Madam and Missy — A Pride and Prejudice Variation
This is dedicated to all the writers both here and on KU who've released their stories for free! As I enjoy reading them so much, I thought that I'd have a go, and here it is.
[Note that I'm a Brit, so have written with British spelling, punctuation and terminology 😏]
In which William goes up to Cambridge, as does Mr. Wickham
Cambridge
William
Early in October, William and his new valet, Stevens, travelled to Cambridge. His father had rented rooms for them near to the town centre. Away from the support of his family, William found it difficult to have a rapport with his peers there. He was disapproving of their wild and sometimes rakish and licentious behaviour. Do they not see that that behaviour is disreputable? Would they allow their sisters to be treated thus?
While he attended his lectures and worked hard, he was quite aghast that many of them did not. Why are they here?
He swiftly gained the reputation of being staid and humourless as he attempted to hide his disapproval behind an inscrutable mask.
One day, during his first term there, William asked Stevens, who was brushing his jacket before putting it away, "What do you do whilst I am at lectures?"
"Apart from caring for your clothing and other belongings, sir, I keep an eye on the other servants here," Stevens stopped brushing and replied.
"Mmm," said William, thoughtfully. "I know that this is very unconventional but, while I am here to learn, would you like to learn something too?"
"Sir?" replied Stevens, unable to conceal his surprise.
"It cannot take all of your time to look after me and, while I expect you to continue to do so and to be available in the mornings and evenings, I see no reason that you should not use the remainder of your time more profitably."
"Sir? I do not know what to say."
"You would not be permitted to attend lectures as you are not a gentleman, but there might be a skill that you would like to acquire — please think on it."
"F-fence, sir. If I m-may, sir, I should like be able to fence," Stevens blurted out.
William nodded. "Excellent! Find out about establishments that accept non-gentlemen and go for it. I shall cover the fees."
"Th-thank you, sir!" Wide-eyed, Stevens stuttered.
"You should learn to shoot too," William added, suspecting that Stevens had chosen fencing in order to protect his master. "Think about other skills to learn. We are to be here for three or four years, so let us not waste them."
Stevens bowed and, rather shakily, left the room.
William knew that he was buying Stevens' loyalty but hoped that by being fair and considerate to him he would also earn it. He also hoped that his valet would know that he valued both him and his care.
Thus, he spent more time than would be expected with Stevens and, over the years, came to rely on the young valet.
There was an unforeseen consequence of Stevens' lessons — their rooms were then unattended during the day. Towards the end of their second year in Cambridge, the rooms were broken into. One afternoon, William arrived shortly after Stevens to find his valet picking up clothes and starting to restore order.
"What has happened?"
"Sir, I returned to find the door ajar and the rooms in this state. I am trying to discern if anything has been taken."
Angry, William paced around the rooms. "Who would do such a thing?" he asked rhetorically. "Is anything missing?"
"It looks as though all of the pockets of your clothing have been searched, sir. I can see that the drawers have been removed from the tallboy and have been turned out, but have not yet tidied them away to discover what has gone. Your papers are strewn about the sitting room, too."
Rushing to the door to the sitting room, he stopped on the threshold to see the notes from his lectures, his essays and his books scattered everywhere. He sagged against the jamb. Where should he start?
Oh, no. Missy's letters! "My letters, Stevens! Were my letters taken?" He and the valet both hurried to the wardrobe and, pushing aside the newly folded clothes, took up the loose board at the bottom to see the letters undisturbed.
At his master's shaky sigh of relief, Stevens patted his arm with inappropriate, if welcome, familiarity and said, "They are safe, sir."
"Yes, Stevens, I thank you." Everything else can be replaced, but not these letters.
Once the Stevens had restored the rooms to order and together they had picked up and sorted his papers and books, they listed what had been taken: money, William's cravat pins and, distressingly, the ring embossed with the galloping horse.
