Hi folks - thanks for reading and reviewing my story. This update follows two subtle ones you may have missed:.One of you lovely reviewers pointed out I missed the showdown between misters Bennet and Darcy - now in chapter 15. And there was a mess up with uploading the last chapter, so that's a bit longer than it originally was. Make sure you read at least the full last chapter or flow won't make sense.
Thanks again for engaging with my work :)
Mr Darcy returned to the interior of the great house a few moments after retying his cravat, straightening his breeches and willing his overheated skin to cool down. He made a great show of appearing from the below stairs and informing a surprised Mr Bingley that there was no sign of her down there.
"Miss Elizabeth has confounded us all, with a successful job of hiding for above twelve minutes by my count," Mr Bingley said jovially.
"She has revealed herself on multiple occasions to be a superior wit. I do not doubt her abilities to find a spot which is not overtly obvious at first glance." The pride was evident in Mr Darcy's tone, but he was relieved to see that Charles remained ignorant to his slight wince at the deception, for he abhorred disguise in any form.
"Do you think, perhaps she has found a spot in the attic?" Mr Bingley wondered aloud.
"A capital suggestion, Charles. I shall venture forth into the breach."
"Perhaps I will search the below stairs, just to be on the safe side. I do not imagine you are capable of missing her, but just in case."
Mr Darcy had the good grace to blush at the accuracy of his friend's statement, fearing he had been too overt in his admiration of her. How was he to last a whole week of torture at the private nature of their engagement, when all he desired was to shout from the hilltops that she was his, and he was hers?
As it was, the two friends parted ways on their misguided paths to 'find' Elizabeth. But much to Elizabeth's chagrin, it was in fact Miss Bingley who found her first. Not having learned her lesson from the escapade in the library, Miss Bingley exclaimed in her normal shrill voice upon discovering the hiding spot below the front steps.
"Miss Bennet, what a surprise to find you outside. Are you trying to give us all hypothermia?"
"Miss Bingley," she acknowledged, "My intention was to prolong the suspense of the game by finding a sufficiently confounding hiding place that it would take you a reasonable amount of time to find me. Unfortunately I do not have in my possession a pocket watch capable of informing me of my success at this attempt, but it does feel as though plenty of time has passed alone out here."
"You have been hidden for over ten minutes, Eliza," she sneered. "And you must allow me to warn you of what my brother will think when he sees you cowered under here, having stolen poor Mr Darcy's coat. I know you are good friends with his sister, but that is hardly an excuse for stealing a man's property."
Elizabeth understood the underlying threat in Caroline's accusation, but she could not well come out with the truthful explanation, for that was almost more incriminating than the suggestion before her.
"I did not intend to take Mr Darcy's coat, but in my hurry to leave I plucked a coat from the rack unseeingly."
"I do not believe you," came the accusatory response. "You have made your designs on him very clear during our brief interlude this morning," Caroline continued. She did not have more than a handful of glances and an impalpable tension at the card table to go by, but in her jealousy and dislike for the country hussy, she proceeded with a thinly veiled threat. "And would like to remind you that I was here first."
Lizzy went from agitated to irate in the space of one short sentence from Caroline. She was so angry at the presumption that he was somehow promised to the nasty woman in front of her that she barely restrained a physical response. She was only saved from an accidental reveal of too much information by the timely appearance of the gentleman in question.
He had noticed Caroline had disappeared upon his return from the attic and raced quietly outside to rescue Lizzy. His approach was quiet enough that he had overheard the exchange, and threw all caution to the wind when he turned the corner to see the object of all of his affections and desires so clearly in distress. He took two purposeful strides to draw himself level with Miss Bingley.
"Miss Bingley," he bowed, "Miss Elizabeth," he bowed lower. It was evident in his tone to whom he was promised, but Miss Bingley did not have ears for such nuance.
"Your cravat is in the French style," she said suddenly, and he blushed at her observance. "Earlier it was an Oriental," she accused.
"I became overheated in my searching in the kitchens," he explained with a telltale wince.
