"…I am glad that you spoke with Mr. Darcy and you cleared up all your doubts." Mrs. Barton sighed, "I don't think I ever told you that my parents didn't want me to marry Mr. Barton. They thought that his social position was inferior to mine, and even my father did not want to consent when John first proposed to me.
Elizabeth shook her head in surprise, "You've never told me that. I knew you had a long courtship and engagement, but I thought it was for other reasons."
Mrs. Barton shook her head, "It is a story that I do not like to tell since it does not bring me pleasure to remember it." She smiled weakly, "When John proposed to me, I was eighteen and my father refused to consent." Sighed, "we were very much in love and decided to wait until I was twenty-one and could get married without my father's consent. Over the next two years, he worked in London, and we saw each other only three times. He worked hard in the army, and for his efforts, he got a promotion. Also, his aunt died and he inherited a small fortune and he later bought this house…" she swallowed hard, "One night he was in a tavern celebrating his promotion with some acquittances from the army and he drank too much – or so he thought - and when he woke up the next morning, he was lying with the sister of one of his acquittances in a small room in the said tavern. Horrified to see that he was lying naked next to that woman, he immediately got up and left. He only remembered fragments of the night before... and he was practically certain that he had not been intimate with her... That woman's brother demanded that he marry her sister, but John refused... Several acquaintances stopped talking to him and harshly censured him."
Elizabeth's eyes widened and, curious, she asked, "How did you find out about that incident? Did he tell you?"
Mrs. Barton nodded slightly, "Indeed, he told me what had happened, or at least what he remembered of that night." She looked at a fixed point, "and despite his pleas, I broke off the engagement..." she sighed heavily, "a few days later by chance I found out that it was my father who paid that woman and her brother to drug him and put him to bed naked with her." She paused, "that woman hadn't had her period for almost two months, and if she was indeed pregnant, they wanted to 'accuse' him of being the father of the child."
Elizabeth exclaimed indignantly, "It's incredible that your parents would go to such lengths for you to separate from him, they were going to ruin his life!"
Mrs. Barton interrupted her, "The reason I told you this sad story is that I almost lost the only man I ever loved in my entire life because I didn't trust him." She sighed, "fortunately he forgave me, and shortly after we got married… John always told me that all the effort he put in to get promoted in the army was for me, and for our future…"
"Now I understand why you insisted so much that I speak to Mr. Darcy first, before drawing a conclusion."
Mrs. Barton smiled slightly and nodded, "Elizabeth, over the years one learns that there are women who are willing to do anything to get what they want. Clearly, Mrs. Smith wants Mr. Darcy, in part I understand her, because he is very rich that would solve all her problems, and added to that, he is very handsome. Unfortunately, you are in her way…"
After that long and interesting conversation with her mother-in-law, Elizabeth spent much of the night thinking about her complex relationship with Mr. Darcy; Just like in the past, once again she had thought the worst of him without even giving him the benefit of the doubt. She couldn't understand why she was still so prejudiced against him. She hadn't learned anything in all this time! Darcy had shown her that he was a man constant in his affections and he was in love with her! It wasn't just Darcy who was at fault, she also had to change her attitude and trust him.
The next morning, she awoke with the resolution to speak with him that very day. She was not going to make him wait any longer, the problems that arose in the future they were going to face together...
