Thank you for the reviewers. I will answer later on. Very tired here. The story has 20 chapters. I have the first draft, there shouldn't be a lot of changes. Now, you asked about Wickham, I give you a little bit info of him. You asked about more clue, I give you another one again. Happy reading!
Chapter Sixteen
Before the couple returned to the house, Elizabeth requested Mr. Darcy to delay asking Mr. Bennet's permission to court her. She did not want to draw attention to herself in this delicate time for Jane. Darcy was reluctant at first but yielded to Elizabeth's persuasion. He did not want to hurt Miss Bennet's feelings either, as he believed he was partly responsible for Jane's heartache. Elizabeth spent a pleasant handful of hours in the pitiful library of Netherfield Park, leaving Darcy to entertain the delighted Miss Bingley while the rest of the Bennet family occupied themselves in the salon, but it became evident that Darcy's sacrifice was in vain. Despite ample opportunity, and all the encouraging looks that Jane could manage, Mr. Bingley could not seem to find the courage or opportunity to actually propose to her. The Bennet family returned home relatively satisfied, for Lydia had coaxed Mr. Bingley to agree to throw another ball. Mrs. Bennet was rather disappointed that Jane had not more to report from her conversation with Mr. Bingley, but was satisfied that they had been invited and that Mr. Bingley had assured her that he would remain in the country for the foreseeable future.
Jane did not confide in Elizabeth that evening, and Elizabeth did not feel that any conversation was wanted, so they passed a more silent evening than usual, followed by a dismally similar morning. It was worse, Elizabeth reflected, than being absent from her beloved sister, to be in her presence and yet so isolated. It was a great relief to her when Mrs. Bennet bustled into the drawing room to breathlessly inform her daughters that Mr. Bingley had come to call, along with "that insufferable Mr. Darcy. You must entertain him Lizzy, unpleasant as that may be, for Jane's sake."
"I will do my best," Elizabeth assured her mother, concealing a smile. She and Darcy enjoyed a long and leisurely walk, keeping just close enough to Jane and Bingley to satisfy propriety, and discussing their plans to speak with Lady Lucas. However long they walked, though, Bingley showed no sign of actually proposing. Darcy confided to Elizabeth that Bingley had meant to propose yesterday but had been too overwhelmed.
"He was quite determined to be out with it today, though, surely he is not still constrained by shyness?" Darcy wondered.
"I wish I could tell you what my sister is feeling, but she is still too angry to confide in me, I'm afraid," Elizabeth sighed. "I am wretchedly miserable with this distance between us, we have never quarreled like this before."
The two couples were forced to return to Longbourn at length, and the gentlemen were on the point of taking their leave when Mr. Bingley seemed to summon a burst of courage, his amiable face suddenly intense with purpose.
"I wonder if I might speak with you for a moment, Miss Bennet-" he began, then abruptly looked about the room, noticing that all eyes were upon him.
"Mr. Darcy!" exclaimed Mrs. Bennet, in far more delighted tones than she had ever used to address him before. "I wonder if I could trouble you to step into our library for just a moment? Mr. Bennet has been searching for a particular volume and I think you might be able to point him in the right direction. Girls, I need you all to – to see to that basket I had asked you to assemble for poor Mrs. Blutheridge. She is one of our tenants, Mr. Darcy. Time is of the essence, I am afraid, she is quite likely to drop dead any instant!" Having satisfactorily shooed everyone out of the parlour, Mrs. Bennet led a bemused Mr. Darcy to the library, where Mr. Bennet appeared to have no idea what missing volume that good lady might be referring to, and did not seem to understand her pointed looks or nods which were designed to encourage him to play along. Mr. Darcy welcomed the opportunity. He thought about warning Mr. Bennet of Wickham's rakish way but decided to wait until he could discuss it with Elizabeth. He wasn't sure how much she had told her father about his letter. Instead, he took the time to speak with Elizabeth's father on philosophy, literature and other interesting topics.
