But she had no time or wish to respond, for Charlotte and Maria emerged from the Parsonage, calling to her. She excused herself, hastening into the house with a quick farewell, leavingthe colonel standing alone in the road, slightly disconcerted by the abrupt interruption to their pleasant walk. He even felt that Miss Bennet had listened intently to how he had described Darcy.
∞∞∞
It took the colonel another five minutes and several hundred yards of brisk walking to understand Miss Bennet’s behaviour and the gravity of his blunder, and despair washed over him. The lady had four sisters, and her anger was justified only if she knew well who the lady was. His mistake was inexcusable. He rushed to find Georgiana, fervently hoping to catch her alone, and indeed, she was in the library, writing letters.
“What has happened?” she exclaimed, standing up in haste, seeing her cousin’s distressed face.
“I have made a colossal blunder, a terrible mistake,” the colonel confessed. “I finally had the opportunity to walk with Miss Bennet, and everything proceeded as planned. Then, the idiot that I am, I told her that Darcy had saved a friend, perhaps even Mr Bingley, from an ill-fated marriage. I think the lady is one of Miss Bennet’s sisters.”
“Oh, dear God!” poor Georgiana gasped, and she let herself fall back into her chair, comprehending the seriousness of the situation.
“I am such an idiot. I have ruined everything,” the colonel lamented.
Georgiana sighed as tears began to stream down her cheeks while she whispered, “What misfortune to encounter her now—”
“What do you mean?” the colonel asked.
“We went upstairs together after breakfast, and Fitzwilliam seemed somewhat more at ease for the first time since we arrived. He accompanied me to my room, and there, in a tone that was almost cheerful, he said he might have some news for us this evening—”
“No!” the colonel cried in anguish, for he had seen Elizabeth’s face just before they parted, and it bore only anger and frustration. “Do you think I should tell him what I unwittingly revealed?”
“I believe it might be best to tell him,” his cousin said.
With a deep sense of foreboding, the colonel approached Darcy’s rooms, only to be told by his valet that he had gone out. After grappling with his remorse alone for a while, he decided it would be best to go after his cousin and tell him what had happened; seeing Miss Bennet without knowing what had transpired could end in disaster. He looked desperately around the park, but there was no sign of Darcy. He went to the stables, hoping that he had taken his horse for a ride, but he was told his cousin had already departed on foot.
“I saw Mr Darcy walking in the direction of Hunsford,” a young groom told him, and the colonel froze because the Parsonage was in that direction. His cousin had no reason to walk to the village.
Darcy must have gone to the Parsonage, and as they intended to leave Kent soon, it could be his last chance to ask Miss Bennet for her hand.The colonel mused in despair that the proposal would occur immediately after his blunder.
He ran to the Parsonage, hoping to arrive in time and save what could still be saved, but as he approached, he saw his cousin leaving the house, and the sight made him sick with worry. Darcy was broken, and indeed, meeting his cousin, he murmured, “She said no!” and walked off in haste, leaving the colonel profoundly concerned. Then Darcy stopped, and turningback, he spoke roughly. “Please, tell nobody! And I mean nobody!”
The colonel nodded but knew it was impossible to keep such a secret from Georgiana, who knew her brother too well.
Chapter 14
Elizabeth stood still in the doorway, clutching the letter she had just received tightly in her hand, her gaze fixed on Mr Darcy as he mounted his horse and rode away without looking back. Uncontrollable tears welled up in her eyes, watching him depart. The colonel turned his head several times as they receded into the distance, but Elizabeth could not clearly see his expression through her misty eyes.
She could not understand why she had felt such pain at seeing Mr Darcy departing forever from her life. A day ago, refusing his proposal had seemed the right thing to do, the only possible answer. At the same time, her tone and words had only matched the horrible declaration that was more about him disdaining her family than about love or marriage. She had felt angry but at peace with what she had done.
Then, in the freezing morning, unknown feelings and emotions overwhelmed her, and she felt an ache in her heart.
Making a considerable effort to prevent showing what was happening inside her, Elizabeth composed herself when Charlotte and Maria appeared on the porch, their curiosity piqued by the unexpected visitors.
“Lizzy, what has happened?” Charlotte asked, worried, for although the two gentlemen had seen her and her sister, they had not stopped to greet them, choosing instead to depart before their arrival. Although three weeks had passed since Lady Catherine’s guests had arrived and all meetings had unfolded with perfect decorum, Charlotte still feared a quarrel between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy.
“Nothing. The gentlemen send their apologies for not waiting to greet you, my dear. They are in haste to leave for London.”
“So suddenly?” Charlotte asked, still suspicious.
Elizabeth refrained from saying anything further. Before her stood Mr Collins’s wife, not her childhood friend Charlotte Lucas. The letter she had hastily tucked into her pocket burned her, yet she could not share what had transpired the day before, nor could she speak of Mr Darcy’s written words that she was dying to read.
“Have you received a letter?” Charlotte asked, and Elizabeth was relieved she had not noticed that the missive had been handed to her by Mr Darcy himself.
“I wrote to my uncle asking him to send a carriage. It is time for me to leave as well.”
“When?” Charlotte asked with such eagerness that Elizabeth could only conclude she was looking forward to her departure.
“In a few days. I shall prepare, but my uncle is not certain when exactly the carriage will arrive—likely in three or four days.”
