A Wedding of Convenience
Disclaimer: I wrote this piece as a final essay for a course I took on Jane Austen about a year ago. I hope you find it to your liking!
This is a missing scene from Pride and Prejudice in which Mr. Darcy goes to London to persuade Wickham and Lydia to marry.
Mrs. Younge, after quite a bit of unfortunate bribery on Mr. Darcy's part, had finally conveyed the details concerning the whereabouts of Wickham and the unlucky, unthinking Lydia. How such a foolish child could have any relation to Elizabeth Bennet was still something of a mystery for Darcy; however he believed it to be his own fault that this tragedy was occurring to begin with. He may have spared Elizabeth and her family this shame had he only thought to impart upon them the knowledge of Wickham's true nature.
Upon locating the street at which the two absconders were staying, Darcy looked around in hardly concealed distaste. The wretched space was hardly anything more than what he should have expected; Wickham's debt could not possibly have afforded him a decent place to stay in London. With a haughty sniff, Darcy progressed to the house number Mrs. Younge had indicated. He rapped his knuckles sharply on the splintered door. He glanced around the street, quirking an eyebrow when he caught the gaze of a curious neighbour, who quickly hid herself behind a stained curtain. He returned his attention to the door as it creaked open in front of him. It did not surprise him to be greeted with a look first of shock, followed swiftly by contempt, upon the face of Wickham.
"Mr. Darcy," he stated coolly, having the manners to step aside and allow his childhood friend-turned-adversary, to enter the house. "What may I do for you this morning?"
"Firstly, I wish to ascertain whether or not young Miss Lydia Bennet is remaining here with you," Darcy replied, his eyes not wandering from Wickham's increasingly pale face. "She is still unmarried then?" he assumed when Wickham did not respond immediately and the latter's pallor transformed into red-faced anger.
"Who indicated to you there would be a marriage?" Wickham hardly contained a snort at the idea causing Darcy's eyes to narrow. "Come now, Darcy, you know just as well as I that I am unable to afford a luxury such as to marry one of Mr. Bennet's daughters."
"You never intended to marry her, then?" Darcy managed to conceal his outrage behind a blank mask. How could he have let this happen to another girl? A sister of Elizabeth's? Oh, certainly plenty of the blame could be placed upon Wickham as well as onto Lydia Bennet herself; but at least a quarter of it belonged to Darcy as well, and he was perfectly aware of its weight. As Wickham had no intentions of righting this disgraceful wrong and Lydia likely had no awareness of the grievance, it was Darcy's duty to make all right once more. Or at least as right as one could possibly manage in such a situation. His mind made up, Darcy drew himself up to full height and looked Wickham straight in the eye.
"We have much to talk about it seems," he drawled. "Have you a proper room in which we may discuss the particulars?"
Wickham's expression flickered for a moment towards hope before he managed to close his emotions off, though his eyes glittered in greed.
"I believe that the study shall do quite nicely," he answered amicably.
He led Darcy down a narrow corridor. The floorboards beneath their feet groaned under the unwelcome pressure and it was all Darcy could do to keep from lifting his handkerchief from his pocket to cover his face in protection against the ancient dust that rose to meet him. Wickham gently opened a door on their left and gestured that Darcy should enter first. A lonely bookshelf adorned just one of the walls. In the room's centre sat two chairs, neither of which appeared to be younger than forty years to Darcy's critical eye. Wickham made no offer of refreshments, which suited Darcy just fine; he doubted whether anything concocted in such a place would be edible to begin with.
"I must confess, Darcy, that when I opened the door this morning you were the last person I supposed it could be," Wickham stated, allowing a condescending smile to form on his lips. "My curiosity has only increased at your sudden interest in Lydia Bennet. I had thought you believed the whole family to be well beneath your notice."
"Do not presume to understand my thoughts, Wickham," Darcy replied with cool arrogance. "Tell me, what was your purpose in taking the young Miss Bennet away from her family if marriage was not on your mind."
"Again you mention marriage, Darcy," Wickham chuckled indulgently. "You must know here and now that I cannot afford to properly marry. I intend to leave the regiment, sir."
"And what, if I may be so bold, do you intend to do after this has taken place?"
"That, my dear friend, I do not know as of yet. Simply, that marriage has never been my design with dear Lydia."
Again, Darcy was forced to swallow his rage into his blank, brooding mask. If Wickham would not marry Lydia there was nothing to do but to remove the ignorant child from his disgraceful presence at once. There was absolutely no alternative.
"Very well," Darcy conceded with a slight tilt of his head that may have passed for a bow. "I would very much like to speak with Lydia Bennet directly," he continued, ignoring the narrowing of Wickham's eyes.
"I shall go and fetch her," the latter stated, his expression unchanging.
Darcy nodded as Wickham left the room. He listened intently as the house groaned in protest to Wickham's footsteps above him. Moments later, the door was pushed open a second time and Darcy turned and rose to his feet to give Lydia the respect she so little deserved.
