Page 48

“Are you and Darcy not joining us at St Alfred’s Church for services this morning?” Bingley enquired as he and the Hursts prepared to leave the house for Meryton and the church in the town on Sunday.

“We are remaining here so that Wickham does not see my cousin,” Darcy explained. “He is petrified of Richard, and if the bounder sees him, he will run before we can deal with him permanently.” Darcy saw the way Bingley’s eyebrows shot up. “Legally. Neither of us will break the law.”

The previous evening Richard had suggested this course of action to Darcy. To be honest, he had not thought about what the wastrel would do if he spied Richard. He had agreed with them remaining at Netherfield Park. He supposed they could have attended the smaller church in the Longbourn Village. However, there were reasons that would not be a good idea. Primarily, he did not want to see Miss Elizabeth again before he made his apologies, and she learnt the truth about Wickham. Darcy hated the fact that she thought he was a blackguard. For some reason, Miss Elizabeth’s opinion was very important to him. Perhaps Richard’s words about his arrogance had found fertile ground. The secondary reason was that he would not be rude and not introduce Richard to the Bennets and others. Given some of the residents of the area and their penchant for gossip, word of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s presence would reach the man they wanted to keep the information from before they were ready to confront him.

As Darcy was speaking to Bingley, his cousin spoke quietly to the Hursts.

“Hurst and his wife will not mention that I am here. If asked where you are, which is doubtful given your unpopularity in these parts, they will say you are spending the morning in private prayer and contemplation,” Fitzwilliam related with a smirk as the cousins walked back into the house after farewelling those on their way to church.

The two made their way up to their shared sitting room. With Miss Bingley restricted to her suite a floor below them, the cousins did not see the need for either Barker or Carstens to be stationed in the hallway outside the door.

“I feel great trepidation for the meeting we are to have at Longbourn,” Darcy admitted once he and Richard had taken their seats. “How did I misread Miss Elizabeth so badly that I thought she was enamoured of me, and I was raising expectations I would not meet?”

“Because thanks to the way you are hunted in London, and anytime Miss Bingley was near you, you believed that all you had to do was snap your fingers and any woman you deigned to bless with your attention would fall at your feet. In my humble opinion, the years of believing yourself the darling of the Ton have given you an extremely overblown opinion of your self-worth. As I see it, as soon as you hear your putative income being discussed, which by-the-by is thanks to the shrew, you put the forbidding Darcy mask in place. That leads you to judge all females as being the same, and far below your notice, which led to your insult of Collins’s cousin. Collins never told me what you said, so what was it, or do you not remember?”

“Unfortunately, I do. Until you used fisticuffs on me, I had forgotten. It is not an excuse, because there is no excuse for what I said. However, I was very concerned about Anna’s low spirits, and I wanted to remain here instead of attending the assembly. It was then that Miss Bingley threatened to stay here to keep me company. Hence, I was in a foul mood at the assembly. After I had danced the obligatory sets with Mrs Hurst and Miss Bingley, I was trying to keep away from the latter when Bingley…” Darcy told his cousin about the conversation and what he had said so that his friend would cease importuning him.

“Even for you, that was a horrendous insult! If I did not believe that you are truly remorseful, I would demand you meet me at Gentleman Jack’s, where I would proceed to thrash you. Luckily for you, I can see that you know you erred, and you intend to do what you should have that very night and apologise to Collins’s cousin,” Fitzwilliam stated.

“I have a problem. I am in love with Miss Elizabeth, but I may have done irreparable harm to her opinion of me, and she will never see me as anything but, what did Mr Collins say?”

“The last man in the world she would be prevailed upon to marry.”

“Yes, that. Richard, how do I overcome my massive blunders?” Darcy questioned plaintively. “I was the simpleton who thought she was not worthy of me when it seems I am not worthy of her.”

“See how she reacts to you begging her pardon and the truth of Wickham’s tale of woe. Before you tell me that she will not believe a word from your mouth, you will be able to provide proof. What did Wicky give her to back up his lies? Nothing! He does not have anything. If this Miss Elizabeth is half as intelligent as you and Collins say, she will not refute solid evidence of the truth. Between your apologies and us refuting Wicky’s lies, you may have a chance to improve her opinion of you.”

Speaking to Richard had given Darcy a sliver of hope.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

William Collins offered his arm to Cousin Mary for the short walk to St Hugh’s, the church in the Longbourn Village.

“But, Mr Collins, you need to escort Lizzy so you may sit next to her in the church,” Fanny demanded. She was very frustrated because Mr Collins was not spending any time with Lizzy. As she was sure her second daughter would never receive an offer of marriage, she was determined to have her most troublesome daughter marry Longbourn’s heir.

The two Fanny Bennet was attempting to push together, were determined not to allow anyone to decide their futures for them.

For Collins’s part, it was not that he disliked Cousin Elizabeth. He liked her well enough, but only as a cousin. She was too stubborn for him, and he felt nothing for her beyond the familial. On the other hand, he was beginning to lose his heart to Cousin Mary. When he had arrived, she always had her nose in the nonsense Reverend Fordyce wrote. Thankfully all she lacked was some guidance, and through their discussions, he had shown her why he did not ascribe to what Fordyce said, and when she saw the logic in what he was saying, she had been willing to revise her opinions. It was not that Cousin Elizabeth was not pious, but unlike Mary, she did not live her piety.

Since he had been paying attention to her, William had seen Mary bloom, not that her mother or sisters had noticed. She had ceased wearing the useless spectacles as she gained confidence. She was also willing to believe him that she was just as pretty as her sisters. On the morrow, after his meeting with Fitzwilliam and Mr Darcy, William intended to ask Mary for a courtship.

He saw Cousin Elizabeth force Cousin Jane to walk faster to put some distance between them and Cousin Fanny. “Come, Cousin, let us walk faster as well,” William said softly so only Mary would hear. She gave him a warm smile, and they both increased their speed.

“I do not know why Mamma keeps trying to match me with Cousin Collins when he obviously prefers Mary,” Elizabeth complained to Jane.

“If he did not prefer Mary, could you see yourself with him?” Jane asked.

Elizabeth cogitated for some moments. “No, I could not see myself as his wife. Yes, Cousin Collins is handsome and is not the buffoon his letter seemed to indicate. That being said, I need a man who will challenge me and is not scared to debate with me on any subject.” The face of a man for whom she had an intense dislike—she could say hate—jumped into her mind’s eye. Elizabeth shook her head to evict the unwanted image from her head. ‘Where did that come from?’ she asked herself silently.

Before Jane could say anything more, they arrived at the church.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

After the very enjoyable service, and a good and educational sermon, William Collins took some time to speak to Mr Pierce, the rector of the church. He was a man in his late sixties who had been in his post for over thirty years, having been preferred to the living by Cousin Bennet’s late father. His style was similar to William’s, and he also wrote his own sermons and did not use the ones that were prewritten.

Mr Pierce told William that normally he and his good wife joined the Bennets for the after-services meal. This Sunday, thanks to the presence of their children and grandchildren, the Pierces would not be at Longbourn.

Although he understood why, William was sorry Mr Pierce would not join them so that the two clergymen would be able to continue their interesting debate on ecclesiastical matters. He could not be too disappointed though, because William was able to escort Mary back to the manor house; once again ignoring Cousin Fanny’s fumbled matchmaking attempts.