Mr Darcy and Mr Collins's Widow

by Timothy Underwood

  Anne de Bourgh, who has not been mentioned in this text at all, was so charmed by the excellent flattery of her mother’s steward that she chose to run off to Gretna Green with him. Then, much to the surprise of everyone who knew her, the man’s continued flattery affected over a period of some months such a change in Lady Catherine’s attitude that eventually she became reconciled to the match, and was as fond as ever of her former steward. As Elizabeth was far less skilled in flattery Lady Catherine never did become fully reconciled to her nephew’s marriage.

  Jane and Bingley lived very happily together, had many children, and eventually Bingley purchased an estate close to Pemberley. The companionship between the two families remained close as long as they lived.

  Caroline Bingley settled upon a middle aged man with more fortune than fashion, and as a result quite forgot her dislike of connections to trade.

  Lydia Bennet married a smart young Colonel — in fact Darcy’s cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Richard Fitzwilliam had been left at loose ends following the final end of the conflict, and found himself greatly attracted to the liveliness of Mrs. Darcy’s young, and somewhat improper, sister. She however led him on a merry chase that took the better part of a year before they were finally, and happily married.

  The marriages of Mrs. Bingley and Mrs. Darcy gave Mrs. Bennet such extravagant expectations for her children that she hardly considered Colonel Fitzwilliam, though the third son of an Earl, rich. Mrs. Bennet was therefore disappointed that Elizabeth failed to throw her sisters in the way of other rich men. However, Elizabeth was greatly pleased when through their friendship Charlotte Lucas was thrown in the way of a wealthy man. Charlotte met, during her frequent visits to Pemberley, a recently widowed gentleman in his late thirties who owned an estate which bordered Pemberley.

  Mr. Mayhew was impressed by Charlotte Lucas’s sensibility and desired to acquire a new mother for his children, the youngest of whom was but four. He proposed. Charlotte accepted, as she liked everything she had seen of the gentleman, and felt certain from his kind treatment of his children, and his reputation in the neighborhood, that he would be safe as a husband. While neither had hoped or planned to find love, within six months of their marriage the two were deliriously happy with each other.

  Added to that joy was the happiness both ladies received from Charlotte’s near proximity to Elizabeth. Once again the women, now happily married, could easily walk to see each other — which they did near daily.

  Lydia and Georgiana remained the closest of friends, and this closeness only increased when Georgiana married a fine young officer who was a protégé of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s. Darcy, despite the man’s lack of fortune and connections — he was the fourth son of a clergyman — was pleased by the quality of his brother-in-law’s character.

  Kitty did not achieve her ambition of marrying an officer, however she found no cause to repine as she married a very handsome, though not particularly sensible, clergyman. This clergyman was a near copy in manners and appearance of his cousin, a Mr. Elton of Highbury. None of her sisters liked him, but they were all relieved, as Kitty could have done much worse. She had three daughters, all of whom ran away with smart young army officers of no fortune, whose careers were then supported by the preference provided by their uncle, General Fitzwilliam. One sadly died in Crimea during the charge of the light brigade. It had not been his to question why, but to do and to die.

  Mary never married, but instead established a school to train young girls along lines laid out by Mary Wollstonecraft in her essays. The school was surprisingly successful, and Mary had a lifelong close and intimate friendship with one of her senior teachers. When her sisters or mother worried about her unmarried state, she would insist she was completely happy and wished nothing else.

  Mrs. Bennet lived long enough to have many grandchildren, and to annoy more than a few granddaughters with the lamentation that, “My goodness you are already twenty. Why that is practically an old maid. We must find you someone to marry you immediately!” She rarely visited Pemberley, as relations between her and Elizabeth never were happy. She never visited Lydia as her youngest daughter explicitly told her not to. Jane and Bingley accepted her visits, though they were usually pleased when they ended. Mrs. Bennet spent most of her time, often three or four months in a year, with Catherine, who was the only daughter who really welcomed her.

  As for Darcy and Elizabeth, they lived happily together to a shockingly old age. Their lives were always filled with laughter and happiness. Following the peace England entered a prolonged depression during which rents did sharply fall, and Darcy and Elizabeth expanded their holdings substantially by purchasing land from indebted gentlemen. Rents slowly increased again in the decades following and the Darcys turned a very good profit on this. As a result of this, and many other good decisions they made over the course of their long lives, the Darcy family went from being merely very rich, to very, very rich.

  Elizabeth never lost the habits of economy she developed as Mistress of Longbourn. Thus the expenses of the family did not increase with their growing income, and as a result to this very day all of the many female descendants of Mrs. Bennet have trust funds such that they need never work a day in their lives if they so chuse.

  In summary, everyone who ought to have been happy, was quite as happy as they deserved, and most who did not deserve to be happy, were still happy. Except for Mr. Wickham, who was not able to enjoy, or ruin, his excellent posthumous reputation, being dead.

  A Request from the Author:

  Elizabeth and Darcy lead charmed lives. When we finish a story, we know Elizabeth will not die a year later in childbirth, and her children will escape the diseases which killed so many. She is a fictional character, whose wellbeing is protected by the will of the author.

  The real persons who lived in Regency England had no such guarantees. The research I have done suggests one in two hundred full-term pregnancies ended in the mother’s death. At least a fifth of children would die before they became teenagers in rich families.

  These facts should only be a sad part of history. But they are not. They are a terrifying reality. More than a billion people today live without access to medical care. Right now there are places where pregnancy is still among the most common ways for a woman to die. Places where one in five children do not see their sixth birthday.

  Each month I give money to Doctors Without Borders. I enjoy knowing my actions may keep another human alive. You should support them, or another organization that provides healthcare in the poorest countries. Donate ten dollars a month, or twenty dollars a month, or one percent of your paycheck, or two percent— or any amount you feel comfortable giving. But donate something.

  If we act, in twenty years, there will be a mother who survived childbirth because a doctor stopped her from bleeding to death. She will feel nostalgic, yet happy, as she watches her child, who survived an ear infection because of antibiotics we paid for, fall in love for the first time.

  Help me make it happen.

  http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/our-work/medical-issues/womens-health

  About the Author:

  I live in California and have read Jane Austen fan fiction regularly for the past five years. Like us all I’ve found many great stories, and enjoyed many hours of fun as part of the community. I read Pride and Prejudice when I was fifteen, and immediately devoured all of Jane Austen’s books. Also, I read Jane Eyre, and Charlotte Brontë’s other books at about the same time. Since then I’ve looked and looked for books that re-create the wonderful romantic tension in those great classics. Now, I want to create some.

  I enjoy reading fan fiction (many types), critically acclaimed literature, and science fiction. I also like anime. In college I studied applied math and economic history. I hope to put a little of what I love about those subjects in my stories, but not so much it is annoying. I am trying to make a living as an author, so please support me if you can, but I do not remove my stories from fanfiction
.net, or A Happy Assembly. So if you do not have much money, or do not believe in paying for books, you can find a slightly inferior version of them easily.

  I want everything I write to make at least some readers go, ‘wow, that was an unusually good story’. Besides writing excellent fiction, my dream is to convince people to donate to Doctors Without Borders and invest their savings in low cost Vanguard mutual funds. A billion people live with medical care that is in many ways worse than what Jane Austen had access to. You can prevent women from dying young like she did. Future You will have a lot more money if Present You invests in index funds, and doesn’t give a financial advisor lots of money. It is very easy to set up an account with Vanguard.

  If you want to send me an email I can be reached at timothyunderwood.author@gmail.com