“Of course you may sit, Captain,” she replied, somewhat flustered. “Perhaps this seat here? Hill, will you see to the captain’s man?” A sudden heat flowed all over her, and to her astonishment, her hands were shaking.
It was obvious that the captain was once more suffering from whatever ailed him, for he needed the assistance of his man to find the chair and, once seated in it, had to sit with his eyes shut for a few moments before recovering something of his colour.
“Is there anything I can get you? A brandy perhaps?” she asked, but he smiled and shook his head, only to wince as this obviously exacerbated his condition.
“I apologise for coming to see you in this state,” he began. “However, after last night, I thought it as well not to waste any time.” He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and sought her gaze with his, removing the green spectacles and tucking them into a pocket. “Pray forgive me if I encroach on matters you would prefer to keep private, Miss Elizabeth, but it seems that we are both in something of a predicament, and it occurs to me that, in helping you, I would also greatly assist myself and vice versa.”
Elizabeth began to feel a little sick. Her mother’s indiscretions of the previous evening had obviously caused the captain to see her as some sort of charity case. She opened her mouth to protest that she required no such pity, when his next sentence silenced her entirely.
“You have probably gathered that I was obliged to remove my sister from my brother’s care at very short notice. To put it bluntly, and I beg your pardon for being obliged to do so, when I got to Pemberley, I found that he had turned it into something not very far from a…a…disorderlyhouse. Never an abstemious man, he is now a confirmed drunkard. Never a generous man, he might now be considered almost a miser. Never an affectionate man, he has treated my poor sister and her mother as little better than unwanted lodgers.”
He sighed and looked down. “In all this, he is, I regret to say, accompanied and encouraged by the local clergyman. This man was my father’s godson, and he owes his position entirely to a legacy in his will. Not content with joining my brother in his debauchery, he has so wormed himself into my brother’s affections that he has persuaded him that it would be an excellentjoketo marry my sister to this Mr Wickham and split her fortune of twenty thousand pounds between them, regardless of my sister’s wishes in the matter.”
Elizabeth gasped in horror. He looked up at her, and she could see his distress. “You have met Mrs Darcy. I can conceive of no one less likely to prevent such a match. Moreover, my father, having little respect for her understanding, ignored her as a trustee for her daughter’s fortune, appointing instead my brother and my cousin, who is currently abroad with his regiment. While I doubt that Colonel Fitzwilliam would consent to such a match in advance, if presented with afait accompli,he would have little alternative save to agree to the release of her fortune to her husband.
“I have begun proceedings to have my sister declared a ward in Chancery, so that my brother would have no further influence over her.” Until now, his voice had been firm and almost dispassionate, but for the first time, he sounded uncomfortable. “It has been represented to me that I would have a much better chance of obtaining custody of my sister’s person if I had a family home in which to accommodate her. As a bachelor, I am in no better state than my brother when considered as a guardian. Any interview with her mother would soon reveal her unfitness to be charged with Georgiana’s welfare while I am at sea.”
While horrified by the narrowly averted fate of a young lady she had come to consider as a friend, Elizabeth had no idea what he expected her to do. Surely, he was not offering her a position as companion or housekeeper?
“I understood last night from your mother that you were expecting to receive an offer from Mr Collins. Your father informs me that no such offer has yet been made, and I wonder whether you would consider me as a husband instead.”
She could almost feel the colour draining from her cheeks. Whatever she had been expecting, it had not been this.
“I admit that I cannot offer you Longbourn,” he continued. “However, I have been fortunate with prize money. I could settleten thousand pounds on you immediately, for your own use, with say another five thousand if I get knocked on the head. This would surely be enough for you to support your mother and sisters somewhere until your sisters are settled. I would, of course, be responsible for all the household expenses including those of my sister and Mrs Darcy.”
There was a roaring in her ears as he catalogued the financial arrangements. She had never been a romantic girl, but this almost mercantile conversation was oddly distressing.
“I thought to take a small house in, say, Hatfield, for you. I would leave Anderssen and another man for the outside work and because I will feel better if there are a couple of strong men to protect a houseful of ladies. Then, with two or three women for the house, I am sure you could all be very comfortable.” He was beginning to sound a little desperate, and she realised she had not looked at him for several minutes.
“I am afraid I am not much of a hand at pretty speeches. You must know that I have come to esteem you as a young lady of compassion and good sense—just the sort of lady I should wish my sister to become.”