Elizabeth and her younger sisters retreated down the passageway momentarily, but Elizabeth could not keep Lydia and Kitty from hurrying back to the drawing room door to eavesdrop. Presently Mrs. Bennet returned and deemed that enough time had passed that she might safely disturb Jane and Bingley. Although Jane had tears in her eyes, both looked extraordinarily happy, and Mrs. Bennet's satisfaction knew no bounds. Bingley made haste to speak with Mr. Bennet, but could not stay for dinner as he and Darcy had a previous dinner engagement.
"But we will call again tomorrow, if we may," Bingley assured his future mother-in-law earnestly, and was told expansively how very welcome such a visit would be.
"I am so very, sincerely happy for you, Jane," Elizabeth murmured to her still-blushing sister as the two gentlemen retreated down the garden path.
"I should want nothing more to make my own happiness complete," Jane responded sadly, keeping her voice low so that their mother might not hear her over her own jubilant self-congratulations. "But it pains me horribly to know that you bear such disapproval towards the match."
"Not disapproval, dearest, only some concern. But what should that matter? I would be very unjust if I expected you to blindly follow my concerns while I simultaneously worried over Bingley's blindly following the concerns of his friend and sisters. If you are happy, I am happy for you, and we need say nothing more on the matter."
"Thank you, Lizzy, for I am the happiest girl in the entire world!" Jane declared joyfully, but there was still something of constraint in her manner which had never been present before their earlier conversation, and Elizabeth felt the sting of it keenly.
Breakfast at Netherfield Park the next morning had a similarly strained atmosphere, which Darcy felt uncomfortably conscious of. Miss Bingley appeared to be very much out of temper, and Bingley had a nervous and fidgety air which was quite unlike his usual cheerful countenance. Miss Bingley concluded her meal rather hastily and excused herself, and Darcy thought he caught the sound of a door slamming shut in the passageway beyond the dining room.
"Is everything quite all right, Bingley?" he asked his friend with no small amount of concern. "You were so delighted yesterday, I expected to find you at least in good spirits this morning."
"Everything is well enough, and I am still entirely delighted that Miss Bennet accepted my proposal. The only trouble is- ah," Bingley broke off awkwardly for a moment, carefully studying the pattern on his damask napkin as if he had never seen anything so fascinating.
"Has the trouble something to do with your sister?" Darcy asked shrewdly. "She seemed out of sorts, if I may say so."
"Yes it has, and she is. Dash it all, Darcy, had you any notion of my marrying Georgiana?" Bingley blurted out the question desperately.
"I believe your sister has mentioned that possibility a time or two in my hearing, but I never suspected there was any reason to think the idea anything more than an idle fancy. Georgiana is far too young to think of marriage, as I have said countless times."
"Well, Caroline seems to believe that you are counting on my marrying Georgiana, which I never had the slightest idea of doing. It didn't occur to me as a possibility even when she would mention it every now and then! I think of Georgiana much as a younger sister, you know. But now Caroline is furious and says I have betrayed you and Georgiana, as well as herself, by becoming engaged to Miss Bennet."
"That's entirely untrue for my sister and me and painting it rather grim, I believe," Darcy reassured his distraught friend, mentally wondering what biting retorts Elizabeth would have when he relayed the conversation to her the next time they were able to speak candidly. "I can give you my absolute word that I do not feel betrayed at all, and that Georgiana harbours no such fancies regarding you. This resides entirely in your sister's imagination, I should think. But if you are happy with your betrothal, remember, no one else's opinion ought to carry any weight."
"That's true, and I should think I would have learned my lesson on that point," Bingley agreed, pulling at his cravat and mopping his brows. "But Caroline is so very upset with me and the match, and I cannot think why she objects so strongly."
