“Thank you for being so candid with me, Miss Elizabeth.” Darcy took her hand and bowed over it. It took all of his much vaunted self-control not to kiss her ungloved hand. “I hope when we see one another again we can move forward as friends.”
“I would like that. Yes, I think I will enjoy being your friend rather than running from you like a young girl who is afraid of her own shadow,” Elizabeth smiled.
Both felt good about their path forward. For Elizabeth it showed he had truly forgiven her, and for Darcy, it taught him to hope for a future with Miss Elizabeth in a way he had never allowed himself to hope before.
Chapter 26
Madeline Gardiner welcomed her niece to her home. Her husband would have been present, but he had a meeting with one of his investors which he could not defer. Before interrogating Lizzy about her need to be away from Longbourn, and more especially her father, Madeline first sent her up to the guest chamber to wash and change from her journey.
Once she had completed her ablutions, but before she returned to the sitting room, Elizabeth stopped in the nursery to greet her cousins. All were more than pleased to see her, even Lilly, although as she was recently thirteen, and no longer slept in the nursery, she tried to temper her exuberance at seeing her cousin.
After promises of storytelling were made, the three younger Gardiner children, Eddy—eleven, Peter—eight, and May—five, allowed their favourite cousin (whichever Bennet sister was visiting them earned that title) to leave them, at least for now.
Elizabeth descended the stairs to the ground floor where she knew Aunt Maddie was waiting for her. Once she had seated herself on a settee, there was no missing the raised eyebrows or the questioning look on her aunt’s countenance.
“Aunt Maddie, there is much to tell, however, as Uncle Edward is not home yet do you object if we wait for him so I do not need to tell everything more than once?” Elizabeth requested.
As it was a perfectly reasonable thing to ask, Madelinecould not but agree. “I always wondered when the veil would be lifted from your eyes regarding your father,” she said. “I do not expect you to answer now. Your uncle should be home within two hours; I can wait until then.”
“Why did you and Uncle never say anything to me if you saw what I did not?”
“Lizzy dear, Jane wrote to us telling of the many times she spoke to you on this subject, albeit not always in a plain manner. Did you listen to her? Would you have heard what we had to say until now when you are open to doing so?”
She wanted to retort and tell her aunt she was wrong in her assertions, but when Elizabeth thought back honestly, she had to admit to herself Aunt Maddie’s words were nothing but the truth. “Was I really so very bad? The way I judged people and laughed at them? Oh Aunt, almost everything I believe is based on mistaken premises! My behaviour to everyone merits the severest reproof. It is unpardonable; how can you still all love me? I cannot think of how I have been without abhorrence.” The tears of sorrow and shame coursed down Elizabeth’s cheeks.
While her niece sobbed Madeline sat next to her and pulled her into a warm hug. “Lizzy, how could we not love you? Never question that. We will never forsake you. Almost from the time you could walk and talk, your father has been making you over in his own image. He fashioned you into a foil which he wielded primarily against your mother, but also against many others for his own amusement. It was all you knew! We, who saw the truth, all hoped you would reach a point where you would see things as they are for yourself. Whatever woke you to the facts must have been like a quake of the earth.” Madeline paused as she rubbed her niece’s back. “We will not speak more until Edward is home. In the meanwhile, I think you need some rest. When you have recovered, wash your face, go play with your cousins, that will restore you to good humour, and we will speak later once the children have gone totheir beds.”
After a watery nod, Elizabeth stood and made her way back up to her chamber. Thankfully, she encountered none of her cousins or any servants to see her red, puffy eyes or tear stained cheeks before she entered the sanctuary of her bedchamber.
