Checkmate, Mr Darcy Chapter 5, a pride and prejudice fanfic

I am amazed by your comments.

To be honest, I expected to be slammed for writing a story where Lizzy ends up with someone other than Darcy. But I am pleased that so many of you enjoy this story.

I hope you like this chapter as well. There will be one or two answers… 😊

~O~

Chapter 5

Darcy was in two minds about what happened during his last few days at Rosings.

When he had unexpectedly encountered her at Rosings, he could not resist to spend time in Miss Elizabeth's company whenever he had the opportunity. Especially when she invited him on her walks to continue their flirtation.

But then, when she avoided him, he was, of course, justifiably offended, until he considered the situation from her perspective. The poor creature must have realised that despite her flirtation, he could never lower himself so far as to offer for her, no matter how enticing and alluring she was.

After all, he had Georgiana to consider. How was his dear sister to make an advantageous marriage if she was hampered by Miss Elizabeth's family. Especially the youngest two sisters.

If even a gently bred and well-educated girl like Georgiana could fall for the blandishments of Wickham, surely Miss Lydia or Miss Kitty would be unable to resist the reprobate. Darcy was convinced that within six months at least one of those girls would have ruined herself. He could not possibly associate himself and his sister with such an immoral family.

Therefore, as soon as he realised that Miss Elizabeth was avoiding him to protect what little dignity she had, Darcy chose to be magnanimous and spare her further pain by taking his leave.

The day after Elizabeth ignored him during the tea at Rosings, Darcy informed the Colonel that they would travel to London the following day.

~O~

The atmosphere in the Darcy coach was strained as they made their way to London.

Fitzwilliam did not help matters as he asked questions of Darcy based on things he had learnt from Elizabeth.

'Have you heard anything from Bingley lately?'

Glad to be diverted from thoughts of Miss Elizabeth, Darcy answered readily, 'No, last I heard was that he was spending time with family. I suppose he is too busy with his latest angel to write.'

'You think he has a new angel?'

'He is bound to. He never pines long for any of them.'

'You mentioned something about an angel whom he met last year. You said there were objections to her, but you did not actually explain why. What was wrong with that one?'

'She smiles too much and did not care about him, only about his fortune.'

'You must have spent much time conversing with her to know her well enough to make that assessment.'

'There was no need. As I said, she always smiled at Bingley in the same way as she smiled at everyone else. And her mother was forever pushing her at Bingley and declaring that their marriage was imminent.'

'You mean the way Anne always smiles at you and Aunt Catherine informs all and sundry that you and Anne are engaged when she is not busy promoting Anne's charms to you?'

Darcy looked startled at the comparison but recovered enough to say, 'You know perfectly well that Anne and I would not suit.'

'I know that, but it does not prevent Aunt Catherine from having a different opinion and voicing it at every opportunity.'

'Lady Catherine is the daughter of an Earl while Mrs Bennet is the daughter of a solicitor. There is a significant difference.'

'So, you are saying that behaviour which is acceptable from Lady Catty is vulgar in the wife of a mere gentleman.'

'You have spent too much time in the army, Richard. Associating with all those soldiers has made you forget what you owe your family.'

Fitzwilliam gave Darcy a disgusted look. 'There is no reasoning with you anymore. Your arrogance is beyond redemption.' He turned away from his cousin and spent the rest of the journey looking out the window.

Darcy thought that it was pointless arguing with his cousin, who had obviously lost all sense of propriety.

~O~

The journey to London was much more pleasant for Elizabeth. Her uncle had sent his carriage with a footman and a maid to convey her and Maria Lucas to Gracechurch Street. There they were welcomed enthusiastically by the Gardiners as well as Jane.

Sir William had made arrangements to collect his daughter the next morning. In the meantime, now that she was in congenial company, Maria spent the evening enthusing about all that she had seen and experienced at Hunsford.

Such was Maria's enthusiasm that Elizabeth and Jane did not have an opportunity to speak privately until they went to bed.

'Well, Lizzy, it seems that your visit to Charlotte was more exciting than you had expected,' Jane teased her sister.

'I confess there were some aspects of this visit which were rather surprising. Some in a good way, others not so good.'

'Let me guess. The not so good aspect was the presence of Mr Darcy, and the good aspect might have been a new acquaintance whom you forgot to mention in your letters?'

'How did you know?' Elizabeth cried in astonishment, but immediately answered her own question. 'Colonel Fitzwilliam came to visit Uncle Gardiner.'

'Indeed,' Jane grasped Elizabeth's hands. 'And before you need to ask, I thought he was all that is charming, and he seems to care about you greatly.'

'What did Uncle Gardiner say?'

'You should expect your beau to call tomorrow afternoon. After all, uncle could not deny the son of an earl. Especially one who is polite, charming, and respectful.'

The girls slid into bed and Elizabeth spent an hour or more relating stories about Fitzwilliam to her sister.

~O~

As expected, Fitzwilliam arrived punctually, carrying a large bouquet of flowers which turned out to be three smaller bunches, which he presented to the three ladies.

After the customary pleasantries, the Colonel said, 'I have been tasked by my mother to extend an invitation to tea to all of you… ladies that is. Perhaps for tomorrow or the day after?'

Elizabeth and Jane both looked at their aunt, who responded for all of them, 'The Countess is most gracious. We are available on both days. Did Lady Matlock indicate a preference?'