"Can you not? Anyway, who can unravel the mystery of a woman's mind?" Darcy parried lightly, thinking it would be entirely too egotistical to suggest that Caroline objected to the match simply because it disrupted her long-cherished plans to unite her family with his own. If Bingley had obligingly fallen in love with Georgiana, then Caroline would have had ample opportunity to coax Darcy into marrying her. Her thought processes and machinations were pitifully obvious, which had never bothered Darcy as he had never entertained the idea of marrying such a scheming sort of woman. She was also extremely unkind to servants and people in unfortunate situations. But it was unpleasant to think that she would make her brother suffer for her own foolish disappointment.
"I wonder if I might join you, Charles, when you call on your fiancée today," Caroline called abruptly from the doorway, having returned with a noticeably composed attitude which did nothing to allay Darcy's concerns. "I should very much like to spend more time with my future sister."
"I – yes, certainly," Bingley stuttered, pleased but taken aback by her abrupt change in demeanour. "Darcy and I were thinking of visiting Longbourn sometime around mid-morning, were we not, Darcy?"
"That was my understanding," Darcy averred.
At Longbourn, the eldest two Misses Bennet received them warmly. Mrs. Bennet had an excitable night, planning the grand wedding for Jane in her head. The matron did not think that Mr. Bingley would arrive quite so early and had asked not to be disturbed this morning. Mr. Bennet spent his time in his study, after a brief greeting. Lydia, pulling Kitty with her, escaped into the garden on hearing the approach of a carriage. She would not waste another minute to listen to more ruptures about Jane.
Miss Bingley greeted Jane with many expressions of joy at the prospect of having her for a sister, none of which struck Elizabeth's ears as having any sincerity. She insisted upon a tete-a-tete of only the ladies, shooing her brother and Mr. Darcy away with the promise that they would rejoin their company once she had satisfied her hunger for discussions of wedding preparations. Jane seemed pleased with the attention, and did not seem to notice the many biting insults that her future sister-in-law was so adroitly inserting into her seemingly sweet chatter, but Elizabeth found it difficult to ignore the barbs.
"I imagine your mother is terribly delighted with the match, which must be an almost undreamed-of success for your family," Caroline purred. "You shall have to allow me to direct you in putting together your trousseau, dear, it would never do for you to be introduced around London society as Mrs. Bingley if you were wearing outmoded gowns, you know."
"Fortunately, Jane is so pretty and sweet that she cannot fail to charm all who meet her, regardless of the style of her gown," Elizabeth could not help defending her sister, even though Jane only smiled at Caroline's words and showed no sign of having felt the insult.
"Oh, certainly!" Caroline laughed mockingly. "But you can surely understand that outside of the charming rural life which you are accustomed to, it is quite necessary for ladies to show themselves to their very best possible advantage. Perhaps once Jane's marriage is established, she will have you to visit and you will see for yourself. The grandeur of her new lifestyle must not intimidate you into staying away, you know, you must just give her a chance to become accustomed to it all herself first."
Caroline then turned the conversation so decidedly away from Elizabeth that it may as well have just been herself and Jane in the room while she continued to impress upon Jane how very overwhelming her lifestyle as a Bingley would be, and what difficult adjustments she would be forced to make. Elizabeth took a turn about the room to settle her temper, and distinctly heard Caroline murmur something to Jane about not letting jealous sisters ruin her happiness. To Elizabeth's shock, Jane did not appear to contradict Caroline, but nodded and seemed to be in agreement. Unable to bear it any longer, Elizabeth approached the pair and spoke in carefully controlled tones, saying,
"I believe I will go to Lucas Lodge, if I am not needed for anything further. It is a short walk, and I would like to find out how Maria is faring since we returned."
"What an excellent idea," Caroline exclaimed delightedly. "You must take as long as you like with the visit."
"I shall," Elizabeth replied coolly, meeting Jane's eyes for a moment before exiting the room. Several angry tears escaped her eyes as she stood in the passageway, attempting to maintain control over her emotions.