After washing her face, Elizabeth removed her slippers and then curled up on the bed. She knew the process she had set for herself to undertake would not be an easy one, but if earlier was any indication, it would be far more fraught with pain than she had thought. Elizabeth was prepared to do what she must, consider all of her past actions, and the relationship with her father, regardless of how much it would hurt to do so.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
As much as he enjoyed his solitude, Thomas Bennet did not mind when Sir William Lucas called on him as the man usually amused him greatly. Thanks to the changes in his wife and daughters’ behaviour, there had been no sport to be had at Longbourn, so Sir William’s call was provident on this day.
“That miscreant, George Wickham, who wanted to ruin Lydia, and by extension your other daughters, has been sentenced to a year at Newgate, with hard labour. No thanks to you, he will never be allowed to inflict his dastardly proclivities on the innocent any longer,” Sir William stated seriously.
Much to his chagrin, Bennet saw none of the puffed up person who was overly enamoured with his knighthood before him, rather a stern and contemplative man. Was the whole of the world going mad?
“So you believed the fiction Lizzy told about the man?” Bennet sneered.
“Bennet, we have been friends of a sort for many years, even if you like to make sport of me.” Seeing Bennet’s eyebrows shoot up, Sir William gave a bark of laughter. “Oh you thoughtme not intelligent enough to see what you were about? Many of us know exactly how you mock us, and we choose to allow you to make a fool of yourself. Tell me something Bennet. With your vaunted intelligence, would most feel comfortable sharing information with a serious man, or with, what is it you call me, a ‘self-important bumbling fool’?”
It was satisfying to see the smirk wiped off Bennet’s face. “As I was saying, the only fool here is the one who dismissed his daughter’s words as you did. You forget Jane and Charlotte were with her. What you may not know is we have evidence of his seductions in Westingham as well as the debts he left behind there. If that were not enough former Lieutenant Denny confirmed every word Charlotte, Jane, and Eliza reported they heard. Not one word of it was fiction! How would you have felt had all of your daughters been ruined? Would that have been enough sport for you? You ignored the fact the convict boasted about how he resorts to rape if his targeted girl does not do what he wants.”
Rather than a clever retort—Bennet could not think of one—his mouth hung open. How was it everyone knew what he was about? He finally understood why Lizzy wanted to be away from him. Due to his desire not to bestir himself from his study, he had rejected what she and Jane had told him, and it seemed she had acted without him, with Sir William being one of those who had not ignored what he had been told. Well at least everything had been solved without any effort from himself, other than his signature on a sheet of paper.
“You have said quite enough, Sir William. I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and have now only to be ashamed I considered you a friend. You have taken up enough of my time!” Bennet blustered. “Good day, Sir.” Bennet picked up his book again and did not look at the man sitting opposite him.
All Sir William could do was shake his head at Bennet’s inability to own when he was wrong. Knowing him for as many years as he had, the Lucas patriarch was disappointed,but not overly surprised. He did not stop in the drawing room on his way out as he was aware that the ladies, as well as his own daughter Charlotte, were all at Netherfield Park meeting with the engaged couple regarding their wedding. By the time Hill assisted him with his outerwear, his gelding was waiting for him in the drive.
In his study, not being able to concentrate on the words swimming before him, Bennet threw his book down in disgust. ‘How dare that puffed up former tradesman take me to task?’ he thought indignantly. ‘My family comes from a long line of gentlemen; we have been at Longbourn for hundreds of years! He owns that pitiful Lucas Lodge for what, six or seven years, and he thinks he can lecture me?’ His ego had been severely bruised and being one who would not, could not, look at his own faults, he had to find ways to denigrate Sir William to make himself feel better.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
William Collins returned to his parsonage, alone and still unengaged. In order to obey Lady Catherine’s edict her clergyman had to be married, he had offered for a half dozen local ladies since his ignominious return from Longbourn, where his olive branch and amends had been summarily rejected.
For a reason he could not fathom, neither his future ownership of an estate nor the connection to the noble house of de Bourgh had secured an affirmative response to his proposals. He had explained how attentive Lady Catherine was to everything, especially the running of his home, and that still had not attracted a single positive response.
