Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and The Scarlet Pimpernel

by Denise O'Hara

  “It is so good to be home with my dear family!” Bingley said to as they sat leisurely in the drawing room. “Very good, indeed. Now, Harry, tell me everything that I missed while I was away. Did your uncles take you children fishing again? Did anything exciting happen?”

  Harry went on to talk in great detail about the excitement of Amelia Gardiner catching the biggest fish any of them had ever seen. Her brother Robert fell into the pond. He related the events leading up to Levi Hurst falling out of a tree and being fortunate enough to grab hold of a vine, keeping him from hitting the ground.

  “And now I know who Wendy Darcy is going to marry, when she grows up, of course.”

  Charles sat up straight from the reclined position he was in, and Jane reached over and grabbed his hand. “Do you, now?”

  “Yes, I do. It was as hard to see as the nose on her face. That is a new expression Robert Gardiner taught me. His older brother, Thomas, who wants to be a stage actor, told him. It is from one of Shakespeare’s plays. It means is not hard to see at all. ”

  His parents looked at each other and smiled. “Well, Harry,” Jane began, “you are very young to be deciding on whom you shall marry. But, if in the future, it turns out that you do marry your cousin Wendy that would be very sweet.”

  “Mother, how could you think such a thing? I am not going to marry her! I would not marry Wendy Darcy of all people!”

  “Oh,” replied Jane with some disappointment. “Then who do you suppose she will marry… in the future?”

  “Clifford Collins, of course.”

  Charles laughed. “The Collins’ oldest boy? And what makes you think that, son?”

  “Well, the day after you all left, Father, Wendy said she did not want to go with the rest of us to play in Butterfly Orchard. She asked Uncle Hurst if we might ride horses instead. He said not today. She said she would just stay home with her mother.

  “I knew she did not want to go because Uncle Darcy was not here to bring her, and she only ever goes when he is with her. So, I tried to talk her into it, but she would not do it. She asked Lilly Hurst if she wanted to stay behind and play with her. But Lilly wanted to go to Butterfly Orchard that day of all days. You see, she has always been a peasant woman, but I told her I had just discovered she was actually the long lost daughter of a king from a foreign land. She had been stolen from her cradle as a wee babe, and the king had been looking for her every day for years. Robert Gardiner turned out to be the king and her father.

  “Wendy tried not to look sad, but it was as hard to see as the nose on her face that she was.

  “Clifford Collins asked me what was wrong with her. I said it was a secret, and I could not tell him. Well, Wendy heard me say that and started getting tears in her eyes again. That is why I would never marry her. I shall only marry one who has the constitution of an oak, and she is practically a weeping willow!”

  Charles and Jane exchanged looks and could not help smiling at their son’s declaration. “Then what happened?”

  “I said to her that she might as well let me tell Clifford now that his suspicions were aroused and she said it did not matter anymore anyway. So I told him how scared she was of every little creature, not big ones like horses, or cats, or dogs, but little ones. And there are plenty of little ones like lizards and frogs in Butterfly Orchard.” I could tell Wendy felt quite embarrassed.

  “Then Clifford said, “What if I told you that I used to be afraid as well, Wendy?”

  I said, “It is not nice to lie, Clifford.”

  “Clifford could barely contain his laughter. He said he was not lying. “What if I show you how I overcame my fears?”

  “Wendy was not sure if he was telling the truth or not. But I told her she had nothing to lose, so we followed Clifford outside.

  “He started looking around, and then he bent down and picked up something. He told us to come join him over there. He asked her, ‘Tell me something. Do you like rabbits?’”

  “She said she loves rabbits.

  “He said he figured she would since she liked fluffy cats. ‘Have you ever gotten scratched by a cat?’ he asked her. She said she had many times. He said he has too, but for some reason she was just like he was - not afraid of them, even though they scratched him from time to time. One day his father brought home a rabbit, and he was not afraid of a rabbit either. So his father told him, ‘In that case, view frogs as furless rabbits. They enjoy hopping, love to be pet, and would never hurt you. Neither one will even give you a little scratch.’

  “Are you scared when a cat suddenly runs away from you or a rabbit hops away? She said of course not. He said well, sometimes I used to get scared because a lizard or a frog would move so fast to get away from me. But my father said all animals do that, even cats and dogs. Once I started to see the little animals as they truly are, I really started to like them. Now, I am going to open my hands just a bit, and if you want, you can close your eyes and I will help you pet this frog. All the time, you just think about it being a little rabbit that has lost its fur. Would you like that? She said she would do it. She closed her eyes, and I could not believe it, but she let Clifford take her hand and pet the frog.

  “I kept waiting for her to scream, but she never did. Instead, she opened up her eyes and kept petting the frog. She said, ‘So you are simply like a rabbit without any fur. I love rabbits, so I believe I can grow to love you as well.’ She was smiling as she stroked the frogs back.

