“Good God, what is the matter?” He said alarmed.
“Please sir I need a doctor immediately, please excuse me.” She tried to move past around him but he held her arm gently.
“But of course, I will not stop you but let me go, for you look very ill.”
“I am not ill sir. The doctor is not for me but for Mrs Collins. I believe she is gravely ill with her confinement, yet her husband seems to have no time or inclination to help her. He appears to spend all his days at Rosings with his patroness.”
“Miss Bennet,” Darcy said with a frown, “unfortunately, the only doctor in the village is Doctor Gareth, who is a charlatan if you ask me.”
Elizabeth gasped, “What causes you to say that?”
“He has been treating my cousin Anne for these last fifteen years and she only gets worse, not better. I fear her medication is composed mainly of laudanum to simply keep her quiet and compliant.”
Elizabeth felt like crying. She scratched her forehead in despair.
“Miss Bennet, with your permission I will send for my personal physician in London. I will dispatch a fast rider to get him and he should be here by night fall. Can your friend wait a few hours?”
Elizabeth looked to the distance as if considering her options. Then she focused on the man in front of her and her hatred ofhim came to the fore, “With all due respect sir, why should you care?”
“I do care Madam.”
“What do you have to gain? Mrs Collins can be nothing to you. She is not your particular friend that you should interfere with anything regarding her life.”
Darcy winced, “Miss Bennet, my cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam told me of the conversation you had with him this morning. I am truly sorry if my misguided interference caused your sister pain, but for the sake of your suffering friend upstairs, can we put this conversation aside for another time so Mrs Collins can have the care she needs sooner rather than later?”
Elizabeth’s face burned with shame as she realised how right he was, “Yes sir, please forgive me.” She said looking down at her feet.
“There is nothing to forgive, Eliz…Miss Bennet.” Darcy looked away embarrassed, “I will run along now and send for my physician. God willing he will be here before the end of the day and help Mrs Collins in her time of need.” He then bowed and turning on his heel left Elizabeth without any further remarks.
Elizabeth did not curtsy as there was no time for he had already turned and was speeding down the drive to do his act of charity.
Chapter 4
Darcy paced the foyer at Rosings Park as he waited for the physician.
“Is that my nephew?” Lady Catherine shrieked, as she came down the wide staircase in her dinner finery. “What are you doing, Darcy? I see your manners are appalling. Do you expect me to sit at dinner with you dressed like you are going on a fox hunt?” The lady said stridently.
Darcy winced.
He wondered how he never noticed how rude and totally overbearing his aunt was. Only that morning he was thinking of how having Mrs Bennet as a close relation would be insupportable. Now he realised that Mrs Bennet in comparison to his own aunt would be a much less intrusive guest.
Before Darcy could answer her very rude question, he heard the rumble of a carriage driving up to the front door.He did not wait for Mr Gibbs, his aunt's butler to come and open the door; he did it himself and walked out to meet his physician.
The moment the carriage stopped Darcy opened its door, but rather than welcome the man to Rosings he got into it with the physician, Dr. Denville.
The man looked startled, “Mr Darcy, I received your message as you can see sir. But I believed I was summoned to treat your aunt or your cousin.”
“I beg your pardon Dr. Denville if you were led to believe that.”
“So no?” The doctor looked confused.
“No Doctor, you were summoned here to treat Mrs Collins.”
“I see. And who might that be?” The doctor said, peeved.
As the carriage turned onto the road to the parsonage Darcy raised his brow at the physician in annoyance, “Dr Denville, Mrs Collins is a friend of mine and the wife of my aunt’s rector. Have you a problem with treating someone less grand than your customary clientele, sir?”
The doctor looked down at his hands folded on his lap, feeling properly chastised.