William took Missy's letters from their hiding place and reread them. Then, writing a note to his mother, wrapped them up into a package. "Stevens," he called.
"Yes, sir."
"As soon as possible, arrange for these to be sent to my mother at Pemberley by express."
Stevens nodded. "Yes, sir. I shall do so straightaway unless you require anything else."
"No, off you go — I thank you."
Pemberley
Lady Anne
Lady Anne was surprised to receive an express from her son, and dismayed when she read his note:
'Dear Mother,
'I apologise for the briefness of this letter — my rooms have been broken into. Apart from making a mess, nothing of value seems to have been taken apart from money, pins and my 'horse' ring. These precious letters were still there, but I do not know if they have been read. Luckily, there is nothing in them to either identify their sender or to indicate when they were written.
'Would you take care of them, please?'
Of course I shall.
'I shall write to Mr. Gardiner to tell him about the burglary and to ask him to send any future such letters to you at Pemberley or at Darcy House, rather than to me here.
'Thank you and God bless you
'William
'PS — I had to break the seal to add this — Stevens has questioned the other servants in this house and has found that a maid let her young man — who she called 'George' and described as 'dashing and handsome' — into my rooms. It seems as though Wickham has come to Cambridge after all. I have not decided whether to change lodgings. I think not unless you and Father advise it, as I should rather not be hounded from place to place.
'W'
She was not at all surprised at George Darcy's muttered curse when she handed the letter to him to read.
"Though my first instinct is to send a legion of strong men to Cambridge, I suppose that we must allow William to deal with this himself."
"A whole legion, my dear? Four or five thousand men? Where would they all lodge?"
"Hmph! Why did I marry such a clever wife? A cohort, then?"
She raised her eyebrows at him.
"We shall settle on a century! And you shall not argue me out of it!" he shook his head and smiled.
It seemed as though she could still blush when her husband kissed her.
A few days later, two large footmen, comprising a quarter of a contubernium, Peters and Paulson, arrived at William's lodgings in Cambridge.
Longbourn
Elizabeth
Elizabeth often walked to Lucas Lodge to visit Miss Charlotte Lucas. Though Charlotte was six or seven years older, they were close friends. Then in her twentieth year, Charlotte was included in invitations made to her parents, and Elizabeth was always eager to hear about the people that she had met.
They laughed together as Charlotte described this lady's laugh, "like the neighing of a donkey," and that man's dancing, "he must have had thistles in his boots."
"Did you take a liking to any of the gentlemen?" Elizabeth asked.
"I did," said her friend, with a sigh, "but, sadly, none took a liking to me."
"Yet, dear Charlotte, yet!" Seeing the sad face before her, she added, "They are fools if they do not see what a wonderful catch you are."
"I hope that you are right, Eliza."
contubernium — a subunit of a century, comprising eight men [I had to look it up!]
Please don't copy, but please do let me have comments/corrections 😏
I started this during Lockdown 1.0, and have written 80 or so chapters. I could release them all at once, but where's the fun in that? Do suggest a release schedule: how does five chapters twice a week sound?
Having ground to a halt on the final 'dealing with the baddies' before the HEA, I might ask for ideas later on.
In the meantime, thanks for the generous comments! As there're too few characters available in the introductory blurb to do so there, here're answers to some of the questions:
• will they meet at Netherfield before they know they are betrothed to each other? — just wait!
• the other sisters? — just wait!
• the horse 🐎 ring? — just wait!
• as for the Crown providing dowries and removing the entail – I hadn't thought of that, so it's not my story
• Wickham's ability to harm the family — mmm, I might go back and spell that out, but, strictly, Wickham legged it after Mr. Darcy, very reasonably, offered to buy him a commission
• why the secrecy? — it's a plot device!
• the other names were Elizabeth → Miss H → missish, and Eliza → Miss A
• why are the Darcys chosen? — why not?
To the posters who've said that this would become a favo(💗)rite, thank you so very much.