Elizabeth sat there, stunned. After what Mr. Darcy had said to her about his cousin, she expected that she would never see the Colonel again. This is what she had told her family, without giving them all the information that Mr. Darcy had relayed to her. However, their ingrained habits of politeness were strong enough for them to overcome their shock. They all rose and curtsied politely to him.
Mrs. Bennet invited him in. "Colonel Fitzwilliam! What a surprise! We did not expect to see you here as we heard that you were stationed in Canada and had been considering remaining there because of the great opportunities there. However, you are welcome, so please come in and join us for tea."
He sat down after all the ladies had taken their seats. He wondered who told them about his time in Canada.
Mrs. Bennet automatically looked at Elizabeth, who had to concentrate to keep from fainting from the shock of seeing him. Elizabeth managed to say, "Colonel, this is indeed a surprise. As Mother said, I thought that we would likely never see you again after your resignation was finalized."
"The resignation of my colonelcy is final, so now I am plain Mr. Fitzwilliam. I am looking forward to the next stage of my life." With these words, Elizabeth worried about what his expectations were. Just his being there worried her more than she had expected.
Mrs. Bennet saw that her daughter was distressed, so she continued, "We do have some important news that happened quite recently. My oldest daughter, Jane, is lately wed to Baron Glenwood, so she is now a Baroness. They are currently on their wedding tour and will be taking up residence in his estate in Warwickshire. Do you know the Baron?"
"I have met him several times. I believe he knows Darcy fairly well." He looked confused. "Pardon me for asking about something quite personal, but when I left here last autumn, I thought that Bingley was interested in Miss Bennet. I have not seen him since I arrived back in England. May I ask what happened?"
As Mrs. Bennet loved to gossip, she answered without hesitation. "That gentleman proved to be quite a disappointment. He and his whole party left Netherfield at the end of November without a word. My brother Gardiner invited Jane to go back to town with them after they celebrated Christmas with us. My brother encountered the Baron at some event and introduced him to Jane. He was obviously struck by her beauty and continued to see her while she was in town. When she returned here, he somehow managed to take over the lease of Netherfield from Mr. Bingley so he could continue to court her. He came here with his mother, the now Dowager Baroness, who is the best of ladies. He finally asked Jane to marry him and she agreed. They were married quite recently and everything was simply lovely. She was the most beautiful bride ever seen in Hertfordshire. I must say that he is a much better catch than Mr. Bingley as she is now a Baroness and he has a fine estate. We will be going to Warwickshire as soon as they get there from their honeymoon trip so I can help her get settled in.
"Mr. Darcy came here for their wedding and brought his sister. Miss Darcy made immediate friends with my girls and hated to be parted from them when they returned to Derbyshire. Mr. Darcy invited us all to go visit his estate in Derbyshire from Warwickshire, but Mary and I decided that we would be needed to help Jane settle into her new estate, so only Kitty and Lydia will be going. He will be sending his finest travelling carriage to convey them from Warwickshire to Derbyshire."
This bit of news told Richard that it must have been Darcy who had told them about his plans for Canada.
"Lizzy was invited to tour the north with the Gardiners and will be leaving in just a week. She will be at Pemberley when her sisters arrive there, so the three of them will be there together. Mr. Darcy and his sister promised to show them the sights of the area."
This news shocked him as he had definitely not had any expectation that his cousin would become so involved with the Bennets that he would invite them to stay at Pemberley. While they had been together at Netherfield, Darcy had shown not the slightest interest in any of them. Jealousy rose up in him as he wondered if Darcy had waited until he had left to begin to be in Mrs. Collins's company. Darcy had not been in town when he returned from Canada, so he had not seen him since he left England. He made the mistake of allowing his annoyance to show on his face before he managed to appear to be calm. Unfortunately for him, Elizabeth noticed that look of displeasure and was not pleased in the least. She certainly did not want anything to do with him if he had a temper.
All the ladies sat there, still amazed to see him here in Hertfordshire. Once again, Mrs. Bennet was the first to recover. "Mr. Fitzwilliam, we are all pleased to see you again. So, what are your plans, if you do not mind telling us?"
He was not sure what they had been told about his plans, so he had to speak very cautiously. "I had been thinking about taking up a land grant in Canada, but decided against it."
He continued, "The thought of free land in Canada was quite interesting, but it would only be for land that is completely undeveloped and covered in forests. If I took up land there, it would require years of hard work before life would become easy. I would have to clear the land by cutting all the trees and build a house and other outbuildings before I could plant any crops. Labour is difficult to hire when land is easily available so I would have to do almost all of the work myself. Living for the first few years would be very primitive; certainly no place for a lady." He did not add that the temptation of marrying into that successful frontier family was just not strong enough to convince him to turn down his father's pleas to return home.
"I decided that life in Canada under these circumstances would be quite rough, much more difficult than what we are used to here. Army life can be challenging, especially out in the field, but I have to admit that it has taken its toll on me. While I was on patrol in Canada, I suffered a wound to my leg in a minor skirmish. It has healed well but it still bothers me sometimes. That was the deciding factor for me; I was not sure that I could do all the work that would be needed if I stayed there." He noticed that all the ladies surreptitiously looked at his legs, but he knew that his wound was not obvious now.
"When I mentioned that I might stay in Canada to my parents, they strongly urged against my staying there. They knew that if I stayed in Canada, I might never come back to England and they would likely never see me again. They were so adamant against that that they offered me some interesting inducements to return. My father gave me a small estate that is not part of the earldom. It is in Surrey so is convenient to town. I decided that I really did not have any choice but to return home.
"I am on my way to my new estate but decided to make a detour to Hertfordshire to see my friends, so here I am."