"Dear Mr. Darcy," she gasped, hurrying forward in a most undignified fashion. "My darling Wickham would not tell me who our visitor was! I do hope I have not kept you waiting long?"
"Not me, perhaps," Darcy answered but his subtle rebuke was lost on Lydia. "Wickham, do leave us, I wish to converse with Miss Bennet alone," he added when he noticed that Wickham had come fully into the room.
If he was surprised, Wickham had the grace not to show it. After a quick nod to a clueless Lydia, he took his leave, taking care to shut the door behind him.
Once he was gone, Lydia seemed to remember her manners.
"Please do sit, Mr. Darcy," the artificial hostess insisted. "There is no need for us to stand upon ceremony, we are friends after all."
"You presume much, Miss Bennet," he replied coldly. "Have you any sense of the shame that you have brought upon your family by coming here, unmarried? Think of your sisters; how shall they ever hope to overcome this tragedy?"
"I hardly see a tragedy, Mr. Darcy," she answered in genuine shock. "I am as good as engaged to my dear Wickham, you know. Oh he hasn't spoken the words yet, to be sure, but a woman has an intuition about such things."
"Miss Bennet," he began slowly. "I must beg of you to leave this place at once. If he has not proposed an engagement, one does not exist. Therefore, your behaviour is indecent."
Unfortunately, it did not surprise Darcy in the slightest to be forced to teach this reckless child a lesson that her own mother and father should have taught her long ago. Her mother was a fool who thought better of herself and her station than she ought. Her father was a fool who was too lazy to take a proper interest in his children. It was apparently far too much to hope that any of the younger Bennet sisters would have picked up any sort of lesson from the eldest two.
"I do not understand you, Mr. Darcy," Lydia replied primly, attempting to give to herself an air of superiority which only succeeded in lowering her even farther in Darcy's esteem. "I am quite happy here and if my family cannot be happy for my present happiness I do not wish to recognize them at all."
"How should you expect them to bear any happiness at all when you have disgraced them so?" he asked, hardly able to conceal his shock at the child's attitude.
"I have already told you, Mr. Darcy, I am as good as engaged to my dear Wickham. Time is not something which matters to the heart, sir, as you have yet to discover it seems."
Her presumption forced Darcy to contend with why he was bothering to try and amend the situation. Of course he understood matters of the heart better than this little fool in front of him. Yes, it was indeed his duty to fix this atrocity, but it was even more his duty to make Elizabeth Bennet's situation a respectable one once more. It was his duty to his own honour and, as he was beginning to realize, a duty to his heart which belonged to Elizabeth Bennet. Whether she would have it or not, it belonged to her.
"Very well, Miss Bennet, I see that you are set on your course," he answered the waiting child after his mind had a chance to wrap itself around the true reason behind his motivation to make amends for Wickham and Lydia.
He stood and bowed to the undeserving girl and quit the house without bothering to prevail upon Wickham for the moment. If Lydia would not be removed from Wickham's side, then Wickham would have to be forced to keep her, no other option was in existence.
Darcy returned to his own lodgings by noon and drew up three letters. The first was to Mr. Gardiner, to alert him to the discovery of Wickham and Lydia and to impart that the situation was being handled with the greatest care. The second letter he wrote to his sister to inform her that he had settled well and to pass on the regards of Mrs. Younge. A rekindling of the friendship between the former governess and her pupil had been a part of the agreement between the Mrs. Younge and himself when obtaining the location of Wickham and Lydia. He detested this turn of events, but Georgiana was much more aware of the world now and he believed her capable of propriety. The third letter was to his banker; it was clear to Darcy that a change of money would be necessary in obtaining a marriage for Wickham and Lydia within the next few days. The sooner a marriage was able to take place, the better for everyone involved.
The next day Darcy received intelligence from his banker that everything was in order and so he travelled to Wickham's lodgings once more, this time with the company of Lydia's uncle. It was clear that forcibly removing the naive girl would be necessary and this would be easier to do with a voice more authoritative to her than Darcy's own.
Mr. Gardiner looked around in horror at the neighbourhood in which his niece had been residing, though he said nothing to Darcy. When Wickham opened the door, Gardiner presented him with a foul look, though the former ignored the latter's presence for the moment.
"Mr. Darcy," Wickham stated coldly. Clearly he had gathered from Lydia the purpose of Darcy's visit the previous day. "Do come in."
Darcy entered the house and without waiting for Wickham to play the host, led the way to the would-be study. He was only a little surprised when he found Lydia already sitting in the room.
"Miss Bennet, your uncle is here and wishes to speak with you," he said, gesturing to the doorway where Gardiner was standing in silence beside Wickham. "Wickham, come, I have a proposition for you that I believe will work greatly to your advantage."
Lydia looked briefly upon Wickham in confusion before obeying Darcy's command. Once the door was shut, the proper negotiations that one would suppose would elicit a necessary marriage proposal began.
End Scene.
I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot! May happy reading be in your future!
:-D