The Portrait of Elizabeth
Page 1
The Portrait of
Elizabeth
A Pride and Prejudice Variation
by
Jane Angwin
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my darling husband who has never once in 25 years of marriage questioned anything I have ever wanted to do, at least out loud. I've been extremely fortunate to be able to follow my own dreams, and he has always supported me, no matter how crazy it seemed at the time. When I told him I was writing a book, he just shook his head and only asked that I not mention him in whatever I was writing. I, of course, didn't listen. While I like to think of him as my own Mr. Darcy, he plays a much different character in this Pride and Prejudice Variation. You will find him hidden here and there throughout the story, and for those of you who know him well, it will be quite obvious who it is and why the character does what he does. Maybe he won't notice.
I also want to thank my good friend Paula who took the time to read the full book after it was finished. This is the first time I have attempted to write a full novel, and I was extremely nervous for anyone to read it. I did, however, hesitantly ask her to be the first to do so, knowing full well she would be honest and not mince words (she never does). She told me later that she was afraid that it wouldn't be very good (did I mention that I've never written a book before?), and she was a bit worried about what she would say to me when she deemed it unfit for public consumption. When she finally finished it, she asked me (as only Paula would), "Who did you steal this from?" She's funny like that. I knew then that she liked it. I hope you enjoy it too. Jane
Acknowledgements
This book came about quite by accident. Although writing the Great American Novel had been on my bucket list for years, it was probably more a pipe dream than a real goal. Although I rarely watch television, and even more rarely take time off from work, one day when I was home sick as a dog, I turned on the television and starting scrolling through the channels. I came upon a movie that starred several of my favorite actors and actresses, and although I missed the beginning, I soon realized I was watching the 2005 remake of "Pride and Prejudice" with Keira Knightly, Mathew MacFadyen, Brenda Blethen, Donald Sutherland, and the amazing Judi Dench. I must admit that although I had read Pride and Prejudice many, many years ago in a literature class, I found Jane Austen's old English style of writing a bit difficult to get through as a young person, and I was probably too young to realize what an amazing piece of literature and a truly beautiful story it was.
Even starting half way through the movie, I was intrigued by the story, the fashions, and the beautiful English scenery. I was also fascinated with the depiction of the subservient status of women in England during those days. Women were unable to carve out an identity or career and were only able to leave home if and when they married. It was very difficult for them to meet eligible gentlemen, as the rules of courtship did not allow couples to be alone, and they were never even allowed to touch, except when dancing. Dancing at village assemblies and lavish balls was the only way to meet members of the opposite sex. Simply being seen alone together, even accidentally, created a severe scandal called a "compromise", and reputations were ruined unless the couple married, happily or not.
The strict social structure also did not allow marrying above or below one's own status. The top of the social hierarchy included the Royals and the Aristocracy (Titled Peerage) and extremely wealthy Landowners. The Middle Class, or "Trade", included business owners, attorneys, bankers and physicians, etc., and the bottom of the structure included servants, simple farmers, laborers, and shopkeepers. Even among those in the highest class, however, what mattered more than anything, was money and the right connections.
The theme of Pride and Prejudice was how the two main characters struggled to overcome these restrictions and chose love over society's rules. As a woman who lived through the '60's and fought my way up the corporate ladder and somehow managed to find an "evolved" husband, I fell in love with the heroine, Elizabeth Bennett, who refused to accept society's limitations - and the hero, Fitzwilliam Darcy, who gradually "evolved" too.
They did, of course, finally get together at the end of the story, but unfortunately, the movie ended abruptly, leaving one to wonder what happened next with our dear couple. How disappointing! No kissing, no wedding, no "happily ever after"! Having missed the start of the story, I went out and bought the CD of the 2005 movie and watched it all the way through. Surprisingly, that version was made for an American audience that included a different ending, a brief scene of Elizabeth and Darcy married and finally kissing! That was somewhat more satisfying (I'm such a romantic), but it still left me wanting more of them and their delightfully comic and complicated families.
Knowing that Jane Austen did not write "sequels" or, God forbid, "Pride and Prejudice II", I discovered the various Fan Fiction sites online where others just like me had written their own versions of "what if" and "what happened next". I began voraciously reading book after book of these stories (yes, I admit, far too many) - some good, and some not so good, but all the while getting to know these characters better and better and developing my own concept of who they were and the culture of their time. I watched the CD numerous times, the original movie with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, and the BBC version with Colin Firth (sorry everyone, I much prefer Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy), and after realizing that I felt I knew the characters, their lifestyle, and the various locations intimately, it occurred to me that perhaps I could write the novel I always wanted to write using these people and their lives. They say, "write about what you know", and that is exactly what happened. I sat down at my computer and began typing, really not sure where the story would go - if at all. Much to my amazement, this story literally wrote itself. Seriously, I really have no idea where the storyline and supporting characters came from, although while writing a scene about two characters drinking cognac together, I did a little research about cognac, and I read about a cognac maker who was considered a dissident during the French Revolution, and he was imprisoned in France. Several villagers helped him escape and they fled to England. I used my own version of that story to bring the French characters into my story. With the exception of doing quite a bit of research to make it as historically correct as possible, I totally lost myself in the early 19th century in England, and it was truly magical.
