Chapter 15
Having made good time with Bingley's well sprung coach and horses, Gardiner agreed to Bingley's suggestion that they take a brief break at the next stop to refresh themselves and eat. Looking out the window at a disabled coach with a gentleman standing next to it, Gardiner exclaimed in suprise, "Stop! That is my brother Bennet!"
Bingley pounded on the roof of his coach to indicate his driver should stop. Once the coach did so. Gardiner quickly exited and went to Bennet, leaving Bingley to hand Jane down.
"What happened Thomas? Are you injured?" Gardiner asked as he hurried towards Bennet.
"No one other than one of the horses is hurt. The young man I am traveling with as gone to seek assistance at the nearest inn. What are you doing here?" Bennet asked. Catching site of Bingley with Jane, Bennet said sarcastically, "Assure me you are not stopping yet another gentleman from eloping with one of my daughters? Of course, if so you have caught then much faster then I have caught my prey."
"So you know about Mr. Darcy and Lizzy?" Gardiner asked.
"Yes his cousin came to inform me that Mr. Darcy was eloping with my daughter but that she was perfectly safe," Bennet said with disgust. "I naturally enlisted him to join me as I chased the man down."
"Mr. Darcy's friend, Mr. Bingley, showed up on my doorstep with a missive from Lizzy assuring Jane of her safety but not much else. Then the young man invited Jane, with my wife as a chaperone, to accompany him to Mr. Darcy's Scottish estate to celebrate the marriage between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. My good wife sent for me at my warehouse, and I prevailed upon the young man for what was going on and then informed him I would be accompanying him North in the morning and left my foreman in charge of my warehouse. Jane insisted on coming with us so that she could provide comfort to her sister once we caught up to them. I intended to drag Mr. Darcy and Lizzy back, so we can sort this mess out."
"Likewise my intentions," Bennet said grimly. "Lydia has been making noise about going to Brighton, but after this mess with Lizzy being set upon in my cousin's parsonage and drugged I certainly will not be letting her go."
"Don't worry, Thomas. Together we will set this to right," Gardiner assured him.
...
"Mr. Darcy, would you be so kind as to switch me seats?" Mrs. Wiffle said. "My old bones will fair far better on the other bench for just a stretch."
"Of course, Mrs. Wiffle," Darcy said as he handed her into the coach at their last stop.
Before entering himself he heard Mrs. Wiffle say, "No, no dearie. You stay there. I just need to stretch my bones out for a bit alone on the seat."
Darcy fought to keep the joy from showing on his face that he would be sitting next to Elizabeth. To reach the inn he planned on staying at tonight they would travel slower to rest the horses so they would not need to stop for a change before reaching it. He would get to sit next to Elizabeth for a few hours thanks to Mrs. Wiffle, he thought to himself happily.
...
Having seen Bingley with Gardiner and Jane, Col. Fitzwilliam was inspired by an example he could share with Elizabeth's family of the care and protection Darcy exhibited of those he had affection for. "Bingley over there is a prime example of my cousin caring for those he values," Col. Fitzwilliam said, indicating where Bingley was speaking to his coachman while, Jane refreshed herself and the rest awaited them to dine.
"Oh?" said Mr. Bennet.
"Yes. Reccently he saved him from a most imprudent match. Considerable objections to the lady, you know. He values Bingley so he removed him from the situation. Bingley had believed himself in love naturally. But Darcy saw what a mistake he was about to make and acted accordingly. He will take just as good care of your daughter. No one will ever take advantage of her compassionate nature with him to protect her."
"And when was this?" Gardiner asked his vocie deceptively calm.
"Just before Christmas, I believe. Bingley seems quite recovered from it now. He was downcast over the winer about it, but as you can see today he is his usual smiling happy self. The man is practically beaming."
"Yes. Lizzy would likely attribute that to the fact that he is once more in comapny with her sister Jane," Bennet said dryly. "The same object of his attention before Christmas. What pray tell where Mr. Darcy's objections to my eldest daughter? And in what particular ways do they not apply to my other daughter?"
Col. Fitzwilliam's eyes widened and his face drained of color. He had met Jane but not paid much attention to her. He had noted she was beautiful but he found her lacking compared to the liveliness of her younger sister. She was polite and serene, he could not see any reason for Darcy to have objected to her. With a sinking feeling that he had really put his foot into it, he feared that Darcy objections to the match might be offensive to the family. He devoutly hoped one of those objections was not her connections to trade or her lack of wealth. Bingley was the son of a tradesman, a kind serene daughter of a gentleman would be a step up for Bingley.
