“You know I wish to oblige you in all things, but in this instance, I must refuse for the sake of my own happiness. And sanity.”
“You are a selfish man,” Fitzwilliam teased as he rose. “I will keep you apprised on the matter at hand.”
Elizabeth feltlike she was eleven and had been summoned to the library to provide a recitation on the kings of England and the dates of their ascension to her father. Instead, Mr Collins sat behind her father’s desk, and Mary stood next to him with a severe frown. It was maddening and insulting to be called before this desk, by these people.
“You cannot deny that you have been there. Their maid, Hannah, talked to Mrs Baker’s lady, and she told their footman, who told my maid?—”
“Mary, I do not deny calling on Miss Darcy. She is a genteel, educated young lady who has had only her brother for company. I wished to provide her with an essential service, to be a friend to a fellow creature.”A fellow lonely and dependent sister.
The missing sheet music had been noticed, and although Lydia refused to admit any knowledge of it, neighbourhood gossip had supplied the deficiency.
“My dear cousin, you were in town when Mr Darcy first let thehouse, so I can forgive your ignorance so long as you now acknowledge that such a connexion is beneath our dignity.”
“You played whist with Mr Darcy last week at Lucas Lodge!”
“Do not raise your voice to Mr Collins.” Mary pierced her with a glare. “You must remember your lower place.”
Elizabeth bit back the retort that she could never forget it since Mary happily reminded her of it at every opportunity. “In any event, I have yet to see Mr Darcy. I visit only his sister.”
“It is generally understood that the woman in Netherfield’s lodge is Mr Darcy’s mistress.” Mr Collins shook his head sadly, as though she were but a foolish female. “Your innocence must, in part, explain your inability to comprehend?—”
“It is only a rumour that she is his mistress!” she interrupted. “Some believe it, and yet Sir William Lucas invites him, so how horrible could Mr Darcy be? None but me have spoken to Miss Darcy. She is no older than Lydia, and Mr Darcy must be closer to thirty than to twenty. I do not think Miss Darcy is out, let alone anyone’s mistress. She is tall, like her brother. His hair and eyes are darker, but there are similarities in their appearance. The same nose, the same brow.”
“If she is not his mistress, why does she not stir from the lodge? She does not even attend church.” Mary paused, as though trying to recall an extract from a sermon. “The habit of seriousness and devotion in church produces a desirable effect on a lady’s conduct and temper.”
“My new acquaintance is unwell.” Elizabeth sighed sadly. “I think she is too ill even to attend church. She coughs often, has little strength, and she appears to have grown thin quickly. I fear she is dying from consumption.”
Mr Collins and his wife shared a horrified look. “My dear cousin Elizabeth, if she is suffering from a wasting disease, you must wonder what illicit amours she has had to bring such a thing upon herself. No matter what our more lenient neighbours may do, you ought not to call on the inhabitants at Netherfield Lodge.”
“She is Mr Darcy’ssister! Their familial resemblance is striking. You cannot assume she is sick because of vice. I see nothing improper in my visiting a lonesome, ill girl who lives in my neighbourhood.”
“It is not your place to decide what is proper or not,” said Mr Collins gravely. “You are a female and living on our charity.”
Being dependent, being at another’s mercy, wounded her spirits daily. If she cried from frustration, it would bring on another attack. There was already a slowly building pain around her heart, a pressure squeezing her chest and throat. She could not have visiting with Miss Darcy taken away from her.
I have already had so much of myself chipped away bit by bit every day I stay at Longbourn.
“Is it not unchristian to assume the worst of your neighbours?” Elizabeth asked Mary with a long look and one last hope to win her argument. “I cannot believe that for all of your sermon reading and extracts that a woman in your superior position cannot show kindness to an ill woman. Longbourn should set an example to the neighbourhood, should it not?”
Mary straightened her shoulders and narrowed her eyes. “Mr Collins, Providence has now placed Lizzy in a lower place, and perhaps by visiting with this girl, it allows her to feel a nobility that she is unlikely to ever have on her own account. It ought to be known that the Longbourn family encourages charity to the less fortunate.”
“Yes,” Elizabeth agreed. “It is my duty, is it not?” She would admit to whatever insult Mary made against her as long as she might come and go as she pleased. She had certainly not expected to appeal to any sort of feeling. She suspected the Collinses had none.
“My dear Mary, the rumours?—”
“We ought not to let rumours supply the place of my—of our good sense. If Lizzy says this woman is Mr Darcy’s sister and not his mistress, we must believe her, because she knows we could forgive anything but falsehoods or obstinacy. A single woman’s dependent position is a precarious one.”
They both looked at her with expectant expressions. “Yes, to lie would be beneath my pride.” Elizabeth’s fingers were numb, and her legs felt weak. She had to conclude this interview and lie down before she collapsed in front of them.
“Well, Mary, perhaps by treating this girl with tenderness when sick—without making her a confidante, of course—would join tocousin Elizabeth’s pious example and go far in reforming this girl, in case she is prone to vice.” His voiced raised in question as though Mr Collins was not sure of his own mind. “Elizabeth may spend no more than two hours a day at Netherfield Lodge. Even if she is not his mistress, vice and dissipation can lead to wasting disease, they say.”
Good heavens, these two are fools without an original thought in their heads. Mr Collins is led by whoever spoke last, and Mary is guided by her own self-importance and what she remembers from Fordyce’s sermons.
They talked on amongst themselves, but Elizabeth only heard the sound of the pounding of her own heart. She felt faint and disconnected, as if she was entirely separate from the woman being called to task before Mr Collins’s desk. She would have to speak to Mr Jones.
When he enteredthe lodge that felt more like a prison than home and saw the empty sofa in the drawing room, Darcy’s heart dropped, and for a terrifying moment, he feared his sister had died while he was at Ramsgate. Within a moment, his rational powers were his own again, and he was on his way to Georgiana’s bedchamber when he caught sight of someone through the window. Darcy ran around the house to see his sister leaning heavily on the arm of another woman as they made their way through the sunny garden.
“Have you run mad?” he called to Georgiana, who started in surprise. He reached them in a few strides and put an arm around his sister, forcing the stranger to step away. “You will make yourself weary and strain your lungs.” He had not recognised Miss Bennet at first. “What to heaven are you doing here?”
