Darcy's plan finally worked one morning as he had ridden to the base of that hill and lingered there, hoping she would appear. He saw her approaching and that she had a smile on her face until she noticed him. She frowned as soon as she recognized him. This was the first time they had met with no one else around since their encounter at this very same spot. As he was still embarrassed at his words from that first night he met her, after he greeted her most politely, he added, "Mrs. Collins, I can only apologize again for the ungentlemanly words I said about you at that Assembly when we first met. I will not try to justify my behaviour, except to say that I had been in a bad mood recently from something that happened to someone who is near and dear to me. I can only hope that you will be able to forgive me and not hold it against me."
Elizabeth looked closely at him and thought that he was being sincere. "Mr. Darcy, I will accept your apology. Might I assume you were about to climb to the top of Oakham Mount? It does have a great view of the area." She was finding that she was not longer so hesitant to be in his company after seeing him at several social gatherings.
"That was my plan. Will you be so kind as to show me the best path to the top? I assume that it is best to go on foot." He did not say that he had already been to the top as he wanted an opportunity to get to know her better.
She nodded her acceptance. She was still not sure about him, but decided that she should give him a chance. "Follow me." She led the way up at an impressive pace. When they reached the top, they stopped and automatically looked all around. She pointed out a number of landmarks that could be seen from this vantage point.
"I believe that I heard you were from Derbyshire. I understand that it is quite hilly there. How does this area compare to that area?"
When she mentioned his home, Darcy was expecting that she would ask about his estate as this is what almost every lady did, at least in his experience. He was surprised that she did not. "Derbyshire is quite hilly; it even boasts some real mountains. Here I see only rolling hills and what appear to be quite a large number of farms; more than what we have in Derbyshire. Have you ever been in the north country?"
"No, I have not. I was hoping that I would be able to go there some day with my aunt and uncle as she is from a small town called Lambton in Derbyshire. Do you happen to know of it?"
"What a coincidence! Lambton is only five miles from Pemberley. I expect that we would have some acquaintances in common as I am often in that village. Do you or she have any plans to go there any time soon?"
"No, I cannot say that I do as I am so busy with our estate here, even though my Aunt and Uncle Gardiner keep talking about making a trip there one of these summers. She would like to visit the place where she was raised." Darcy was surprising her for being so friendly. Every time she had seen him until now, he seemed so haughty and said little to anyone outside his own party. This made her less reluctant to talk to him.
"I do not wish to pry into your private affairs, but I have heard that you are completely in charge of your estate; I understand how it would keep you busy. That is unusual for a lady, especially one as young as you are." Even though he knew about her responsibilities from what Richard had said about her, he wanted to find a good topic of conversation.
"Longbourn is my son's inheritance, but I am responsible for looking after it for him as there is no one else." She looked closely at him. "Please forgive me, but I would rather not talk about it."
"As you wish; please forgive me. I did not mean to pry." He was surprised at her reluctance to talk about her life as this was so different with other ladies that he had met. She was obviously not trying to impress him. This certainly raised his respect for her.
Elizabeth was tempted to ask about Mr. Bingley and the Colonel, but she did not dare. If Mr. Darcy had not been so affable with her, she would not have been comfortable being alone with him like this. In fact, she was beginning to become nervous already. She had been so careful not to be alone with any man for years. She was just beginning to be more relaxed in conversing with the Colonel whenever they were together.
"I must return home as I have much to do." When she began to descend the hill, Darcy went with her.
When they reached his horse, Darcy said, "Mrs. Collins, thank you for your company. I enjoyed it. Should I escort you to your home?"
"That is not necessary. I know my way very well, but thank you for your offer."
"In that case, I will be off. I hope to see you again soon." He mounted his horse and rode on the trail that led toward Netherfield. He was impressed with Mrs. Collins and thought that she was too good for his cousin and, in any case, he was quite sure that Longbourn was not earning enough to support his usual lifestyle. He wondered how he could find more information about her history. From her reticence to talk about what happened to her, he thought that there must have been serious problems with her marriage. He only hoped that when his cousin left, she would not be too disappointed. Like Bingley, Richard had a habit of leaving disappointed ladies wherever he had been.
