This is my first attempt at posting something for the public to read. I have been working on various pieces ranging from the Regency Era, to vampires, and many other creations. Jane Austen is my favorite writer and has been since I was 15 years old. Elizabeth and Darcy are especially my heroes and I feel I was wronged by not getting to live within the pages of Pride and Prejudice.
None of the original characters or story line from Pride & Prejudice belong to me in the least. I will however be adding my own characters and twist of continuation to the saga.
"That's preposterous Mr. Collins!"
"I assure you madam," the poor clergy man tried to explain. When at first he'd received the post this morning, he thought it was a jest if not for the invitation to the own woman's wedding itself.
"It will not be borne that, that, that woman!" Lady Catherine DeBourgh was certainly most displeased by the mornings post as well. Her vexation apparent in the heightened color of blood roses on her cheeks. "My family is to be tainted and she is a witch I dare say! A witch!"
The news of the impeding winter nuptials of the illustrious Lady's favorite nephew, Mr. Darcy, to his own cousin Miss Elizabeth Bennett was sure to cause more ill will from the Lady than had been seen from her at the time of husband's death. She was simply irreconcilable and working herself into such a temper that Wyatt her butler feared she would surely suffer from an attack and collapse. Wyatt and Mr. Collins were of a similar mind in these thoughts and perhaps wondered if the felicity of the betrothed couple would be ensured by her collapse.
"Mr. Wyatt! Do come here!" Lady Catherine's sharp tone beckoned the lanky man forward as he was jarred from his thoughts. Too miserable to die this one.
"Come to me in half an hour's time in my study. I want a rider to take a message to my nephew in Merryton, and I want it done with the utmost haste. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, m'am," Wyatt struggled to get out as he backed away from his mistress trying very hard to stop himself from bolting her presence like a frightened child.
"You, Mr. Collins, may be assured that this abomination does nothing to improve matters for you or Mrs. Collins. Be gone from my presence until I call upon you."
With that the Lady took her hearty frame from the room, aristocratic nose held high and skirts billowing behind her. Mr. Collins watched her go and with an audible gulp tried to clear his throat. Cousin Elizabeth had surely overstepped the bounds of decency now. He prayed that his cousin had the Lord in her heart as he knew she'd need in the wake of Lady Catherine's rage. A woman should know her station and accept her duties to it he thought as he excused himself from the house.
Wyatt had sent his best stable boy to deliver Lady Catherine's letter to Mr. Darcy. The poor boy felt a burning sensation as he tucked it beneath his shirt for safe keeping and set out to find this Merryton and a Mr. Darcy.
The ride had taken much longer than the boy had expected and around dawn he found himself wandering into the outskirts of Merryton and onward to the estate of Mr. Charles Bingley in the hopes of finding Mr. Darcy in a fair enough temper to allow him some rest before being sent back to Lady Catherine with a response.
One of the stable hands lead the exhausted rider to the kitchen were the house servants were already about their tasks preparing the morning meal for the household. Deposited on a bench by the fires, the young man reached into his shirt for the letter from his mistress. Truthfully, he was eager to be rid of it, but glad for the journey that had taken him away from the temperamental atmosphere of Rosings Park. The voice of the stable hand calling to him broke him from his thoughts.
The young man hastily tried to tidy his dirty and wrinkled clothes before being lead into the elaborate morning room to deliver his letter to Mr. Darcy. The room was grander then the boy had expected and there by the window with his hands clasped behind his back, stood the man he knew to be Mr. Darcy.
"Welcome, my boy." The man with a jovial face proclaimed from his spot at the head of the table. "What is your business here today?"
Feeling a bit of nerves well up in his chest, he did not want to say a word especially when Mr. Darcy didn't even look his way or give any intention of having heard the other man's inquiry.
"I am here on behalf of my mistress, Lady Catherine DeBourgh, to deliver a letter immediately to her nephew, Mr. Darcy." With that said he bowed politely to the men and rose to see Mr. Darcy's eyes upon him and handed the letter to him. "Mr. Darcy, Sir, this is for you. I am to wait for a reply to take back to my mistress."
Darcy merely nodded to the boy as he broke the seal. His eyes wandered down the page and if not for the telltale sign of a muscle clenching in his cheek, one would not have the slightest inclination of his rising temper at the letter.
"Is all well Darcy," Bingley questioned rising to his feet.
"This time, Charles, I'm afraid my dear aunt has gone too far." Darcy's tone was level but sharp. There would be a reckoning over this letter, a reckoning indeed.