I Met Mr Darcy Via Luton

by Fredrica Edward

  Lizzy's aunt drew closer, frowning. "What type of improper offer, Lizzy?" she whispered. "Did he touch you? Force you?"

  Lizzy stared at the grass in front of her feet. After gaining her courage, she whispered back, "Aunt, he asked me to be his mistress."

  "Oh," replied her aunt quietly.

  There was a short silence, then her aunt continued.

  "But you avoided my question, Lizzy. Did he touch you?"

  "Aunt, please do not ask me these questions. I do not wish to be forced to marry him. He is arrogant and does not love me. I will be miserable in such an unequal marriage."

  "Lizzy, I am only thinking of your own welfare. I do not know what your mother has told you… Is it possible that you could be with child?"

  "No, Aunt, no. I am not so ignorant. Mr Darcy merely kissed me and no one saw us."

  "Please tell me exactly what happened, dear," pleaded Mrs Gardiner.

  Lizzy could see she was cornered. "I was alone at the Parsonage when Mr Darcy came to call. The others had gone to Rosings for dinner, but I was tired because we had beaten the rugs. He offered me a rose; told me that he admired me; said he would look after my mother and sisters when father died… He kissed me, and I thought at first he was asking me to marry him, but then he said he would set me up in a fine house in London with a box at the theatre and opera, and a carriage; and I understood that marriage was not what he meant…"

  Lizzy put her head on her knees and began to sob.

  Her aunt rubbed her back and waited for her niece to compose herself.

  "And then?" prompted her aunt, and when no response was forthcoming, she continued, "you declined his offer?"

  "Well…" said Lizzy, "not exactly…"

  "Not exactly?"

  "I hit him…with the carpet beater."

  "With a carpet beater?" repeated her aunt.

  "Yes, I hit him, and I yelled at him, and I chased him out into the rain with the carpet beater, and he jumped the front fence and ran away!"

  Her aunt turned away, and when she did not turn back immediately, Lizzy became a little worried. She knew she had overstepped the bounds of decorum when she had lost her temper at Hunsford, so she was not surprised at her aunt's disgust. Grasping her aunt's shoulders, she could feel she was shaking.

  "Aunt?" asked Lizzy timidly. "Aunt, are you all right?"

  Her aunt turned back towards her. Her face was red, and there were tears streaming down it.

  "Oh, Lizzy!" she said, embracing her niece. "I am so sorry."

  Lizzy now realised that her aunt was not crying, but laughing.

  Mrs Gardiner caught her breath with a hiccup. "It was terrible of him to insult you so, but you must admit, it is like a Punch and Judy show!"

  Now Lizzy was insulted by her aunt's reaction, and her sobs broke into proper crying.

  "Oh, Lizzy, Lizzy," said her aunt, embracing her, "you must forgive me."

  She held her niece until Lizzy had calmed sufficiently and found her handkerchief.

  Once Lizzy had progressed to the stage of a few sniffs, her aunt continued, "But you must admit that it would have looked a sight. He is so tall and you are quite petite: like he was being attacked by a terrier."

  Lizzy gave a small laugh.

  "I can just imagine what my brother Claude would say," said Mrs Gardiner.

  "What?" sniffed Lizzy.

  "That he would have given a monkey to see it!"

  Lizzy gave a small chuckle.

  They continued to look out over the surrounding countryside. Mr Bingley and Jane had disappeared from view.

  "And was that the last you saw of him in Kent?" asked her aunt.

  "No, Aunt. I came across him the following morning. He gave me a letter. It was an apology of sorts."

  Of sorts–obviously not an accepted apology, thought Mrs Gardiner. "And what did he have to say for himself in that?"

  "He said he was sorry… that he felt obligated to offer his hand in marriage…"

  "Ah! So he did do the right thing after all!" exclaimed her aunt.

  "I do not want a half-hearted husband!" replied Lizzy hotly. "He also said things that indicated that he thought me and my family beneath him."

  "Such as…" asked Mrs Gardiner.

