Thank to all my readers and Reviewers. I was so overcome by all the feedback. It means so much to me! I will try to keep updating regularly. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Thanks also to MissPseudonymous. Read her story, 'I Fear thy Kisses'.
A Second Chance
Chapter 4
Ben lay on his stomach at the bank of the little river. He was being a bit naughty, he knew. He wasn't allowed by the water without Mama, so he put it firmly out of his mind with all the self-assurance particular to six-year-olds. The shadows cast by the big oak tree made shapes on the water and the wind coaxed little ripples on the surface. He liked it here. He always enjoyed being with his Grandmama, but she did talk a lot. And Mama and Nurse Higgins were always straightening his clothes or washing his face or sitting him down for a meal or putting him in his best clothes because someone was coming for tea.
Aunty Kitty was coming for tea today with her baby girl. Ben liked babies, but baby Tillie always wore lots of frills. Ben wasn't sure how he felt about those. His sister Sally didn't have so many. Frowning, he put a chubby fist under his chin and thought hard. She had a few, he supposed, but Tillie seemed to be surrounded by them, her face just surfacing among them. Ben knew that Uncle Theodore had been a soldier until last year, but he wasn't interesting at all. Last time Ben had asked him about being a soldier, he had described his uniform. His uniform! As if he was interested in that! He wanted to hear about fighting!
He didn't want to go to tea with Aunty Kitty, he wanted to stay here by the water. Maybe he would build a tent and sleep here all night. he had brought a toy soldier for company. Although he might miss his Mama when it got dark. Ben pulled some twigs and long grass into a pile and concentrated on making a raft for his soldier. He wove the pieces together and tucked the ends in. His brow was furrowed as he focused intently on what he was doing. He didn't hear a man on a horse stopping a short distance away. Gently, he placed his creation on the water and, reaching out full length, he balanced his soldier on top. It balanced there precariously for a moment but then began to sink. Crying out, he reached for his soldier. He grabbed it, but not before he had slipped on the bank and fell almost gracefully into the wet muddy bank. Scrambling upright, he scrubbed at his muddy knees, and looked up in surprise when he heard someone call him.
Mr. Darcy sat on his horse hesitating. He couldn't be scared of a six-year-old, surely? But this wasn't just any six-year-old. He had absolutely decided to go and introduce himself and was debating how to go about this when imminent danger prompted his immediate response. The little boy playing on the bank of the stream looked like he was going to fall in at any moment. Swinging his leg over the back of his horse, he slid down and covered the short distance with long strides. He reached out one long arm but then pulled it back.
"Ben! Here now, you might fall in. Do be careful."
Ben looked up curiously
"I don't know you." It wasn't a question. It was a blunt statement.
Darcy hid a smile. He knew where that forthrightness came from. He had borne the brunt of it before.
"No you don't, but I know your Mama. And I don't think she would be very pleased with me if I were passing here and having seen you, didn't stop to appraise you of the dangers of playing next to the water. What if you should fall in?"
Ben looked up quizzically. What a silly man! "If I should fall in, I would get out directly. But I won't!"
"But your mother will be dreadfully upset if something should happen to you. And she will be dreadfully upset with me if I didn't help."
Ben considered this carefully for a moment. "Go away," he said, and turned away
Darcy thought he should probably take the boy back to the house with him. He was covered in mud and all alone. But maybe he was allowed to be out here by himself. He didn't really know and it wasn't really his business, or his problem. But he couldn't countenance any danger befalling Lizzie's child.
"Are you allowed to be here?"
Ben looked up. He had to, as the man was very tall. "Go away," he said again.
"Please come back to the house with me. I don't want you to fall in."
"I won't!" Whether referring to falling in or accompanying him back, Darcy wasn't sure.
Ben clutched his soldier as he spoke. Darcy gestured to it. "Is that your soldier?"
"Yes it is. At home I have many more of them, but I could only bring a few to Longbourn. Mama didn't want them to get lost whilst we were here."
"How many did you bring?"
"Only four."
"I used to play with soldiers."
"Do you still have them?"
Darcy wasn't sure. He thought they might have been given away to a tenant family many years before. Equally likely, they might be packaged away in a chest along with his first writing books, covered with blots.
"I could write to my housekeeper and find out. Maybe she could send them to you."
Ben considered. He did not consider for long. "Yes, please."
"Well, come along with me back to the house and you can find me ink and pen."
"Yes, Sir."
Darcy walked over to his horse, but Ben held back.
"Come on, boy."
Ben took his time, studying the large beast intently.
"It's very large, isn't it?"
Darcy looked at the horse, trying to imagine what it might look like from a child's eyes.
"He is, isn't he. But he's very friendly. Would you like to ride him with me?"
When Darcy had been a boy he had often been in and out of the stables at Pemberley. He wondered at Ben's reticence. Had he not been around horses much?
Then he remembered something and swore softly to himself. Harry Brathwaite had lost his life falling off a horse.
"We can walk. Actually, I might prefer to walk. On a day like today, I need to stretch my legs."
Ben nodded gratefully. "I want to stretch my legs as well."
