First Impressions: A Tale of Less Pride & Prejudice (Tales of Less Pride and Prejudice)

by Adams, Alexa

  Darcy danced with Elizabeth, Georgiana, Jane, and even Kitty, whose performance much surpassed his expectations though she would blush furiously and giggle too much. Elizabeth danced with her uncle, Mr. Bingley, and Mr. Collins (an unfortunate debacle), so when Mr. Wickham approached her for the next set she experienced no pain in refusing, happy as she was to sit with Mr. Darcy for the remainder of the evening.

  The Darcy’s were charged with depositing Elizabeth and Jane at Longbourn before returning to the inn. On the ride, Mr. Darcy topped off what all agreed to be a memorable evening by enthusiastically regaling his fellow passengers with a most amusing anecdote: “While you were dancing with Mr. Collins, Miss Elizabeth, the new Mrs. Wickham accosted me with the most extraordinary questions. She inquired if, now that marriage would surely do much to heal the breach between Wickham and myself, I would not reconsider giving her husband his due inheritance. At first I was affronted, thinking she referred to a living my father had set aside for him and he rejected, accepting my ample compensation instead. But no, I was mistaken. Mrs. Wickham had much more in mind.” Jane, Elizabeth, and Georgiana stared at each other in wonder, the last of these ladies especially surprised by her brother’s unfamiliar, mischievous grin.

  “She wanted not just a living for her husband, oh no! Not Mrs. Wickham. Somehow she has formed the notion that George Wickham is my – what is the most delicate way to put this – my natural brother!” All three ladies gasped and Darcy laughed at their response, quite impressed with his own sauciness. “To be sure I immediately informed her that her new husband is a precise replica of his father and that my father took a great deal of interest in the lives of all the estate workers.”

  “You did not!”

  “I did.”

  “Certainly she did not like to think of her husband as a laborer!”

  “I would not wish to bare witness to the scene that will surely transpire between the newlyweds tonight!” Be assured that all the occupants of the carriage enjoyed this mirth excessively, though both Jane and Georgiana would insist that they felt only compassion for the former Miss Bingley.

  Chapter 24

  Two days later Jane and Mary Bennet were married to Charles Bingley and William Collins, respectively. While Jane’s beauty far outstripped her sister’s, no one attending would dare be heard to call a bride plain on her wedding day, so all agreed that they had never seen either sister in better looks. Mrs. Bennet was triumphant and Mr. Bennet, some claimed, was seen to be making uncommon use of his handkerchief during the ceremony. A subdued Mr. and Mrs. Wickham stayed close to the Hursts and did not say much to anyone else. Elizabeth, Kitty, and Lydia all attended their sisters while Mr. Darcy stood up with Mr. Bingley, Mr. Phillips performing the honor for Mr. Collins. The day was crisp and clear, no accidents occurred in the kitchen: it was unanimously proclaimed the finest wedding Meryton had seen in many years.

  Mr. Darcy, having already invited the Hursts to Pemberley for the wedding, felt it incumbent upon himself to acknowledged the rather subdued Wickhams so far as to extend them that same cordiality at the wedding breakfast. Happily they declined. Both were feeling rather put out by the other and looked forward to the diversions of London where they could indulge their one similarity – a shared desire to cut a dash. Darcy was pleased he would not be in town to witness it.

  The Collinses departed the next day for Hunsford – Lady Catherine had been most adamant that her rector must not be absent for yet another Sunday, especially considering that she herself would not be in residence to steer the flock. Mrs. Bennet cried far more than she had expected when she said goodbye, lamenting now that it was too late that she wasn’t closer to her third daughter. Mary kissed each relative goodbye with precision, informed her mother that she should not give in to such excessive emotion, joined her new husband in the coach, and left Mrs. Bennet behind her, waving a handkerchief until they were well out of sight.

  The following morning there was cause for more emotional goodbyes when the Gardiners departed, taking Kitty and Lydia with them. The girls were delighted with the prospect of school in Bath but all pleasures must contain some degree of pain – theirs came in the form of being unable to attend the wedding at Pemberley. It was to their great chagrin that the headmistress odiously insisted they begin a new term, as new pupils, on time. This was bitter indeed. The Gardiners kindly volunteered to take them to London to buy the remainder of their school clothes before Mrs. Gardiner escorted them to Bath. Though the promised shopping did much to soothe their rattled spirits, their departure was still marked by the shedding of a great many tears. Miss Darcy, who joined the family in seeing them off, was particularly touched at the affection shown to her and the many heartfelt declarations of devotion, mainly made by Lydia. It was Kitty, however, who requested that they begin a correspondence, one that was dear to both ladies throughout the remainder of their lives.

  Darcy and Georgiana spent the last night of the year quietly at Netherfield, now vacated by the Hursts and Wickhams, before departing for Pemberley the following morning in the company of Mr. Bingley, his new wife, and Elizabeth Bennet.

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  As you will undoubtedly observe by the few remaining pages of this text, the following events are rather obvious but I shall, under the assumption that there are those who will be interested, attempt to summarize the details with a modicum of taste and style. Needless to say Jane and Elizabeth were appropriately astonished by the size and scope of Pemberley’s house and grounds. “Of all this I am to be mistress!” Elizabeth declared, awed by the thought. Fortunately Mrs. Reynolds was a practical, motherly women and did a great deal to make the future mistress at home. Elizabeth had only a few days with which to acquaint herself with the household before the guests began to appear but, as both Darcys were anxious to aid her in the daunting task, she received ample tutelage. By the time Mr. and Mrs. Bennet arrived, accompanied by Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth was almost convinced she managed to greet them with at least a semblance of the dignity expected from the future mistress of Pemberley. Mr. Bennet quickly made himself at home in the magnificent library while Mrs. Bennet enjoyed a thorough tour of the house and all its treasures.