The ladies had all been listening closely to his tale, with varying levels of interest. Now that he had retired from the army, he would no longer wear regimentals, so both Kitty and Lydia thought less of him. They sat quietly, but their attention turned more to Lizzy than to him. They were well aware that this visit was of great importance to their sister.
Elizabeth was not sure what she would do. It was obvious that his sudden appearance here at Longbourn meant that he was still interested in her, but she was now much less sure if he would make a good husband for her. Mr. Darcy had told her that he had been considering a wealthy lady in Canada. She began to worry about his constancy and if his interest was mainly in finding the most comfortable future life for himself. This was definitely not what she wanted in a husband.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the visitor asking, "Mrs. Collins, it is a beautiful day, so may I ask that you show me your garden? Perhaps Miss Mary might accompany us to act as a chaperone."
Elizabeth knew that she would have to talk to him, so she agreed. She and Mary found their bonnets and shawls and Mary brought her book. When they were outside, Mary went to sit on a bench while Richard offered his arm to Elizabeth. She accepted, although somewhat reluctantly as she knew this would not be an easy conversation. She was not sure what she would say to him, but she was sure that he would not like what she had to say.
"Mrs. Collins, last autumn I promised to speak to you when I returned. My new estate does not earn much, but I have some savings. With Longbourn's earnings, we could live quite comfortably." He was obviously quite confident of her acceptance of him, but this was exactly the wrong thing to say to her.
"Mr. Fitzwilliam! You are far too hasty." Elizabeth was not sure how to say what she had to say as she had seen that look on his face when Mr. Darcy was mentioned. "You are making two serious assumptions; first, that I will accept you even though you have not asked me anything about the future. Second, you seem to be assuming that Longbourn's earnings would be available to support you in the lifestyle you would like to maintain." Elizabeth had to be careful to keep her temper under control. She withdrew her hand from Richard's arm before he had a chance to stop her.
"I must remind you that Longbourn is my son's inheritance and that my uncles are the guardians of the estate. The estate's earnings are for my son's benefit. My uncles have allowed some of the income to support me, my mother, and my unmarried sisters. It would be completely up to them to decide if any of it could be used to support any of our husbands. I doubt they would be agreeable to that as they take their roles of guardian very seriously."
Mary had been watching them instead of reading her book. She could see that her sister was becoming agitated and she decided to step in before Lizzy said something she might regret. She closed her book and went to them. "Lizzy, is everything all right?" She looked at Mr. Fitzwilliam and could see that he appeared to be confused. "Come, we should go back into the house."
Elizabeth shook her head to clear her mind, realizing that Mary's intervention was well timed. "Thank you, Mary, you are right." She turned to Richard, "Mr. Fitzwilliam, thank you for coming to see us today. I wish you well in the future." She then turned away from him and took Mary's arm. They went into the house, leaving a very bewildered gentleman shaking his head in confusion, wondering what had just happened. He had been so sure of his acceptance. He knew that he had to control his temper at his rejection.
He stood there unable to move. He then wondered if Darcy was to blame. What had his cousin said to Mrs. Collins? Did he mention the woman in Canada whose father owned the sawmill? He now knew that he should not have bragged about her in his letters. As he went to find his horse, he thought that if Longbourn's income would not be available to support him, then he was better off not married to this lady. He had noticed that she was getting angry, and one thing that he knew was that he did not want a wife with a temper. He was used to ladies who agreed with everything he said. He was likely better off looking for a better wife, one who was always genial and with a good dowry, as he had previously planned. He left Hertfordshire still shocked at how vigorously his proposal had been rejected, even before he had a chance to ask.
When the ladies entered the house, their mother exclaimed, "Where is Mr. Fitzwilliam? Why did he not come back in with you?" She looked at Elizabeth. "What have you done?"
Elizabeth knew she had to placate her mother. "Mama, Mr. Fitzwilliam came here with unwarranted expectations. It seemed he assumed he could just return without having sent any word for so many months and resume our relationship where it had been when he had left. He clearly expected that I would marry him and use Longbourn's earnings to support him in the lifestyle that he wanted to maintain. When I told him that my uncles would not allow that, he became upset. With such behaviour, I could not possibly see any future with him.
"I expect that we will never see him again."
With the birth of Master Thomas Collins, Mrs. Bennet was much less concerned about her future and being thrown out into the hedgerows, so she did not raise a great fuss at the loss of a possible son-in-law who was the son of an earl. With Jane now Baroness Glenwood, she was so proud of her oldest daughter that she could forgive a lot with her other daughters.
When the Gardiner carriage arrived on the day it was expected, Longbourn lost all semblance of order and quietude with the addition of four additional children who were impatient to run off their energy that they had built up on their journey from town. Tommy immediately joined them, adding to the commotion. However, their exuberance was generally ignored as the adults were too busy greeting each other even though the Gardiners had been there not so long before for Jane's nuptials.
The Gardiners stayed only for two nights as they had planned, just long enough to ensure their children were settled with Mrs. Philips, their nurses, and the Longbourn staff. Elizabeth was already packed and ready. Her main hesitation was leaving her son as this was the first time she had done this for any length of time. When she saw how excited he was to see his cousins, she worried that he would barely notice her absence.
Her Aunt Philips had come to greet her brother and sister and to take up residence at Longbourn in preparation for when the Bennets would leave, which would be the day following the Gardiners' departure. Jane had written to say that they were now in Warwickshire and told them they could come at any time. Mrs. Philips had decided to come early so she would be well settled with the children when their parents all left. Both carriages left when they had planned.
The pace of the Gardiners' trip was leisurely as they stopped whenever they wanted to see interesting natural sites or any great houses that were open to visitors. They spent a day in Cambridge and Mr. Gardiner pointed out places he remembered from his time at the university. Mrs. Gardiner's excitement was palpable when they entered Derbyshire and Lambton, where she had been raised.