The second day, even though it was the sabbath, after the Netherfield ball was as long as it took to quit the Godforsaken neighbourhood full of savages?the foremost among them being the Bennets. Miss Bingley was pleased that Mr. Darcy seemed as keen to quit the area as she was.
As Darcy's travelling coach sped toward London, carrying herself, her sister Louisa, her sister’s husband, and her Mr. Darcy, Miss Bingley thought with pleasure about the intelligence the aforementioned Jane Bennet had shared with her at the ball.
Miss Bingley had stood, seething, as Mr. Darcy,herMr. Darcy, had taken to the floor with none other than the hated Eliza Bennet, who he had stated had fine eyes and a pretty face.
She had not been standing long before she felt a presence next to her and discovered Jane Bennet, who did not have a partner for the set. “Lizzy had better enjoy herself tonight, as tomorrow she will be betrothed to that,” Jane Bennet had stated spitefully as she pointed at the bumbling parson, Mr. Collins, a distant relative, and heir to the pitiful pile that was the estate of Longbourn. In Miss Bingley’s mind, ‘estate’ was a misnomer. Miss Bingley did not consider why Jane Bennet was jealous of her younger sister dancing with Mr. Darcy after the woman had seemingly given up the pursuit of the man.
“That is good news for…” Miss Bingley caught herself before she said too much. “I mean for your sister as I doubt any other would offer for her.”
“With her impertinent and unladylike ways, I cannot but agree with you, Miss Bingley,” Jane Bennet confirmed.
It was at that moment Miss Bingley realised the façade Miss Bennet presented to the world was a far cry from the reality of who she really was. If it was not necessary to protect her brother from the grasping and lowborn Bennets; Miss Bingley might have liked being a friend to the vicious woman standing next to her.
As she snapped herself out of her reverie, she noticed the forlorn look on Mr. Darcy’s mien as he sat opposite her in the rocking equipage. He had been sitting opposite Louisa when she boarded the coach, but it was the work of a moment to have her sister swap places with her. “Come, Mr. Darcy,” Miss Bingley cooed, “surely there is nothing or no one you will repine not seeing in this backwater?” Miss Bingley batted her eyelids at Mr. Darcy in what she believed was a coquettish manner.
“There are, in fact, some things I will miss sorely,” Darcy replied.
“If it is Miss Eliza, or the soon-to-beMrs. Collins,” Miss Bingley said spitefully, enjoying the way Mr. Darcy blanched at her intelligence, “according to thesweetMiss Jane Bennet—who is not the person she seems—dear Eliza will be betrothed to that idiotic parson by now.” Caroline took pleasure in crowing about her news.
‘Please tell me I will not have to see the woman I have fallen in love with as the wife of that dunderheaded sycophant mydearAunt Catherine appointed to the living at Hunsford? Dear God, what have I done?
‘I did not want to raise her expectations so I left her vulnerable to this. Her mother will not allow her to refuse, neither would she have allowed Miss Bennet to refuse my friend. He may have offered for her if I had not told him the truth about her and what she attempted with me. She is my match in every way, but I have allowed my pride and misplaced sense of duty to cause me the loss of a magnificent woman.
‘Look at the way the harpy that is Miss Bingley crows over thoughts of my Elizabeth’s suffering. One of these days, I will reach the point where I will be unable to hold back any longer and I will tell the shrew exactly what I think of her and that she has no chance ofeverbecoming my wife, even if she were to compromise me.
‘She should have been my Elizabeth, but now I have lost her forever thanks to my damnable pride. If I cannot have her, I will not marry. Pemberley will go to Giana’s first born.’
Darcy decided that as soon as they were out of Meryton, he would do what he had on the way to Hertfordshire when he refused to suffer the over-scented woman’s company. He would stop the coach and swap places with his valet. He did not care a whit how much fury the shrew was sure to display.
Elizabeth noticed the Darcy carriage and the enigma of a man himself. She was glad neither he nor the other occupants saw her. The last thing she needed was scorn from any of that group of people. As she sat and waited, she noticed the handsome Mr. Wickham, who had been so wronged by Mr. Darcy, approaching the post. He bowed to her when he was next to where she was seated. After ascertaining there was at least ten minutes before departure, Elizabeth exited the mail coach.
“Is what your sister Lydia told me true, are you leaving the area?” Mr. Wickham asked.
“Yes Mr. Wickham, I am,” Elizabeth confirmed.
“If you will stay with me in my room tonight, and we have some fun together, I will make sure you get to London tomorrow,” Wickham stated suggestively. Before he knew what was happening, he was writhing on the ground clutching his manly parts.
“How blind I was! Charlotte warned me you were not what you seemed! How dare you suggest thus to a gentlewoman, or toanywoman. You, sir, disgust me.” Elizabeth wheeled and returned to her seat on the post as an audience of dismayed townspeople looked on.
As it departed, she thought about how she had been taken in so easily by an obviously dishonourable man. It must have been Mr. Darcy’s slight at the assembly. Elizabeth had laughed it off but the handsome Mr. Darcy calling hertolerableandnot handsome enough to tempthim hurt her vanity much more than she had ever admitted.
She had looked to find fault in Mr. Darcy and left herself open to Mr. Wickham’s manipulations. As she thought back on his tale of woe now, she could easily pick out inconsistencies and downright contradictions. Charlotte had been correct, and she had been too obstinate to listen. She still did not like Mr. Darcy very much, but at least she was able to acquit him of the worst cruelty she had believed of him.
Elizabeth sat back on her uncomfortable seat in the cramped quarters of the post and closed her eyes to try and get some sleep. She tried to put all thoughts of the handsome man from Derbyshire out of her mind, without much success.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Just as he planned to do, as soon as Meryton was behind him, Darcy struck the ceiling with his cane and alighted before Miss Bingley had time to react. At least, after he spoke to Bingley he would never have to put up with the over scented harpy again.
As he rode towards London on Zeus, Darcy was just as miserable after hearing the news about Miss Elizabeth as he felt when he discovered what was happening on his arrival at Ramsgate two days earlier than he had planned.
Due to his unexpected arrival, he caught his sworn enemy, George Wickham, with his sister at the house. His sister Georgiana, called Giana, was but fifteen and told him of her planned elopement, unable to keep such momentous news from her brother who was more of a father than a sibling.
Darcy had two of his largest footmen detain both Wickham and Mrs. Younge, his sister’s companion and Wickham’s cohort, while he tried to convince his sister of Wickham’s perfidy. In the end, she had agreed to stand outside the drawing room where Darcy had confronted both perpetrators.
It had hurt his sister to hear how the man she believed she loved was only using her to gain her dowry and hurt her brother, but it had helped her begin to recover, as had the stinging slap she had gifted Mr. Wickham’s cheek—removing the smirk from his face. Both conspirators had been turned out of the house after being threatened with arrest, Wickham for his debts and Mrs. Younge for fraud, if they ever breathed a word to a living soul.
Darcy snapped out of his reverie, he had none other to blame but himself for losing Miss Elizabeth.