It isn't necessary to have read Pride and Prejudice in order to enjoy this story, but I know that this genre is not one that will attract a lot of readers, other than perhaps Pride and Prejudice variation fans like myself. That, however, doesn't matter to me. It's not about fame, and it's not about money. It's simply that I set out to write a book, and I did, checking off one more thing on that bucket list. More importantly, I got to spend many, many wonderful hours with my very good friends, Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy in beautiful England in 1812. That's enough for me.
P.S. There will undoubtedly be certain words, people and events that need further explanation, but rather than try to work that into the story, I have provided a list of some of them at the end of the book in the order they appear.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Georgiana
Chapter Two
The Gift
Chapter Three
Le Grande Évasion
Chapter Four
The Request
Chapter Five
The Light in the Gallery
Chapter Six
Lady Catherine
Chapter Seven
Divergent Paths
Chapter Eight
A Cottage in the Woods
Chapter Nine
Colonel Fitzwilliam
Chapter Ten
Ramsgate
Chapter Eleven
Houseguests
Chapter Twelve
A Gentle Breeze
Chapter Thirteen
Bingley
Chapter Fourteen
Visitors from America
Chapter Fifteen
Netherfield
Chapter Sixteen
A Fleeting Glimpse
Chapter Seventeen
Longbourn
Chapter Eighteen
Strange Sounds in the Night
Chapter Nineteen
Elizabeth's Mishap
Chapter Twenty
Visitors at Longbourn
Chapter Twenty One
Miss Bingley
Chapter Twenty Two
Dinner at Netherfield
Chapter Twenty Three
A walk in the Woods
Chapter Twenty Four
Mr. Collins Comes to Visit
Chapter Twenty Five
An Unpleasant Encounter in Meryton
Chapter Twenty Six
A Warning to Mr. Bennett
Chapter Twenty Seven
A surprise Proposal
Chapter Twenty Eight
It's Now or Never
Chapter Twenty Nine
The Misunderstanding
Chapter Thirty
Anne
Chapter Thirty One
A Return to Netherfield
Chapter Thirty Two
Cheapside
Chapter Thirty Three
The Letter
Chapter Thirty Four
A Bevy of Barristers
Chapter Thirty Five
A Wedding in Mayfair
Chapter Thirty Six
Elizabeth's Journey North
Chapter Thirty Seven
A Chance Meeting
Chapter Thirty Eight
A Visit to Pemberley
Chapter Thirty Nine
An Unexpected Meeting
Chapter Forty
A Tragic Mistake
Chapter Forty One
The Portrait
Chapter Forty Two
The Lights of Pemberley
Chapter Forty Three
At Last
The Portrait of Elizabeth
A Pride and Prejudice Variation
PROLOGUE
It was commonly accepted in Great Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries that marriages of convenience were often arranged to unite families' wealth and status, and marrying for love was certainly not what was expected of a young daughter of the peerage. Anthony Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Matlock, had arranged for his youngest and most favored daughter Anne to marry Lord Percy De Bourg, the only son and heir of the late Charles De Bourg, the Marquess of Aylsford. He was a man she barely knew, but De Bourg possessed a large estate in Kent, and his great wealth would greatly enhance the prestige of the Fitzwilliam family and would add to the coffers of their estate. This marriage was what was expected of Anne, and she was allowed no choice in the matter.
Anne, however, had fallen in love with another man. She was firmly against the arranged marriage to De Bourg, but her father refused to acknowledge her feelings, and her entreaties met with little success. She continually resisted the overtures of Lord De Bourg upon his visits, but the pairing seemed inescapable and inevitable, and she had given up all hope of a marriage to the man she loved.
Finally, much to Anne's dismay, De Bourg arrived at Matlock in order to make his offer of marriage to her. Anne's older sister, Catherine Fitzwilliam, a most unpleasant and covetous woman, and beyond doubt the mercenary of the two, was incensed at her father's and De Bourg's choice of Anne to marry instead of her. With no marriage prospects of her own, and facing certain spinsterhood, she surreptitiously arranged for a compromise in his quarters late that night. A weak man in such matters, De Bourg was quite easily diverted by her seduction, and in spite of his desire to flee from the idea of being bound to such a horrid woman, as a man of honor, he was forced to offer for Catherine instead of Anne. The Earl was most displeased with Catherine for her scandalous behavior and the disruption of his plan for Anne, but his prestige was enhanced as planned, and a scandal was avoided.
