My dearest Jane,
I used to love my rambles so very much. I told you about the groves and the glade, did I not?
On Monday past, you will never guess who arrived here! None other than that infuriating, insufferable man, Mr Darcy! At least, he is accompanied by a very friendly man, his cousin and the second son of the Earl and Countess of Matlock, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam of the Royal Dragoons.
It would not be so very bad if I did not have to see Mr Darcy every day! It is not only that he calls at the parsonage almost daily. (Mr Collins sees it as a compliment to himself, but Charlotte thinks otherwise.) Even though I warned him where I walk so he could avoid the area, I have discovered him each day I have had my constitutionals, and he always offers me his arm! I thought he disliked me as much as I do him, so it is most confounding.
I can only think he is doing it to vex me, knowing, as he does, of my dislike of him. I would love to mention Mr Wickham to Mr Darcy to see what he can say to defend his despicable actions; either that or I may ask the Colonel to explain why his cousin blasted poor Mr Wickham’s prospects.
So far there has been no polite way to do it, and you know I will always be polite if I am able.
I am glad that Aunt Maddie issued a setdown to the supercilious sisters. I am only sorry that I was not there to add to it. It pleases me that youhave seen they were never your friends. At the same time, it saddens me that you had to experience pain to learn the truth of them. I am very proud of you, Jane. What you said about Miss Bingley in your epistle I received on Tuesday is the most unforgiving thing I have ever seen you write. Brava, Jane!
Now I will pray that you see Mr Bingley again so his sisters and Mr Darcy (I am sure he was involved) will see their plans come to nought.
You deserve all the happiness in the world. I still think I will be your children’s spinster aunt and teach them to play the pianoforte very ill one day. Until I have half of your goodness, I will never deserve the happiness you do.
As much as I have enjoyed seeing Charlotte in her own home (even with Mr Collins’s not-so-subtle hints about all I missed), I cannot wait until Tuesday, the 7th of April, when I will see you, Aunt Maddie, Uncle Edward, and our cousins. I am to prepare for another dinner at Rosings Park. To be honest, it surprises me Lady Catherine invited us now that she has her nephews in residence.
With all of my sisterly love and warmest regards to the Gardiners,
Lizzy
Jane smiled, but she wondered if mayhap Charlotte had the right of it. What man stares at a woman he does not find handsome or is seeking to discover faults? To Jane, what Lizzy described was almost as if Mr Darcy was most surreptitiously courting her.
When she rejoined Aunt Maddie, she handed her aunt the epistle.
“I think Lizzy is wrong. However,knowing your sister, as long as she believes the lies about Mr Darcy which are now firmly in her head, she will never consider his suit. His status and wealth will not sway her,” Maddie opined after she read the letter. “It is inconceivable to me that Mr Collins does not see the insult to his wife every time he attempts to show Lizzy what she missed by refusing his suit. At least, she seems to like one person connected to Mr Darcy if I am reading her words about Colonel Fitzwilliam correctly. Did I ever tell you that I serve on a charitable board with Lady Elaine Fitzwilliam, the Countess of Matlock and Colonel Fitzwilliam’s mother? Her husband and older son, Lord Reginald and Lord Hilldale, all invest with Edward. Lord Matlock invests his younger son’s funds with your uncle as well. I am yet to meet the Fitzwilliam men.
“Lizzy believes Mr Darcy is disgusted by your family having relatives in trade; I wonder what he would say if he knew we have a close connection to the Fitzwilliams?”
“Like I needed a jolt to make me begin to see things as they are, I think it will take something similar for Lizzy to release her prejudices against Mr Darcy,” Jane opined. “I am very much looking forward to seeing Lizzy when she arrives here.”
“As are we, and especially the children. You know how your cousins enjoy the way she tells stories,” Maddie agreed.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Elizabeth had been shocked when Mr Darcy had made that insulting proposal to her the previous evening, followed by acrimonious statements made by both, especially herself. She had not been proud of the words she had thrown at his feet, but then after he had done what he did to Mr Wickham as well as assisting in breaking Jane’s heart, he deserved no less.
After the vitriolic speeches to one another, the last person Elizabeth expected to see on her walk was Mr Darcy, butthere he stood. She thought she could turn and slip away back into the grove, but she stepped on a twig which made a loud cracking noise.
“Miss Bennet.” Darcy walked to her and then bowed.
“Mr Darcy.” Elizabeth curtsied, not able to meet his eyes. No matter how justified her words had been, she was still mortified to have spoken them.
“Will you do me the great honour of reading this letter?” Darcy thrust the thick missive into Miss Bennet’s hands, then turned on his heel and was off back towards the manor house.
Elizabeth’s first instinct was to tear the unread epistle into so many pieces, but her native curiosity took hold of her. She walked over to a rock in the clearing, sat in the morning spring sunshine, surrounded by newly verdant trees and serenaded by many birds, and broke the seal.
At first she did not want to believe a word he had written; however, slowly but surely, as she read the epistle a second and third time, she realised that she could not deny the veracity of the words. She still found his excuse for interfering between Jane and Mr Bingley deficient, but she could, and did, acquit him of any wrongdoing with regard to Mr Wickham.
As much as she hated to admit it, the behaviour of her family at Netherfield Park during the ball, save herself and Jane, whom Mr Darcy had not tarred with the same brush, was not something of which to be proud.
There was one section of the epistle which made her smile. She had been so angry during the insulting and unwanted proposal, and then, because of his cavalier attitude towards Jane and Mr Wickham, Elizabeth had accused him of further dishonour. She read that part of the epistle again.
You cannot think me so very bad and devoid of all honour and properbehaviour as to believe that I would propose to you while engaged to my cousin, Anne de Bourgh, not to mention at the same time, about to make an offer to Miss Caroline Bingley.
Let me address these in order: There is not now, nor has there ever been, an engagement between myself and my cousin. I do not believe it is healthy to marry a close relative, and even without that, neither of us has ever desired to marry the other; in fact, I believe with Anne’s health she will never marry.