  The following day brought the arrival of Lady Catherine, Miss De Bourgh, Darcy’s uncle, the Earl of _______, and his youngest son, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Elizabeth could tell by their warm manner of greeting what great friends were her betrothed and the Colonel, to whom she took an immediate liking. Warm and friendly as his son was, the Earl was equally imposing. Just as he seemed determined to interrogate Elizabeth with a virtual onslaught of questions, which his sister had not yet managed to answer to his satisfaction, Lady Catherine pointedly interrupted him, “Enough for now brother. It is my turn with the future Mrs. Darcy.” The Earl, having a lifetime of experience with his sister, was compliant.

  “It is a pleasure to see you again, Lady Catherine,” Elizabeth said warmly.

  “You may as well call me Aunt Catherine, as I intend to call you Elizabeth. Your sisters’ wedding went well I presume?”

  “Famously, Aunt Catherine.”

  “I’m sure your mother will happily provide all the details.”

  Frequently that evening Darcy and Elizabeth stole furtive glances with each other as they eagerly anticipated the morning. Here were their collected families and friends, getting along far better than either had ever dared to hope, and tomorrow would see them man and wife. For both, it was nothing less than a fabulous dream come true.

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  Miss Elizabeth Bennet was married to Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy on a cold but beautiful January morning in the chapel at Pemberley. The bride was dressed simply but the magnificent quality of her gown, complete with Flemish lace, to her mother’s infinite satisfaction, added to her beauty a new grandeur. The Darcy family diamonds – presented to her after her arrival at Pemberley, during a tour of her future quarters – adorned her neck and ears. The groom was impeccable in his perfectly tailored coat while the look in his eyes,
as he gazed with love at his new wife, promised this to be a union of unusual happiness. Charlotte Lucas, in a new gown for the occasion, attended Elizabeth while Colonel Fitzwilliam, in his dress uniform, stood with Darcy. Huge quantities of flowers from the greenhouses had been harvested to festoon the seldom used family chapel. The tableau thus created inspired Mrs. Bingley to attempt to render it in embroidery as an anniversary present for her favorite sister.

  That same young matron had managed to prevail on her mother not to festoon her head with as many feathers as she deemed appropriate for her daughter’s marriage to Mr. Darcy of Pemberley, a very wise move as more lavish headgear would certainly have blocked her daughter’s delightful view. Charles whispered, “Will each wedding I attend, now that I am married, affect me so? Or is it just that our own bliss is so recent that makes me unduly sentimental?”

  “As long as we remain happy, my love, how can the wedding ceremony not move us? Especially such a magnificent union as this,” she quietly responded.

  “While I am thrilled to be Darcy’s brother, does this not make you, in some respect, my sister as well as my wife?” He barely silenced his mirth at this notion as the couple blushed and beamed at each other, suppressing their urges to laugh.

  Georgiana sat next to her uncle and in front of her aunt, both of whom maintained the strictest decorum throughout the ceremony without once hampering her glee. Not that either were in bad spirits – only a few minutes in his nephew’s company had convinced the Earl that the match had made him exceptionally happy – but both believed a certain dignity was due to the occasion. Next to Lady Catherine, an unusually animated Anne de Bourgh helped Georgiana to lighten the sobriety their elders had cast over their family’s side of the chapel with a smile so broad her face ached, though she did not complain. Several of the upper servants of Pemberley attended the proceedings, sitting behind the family. Mrs. Reynolds took great solace in her handkerchief, which she used to stifle the happy sobs that continuously threatened to emanate: not even Mrs. Bennet was so openly overjoyed. The happy couple planned a tour of the Lakes for their honeymoon but would not leave until late spring. For the time being, they would happily nest at Pemberley excepting only a short spell in London, at Aunt Catherine’s insistence.

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  The years were good to Mr. and Mrs. Darcy. Their marriage was long, fruitful, and marred only by those tragedies that are inevitable in every life. It was many years before Mr. and Mrs. Collins inherited Longbourn and when the time came Mrs. Bennet remained, not to die for many years after a happy life, virtually devoid of suffering. She and Mary, who also outlived her husband, grew quite close over the years in which they amiably cohabited, finding common ground in the mutual joy they experienced in fretting over Mary’s many sons.

  Lydia and Kitty both made excellent progress in school and though the former remained a silly, intellectually insubstantial lady throughout her life, she was perfectly happily married to an equally silly but wealthy young man who doted on her and their children. Kitty, on the other hand, grew quite refined and made an unexpected splash on society. She married a handsome and gentlemanly baronet of old family, thereby gaining the precedence Lydia had always professed to want over her elder sisters and would always begrudge Kitty. Lady Stratton threw herself wholeheartedly into the role of patroness to a village, inspired by the example set for her at Pemberley, and spent her life contentedly fulfilling the obligations of wealth while paying little heed to its entitlements.

  Needless to say Jane and Bingley were happy. Mr. Bennet’s dire predictions that two such kindhearted persons would surely be abused proved false, for Mr. Bingley took a strong hand over the estate he eventually purchased not thirty miles from Pemberley. Only the Wickhams still managed to have the run of him, as they always seemed to be just outside their means and in need of only the smallest assistance to get by, but Charles and Jane were good natured enough not to bear a grudge towards the couple.

  Who else can I provide with a happy ending? Why one Charlotte Lucas, who often visited Pemberley and after a few years married Mr. Westover, the rector of the nearby village of Kympton, thereby permanently ensconcing herself in the Darcy’s intimate circle. And then, of course, there is Georgiana Darcy. Unfortunately, her tale will have to wait until a muse named Jane once again comes calling.

  The End