Still, she could not speak.
“You must not think I would make any…demands upon you right away. I realise we are almost strangers, and the speed at which we would need to act will make it difficult for us to become better acquainted before I must set sail.” He smiled wryly. “I have been awake much of the night trying to decide what to say, and I fear I have not said everything I wished to. I have been at sea most of my life, and my acquaintance with ladies has been slight. So I feel woefully unprepared for this conversation, but please believe me when I say you may always count on my gratitude and trust if you will do me the great honour of consenting to be my wife.”
She stared at him and tried to think. Her sisters, her mother, Mr Collins, Longbourn, a shining face smirking, ‘Lady Catherine is always happy to give advice’, brown eyes in a brown face, a loving embrace for a sister, gratitude, trust. Her thoughts whirled. A little house in Hatfield, calm, order, a chance to be generous without those wet hands forever and ever, but then Longbourn, her mother, Jane. She could see he looked worried and opened her mouth to ask for a little more time to consider, but before she could speak, the door to the parlour was flung open.
“Oh, there you are, Lizzy. Mr Collins wants to talk to you.” That round, unctuous face was just behind her mother’s shoulder, a look of satisfied possession all over it.
Elizabeth could not bear it, and she realised with a surge of relief that she did not have to. “Mother,” she said, “Cousin, you may both congratulate me. Captain Darcy and I are to be married.” She saw her intended’s face relax into a most becoming smile before they were both overwhelmed by her mother and her complaints.
By the time the house was quiet again, Mr Bennet had given his consent and absolutely refused to countenance any marriage between Elizabeth and Mr Collins; Mrs Bennet had retired to her room in a rage at the destruction of all her plans and only slightly mollified by the details of the settlement; and Mr Collins had repaired to Lucas Lodge for dinner, mortally offended.
Luckily, the captain had returned to Netherfield before the worst of the uproar. He had kissed her hand, obviously greatly cheered by her acceptance, promising to return on the morrow to make all the arrangements.
Eventually, exhausted by the excitement, Kitty and Lydia’s squeals, Jane’s concern, and Mary’s relief, Elizabeth went to her room, stretched out on her bed, and wept as though her heartwould break, muffling her weeping in a pillow for fear that her sister would hear.
CHAPTER NINE
By the next morning, Elizabeth had scolded herself into a more sanguine state of mind. She could not imagine why she had wept, for the worst had been averted and the future looked much brighter than had seemed possible only hours before. No doubt, it was merely the relief of spirits overwhelmed by worry.
She had always prided herself on her common sense and practicality, and it would be the height of childishness to pine for the sort of declaration found in novels that the Bennet daughters were not supposed to read. No. She was engaged to marry a gentleman she could esteem, look up to even—a gentleman who seemed disposed to appreciate her and to repose his trust in her. That was a great deal more than many young ladies could look forward to.
Breakfast took place in stony silence, and Elizabeth escaped to her father’s library as soon as she could. Mr Bennet had said little to her the previous day and took the opportunity to congratulate her on her conquest. Although he was still weak, Mr Bennet was obviously cheered by the prospect of his favourite daughter’s marriage to an excellent gentleman. “I would welcome the chance to talk to him again,” he said, “for heseemed to be a man of good sense and proper feeling.” He smiled and patted Elizabeth’s hand. “Although I suspect I should regard any man as such who was not Mr Collins.”
Elizabeth was about to protest when the captain was announced. He too appeared much improved in health since the previous day, there being no accompanying sailor to take his arm. He had brought with him a copy of the letter to his attorney in London, detailing the terms of the settlement that had been agreed upon. Although she was somewhat embarrassed, Elizabeth insisted on staying with the gentlemen while matters were decided, it being further agreed that, in view of the need for haste, Mr Gardiner should be authorised to deal with the attorney in any minor matter that might arise.
As the captain said, “I am due aboard by the twenty-sixth at Portsmouth, so I must leave here not later than the twenty-third, and there is much that must be arranged before then.” The date for the wedding was set for two weeks hence on the twenty-first. Meanwhile, the captain was to see about leasing a house in Hatfield. “Should you prefer to be nearer to Meryton, I can easily arrange it; however, I know how difficult it is to set up a new command when you are surrounded by people who knew you as a child. I shall never forget my first ship as captain. I went aboard to find the bosun, the gunner, and the carpenter had all known me as a youngster, and I could never shake the conviction they still saw me as such.”