Miss Bingley looked between his updated necktie and the coat pooled at Elizabeth's feet, where it had fallen when she had risen to confront her. He could see her processing the scene before her. There were clues to sensitive but explainable alterations which he could see her drawing the truthful conclusions over. And in that moment he simply couldn't hold it in any longer. Every day that she was not his wife and that he was not able to treat her as such felt as though it were a week. And he didn't want to wait any more. He wanted, he needed, Miss Bingley to know that he belonged to Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and happily so.
"The conclusion you are coming to is the correct one," he said flatly, without a hint of prevarication. "I am in love with Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and I orchestrated a short interlude of solitude to enable my effective demonstration thereof."
Miss Bingley almost fainted in shock and disappointment at his directness. He waited with baited breath, uncertain of her response. None was forthcoming, her mouth opening and closing in a manner not dissimilar to a fish as she struggled to process the crushing news that her Mr Darcy had been snared under her aquiline nose.
"Mr Darcy," Elizabeth said, tone clipped. "Perhaps Miss Bingley needs some assurance that nothing untoward occurred."
He kicked himself. He had been so enthusiastic to share his happy news, and to put Miss Bingley's attempts on his person to bed once and for all, that he had not considered all of the implications of doing so. Miss Bingley had been known to use news such as this, where a woman's reputation was on the line, to her advantage in securing advantageous friendships and connections. And whilst they were already connected, a disappointed woman with an unrequited desire was a risky connection to hold indeed. He scrambled to minimise the potential damage.
"Yes, of course. I am a gentleman, you are a gentleman's daughter. I would never presume to take any liberties. In fact we would not dare to be let alone outside of this silly game. I rather meant we stole a few moments of solitude to discuss our wedding plans, and our hopes thereafter."
Elizabeth was mollified by his sweet words, and the heaviness of the words our wedding and our hopes. It all sounded so romantic in his gorgeously masculine tone.
"But you-" Caroline aired towards Darcy, "and you-" The latter was much less charitable in tone, and aimed at Elizabeth.
"YOU CONNIVING HUSSY," she yelled, and advanced towards Elizabeth. "How DARE you-" She was interrupted in her revenge mission when Mr Darcy moved his body directly between them.
"That will not be tolerated Caroline," he said in a calmer voice than he felt. He was aware they were creating a scene, when the correct course for action was certainly to de-escalate the situation.
Caroline leaned around him and soared her words directly for Elizabeth's jugular. "How can you be engaged to Mr Darcy when your entire situation in life is so far beneath his own? Who are your family? Where are your connections?" She was not stopping even to breathe. "I am not one week into my position as the most prominent hostess in these parts, and I have already heard of your poor excuse for an estate, and know your parents to be all that is ridiculous."
Mr Darcy was outraged. Such a mean impression Caroline was creating. He did not believe it for a single second, even if there was an ounce of truth in the disparities of their financial and social situations. She was a gentleman's daughter. That had to be enough.
As Caroline continued her tirade, he found himself torn between wanting her to get all of the pent up feeling from her chest before they rejoined the others, and wanting to protect Elizabeth from her cruel words. He turned to his beloved and squeezed her hand. The hurt he saw in her eyes made the decision an easy one.
"Miss Bingley. I do not give credence to these baseless accusations, and I must ask you to desist. That you have had your aspirations on my estate I am well aware, but please consider that any thoughts and actions you share in your moment of disappointment will affect more people than you intend for them to."
As if she had heard the whole conversation and chosen the right moment to do so, Georgiana appeared on cue and exclaimed a greeting and an expression of her delight at not being the last to find Elizabeth. Miss Bingley took one look at Georgiana's smiling face before storming off towards the house, where she sought out her sister and requested a private audience to complain to her.
"Did I say something wrong?" Georgiana asked, the picture of childhood innocence and insecurity. Elizabeth comforted her and explained what had happened. Georgiana shared her secondhand distress at the turn of events.
"Brother you must be more careful in your expression of your affection for my dear Lizzy," she chided. "Well, that is the last time that I try to engineer you two some solitude, if this is how I am to be repaid. Now I shall be worried about the disappointment of Miss Bingley and how it shall manifest itself."
"I find myself desirous of just one more minute of solitude, Georgie," he replied. "There is a sincere apology which needs to be made at utmost pace."
"Very well," she said. "I will be at the top of the stairs and I may descend them at any moment."
Elizabeth frowned disappointedly at him, and he felt a fissure open in his chest at the evidence of his letting her down.