"I was unaware of the ahh connection," Col. Fitzwilliam said. "Having met Miss Bennet, I cannot see why he would have objected to her for Bingley. I am sorry for my words, they were spoken in ignorance."
"Better your ignorance shows up now rather than in front of my eldest daughter," Bennet said. "I am less then impressed. Mr. Darcy insults my second eldest when he arrives in Meryton, disparges my eldest to her suitor, then kidnapps my second eldest. Sends you to placate me and that buffoon to my brother."
"If Darcy sent Bingley to Mr. Gardiner's with a letter from Miss Elizabeth to Miss Bennet, I think we may be missing some information. He never named Bingley to me, I just assumed it was Bingley he was referring to. I perhaps spoke out of turn in my eagerness to present Darcy's positive qualities to you. My apologies, " Col. Fitzwilliam said. He was spot on positive that Darcy had meant Bingley, but was wise enough to not give his reasons for knowing this. They not only reflected poorly on Bingley if he was in love with the eldest, but Darcy's actions in regards to Bingley would not have endeared him to the Bennets.
...
After seating himself in the coach, Darcy handed Elizabeth the wrapped package he had requested his coachman procure if possible from the local bookseller. She looked at him curiously so he indicated for her to unwrap it. When she did, three small copies of Shakespear's play, Labor of Love, were revealed.
"I thought we could take parts and read it allowed as we traveled," Darcy said. "It was lucky that the bookseller had three copies of the same Shakespearean work. I thought it might be more practical if we each had our own copy rather then passing one back and forth." If Darcy had been alone with Elizabeth he would have been more tempted to only get one copy and use sharing it as an excuse to sit next to her. Instead he had decided to be practical and requested his coachman attempt to get three copies of one of Shakespeare's romantic comedies.
"Wonderful!" Elizabeth exclaimed, beaming at him. Darcy smiled in return, glad that she approved of his idea for providing entertainment. He remebered Elizabeth claiming that poetry was not the food of love, but until he could tell her how he felt about her in his own words, the words of the Bard would allow him to convey his sentiments, even if she was unaware he was speaking to her and not a character from the pages.
…
Darcy, Elizabeth and Mrs. Wiffle travled comfortably together over the next day and a half, with Darcy doing what he could to ensure Elizabeth's comfort at every opportunity. He hoped it was not just wishful thinking on his part that she was more welcoming of his prescence then she had been in the autumn. He had thought she enjoyed their conversations and craved his attention then as much as he did, only to find out he was wrong. For his part Darcy knew he was more in love with her now then ever. He desperately hoped he stood a chance at being granted her hand in marriage.
…
Edmund greeted the Earl heartily. When his long time friend asked what brought him to town so unexpectedly, Edmund responded, "Some buisness to attend to with new recruits for the Navy. Our nephew also cautioned me that he expected there to be some gossip about him this season."
"This elopement buisness? Miranda got a letter from Catherine about it. Say, Georgiana is staying here presently, so I had best wait to speak about it until we are in the study," Lord Matlock said leading the way.
Once they were behind the closed study door, Edmund said, "It was gossip of a different sort Darcy reffered to. You had best tell me what the old bat had to say. I have met his Elizabeth, enchanting. If I was twenty years younger, I might have been tempted to steal her from him and take her to Scotland myself."
"What's she like?"
"Witty. Intelligent. Kind. Innocent. Darcy hovers over her like a protective mother bear. She did not understand my sly innuendos but the boy did. His face when I told his beloved I, like most men, enjoyed coming outdoors in the spring as nature's bounty blossomed around me like a delicate flower for the first time was priceless. He was trying to glare at me for my double entendre and looking at her anxiously to make sure she she did not understand that I meant having a sexual release inside a virgin's tight body outdoors. Of course he not only hovers, he was also practically salivating over her every move like a green lad after his first woman. He wasn't that bad even about his first woman as a lad."
"I remember just before he went to university and he was bolder with one of the maids at Pemberley, having her fondle his roger in the morning at that brat Wickham's instigation. George sat him down and explained how a gentleman does not dally with the females working in his household. Then he sent him to your estate and paid for one of the Madame's girls to travel there and service him, but told the boy after that time he would need to visit the Madame's brothel for his releases or go back to tossing one off himself. Of course I enjoyed that carriage ride there myself escorting her there and you enjoyed the extra I brought along since I thought he might find a demonstration useful and it would be laughable for us. He was a studious lad. I remember the serious look on his face, his prick in the prostitute's mouth since I told her to work on his cock with her mouth during his lesson, as you explained and showed him how to mount a female, the signs her body was ready to recieve him and how to take care not to hurt one."