"Here, now," Darcy's voice, filled with concern and tenderness, came unexpectedly close by and he offered her a handkerchief. "Tell me the name of whatever scoundrel has been causing you distress and I shall deal with him severely."
"I hardly think it would be advisable for you to challenge Miss Bingley to a duel," Elizabeth laughed through her remaining tears.
"Doubtless I should not fare well if I attempted it, her killer instinct exceeds mine greatly, I am afraid," Darcy smiled. "We ought to pit her against Lady Catherine, though I cannot begin to guess who would be the victor in such a battle. Would you care to accompany me to Lucas Lodge? If you are feeling equal to interviewing Lady Lucas, that is. Bingley is being grilled by your father while I am at leisure. You can tell me of all Miss Bingley's atrocities as we go, and be assured of a sympathetic audience."
"Yes, that would be perfect. I told my sister and Miss Bingley that I was going there, as it was the first location that I thought of, so now you will save me from being a liar. Let me see if Kitty and Lydia would join us, for proprietary sake."
The younger girls joined them eagerly but kept a good distance well away from the boring Lizzy and Mr. Darcy. Lydia would have wanted to visit Meryton to see the remaining militiamen, but Elizabeth didn't allow it. She didn't want her younger sisters to associate with Wickham anymore.
"It is not really with Miss Bingley that I am upset, if I am being fair," Elizabeth told Darcy presently, once they had embarked down the path that led to Lucas Lodge. "I expected nothing else from her but cutting remarks and dripping flattery, she is only behaving in accordance with her usual character. I am truly distressed because there is still a rift between Jane and myself that has never existed before, and now I must watch her accept – welcome, even! all of those sly little insults, and look at me as though I am unkind if I attempt any words in her defense. When I spoke to her about my concerns regarding Bingley, she accused me of jealousy, and Miss Bingley accused me of the same just now. I have examined all of my feelings closely and I believe I am being perfectly honest when I say that I harbour no jealousy whatsoever towards Jane's happiness, not even in my most secret soul. It is intolerable to be accused so unjustly, as you well know."
"We hardly need discuss that matter, particularly when it is so dissimilar. Miss Bingley and Miss Bennet are not acting out of good intentions marred by misinformation, as you were," Darcy pointed out gently. "If I were forced to speculate, I would guess that your sister shares some of your doubts about Bingley but does not want to acknowledge them openly, which results in this behaviour. As for Miss Bingley, her actions are scarcely mysterious. She is furious at the match between her brother and your sister, and did her very best to persuade him it was a terrible mistake. She had him half convinced that he had promised to marry Georgiana and he was betraying us all."
"Miss Bingley did not appear displeased at all this morning," Elizabeth mentioned, frowning in concentration.
"Oh I am certain she was the most amiable soul imaginable," Darcy sighed. "As her temper got her nowhere, she would have decided to change tactics. I believe she hopes to gather more ammunition to use, by pretending to be friendly with your sister. Miss Bingley will concede defeat any time soon."
"No, I believe Miss Bingley intends to break their engagement if she can. Everything she said to Jane was designed to make Jane feel inferior and unworthy, and Jane, the sweetest creature in the world, will take whatever poison Miss Bingley says quite to heart, never believing that Miss Bingley's intentions are anything but kind."
"We will do whatever we can to mitigate the effects of Miss Bingley's spite, and trust that Charles and your sister will work out for the best," Darcy reassured Elizabeth as they turned a bend in the path and Lucas Lodge came into sight.
They discovered on arriving that Sir William was actually so improved that he was out attending to some small matters in Meryton. Lydia and Kitty joined Maria in the garden soon afterwards. Lady Lucas, however, was happy to receive them, as she was wanting their version of the events that had taken place at Rosings, as Sir William had been unconscious and Maria had been overwrought during much of the incident.
"It is a horrible scandal, I can scarcely credit it even now. Such a thing ought to be quite impossible among civilized people. My poor, poor husband! He tells me that he owes you his life, Lizzy. We shall always be grateful, I assure you."
