Page 4 of A Promise Made

He had never seen the like.

She spoke again, startling him from his reverie. “I have another question for you, if you will permit it.” When he nodded, she continued, “Is your real name Mr Collins?”

Darcy asked, “What?” But then he figured out her thoughts: Mr Collins was a distant cousin of Mr Bennet’s, and investigations had found that he was to inherit Longbourn.

Ah! Miss Elizabeth had come up with a viable theory to explain why a stranger might start helping to improve an estate. She was not only a curious young lady, but a clever one.

“I am not Mr Collins,” Darcy said just as she seemed about to repeat her question. “My full name is Fitzwilliam Andrew George Darcy.”

“I see,” she said. But Darcy could tell that she did not see.

He reiterated, “Apply to your father for the reason I am helping, Miss Elizabeth. As for me, I need to get Aonbarr to his breakfast and me to mine, so I can actually start helping. Good day to you.”

Darcy bowed politely, swung into the saddle, and turned Aonbarr back towards Netherfield Park’s stables.

Chapter Four

Lizzy did not feel as if she had made any headway in discovering why Mr Darcy was there.

Mr Darcy had not been tricky in eluding her questions, and he seemed to be telling the truth—which meant that her papa had asked for him not to reveal his motivation for helping at Longbourn. He had not explained why a stranger suddenly arrived as if from the Heavens above, willing and able to help her father improve the estate…but neither did he try to fool her with a false story.

If only he was not so well-favoured. Lizzy was not positive that she had been everything she had meant to be—clever and discerning, sharp-tongued dressed up in polite language— because, when he dismounted and approached her, he…well, she was not sure what he did. But she felt disquieted somehow, and it was probably all due to his inconvenient handsomeness.

Feeling conflicted about her father, Lizzy breathed deeply and decided that maturity and lack of emotion might gain her father’s confidence. She walked back to Longbourn and knocked on the door of her father’s study. Bade to enter, she stood before her parent and said, “Papa, I find it astonishing that a strange man has somehow developed a desire to help the Bennet family and the Longbourn estate. Honestly, the puzzle of it makes me nervous, for I cannot conceive of a non-scandalous reason to withhold the explanation from us. Would you please alleviate my anxiety and explain? I promise not to gossip or spread the explanation further.”

But her papa merely gave her a placating smile and said, “Ah, Lizzy, my most curious child. I cannot tell you the reason because it would hurt innocent people. However, I can assure you that Mr Darcy is a good person, and his work on our behalf is a good thing.”

She did not understand how telling her the truth could hurt innocent people, if she did not spread whatever he said to others. Lizzy felt disappointed that her father so little trusted her.

“I will not be able to stop myself from wondering about this, Papa. You know me well enough to understand that.”

“Wonder all you wish, Lizzy. But do so quietly, if you please. You know me well enough to understand that I would rather read my book than entertain your worries.”

Lizzy left quietly, as she was bade. She did not appreciate her father’s dismissiveness. And she realised that he was now treating her as he had treated her younger sisters for years. How had she not understood, before, how such disdain would impact their behaviour and perhaps their personalities?

Mr Darcy had not lied, and he had not acted as if she was a silly little girl with her questions. He still seemed far too solemn, and she could not like that he had not only instantly replaced her in her father’s esteem, but that he also seemed a bit too authoritative on her father’s estate. But…were those truly critiques of Mr Darcy, or of her papa?

Chapter Five

Darcy started his meeting with Mr Bennet with a report that, as he had supposed, an upgrade of the drainage system and the use of new fertilisers would improve yields rather dramatically without garnering much notice from the tenants. Mr Bennet approved the changes.

Continuing with his report, Darcy said, “I also identified two of your tenants, Miller and Jackson, as being most likely to welcome modernisations. Given the fact that their farms border one another, I thought I could, first, fund the Enclosure acts, which would allow for more productive arrangements of fields and crops, and, second, introduce crop rotation within their two farms. Once others see their success, they will more likely acquiesce to making similar changes. Do you agree with my assessment?”

Mr Bennet took almost a minute to consider the question. Darcy saw that he was re-reading a portion of the original proposal, and he waited with as much patience as he could muster.

The man finally answered, “Yes, I believe they are the two men most amenable to change. I approve of attempting those changes on their farms. Do you wish me to accompany you on your meeting with the two of them?”

“That would be helpful. Thank you.”

Mr Bennet’s head jerked. “Do not dare to thank me, sir. I am ashamed that I have let things slide….”

Darcy shrugged. “You thought your own blood would not inherit. It is difficult to feel good about spending money on something you feel you and yours could lose at any time.”

The day before, Darcy had signed a long-term high-paying lease on Longbourn so that Mr Bennet would have enough money to repair tenant dwellings and fences, and thus increase rent, and to increase the yields of the farms and thus the income from the estate. Mr Bennet had signed papers investing some of the monthly lease payments in the Funds for the eventual dispersal as dowries.

“Have you written to Mr Collins?” Darcy asked.

“Yes, just as you suggested. I gave it to my butler, to be posted today.”