For her part, Elizabeth thought that her first impressions of Mr. Darcy were quite inaccurate; he could be personable when he made the effort. She wondered if this was because they had not been in a large group such as they had been every time she had seen him until today. When she thought how comfortable she was in his company this morning, she was amazed as she had so carefully avoided being alone with men ever since her husband's death. Her memories of him still disturbed her more than she thought they would after such a long time.
When Darcy reached Netherfield, only his cousin and Bingley were up. "Darcy, we wondered where you had gone. Did you have a good ride? Bingley and I were thinking of going shooting if we can rouse Hurst. Interested in going with us?"
"I did, and yes, I will go out with you. I rode to that hill you can see in the distance. As I mentioned before, it is called Oakham Mount and offers a good view of the area. Richard, I even met your Mrs. Collins there again. It seems that she likes an early morning walk." Richard noticed that Darcy had called her 'your' Mrs. Collins, but he did not dispute this wording even though he was not sure about the depth of her interest in him.
Bingley sent a footman to go find Hurst's valet to wake him up.
"Did she actually talk to you today?"
"Yes, she did. She was quite amiable after I apologized to her again. I tried to find out more about her story, but she will not talk about herself. Richard, there must be an interesting tale there if we can find out what happened with her marriage." Darcy did not mention his concerns about Richard's continuing attentions to this lady.
Over the next two weeks, the Netherfield party continued to be invited to different gatherings where they met the Longbourn ladies. One significant event that occurred in Meryton was that a regiment of militia arrived to be billeted near there for the winter. As soon as he thought they should be settled in their camp, Colonel Fitzwilliam went to their headquarters to make his presence known to their commanding officer.
He asked a subaltern to be taken to the commander. He was led in and was surprised when he recognized the Colonel in charge. "Colonel Forster! I did not know this was your regiment."
"Colonel Fitzwilliam! I did not know you were here. Are you here in an official capacity?"
"No. I had a month's leave, so I am visiting friends here with my cousin Darcy. The sport has been excellent and the company, especially the ladies, is much better than I expected.
"Are you fully staffed? I heard that it is difficult to recruit both officers and men into the militia because of the situation on the continent. I know that the army is recruiting every man it can."
"I am short some men and several officers. I told my officers to encourage anyone who might be interested to join us. I urged them to remind men that the militia is safer than the regulars and they will be based here and likely not sent to the continent.
"What about you? Do you know where your next posting will be?"
"I have not heard—probably the continent, but possibly Canada. I am hoping Canada as it should be safer than facing the French. Canada might be interesting as I heard that there is plenty of opportunity there for anyone who is willing to work hard. The country is really opening up with lots of free land available. I know they are encouraging anyone who might be interested to go settle there. I have already put in my notice that I intend to retire next summer, so I am not sure what the generals will decide. I just have to wait to find out."
The two colonels chatted for a while until Colonel Forster said he had better get back to his duties. He mentioned that he would invite all the Netherfield gentlemen to dine with the officers as soon as he was settled properly. Colonel Fitzwilliam said that he had to report back to his duties soon, but that the other gentlemen would likely be pleased to accept.
The day before Colonel Fitzwilliam had to return to London, he went to Longbourn and asked to see Mrs. Collins. He invited her to join him in walking in the garden. Jane and Mary went out to serve as chaperones, but they kept a respectable distance from the couple even though they were both eager to hear what he had to say to Lizzy. They were well aware of the attention he had been paying to her.
"Mrs. Collins, you know that I have to leave in the morning. I did not want to leave without speaking to you."
Elizabeth waited patiently. She had hoped that he would talk to her about his intentions. She quite liked the Colonel for his lively personality. He was the first gentleman she had spent much time with over the past several years, other than her uncles.
On his part, the Colonel knew that he had to be very careful about what he said to this fine lady as he did not want to build up her expectations about any possible future with him. He was well aware of the dangers he would likely face in his next posting. "I have been quite obvious about how much I have enjoyed being in your company ever since I arrived here. I find you a fascinating lady; so different from those I meet in town. None of them is as interesting as you are."
Now he came to the most difficult part. He had to be very careful in what he said. "I am not in any position to think about the future until I am out of the army. I have been open with you about my financial position as I am only the second son and my father's title and estate will go to my brother. In addition, the dangers faced by every soldier are just too great to think about making any commitments for the future. My resignation from the army will be effective next summer, so I will come back to talk to you then if you say that I might be welcome." He hoped that she understood the message he was trying to convey to her. He waited for her reply.
