Thank you to all of those who reviewed. It was you who provided me with the encouragement to write this chapter up at midnight yesterday.
To those of you who want to watch Death Comes To Pemberley, I watched it on BBC One but it might also be on the internet somewhere. It is quite good but I don't like the way they are making Colonel Fitzwilliam seem like a bad guy at the moment.
Anyway, here is the second chapter.
Elizabeth fell silent as her saviour's footsteps drew nearer. As he reached the lakeside, all that she could see was a tall blurred figure, for the water was in her eyes and obscuring her vision quite a bit.
''Madam,'' he said in an inexpressive deep voice, ''wait there. I will get you out.'' He looked around him, and picked up the blue woollen shawl that she had accidentally dropped as she plunged into the lake. He hurriedly wrapped one end around his own hand and threw the other end to Elizabeth, telling her to hold onto it tightly; she did just as he told her to without any hesitance. Kneeling down beside the lake, he reached out with his long arms and pulled on the shawl, thus pulling her closer towards the edge of the lake. Then, when she was at the edge he held out his hand, which she took without thinking, and pulled her up to safety.
Elizabeth said nothing for a moment or two as she recovered from the freezing embrace of the water and from her shock. As she took quick, shallow breaths, she was initially too traumatised to look up at the gentleman standing in front of her. She could not decide what was more embarrassing, being proposed to by an unbelievably ridiculous man, or being rescued by a complete stranger after foolishly falling into a lake.
When she managed to look up, she saw that the man who had rescued her from a potential disaster, or even death by drowning, was a well dressed gentleman in expensive well fitting clothes and was also extremely handsome. As a matter of fact, with his relatively long dark hair and chiselled features he was probably the most handsome man she had ever seen in her entire life. Elizabeth decided that he was not from anywhere near Longbourn, for she had never seen him before.
His lips were pressed together as he looked at her carefully and under his stare, Elizabeth felt a shiver run through her spine, which had nothing to do with the fact that she had basically just bathed in ice; she could simply not understand the effect that this gentleman was having on her. The strangest part was that at this point, it had only been a minute or two since they first saw each other.
It was the gentleman who spoke first out of the two, after quickly letting go of her hand when seeing that he was still grasping it tightly. Elizabeth too, had not noticed that they had been holding hands since he retrieved her from the lake.
''Madam, are you okay?'' he asked, with a genuinely concerned expression on his face. ''You must be cold. Here, take my coat.''
He took off his bottle green overcoat and put it around her shoulders. Despite the fact that she was wearing absolutely drenched clothes underneath, Elizabeth felt a sudden rush of warmth when he gave her his coat.
''Yes sir, I am fine. Thank you for allowing me the use of your coat,'' she managed to breathlessly say, ''and I am also thankful for your assistance just now. I am quite embarrassed that you would have to rescue me from such a situation. I am most obliged to you.''
''It is no problem, Miss...''
''Oh sorry, I am Elizabeth Bennet. This is my father's estate, Longbourn.'' She paused for a while. ''I have never seen you in or around Meryton before, sir. You must be from another part of the country.''
''Yes, you are absolutely correct. You would not have seen me as I have never visited Hertfordshire before now. I am from the north of England. May I ask how you came to be in the lake, Miss Elizabeth?'' he enquired.
Elizabeth felt her cold cheeks colour as she replied, ''I tripped and fell into the lake. It was an unfortunate accident.''
''Yes, it was a very unfortunate accident. I hope you will not be too affected by what has occurred. There are many young ladies of my acquaintance who would be truly disturbed by such an experience.''
Elizabeth smiled at his presumption and said, ''I am most definitely not one of those ladies, sir. My courage only rises every time something comes in my way and attempts to make me cower away.''
The gentleman did not seem to react to her statement and instead said, ''I think it would be best if you returned home now. You are absolutely soaked in freezing cold water and are likely to catch a cold if you do not change into dry apparel.''
Sure enough, when Elizabeth looked down at her clothing it was as wet as the lake itself. There was also water dripping from her hair and down her face. It was amusing how she had forgotten to pay any attention to these obvious details as she stood talking to this enigmatic stranger.
This 'stranger' was yet to reveal anything about himself. However, despite the fact that she knew very little about this gentleman, Elizabeth trusted him for some bizarre reason which was unknown even to herself, and when he offered to escort her back to her house, she did not decline. She was not wrong to put her faith in him for he was a perfect gentleman throughout their short walk back and did nothing to make her feel uncomfortable.
However, there was something about him that was quite odd. It seemed that he was even more reluctant to reveal anything about himself than she had first realised; it was as if he wanted to change the subject of the conversation every time she asked him anything about who he was, or what had brought him to a town such as Meryton. Elizabeth was left to only wonder why he was so secretive. At long last, he revealed his name to be Mr Williams but she was not entirely convinced that he had not simply conjured up a pseudonym.
Nevertheless, she could not express her gratitude enough towards her rescuer and when they reached the doors of Longbourn, she asked him if he would come inside for a while to meet with her parents.
''I appreciate and honour your invitation, Miss Elizabeth,'' he answered politely in his slightly detached tone, ''but I am expected elsewhere. I hope that I see you again sometime so we can renew our acquaintance. For now, I had better be getting back to where I am supposed to be, and you should also go inside unless you want to catch pneumonia.''
''Your coat, sir,'' she said taking it off, although she would have very much liked to continue wearing it. ''It would not be good for me to appear in front of my family wearing an unknown gentleman's coat.''
''Of course, you are correct,'' he smiled for the first time as he took it from her hands.
With that they bid their final goodbyes to each other and she thanked him once again for having saved her.
Elizabeth walked into the house and as she shivered in her cold attire, she was surprised to find that the house was very quiet. Well, quiet for the Bennet family that is; Lydia and Kitty's shouting could still be heard from some distant part of the house. It was the absence of her mother's screeching and wailing that came to Elizabeth's notice, and when she asked a passing servant in the hallway, she was told that Mrs Bennet had retired for the evening.
Thankfully, no one else was in sight when Elizabeth had entered the house, and she went straight upstairs to dress. Who could blame her for feeling so? It had been a long day and she could not bear any interrogation from her family; they were sure to ask a countless number of questions if they saw her current state.
It was only a matter of minutes until she was redressed in a warm and dry dress with a thick shawl wrapped around her shoulders. The warmth of the shawl reminded her of the feel of Mr Williams' coat but she quickly shook her head to check herself. It was not at all proper for a young lady to have such thoughts about a gentleman, especially one she had met under unconventional and embarrassing circumstances.
As she left her bedroom, Elizabeth heard someone come up the stairs.
''Lizzie! Where have you been?'' cried a high pitched voice. Elizabeth turned to see Jane running up towards her. ''It has been an hour since Mr Collins returned without you. Mama was going to come after you straight away, to persuade you to accept him, when she first heard of what had transpired between you and our cousin. But then something happened which surprised us all, and sent mama into such raptures that she had to be given a sedative. She is now asleep calmly.''
''Why? What happened?'' asked Elizabeth confusedly, suspicious of the fact that something significant was going on without her knowledge.
''Dearest Lizzie, Mary is engaged to Mr Collins.''