The carriage wheels clattered against the road. Elizabeth stared alternatingly at the passing countryside and at her new fiancé. Darcy divided his time between watching her and attending to various pieces of correspondence and other paperwork.
Darcy had drafted a maid to pack her things. The woman had hastened under Darcy's imperious and ever so slightly panicked manner. In the carriage and under his supervision, she wrote the Collinses a letter, confessing that she and Mr. Darcy would culminate a secret engagement somewhere out of the country, and promising to write again after the marriage. As they drew nearer the coast, Elizabeth dully realized that the letter and other misdirection was meant to make them assume they were for Gretna Green, while in fact they were on the road to Portsmouth.
Darcy addressed a letter and tucked it away. He looked up at her, then out the window.
"We are very close to town now," he said earnestly. "There we will board a ship, where I can offer you more comforts than this carriage. I'm afraid it would not be wise to stop before we reach the docks. I'm so sorry, this must be terribly shocking for you." His jaw moved as if to express more words, but his throat would not cooperate.
Elizabeth fought a rising tide of tears with a brutal wash of anger.
"How, Mr. Darcy, would you treat a man who treated your sister as you have treated me? I may have no brothers to fight for me, but you can be assured that my father and my uncle will not take this injury lightly."
Darcy scowled. "I would think you would prefer they never come to learn of it, Elizabeth. What's done is done, and it will mean nothing good for the relations between our families if you insist upon airing this matter."
Elizabeth felt fury stab in her stomach and vitriol rise in her throat.
"Can you truly believe that I will be silent, will say nothing of this kidnapping? You force me into an elopement that will shame my family and taint my sisters' reputations, and expect I will consent to be your silent wife? You are mistaken, sir. Your villainous conduct will be known if it is the last thing I do."
Darcy's lips had grown thin and his face flushed with anger as she berated him.
"Do you think you do yourself any favors, madam, by these rash threats? I have said, what is done is done. Word, I am sure, of our elopement has already gone out by your cousin Mr. Collins's eager gossip. Would you return to Hertfordshire without me? Unwed? This is what would disgrace your family." He struggled to bring his temper under control.
"Please, Elizabeth, be assured that I will do everything in my power to quench the rumors and make our union as respectable as possible. We will sail to Guernsey and be wed at St. Peter's Port. I have already written to Bingley, to encourage him to renew his addresses to your sister Jane. I will spend the rest of my life in making up for today to you. Please, cannot you at least consider thinking of forgiving me?"
Elizabeth turned her face away and stared out the window.
"I will never forgive you."