"Yes, you had them taking turns bouncing in your lap the whole way to my estate and back to London the next day, it was only fair I got to enjoy one too. I suppose we should have felt bad playing a joke on the boy like that, acting as if he would need a lesson to know how to tup a woman."
"Darcy was quite relieved we did not plan on watching and grading him him. His relief when we took the second prostitute out of the room and left him to his entertainment was a palatable. To bad George never gave the same speech to that Wickham brat about not debasing the maids in the household," the earl grumbled. "Of course it would not have done for him to pay for the son of a steward to be allowed the same experience with his first woman his heir got."
"My brother always said that if his servants or tennats wanted to fornicate together it was fine as long as it did not interfere with the servants duties in the household. Told me once that he did not mind coming across a footman and a maid together on their off days in the woods and what not, but if he found a maid with her legs spread on her back in one of his guest chambers with a footman's prick in her, he would be forced to dismiss them. He expected them to only have congress in the servants quarters or outside and on their time off. He knew Wickham had a penchant for seducing the maids. I once asked him why he did nothing about it and he told me Wickham was the son of his steward, he certainly would not do anything about it if it was a tenant or footman seducing them so why would he interfere between two servants. If the maids chose to give themselves to Wickham as long as it did not interfere with their work it was no business of his he believed," Edmund said. "I want to hear about this letter, not discuss Wickham's seduction of the maids at Pemberly."
"Cathy wrote Miranda an express that arrived this morning announcing that Darcy had left Rosings to go install his latest convienet at Camwood and that he had not returned yet from enjoying her, but that they needed to begin planning him and Anne's wedding. Miranda was in a temper and was going to write her back informing her that he had not installed Miss Bennet as his mistress at Camwood but was eloping with her to Scotland to make her his wife. I calmed her down and pointed out how to do so would only bring Cathy to London demanding I chase after them. Either that or she would be camped out on his doorstep until his carriage arrived ready to demand he annull the marriage. If the poor boy had his prick in his wife for one last go in the carriage he'd likey deflate quickly if Cathy yanked open the door. And if he wasn't mid tup, Cathy's prescence would certianly make it difficult for him to tup his wife in peace once in the house."
"I hope your sister did not write to anyone else," Edmund said with a shake of his head.
"Doubtful and if she has she will be made ridiculous when he shows up in London with a wife and not a mistress in tow. And I have only heard mention of what happened in Kent once and I was sure to set the record straight. A gentleman at my club yesterday told me he heard my sister had thrown a fallen woman from her parson's house. He had opined that it was a shame she had thrown her into the wilds rather then throw her my way like a good sister since he had heard she was a tasty little piece. I informed him that my sister was a jealous harpy and that she had removed a young innocent gentlewoman from the safety of her relatives where she was residing because she feared my nephew would propose to the girl when she wanted him to marry her daughter. We had a good laugh about her petty jealousy when I revealed that I expected the young lady in question to become my niece despite Cathy's bad behavior."
"And have you heard any gossip about our nephew of a more salacious nature?"
"Surprisingly yes. I was surprised one of the prostitutes at Madame - Brothel would violate his privacy contract like that. They are usually quite discrete, main reason a man likes going there instead of other houses that don't require a french letter inside a female's body, that and they don't have the pox. The gossip is that he is blessed with a large prick and stamina, along with the fact that he likes to have a female's month around it. If he wasn't getting married he would have the young ladies attempting to seduce him into marriage by doing so. I have known more then one young buck to get himself sucked off during the course of a ball in a private room with the debutant hoping he will be secured into matrimony. Some lose their heads and find themselves offering marriage because there cock feels good and is ready to explode and others get caught and have to offer marriage. From what I hear Blakehurst had two of them going at him at once, wrapping their lips around his prick. Had told them he would make an offer to which ever did it the best. With a dukedom someday on the line both went at it with enthusiasm. He made an offer all right, for one to be his mistress while he had her skirts up. Ready to plunge his roger in for another release if she agreeded. She told him he could only do it if he married her afterwards thinking he was panting after her body enough to agree. He dropped her skirt, tossed one off himself, buttoned his breeches and left her behind. One chit found herself married to a country squire and the other sent to live with an aunt. Both ladies tattled on the other to a select few, and pretty soon all of society knew the story.
"Darcy is worried his new bride will hear the gossip and view it unfavorably, " Edmund said amused by his friend's gossip but more concerned with assisting his nephew deal with the gossip circulating about him.
"Well did he tell you about the incident that lead to one of the Madame's girls gossiping? Best know what we are dealing with."