  "He said he thought Mr Bingley was too good for Jane and that he'd seen one of the officers alone with one of my sisters…"

  "Oh, dear, did he say which sister?"

  "No," said Lizzy blushing, "but I have attended to the situation."

  Little did she know that Lydia had also attended to the situation.

  "So this is why you did not wish to visit Pemberley," said her aunt quietly.

  "Yes, I did not wish to meet him again, particularly on his own property. I was worried he might think I had changed my mind… But I asked the maid at the inn, and she assured me that he was not present. So I thought it was the lesser of two evils, to accompany you there, rather than confess what had occurred in Kent."

  "I am a little hurt that you did not choose to confide in me. I would have spared you the anxiety of going there had I known."

  "I'm sorry, Aunt, but I was so embarrassed by what occurred. I couldn't speak of it."

  Her aunt grasped her hand. "I understand."

  Then she continued, "So what did he say to you in the library?"

  Lizzy blushed to the roots of her hair.

  "How did you know that we met in the library?" asked Lizzy.

  "How could I not have? He gave you the book of poetry. Do you not remember? We were standing at the entrance, looking at the bust of Cicero."

  Lizzy blushed again and looked at her toes. Their first meeting in his library had so completely overwhelmed her that she had quite forgotten about the second…

  "Ah…" said her aunt, looking at her with narrowed eyes. "You are not talking of that meeting, are you?"

  "No, Aunt," Lizzy confessed. "I lagged behind when you left the library during our tour of the house, and Mr Darcy caught me there. It was very embarrassing."

  "Oh," said her aunt. "That was why you were so keen to depart at the end of the tour… What did he say to you?"

  "Nothing, he asked me to wait while he dressed."

  "While he dressed? You didn't run into the man in his nightshirt, did you?"

  "No, Aunt, he came in from outside. I believe he must have been swimming. He was barefoot and, oh! It was too embarrassing!"

  "Just exactly what was he wearing, Lizzy?" said Aunt Gardiner, trying to imagine Mr Darcy in his birthday suit.

  "Just his breeches and a shirt!" said Lizzy, reddening.

  This didn't sound too embarrassing to Mrs Gardiner, but she reminded herself that her niece had no brothers.

  "So then you came back to the music room, and Mr Darcy caught up with us in the vestibule… Well, I must say, he managed to spruce himself up in next to no time. I was very impressed with how affable he was and surprised that he should be so condescending on so short an acquaintance, but it all makes sense now."

  Mrs Gardiner lost herself in her thoughts for a few moments before turning again to her niece.

  "But what did he say to you the following evening in the library? I must admit I was very curious at the time. I didn't think for a minute that the colonel had the least interest in statuary, although I give him top marks for ad libbing. So I believe there was some collusion there."

  "He asked me if I had read his letter and apologised again for Hunsford."

  "And what did you say in reply?"

  "I said I doubted his sincerity."

  Mrs Gardiner raised her eyebrows. "And what did he say to that?"

  "He said he was trying to be a better person. But that is nonsense because he had not done a thing to atone."

  Now Mrs Gardiner was beginning to think that perhaps it was her niece who was the closet Presbyterian. "What do you think he needs to do to atone?"

  "I told him he needed to make amends for interfering between Jane and Mr Bingley!" and at this she looked down to see
that Jane and her swain were again visible in the fields below.

  "Which he has done," replied her aunt, following her eyes.

  "Aunt, you surely aren't advocating that I ally myself with such a reprobate?" asked Lizzy, astonished.

  "Lizzy, I do not think Mr Darcy is a reprobate. He is a rich man, a member of the Ton. He would not enter into marriage… unexperienced. Think on it. Many of the men do not marry until they are thirty, or older, and only then to beget an heir. They have other avenues open to them. Mr Darcy is still quite young. I would guess around twenty-five."

  Lizzy nodded and her aunt continued.

  "Perhaps Mr Darcy himself hadn't planned to marry for several more years. When you caught his fancy, he didn't seek to tryst with you; he sought to engage you in a more permanent arrangement based on a perceived indifference in your stations."