"You need not mention it, I am only happy that he has recovered so fully," Elizabeth averred. "But I am still dreadfully concerned about Charlotte. Mr. Darcy's investigator is following several small leads still."
"Oh, yes. I – I quite thank you, Mr. Darcy, for your concern regarding my daughter's welfare," Lady Lucas faltered, not quite meeting anyone's eye as she spoke. "It is a terribly distressing situation, I feel it dreadfully."
"Lady Lucas, do you have any insights into what happened? Anything that may assist my investigator in locating your daughter?" Darcy asked carefully, sensing the woman's reluctance to discuss the subject.
"I do not, sadly. I only can say what I'm sure you already know, that Sir William believes that that odious Mr. Collins harmed my poor Charlotte somehow. I can only hope that her soul finds contentment!" Lady Lucas burst into a sudden display of tears and buried her face in a large handkerchief. Elizabeth and Darcy exchanged silent looks, both feeling instinctively that something was amiss.
"I know this must be more upsetting than I can imagine, Lady Lucas," Elizabeth spoke comfortingly. "I am terribly grieved, and Charlotte was only my dear friend, not my daughter. But you must not give up hope. The magistrate, Lord Metcalf, initially suspected that Mr. Collins had murdered Charlotte-"
"That monster posing as a clergyman! I shall never forgive him, never, for what he has done!" Lady Lucas spat out angrily as she emerged from behind the embroidered folds of her handkerchief.
"Of course, that is perfectly natural, I am sure," Elizabeth continued rather uncertainly. "But I meant to say, do not give up hope, for Lord Metcalf no longer believes that Charlotte is dead. Mr. Darcy's and the magistrate's investigators were able to find no sign of violence. So she may very well be alive!"
"No, no, Collins mistreated Charlotte, I tell you! My poor, poor darling girl! I suppose you may congratulate yourself on refusing to marry such a monster as that cousin of yours. If you had not, my Charlotte would be safe and sound at home with me, and you would be the victim of scandal, your mother would be the one to hear what horrid, shocking suggestions people are making! Fanny was none too happy that you refused Mr. Collins, I'm sure you know, and furious at the idea that Charlotte might one day be mistress of Longbourn and kick her out. But things have gone in my neighbour's favor once more. I have no doubt your mother will come calling soon, after you spread our misfortune wide and afar, so that she can boast of your superior judgment."
Elizabeth felt like being smacked at the face by the elderly woman's vicious tirade. But she reassured Lady Lucas nonetheless, before a furious Mr. Darcy could come to Elizabeth's defence. "Lady Lucas, I did not come to make you upset, I only thought to offer hope. As far as I know, my mother knows nothing whatsoever about what has happened with Charlotte and Mr. Collins, and I have no intention of informing her. I am very far from being happy that I escaped Charlotte's fate, I assure you! I would give anything to see her safely at home," protested Elizabeth, who feared that another accusation of jealousy or spite might be coming her way. She wondered if her mother had any idea just how much her spiteful comments and attempts to seem superior to her neighbours were resented, or indeed, if her mother had any notion that her words affected other people at all. Elizabeth recalled commiserating with Charlotte once that neither of their mother's seemed to be able to conceive of the idea that those around them even had feelings.
"I had been so happy with the match! I am sure you know that Sir William has not bestirred himself over-much to provide a fortune of consequence for his family, and Charlotte was never quite so beautiful as one might hope – how often has your mother reminded me of the fact! So I rejoiced at Mr. Collins's offer and insisted Charlotte to accept. A charming home, security, a weak-minded clergyman for a husband, even a noble benefactress! It was all more than ever dared hope for my girl. I ought to have known it was all too good to be true. The moment I laid eyes upon her letter I felt a cold chill sweep over me-"
Lady Lucas broke off suddenly, paling, then began weeping more hysterically and buried her face in her handkerchief again.