"I think we can both agree that this was not your most calculated moment, my love."
His peace returned somewhat at the epithet he had become used to. He should have known her love was not fragile, for what it had been bourne from.
"I am sorry," he muttered.
"As you most certainly should be," she said archly. He silenced, mentally berating himself for having let her down.
She waited, sensing he was digesting his predicament. Indeed, she was nervously considering hers. She was naturally concerned at the challenge to her reputation, not knowing Miss Bingley overly well but having sized her as a pernicious sort of woman. It made her deeply uncomfortable to have her fate so squared on such a set of shoulders. It was not so much that she was concerned about Mr Darcy shirking his commitment, but it was not her dream to be married under a cloud of speculation.
He saw her nerves and trepidation and his stomach lurched to know he was the cause.
"I know that my actions reflect poorly on you as well, and I am terribly sorry to have caused you pain. Believe me it was unintentionally done."
"You must be more careful in thinking before you speak, Mr Darcy." He nodded, knowing her words to be true. Her tone revealed her disappointment more than her words could say.
"I know," he admitted, holding her hand to keep him steady in the tide of negative emotion. "I simply needed her to know that she would never have me. I needed her to comprehend how entirely I am yours."
Elizabeth sighed in understanding. The tightness slowly faded from her shoulders as she felt his genuine repentance and the magnitude of his love for her. His actions were admittedly careless at best, but she surrendered to the urge to forgive him for his feelings and desires that were so similar to his own.
"I am no stranger to that feeling," she admitted. "But please let us confer before you make any further rash announcements."
"I am a fool," he said in earnest apology. "I cannot promise that I will never again err in my attempts to defend you, but you must know it sprung from a place of love."
"Aye, we are all fools in love." She replied, at last forgiving him for his misstep and freeing the knot that had been chewing at his stomach for their whole conversation. She was quoting Shakespeare, and absolving him from his mistakes with a tenderness that owned their shared responsibility for any errors they would make. It was as if she had been designed for him, a perfect fill for his shortcomings and he for hers.
"I am still upset with the uncontrolled manner in which it came out," she said in a small voice. "But I must own that I rather thrill at the idea of more people knowing the truth of it."
She was a singular woman indeed to have forgiven him so quickly. He would allow her residual disquiet in the matter. He decided to risk a gentle tease, needing the reassurance he hoped her response would provide.
"And would you be so kind as to articulate the truth of it?"
She replied simply, and with immense feeling. "The truth being that I love you, and am overjoyed with our understanding. Even when, in moments of boorishness, you may thrust my honour into the fray - I know that you are in fact attempting to protect it, and so I love you still." He felt dangerously close to the precipice of the rest of the world falling away in the glorious feeling of being so adored. It was only his sister's warning at the front of his mind that stopped him from acting on his base desires, instead leaving a chaste kiss on her cheek that left them both rekindled and wanting.
"Georgiana is waiting for us, my darling," she broke the sacred silence with a whisper.
"Somebody is always waiting to steal you from me," he grumbled, offering his arm to escort her back up the marble staircase to rejoin his sister. He knew they had some explaining to do.
~.~
A minute or so later, the group reconvened in the parlour, and Mr Darcy sheepishly explained what had happened to a confused audience, who had only seen Caroline sweep through the ground floor and flounce to her chambers with Louisa in tow. He unsurprisingly sanitised his description of what hadn't transpired in the interval in question, remaining consistent with his earlier explanation centred on wedding planning. It was less than ideal to have her honour thrown into question, but there was a mutual conclusion drawn that since they were engaged to be married in any case the ultimate conclusion of their nuptials was fixed, and such there was little value in any course of action other than chastising Elizabeth for being compromised, and in chastising Mr Darcy for doing the compromising. There was a mutual understanding to work against publicising their transgression.
In spite of the untowardness of how the news was shared, the word of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth's engagement drew a delighted yet unsurprised sound from Mr Bingley, such that it seemed that Hurst was the only member of the party who was genuinely taken aback by the announcement. Mr Darcy thought that another trip to Mr Bennet's study was in question, for he recognised the need to read the banns and quell any damage that Miss Bingley may be able to achieve ahead of his speaking to his future father-in-law.