  “Clifford told her, “‘Do not be afraid. This frog will not bite nor will it hiss at you, and it most certainly will not attack you. Frogs and rabbits are friends who enjoy hopping around together and never want to hurt you.’ After a little while he asked if she wanted to hold the frog and she did it! I asked her if she wanted to go with us to Butterfly Orchard to play but she said. “‘Maybe later… I think I want to play with my frog a little longer!’ You could tell she felt very proud of herself that day. When we went back for lunch, she had the frog in a box and was still playing with it.”

  “Yes, we were all surprised that she was playing with the frog, but we did not know what had brought about the transformation,” Jane explained.

  “After lunch, then Clifford caught a lizard and kept saying how beautiful it was. He put it on a log and it turned brown like the log. He held it again and Wendy even held the lizard. After that she went with us to Butterfly Orchard, and she would call Clifford over for every little thing she saw. He said she was the lizard queen of Butterfly Orchard. I said no she was not because I am the king and she is not my queen. She said she did not want to be my queen anyway, and I said it did not matter one way or the other because she was not. She said she would just be the lizard queen but not of Butterfly Orchard.

  “But she followed Clifford around after that like he was her best friend. And I heard her tell him when they were leaving that he could be the lizard king if he wanted to.”

  “What did he say to that?”

  “He just smiled at her, but you could tell she was encouraged that he did not say no, thank you. I certainly would have.”

  Epilogue

  A fortnight later, the newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Fitzwilliam, stood looking at the peaks.

  As Kitty Fitzwilliam looked out at the impressive scenery, she recalled her sister’s past words of concern. “He will marry you, honeymoon for a fortnight, and then leave for his next assignment. You will need to grow accustomed to saying your farewells.” Those words had been said before Colonel Fitzwilliam had made up his mind to leave his past life behind and settle down for good with Mrs. Darcy’s sister.

  Yet, as Kitty looked at her dashing new husband, she could not help but wonder if there was any truth in those ominous words. Did he want to be somewhere more exciting at this very moment?

  “Richard? Do you miss the danger and adventure now that you have married me?”

  He looked into her worried blue eyes and laughed. “Kitty, you fell into the lake yesterday, and I had to rescue you. Can you ima
gine when we have children? There is a chance that at least one of them will take after their mother. I have a feeling that as long as we are together, danger and adventure will always have a place in my life. And my heart.”

  Feeling happier than she could have imagined possible, she reached for him and pulled him close.

  “Kiss me, Richard.”

  “Happily, but first, what do you say to us moving away from the edge of this cliff, hmm, Danger?”

  The story continues in Part 6 of the Pride and Prejudice Sequel: Life after the Wedding Series! Coming Summer 2017.

  When Mrs. Bingley, Charles’ Mother, and her sister, Aunt Jeannie, come to visit! Their visit overlaps that of the Wickhams. Outspoken Aunt Jeannie has something to say to the self-centered Lydia! Wickham has plans that do not necessarily include his wife and child, and Charles Bingley finally reaches his tolerance level!

  Thank You!

  Thank you so much for reading the Pride and Prejudice Sequel: Life after the Wedding Series! I hope you enjoyed it! The story will continue soon! Please take a moment and leave a review on Amazon : )

  Also by Denise O’Hara: The Books in the Life after the Wedding Series are:

  #1 Life after the Wedding

  Book 1 of the series features the Bingleys. Jane Bingley, Caroline Bingley, and Mrs. Hurst stories are all featured.

  Romance at its best, Jane Austen style! The Bingleys are honeymooning in Ireland. There Jane meets her new mother-in-law and his lively Aunt Jeanie! How did likable Charles Bingley and self-important Caroline come from the same family? Jane learns much of the Bingley family's untold story.

  Back at Netherfield, they are reunited with the Darcys and Bennets. Mrs. Bennet never changes, but Lizzy must help her dearest sister, who is beginning to see things differently now that she has a family of her own. Why do the Bingleys leave Netherfield after only a twelfth month?

  #2 Life after the Wedding : Love is in the Air

  Miss Caroline Bingley is unsure of what to do when she meets a potential suitor who is nothing like Mr. Darcy. Misunderstandings arise in the chaos that ensues.

  During influenza that hits England, Georgiana meets Colonel Fitzwilliam's handsome friend. Mary and Kitty have suitors and Anne de Bourgh is in need of a husband. All come together when the Darcys Host a Ball at Pemberley!

  The Darcy’s and Bingleys each celebrate their anniversaries in their own unique ways and Harry Bingley is always up to something in A Pride and Prejudice Sequel: Life after the Wedding Series, Part 2!

  Also by Denise O’Hara:

  Disdain and Deception

  This Pride and Prejudice Variation begins between Darcy and Elizabeth's engagement and wedding.

  Suppose everything happened exactly as in the original until after the engagement. Then Mr. Darcy has an accident....or is it? He is taken away from Elizabeth, and she must use whatever means she can to reach him before it is too late.