Catherine was quite pleased with the success of her plot. She assumed control of the large and garish estate of Rosings in Kent, and she assumed the title of Lady Catherine De Bourg, a title she thought would bring her the respect and envy of the society that had once ignored her. That, of course, did not happen as she had planned, and she became increasingly harsh and arrogant. Needless to say, the consequences of the marriage of Catherine Fitzwilliam to Lord Percy De Bourg were unfortunate. Theirs was not a happy union.
Not many miles from Matlock was the estate of Pemberley, a magnificent mansion with sprawling environs situated in the county of Derbyshire. The land was composed of rolling hills and dense forests, idyllic fields of sheep and wildflowers, and sparkling lakes and streams with Pemberley perfectly tucked against a rise of natural woods left untouched and wild to add to its incomparable beauty and tranquility. It was without doubt one of the most prominent and beautiful estates in all of England, built by and belonging to the preeminent Darcy family for many generations.
George Darcy, the present heir to the estate, was a distinguished and highly respected gentleman landowner. Although not a member of the peerage and not titled, his great wealth allowed him and others of the landed gentry to be accepted in the high society of England. He had fallen in love with Anne Fitzwilliam, the daughter of an Earl, but her father had arranged for her to be married to a man of title that she did not love, and George could not intervene in the Earl's plan for his daughter. It was improper for Anne to contact George herself, but when the word of Catherine's indecorous compromise of Lord De Bourg surreptitiously reached Pemberley, George immediately rode to Matlock to request an audience with her father. He and Anne petitioned him for hours, but when their plea was denied again and again, they finally declared their plan to travel to Gretna Green in Scotland to elope without his permission. The Earl would not hear of such a scandalous strategy, and he was begrudgingly forced to acquiesce to their marriage. In order to marry immediately without the usual courtship and necessity of the reading of the banns, George obtained a special license issued by his father's old friend, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Anne Fitzwilliam then quietly married George Darcy, the man she dearly loved. It was an intimate affair witnessed only by her mother and father and her brother, Alexander Fitzwilliam. At the wishes of her father, his errant daughter Catherine was not invited to attend. Catherine was livid at the slight and refused to speak to her father again.
Anne and George Darcy's life together was indeed a marriage of true love. They produced two children, the first being a son named Fitzwilliam, as it was the custom for the first born son to be given the mother's maiden surname. Then, after many tragic losses, their daughter, Georgiana was born some ten years later. Sadly, Anne was greatly weakened by her many failed confinements, and she succumbed five years after Georgiana was born. George Darcy followed five years later, a sad and lonely man, presumably dying of a weak heart, but more likely, a broken heart. They both departed this earth much too soon, leaving their ancestral home to their only son, Fitzwilliam Darcy, a young man of only twenty years, and so begins this story.
Chapter One
Georgiana
Fitzwilliam Darcy stood in the arched doorway of the Pemberley Conservatory watching the artist as he meticulously painted his young sister, Georgiana's delicate facial features on his large canvas. She was seated demurely on a white garden chair with large floral pillows situated around her, and rays of sunlight shown down from the glass ceiling panels above. All around her were beautiful flowers of every hue and type, the scene depicting a Spring day in a verdant garden of blooms. Georgiana was fidgeting with her fan and the book she held as if to say that she had enough of this tedious boredom, but the artist gently reminded her that they needed this perfect tim
e of day and the exact sunlight to capture her features without shadows.
She audibly sighed and slumped her shoulders, making Darcy recall how as a young boy he had to stand for hour upon hour while his own portrait was painted by this same artist some years ago. Due to his youthful embarrassment at having his portrait painted, he had chosen to include his horse in the artwork, but instead of being seated on the horse as he had wished, the artist had him stand for what seemed like weeks. His horse was to be standing next to him in the painting, and the horse was also not at all pleased about being asked to stand still when he was the artist's subject. It had taken many apples to keep the horse settled and still long enough for the artist to do him justice. Darcy silently laughed to himself, wishing there was something comparable to placate Georgiana.
Frederick Charron was one of the best known portrait painters in all of England, and booking his time was quite difficult. His paintings could take months to complete, and he was in high demand, but fortunately he had been a close personal friend of the Darcy family for many years, and he made the time for Fitzwilliam Darcy to paint his sister. He also knew that Darcy would make it well worth his time. Darcy and his father before him were extremely generous gentlemen, and nothing was too good for their close friends and those who they employed - teachers, servants, and tenants alike.