Showing Darcy his soldier he said, "My Papa gave him to me. He's dead now. Who gave you your soldiers?"
"My papa gave me mine as well. He's dead too."
Ben looked up with interest. "Did he fall off a horse?"
"No. He was very illand then he died."
Ben thought about this. "Does that make you very sad?"
"Sometimes. Not very often now. It was a long time ago."
Ben nodded. "Me as well. It doesn't make me sad." Ben's look turned pensive. "I think it makes my Mama sad sometimes." Darcy looked up. He was intrigued at the boy's matter-of-fact way of talking about his father's death. It was refreshing in a a macabre sort of way. But the information about his mother. That wasn't his business. Although he found it fascinating and would have questioned Ben extensively if he had thought it appropriate.
They were reaching the wilderness on the side of the lawn now and Mr. Darcy asked Ben where he should tie up his horse. Ben proudly showed him and then approached the front door at a run. Pounding on it, he yelled, "Mama Mama, I met your friend and he said I could have his soldiers if he can write a letter and Mama, his father is dead too!"
Lizzie was coming down the stairs wiping her hands, her hair falling out of an untidy knot. Her eyes widened as she saw who her mud-covered son was standing next to, but collecting herself in an instant, she swept down the stairs.
"Good Morning, Mr. Darcy. I was not expecting callers today, so please forgive my attire. Please come through." She waved at the morning room. "I will call for some tea."
Turning, she faced her firstborn. "Ben, you look as though you have been swimming in mud. Go straight up and find Nurse. If you can change quickly without waking Sally, then you may come and have cake."
He started up the stairs. "And don't forget your hands," she whispered after him.
"Yes, Mama."
She went to find her visiter. "What on earth just happened? Where did you meet Ben?"
Explaining haltingly, he started, "I was coming round to invite you to the picnic Next Tuesday, but I noticed Ben by the water. I wasn't sure if you knew, and if it was safe." He came to a stop.
"Thank you," she breathed. "He is very naughty about that river. He finds it rather fascinating. I'm always having to collect him from there."
Darcy leaned forward in his chair. "I remember doing something similar when I was a boy. One summer we had a complete pulley system rigged up with pails and rope. When my father found us after we had been missing for half a day, he was so impressed with it that he helped us modify it further instead of whipping us."
Lizzie smiled. she was just about to ask about the soldiers that Ben had mentioned when the door opened and Mrs Bennet sailed in. Seeing Mr. Darcy, her mouth formed a silent O of surprise⦠but that was the last time she was silent for the full half an hour that Darcy stayed. She spoke about Jane and her four little girls, how they were all so obliging and sweet. And Georgiana was to stay at Netherfield all Summer too with her two children, that would be nice for her. And she had heard something about a picnic. Yes, of course she would be delighted to come.
Darcy looked at Lizzie. Her son was now leaning against her knees, reasonably clean and chewing on a biscuit. He noticed Lizzie seemed to be taking little notice of her mother, and remembered how in the old days she had seemed to cower with embarrassment when her mother used to rattle on.
Elizabeth was looking at Darcy out of the corner of her eye. She was extremely aware of her threadbare gown and the hair she had pushed back without a thought earlier that day. What had she been thinking? She should have known he might stop by. Mr. Darcy had actually not noticed her hair or her gown. He thought she looked a little tired. And felt instantly he wanted to help her with whatever it was that was tiring her so.
When at length Mr. Darcy stood up, she rose as well. Ben ran up to him and said, "But, Sir, you didn't write the letter."
Darcy apologised. "You are absolutely right, Sir. I will do it when I am sitting in my study at Netherfield. I will send it off before the end of the day." Ben looked at him anxiously, "Are you sure?"
Darcy got down on a knee to Ben's height. "I surely will, Ben. I'm sorry I didn't do it right away but you saw I was busy talking to your mama and Grandmama. I will do it today, though, and hopefully I will have received an answer by next Tuesday, when I will see you because that day you will be coming to Netherfield for the picnic." Ben nodded and Mr. Darcy left.
Mrs Bennet picked up her empty teacup and idly rubbed her hand along the handle. Mr. Darcy had sought out her daughter twice now. This could only mean one thing. She went off to find her husband.
Lizzie walked back into the house with Ben trailing her. That was a bit strange, she thought. He could easily have sent a letter over to convey the invitation. But she had been happy to see him, and not only because he had probably saved her son from a watery grave. Turning to Ben, she asked him, "What was that about the soldiers?" Ben placed his chubby paw in her slim fingers and confided, "He asked me about my toy soldier and I told him that Papa had given them to me, and then he told me that his Papa had given some to him as well and that if he still had them he would send for them. I can't see why he wouldn't know, Mama, can you? Why wouldn't he remember something so frightfully important like soldiers?"
That was nice of him, thought Lizzie. Did this mean he was interested in her? Or was he just extending some support to a fatherless boy? Tuesday couldn't come soon enough. He certainly was an intriguing man. She wanted to spend more time with him. However, with Ben and her mother around she wasn't sure how that was going to happen.