  Lizzy didn't like the direction this conversation was taking. She believed her aunt wished to exculpate Mr Darcy, and she sought to protest.

  Her aunt held up her hand, "Lizzy, you did the right thing, the moral thing, in rejecting his offer. I merely wished you to understand the social milieu that he comes from, to suggest that he made a false step based on commonplace behaviours in his set."

  When Lizzy did not reply, her aunt continued.

  "I believe he is considerably taken with you. The fact that he has continued to pursue you shows that his heart is engaged. I watched him carefully at Pemberley; he exerted himself considerably on your behalf."

  "How could I ever become his wife after such a mortifying incident?"

  "We all make mistakes, Lizzy. That is the nature of grace: to forgive. I believe in your head you are still hitting him over the head with that carpet beater. Put it down."

  Lizzy was feeling mulish and sought to end the tête-à-tête by standing. She held out her hand to help her aunt rise, and they walked silently together back to Longbourn.

  Mrs Gardiner had much to think on. Clearly her niece was not indifferent to Mr Darcy. Her blushes were testament to that. Definitely her pride had been wounded. Still, if Mr Darcy was going the way of the viscount, she would be doing her niece a great disservice by encouraging her to reconsider his suit. Mrs Gardiner resolved to write to her aunt in Lambton and get a second opinion on Mr Darcy's character.

  Chapter 40: Mr Bingley

  The remainder of Mrs Gardiner's stay in Hertfordshire was less eventful. She wrote to her aunt in Lambton but directed her to send her reply to Gracechurch Street. For the most part, Mrs Gardiner kept a close watch over Lizzy, ready to support her spirits or receive any further confidence; but her niece kept her own counsel. Her spirits were not depressed, but neither was she the buoyant Lizzy of old.

  Life at Longbourn had continued in the travellers' absence. Kitty had done a creditable job fulfilling some extra orders for Mr Jones. He, in turn, had helped her with her ginger beer. Mr Bennet's dire predictions regarding the volatility of the brew proved accurate: around half of the bottles of the original batch exploded. But Mr Jones gave Kitty some advice before she brewed the second batch, which resulted in the loss of only a single bottle. Mary had proved so adept at keeping the estate ledgers that upon checking them, Elizabeth found only a single error, and that turned out to be down to Mr Bennet. Now she had found her niche, Mary did not wish to surrender the duty to Elizabeth, and it was agreed she would merely do a double check of the ledgers once a month. Mrs Gardiner was pleased that her younger nieces, or at least two of them, were being more productive. She was not sure that Lydia's frog collecting constituted useful work, although it helped to entertain her children.

  Mr Bingley had opened up Netherfield once more. Upon his unexpected arrival, Mrs Fletcher was glad to tell the master she had three couple of ducks just fit to be killed and went off to the butcher's to order in some meat on Wednesday.

  Bingley rode to Longbourn every morning and spent the bulk of his time with the sisters in the garden, usually tending to one corner of it with Jane while the other sisters and the Gardiner children kept them company from a distance.

  In addition to his daily visits, Mrs Bennet importuned Mr Bingley to join them at Longbourn for dinner.

  "You are quite a visit in my debt, Mr Bingley," she added, "for when you went to town last winter, you promised to take a family dinner with us as soon as you returned. I have not forgot, you see; and I assure you, I was very much disappointed that you did not come back and keep your engagement."

  Mr Bingley looked a little silly at this reflection and said something of his concern at having been prevented by business.

  He accepted Mrs Bennet's dinner invitation for the day after the departure of the Gardiners with alacrity, for Mr Bingley hoped that on this day the house would have finally quietened down sufficiently that he might attend to the business which had originally bought him thither.

  On the appointed day he came, and in such very good time, that the ladies were none of them dressed. In ran Mrs Bennet to her daughter's room, in her dressing gown and with her hair half-finished, crying out:

  "My dear Jane, make haste and hurry down. He is come–Mr Bingley is come. He is, indeed. Make haste, make haste. Here, Sarah, come to Miss Bennet this moment, and help her on with her gown. Never mind Miss Lizzy's hair."