"Colonel, I agree with your thinking and understand your hesitation. You know that I have been careful about associating with any man because of my past experience, but we might talk next summer if you come back here then." This was as far as she would commit herself.
"I have to admit that I have been curious about your past, but I have not wanted to pry. Will you tell me what happened? I promise not to judge you in any way, no matter what happened."
She thought that this moment would have to come at some point in time so she decided she would tell him some of what happened to her; after all, he was about to leave the neighbourhood.
"My father died suddenly four years ago. You may have heard that Longbourn is entailed to the male line and the heir apparent was a distant cousin. My father did not get along with his cousin because of some differences that happened in the past. I soon learned that his cousin deeply resented my father. I assume this was the reason that he came immediately with his son to claim his inheritance. It quickly became apparent why my father did not like him as he was not a gentleman in any way; neither was his son. If anything, his son was even worse.
"Mr. Collins Senior even moved right into the master suite even though Mother was still occupying the mistress's suite. I know that she was really worried about his intentions to our family. She knew we were completely at his mercy as my father had not saved any money for our future." Even though she hated to wonder if Mr. Collins made any improper demands on her mother being so close to her bedroom, in the back of her mind she knew that this was a distinct possibility because of what his son was like. She shuddered every time she thought about this.
"It happened that Jane was in London at that time as our Aunt Gardiner was expecting her fourth child and needed assistance with her other three children. When our aunt and uncle heard that the Collinses had taken possession so quickly, they decided to keep her there until everything was settled. They were well aware of what my father thought about his heir and were worried about how they would treat us. My uncle must have known something about them and what they were like. Even though Jane desperately wanted to come home, they convinced her to stay with them until the baby was born. That was fortunate as Mr. Collins Senior told us in no uncertain terms that we had to obey him in everything he demanded or he would throw us out into the hedgerows without a penny.
"What he wanted was a wife for his son; he must have been aware how unattractive his son was and that he would not be able to attract any decent lady to marry him. If Jane had been here, I am sure he would have picked her because of her beauty. I was next in line even though I was only sixteen at the time. I believe that is why the Gardiners did not want Jane to return to us. Somehow they knew what the Collinses were like and did what they could to protect her. They could not protect all of us but they did what they could.
"His son, William, was not an attractive man in any way." She shuddered when she thought of him. "He was obese, smelly, uncouth, and not bright at all. On top of that, his habits were dreadfully coarse. Both he and his father were rude and without manners and had not the least bit of sympathy for any of us or our precarious situation. Because of his father's threat to throw us out into the hedgerows, I had no choice but to marry him when they demanded it. He would not even wait for a decent period of mourning to be over. With their newfound wealth and my father's fine cellar, they both began to drink heavily and go wherever there was gaming involved. I worried they would force us into bankruptcy by the way they spent our money." She just could not talk about the demands her husband made on her or his treatment of her, it was still much too painful.
"We were married for only two months when they went some place where there was racing and betting. They must have been lucky as they were returning to Longbourn as drunk as lords. They must have thought they were actually in the races as they were going far too fast for the road. They crashed the carriage and both were killed." She did not need to add how relieved they all were when they heard this news.
"My Uncle Philips arranged everything, including the funerals and having himself and my Uncle Gardiner appointed as guardians for the estate and for all of us until we reached our majorities. I found that I was with child and it was fortunate that my son was born as he was the heir to the estate. My Uncle Philips helped me run the estate until he was satisfied that I could do it by myself. He seems to give me a lot of credit as he almost always agrees with my suggestions.
"So this is what happened over the past four years." She had tears in her eyes when she ended her tragic tale. She did not need to mention how traumatized she still was whenever she remembered the horrible sufferings she had experienced with her husband.
The Colonel had taken her hand when she was telling him all this as he saw how upset she was. "Oh, my dear Mrs. Collins, I am so sorry for you. You did not deserve that treatment. It was not your fault at all, so please do not blame yourself for anything. You are a remarkable lady to have survived those events and made such a success after all that. Do not worry that my consideration about you has changed in the slightest. I still would like to come back here next summer to talk to you, if you are agreeable."
Elizabeth was pleased that she had finally told her story to him as it relieved her of those secrets and fears. "Colonel, I will talk to you next summer when you come here. Now, will you come in for tea before you leave?"