and could earn her respect. Mr. Bennet never believed all of her talk of hating Mr. Darcy and he thought her interested in him from that first moment he called her tolerable and refused to dance with her in Meryton.

  Certainly the man had wounded her pride and pricked at her vanity but her father had watched the two together and they were often looking at each other and the man often watched Elizabeth through her reflection in the windows.

  Back in town, Mr. Gardiner thought of following up with his last letter to Mr. Bennet to advise him that Lizzy would wait to leave after she had completed her Christmas shopping. Indeed, Jane was expected to rejoin her sister and Georgiana the following week and Jane would return to Hertfordshire after only a few days and Elizabeth would return closer to Christmas.

  Elizabeth next wrote to her mother to inform her of her plans and asked for a list of things her family wanted or needed this year. Almost immediately, her mother began to write her reply when Mr. Bennet spoke.

  “Now, Fanny, what does Lizzy say?”

  “Lizzy requested a list of things for her Christmas shopping. Her letter both surprised and disappointed me as she wrote that Jane would join her but would return to Netherfield first and she and Mr. Darcy and Georgiana would come later.”

  “Thomas, can you tell me why she is so friendly with that man?”

  “She must consider him as a friend.”

  “Then I am glad that Mr. Wickham decided on Lydia, but how can Lizzy like such a man as a friend after the way that he treated poor Mr. Wickham? For myself, I cannot stand the man.”

  “Fanny, if you want answers to such questions you must pick your time and speak with Lizzy in private and you will likely have your answers. But be warned, Fanny, you had best treat the man and his sister and Lizzy with respect or I shall withhold your house allowance and will deal harshly with you.”

  “Aye, Thomas Bennet, you run a tight ship, Captain.”

  “No, I want peace at home and people with brains.”

  “Do you not miss our Lydia?”

  Mr. Bennet sighed and did not answer the question and returned to his library.

  The next day a letter arrived from Lydia for her mother. The woman looked hurt and at first she began to cry.

  “What troubles you Mama?”

  “Oh, Mary, our Lydia writes that Mr. Wickham will be shipped to America. His unit is continuing to train and will leave for America in the spring. Lydia writes that she will not be home this Christmas or before he leaves.”

  “Now there is no need to cry, Fanny. The war will be over soon. This is not like the previous war and we are not trying to take the country back. I think it is mostly a war on the sea and a way to keep our American cousins in line.”

  “Oh fiddlesticks! It does not matter why they will fight. What matters is our gallant Mr. Wickham will be away from our darling girl.”

  Mr. Bennet just looked at his wife without replying. He was furious but controlled himself. He wanted to say that Wickham was a seducer of young women and he was twenty-seven and Lydia had just turned sixteen. He wanted to tell her that Wickham told his friend that he had no intention of marrying Lydia and that Wickham and Lydia had lied about traveling directly from Brighton to Gretna Green. In short, Mr. Bennet was about to burst at the seams but managed to hold his tongue.

  Mary caught her father’s eye and the middle sister could not understand her mother’s concern for the very man who had selfishly risked the Bennet good name when Lydia and him eloped.

  The next day Jane told that she and her husband would leave for town soon and meet Elizabeth to do some shopping and she, like Elizabeth, asked for a list of things that she and Elizabeth might shop for. Her mother chuckled and next repeated what she had written earlier to Elizabeth.

  With three sisters out of the house, Mary and Kitty sought each other’s company and Mary, ever one to give good counsel, tried to explain the serious nature of what Lydia and Wickham had done by their elopement.

  “Mary, I would never elope with a man.”

  “I hope not, Kitty, but everyone is different, but in the case of Lydia, she was foolish and put us all at risk. She laughed at Aunt Madeline when they stopped there for a night before leaving for Longbourn.”

  “I do not understsnd.”

  “You did not read Lizzy’s last letter? Aunt Madeline told Lizzy that when she told Lydia how long and hard father and uncle looked for her and Mr. Wickham, Lydia laughed at hearing this news as if it were a game. Lydia also bragged about this to me the second day after she arrived in Longbourn.”

  “I would not think that was funny at all.”

  “Kitty, you will prosper without Lydia living in this house. If they had not married, all of us would have been ruined.”

  “That is not true, Mr. Bingley married Jane.”

  “That is true but they married after Lydia and Mr. Wickham. Perhaps Mr. Bingley might not have wanted to join our family if Lydia had shamed our family name.”

  When Kitty returned to her room that evening she thought of all Lydia had spoken of and compared those talks with what Mary had spoken of. She would gladly seek out Mary to take the place of her younger and silly sister.

  CHAPTER 4

  Jane and Mr. Bingley arrived back in town later that week and Jane planned to do some shopping early the next week with her sister and Georgiana and her Aunt Gardiner. The evening before they would do their shopping, Jane and Mr. Bing
ley joined Elizabeth and the Darcys at a private dinner that also included Colonel Fitzwilliam.

  They had not completed the dinner and all had enjoyed themselves when things changed suddenly.

  All could hear a commotion as Lady Catherine burst into the house, practically running over a servant and a footman.

  “Where is he, my nephew? Take me to him now! I am his aunt and tell him I am here.”

  The butler asked her to remain in the parlor but the defiant woman heard the sound of others in the dinning room and came inside.

  All the party looked on in amazement as Lady Catherine demanded to speak with Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet.

  “Lady Catherine, you have interrupted us in a most foul manner. What on earth gives you cause to enter my home before my guests and embarrass all of us?”

  “I have learnt of your plans to marry Miss Bennet. This cannot be. Are the shades of Pemberley to be darkened by the scandal of the youngest Bennet’s elopement with that scoundrel, George Wickham? I know it all. And what of your commitment to marry Anne? What of your responsibility to join our estates? Do you not know of your obligation to all of your family, let alone to your own dear mother. You and Anne have been promised to wed since you were infants.”