  "We will be down as soon as we can," said Jane; "but I dare say Kitty is forwarder than either of us, for she went upstairs half an hour ago."

  "Oh! hang Kitty! what has she to do with it? Come, be quick, be quick! Where is your sash, my dear?"

  But when her mother was gone, Jane would not be prevailed on to go down without one of her sisters.

  The same anxiety to get them by themselves was visible again in the evening. After tea, Mr Bennet retired to the library, as was his custom, and Mary went upstairs to her sewing. Two obstacles of the five being thus removed, Mrs Bennet sat looking and winking at Elizabeth and Catherine for a considerable time, without making any impression on them. Elizabeth would not observe her; and when at last Kitty did, she very innocently said, "What is the matter, Mamma? What do you keep winking at me for? What am I to do?"

  "Nothing, child, nothing. I did not wink at you."

  She then sat still five minutes longer; but unable to waste such a precious occasion, she suddenly got up, and saying to Kitty, "Come here, my love. I want to speak to you," took her out of the room.

  Jane instantly gave a look at Elizabeth that spoke her distress at such premeditation and her entreaty that she would not give in to it.

  In a few minutes, Mrs Bennet half-opened the door and called out: "Lizzy, my dear, I want to speak with you."

  Elizabeth was forced to go.

  "We may as well leave them by themselves, you know," said her mother, as soon as she was in the hall. "The younger girls and I are going upstairs to sit in my dressing-room."

  Elizabeth made no attempt to reason with her mother but remained quietly in the hall, sitting down at the secretaire to complete a letter to Charlotte.

  But on returning to the drawing room, when her letter was finished, she saw, to her infinite surprise, there was reason to fear that her mother had been too ingenious for her. On opening the door, she perceived her sister and Bingley standing together over the hearth, as if engaged in earnest conversation. And had this led to no suspicion, the faces of both, as they hastily turned round and moved away from each other, would have told it all. Their situation was awkward enough, but hers, she thought, was still worse. Not a syllable was uttered by either; and Elizabeth was on the point of going away again when Bingley, who as well as Jane, had sat down, suddenly rose, and whispering a few words to her sister, ran out of the room.

  Jane could have no reserves from Elizabeth where confidence would give pleasure and instantly embracing her, acknowledged, with the liveliest emotion, that she was the happiest creature in the world.

  "'Tis too much!" she added, "by far too much. I do not deserve it. Oh! why is not everybody as happy?"

  Elizabeth's congratulations were
given with a sincerity, a warmth, a delight, which words could but poorly express. Every sentence of kindness was a fresh source of happiness to Jane, but she would not allow herself to stay with her sister or say half that remained to be said for the present.

  "I must go instantly to mother;" she cried. "I would not on any account trifle with her affectionate solicitude; or allow her to hear it from anyone but myself. He is gone to father already. Oh! Lizzy, to know that what I have to relate will give such pleasure to all my dear family! How shall I bear so much happiness!"

  She then hastened away to her mother, who was sitting upstairs with Kitty and Lydia.

  Elizabeth, who was left by herself, now smiled at the rapidity and ease with which the affair was finally settled, after giving them so many previous months of suspense and vexation.

  "And this," said she, "is the end of all his friend's anxious circumspection! of all his sister's falsehood and contrivance! the happiest, wisest, most reasonable end!"

  In a few minutes she was joined by Bingley, whose conference with her father had been short and to the purpose.

  "Where is your sister?" said he hastily, as he opened the door.

  "With my mother upstairs. She will be down in a moment, I dare say."

  He then shut the door and, coming up to her, claimed the good wishes and affection of a sister. Elizabeth honestly and heartily expressed her delight in the prospect of their relationship. They shook hands with great cordiality; and then, 'til her sister came down, she had to listen to all he had to say of his own happiness and of Jane's perfections. In spite of his being a lover, Elizabeth really believed all his expectations of felicity to be rationally founded because they had for basis the excellent understanding and super-excellent disposition of Jane, as well as a general similarity of feeling and taste between her and himself.