  Yours truly, Mr. Darcy

  You've Got Mail - Regency Style! In this lighthearted and sometimes humorous short story retelling of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth's head is full of Wickham, and she blames Darcy for keeping them apart. He must come up with a way to change her mind about him if he's ever going to win her! Clean Content! An uplifting short read!

  Complicated Attachments

  Legally Darcy

  The Timeless Series-

  Darcy and Elizabeth: Timeless

  Timeless Adventures: London

  Timeless Adventures: TITANIC

  About the French Revolution and One Man Who Made a Difference

  Why was there a French Revolution? To put it in the simplest words possible: The masses of hungry and poverty stricken people of France rose up against the aristocracy and royalty who enjoyed lavish comforts at the people's expense.

  Of those accused as being against the Revolution, over 17,000 people were officially tried and executed during the Reign of Terror, and an unknown number of others died in prison or without trial.

  The wave of revolutionary fervor and widespread hysteria quickly swept the countryside. Revolting against years of exploitation, peasants looted and burned the homes of tax collectors, landlords and the seigniorial elite. Known as the Great Fear (“la Grande peur”), the agrarian insurrection hastened the growing exodus of nobles from the country.

  Amid a wave of violence in which Parisian insurrectionists massacred hundreds of accused counterrevolutionaries, the Legislative Assembly was replaced by the National Convention, which proclaimed the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the French republic. On January 21, 1793, it sent King Louis XVI, condemned to death for high treason and crimes against the state, to the guillotine; his wife, Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793), suffered the same fate nine months later.

  Following the king’s execution, France’s war with various European powers and intense divisions within the National Convention ushered the French Revolution into its most violent and turbulent phase. In June 1793, the Jacobins seized control of the National Convention from the more moderate Girondins and instituted a series of radical measures, including the establishment of a new calendar and the eradication of Christianity. They also unleashed the bloody Reign of Terror (“la Terreur”), a 10-month period in which suspected enemies of the revolution were guillotined by the thousands. Many of the killings were carried out under orders from Robespierre, who dominated the draconian Committee of Public Safety until his own execution on July 28, 1794. His death marked the beginning of the Thermidorian Reaction, a moderate phase in which the French people revolted against the Reign of Terror’s excesses.

  I came across an interesting article posted September 24, 2013:

  “Historian Solves Riddle of the Scarlet Pimpernel”

  By Western Morning News

  Here is an excerpt, as quoted directly from that article:

  ”Baroness Emmuska Orczy in her adventure novel, The Scarlet Pimpernel, wrote a tale that has spawned countless imitators since it first appeared in 1905.

  “And while the author’s masked hero, who rescued French aristocrats from the guillotine during the French Revolution, is clearly presented as fiction, historians have long argued that the character of Sir Percy Blakeney must have been based on a real person.

  “This week sees the publication of a new book that aims to prove once and for all that The Scarlet Pimpernel was not only based on fact but that the exploits of the real-life protagonist put his fictional alter-ego in the shade.

  “Phantom of the Guillotine is the result of extensive research by Elizabeth Sparrow, who has a comprehensive knowledge of Anglo-French relations during the early years of the 19th century.

  “Born in the village of St Keyne, a few miles inland from Looe, Mrs. Sparrow has lived close to Lamorna since the 1950s.

  “It was during her formative years in East Cornwall that she developed a passion for historical research and in particular events associated with the French Revolution and how it impacted on life in Britain.

  “Surrounded by shelves of books, with more hardbacks on a coffee table, seats and the arms of settees, Mrs. Sparrow explained that her love of the period was initially sparked by her father.

  “‘He was a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy and he would often tell me about my great-grandparents, who had been born in the first decade of the 19th century,’ she said. ’So history was very much a family topic when I was growing up.

  “‘My father talked far more about the Napoleonic wars than he did about his own time in the Great War. Consequently I found I related to the stories of the Napoleonic period, drinking it all in.

  “‘In Cornwall, people have long memories. One particular story that always intrigued me was that my grandfather knew a chap in Morval parish who wore a Waterloo medal next to the medal he’d been awarded for the best pig at Looe Fair. I liked that very much and it also provided a fascinating direct link to that era.’

  “Mrs. Sparrow’s writing career began with a biography of the 2nd Lord Came
lford of Boconnoc. However, it was her investigation of the activities of British spies in post-revolutionary France that really took off. Secret Service: British Agents in France 1792-1815 was a huge critical success when published in 1999 and copies continue to change hands for hundreds of pounds today.

  “Crucially, it was during her 20-year study leading to the publication Secret Service that Mrs. Sparrow came upon the name of Louis Bayard.

  “‘As I carried out research, both in this country and in France, the theme of Baroness Orczy’s Scarlet Pimpernel was always cropping up,’ she said. ’There were many clues but nothing definite.’

  “Spurred on by the numerous complimentary reviews of Secret Service, a major award from the International Napoleonic Society and being elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Mrs. Sparrow decided to delve still deeper.

  “And she finally knew she was really on to something after discussing the matter of the Scarlet Pimpernel’s identity with Baroness Emmuska Orczy’s daughter-in-law.