Fitzwilliam smirked, 'I believe that she would prefer to meet Miss Elizabeth sooner rather than later.'

'In that case, I suppose tomorrow will be acceptable,' agreed Mrs Gardiner.

They were about to discuss the details of the visit, when the butler entered and announced, 'Miss Elizabeth's godfather would like a word.'

Mrs Gardiner gave a sidelong glance at Elizabeth, who suddenly appeared nervous, but simply said, 'show him in.'

A tall, trim, handsome man in his fifties entered, carrying a box, which he put on the nearest chair. Everyone rose to their feet as he said, 'Good afternoon. My apologies for barging in but I come bearing gifts and an invitation.'

Fitzwilliam looked at the man in surprise and started to grin. 'Good afternoon, Your Grace. I did not expect to see you here.' He glanced at Elizabeth. 'You have been keeping secrets.'

Mrs Gardiner observed the interaction and said with a small smile, 'I gather no introductions are necessary?'

The Duke smiled as he shook his head and said, 'No, my dear Madeline, Fitzwilliam and I are old friends, despite his bad memory as he keeps making mistakes when addressing me.'

'Barrington, you know that I prefer to err on the side of caution when I do not know the level of familiarity amongst relatively new acquaintances, and until just now I did not know that you were Miss Elizabeth's godfather.' Fitzwilliam grinned as he thought that this connection explained much about Elizabeth's attitude.

Before things could get awkward, Mrs Gardiner called for tea, and everyone took seats while they were being served.

Pre-empting questions, Elizabeth said, 'Uncle Reggie, you should know that Colonel Fitzwilliam has requested permission to call on me. I have agreed and Uncle Gardiner has approved.'

'While he is something of a scamp, you could do much worse,' the Duke replied with a wink and a smile which belied his age. Turning to the Colonel, he added, 'You have remarkably good taste, but I hope you do not plan to remain in the army.'

'I do not know if you have heard, but I have inherited a small estate. I shall enjoy being a retired officer.'

'Excellent.'

Immediate concerns taken care of, the group chatted pleasantly for a few minutes, until Elizabeth asked, 'You mentioned an invitation, Uncle Reggie. Forgive me for being greedy, but do you have tickets for the theatre?'

'Not today. The invitation is for a less public event. Mrs George has sent me to ask you to tea tomorrow.'

Mrs Gardiner put in gently, 'We just accepted an invitation for tea with Lady Matlock.'

At the same time, Elizabeth exclaimed, 'Mrs George? I get to meet her again after all these years?'

The Duke politely addressed Mrs Gardiner first. 'I am sure Lady Matlock will not feel slighted if you visit her another day.'

He then turned to Elizabeth. 'How much do you remember about the day you met Mrs George? After all, you were quite young.'

Taken aback by the non-sequitur, Elizabeth scrunched her forehead as she recalled a day nearly twelve years in the past. 'I was visiting Charlotte at her father's shop. We had snuck into the small parlour at the back where he kept a chess set. We were playing. I must have been very focused because I did not hear that there was quite a hubbub outside. I thought not much of it. Perhaps Mrs Castleton's goat had got loose again.'

Elizabeth shrugged and explained, 'That goat was forever getting lose and into places where it was not wanted. As I said, I was not interested as we were getting towards the end of the game, and it looked like I might win. At some point an older lady must have come into the room and watched us play. Charlotte told me afterwards that she had noticed the lady, but that she had indicated that she did not want to disturb our game.'

Elizabeth looked at the others as she said, 'I confess that I was grateful. I was not certain if I could have won if I had become distracted or if I won because Charlotte had been distracted. Be that as it may, I did win. The lady applauded and then introduced herself as Mrs George.'

She grinned at the Duke. 'That was the time when you arrived and introduced me to the lady. She asked if I would like to play chess with her and when I said yes, she said that you would arrange it. I wondered afterwards why she did not ask Charlotte, but then remembered that Mr Lucas called her just as we were finishing our game.'

Elizabeth grinned as she thought of how oblivious she had been. 'I found out afterwards that the King had come to Meryton that day and Charlotte's father made that speech which caused the King to confer that knighthood on him.' Elizabeth smiled in fond remembrance. 'I do remember that afterwards Charlotte told me that her father had made her curtsy to the King.'

'Back to Mrs George. What do you remember of her?'

'Not much. In retrospect I supposed she must have been part of the King's entourage. But she was bundled up in a cloak, gloves and a hat with a veil, which I would guess was intended to keep the dust off her. So, I did not see much of the lady.' Elizabeth grinned. 'I shall be delighted to at last see the face of my opponent.'

During this recital, Fitzwilliam had listened avidly. It was amusing imagining a nine-year-old Elizabeth playing chess with the now Mrs Collins, who must have been on the cusp of coming out into society.

But the further the story developed the more suspicious he became of the identity of Mrs George. Yet Elizabeth, who was intelligent and had played chess with the lady for a dozen years, seemed oblivious to the possibility. He looked at the Duke who noticed his intense gaze and nodded.

'Well, Barrington, do not keep us in suspense any longer,' Fitzwilliam said to break the tension.

The Duke turned back to Elizabeth and said gently, 'Please forgive the deception, but Mrs George is the wife of King George. You have been playing chess with the Queen for the last twelve years.'

For once in her life Elizabeth was completely speechless.

~O~

Assisted by large quantities of chamomile tea, Elizabeth slowly regained her equilibrium.

Comments from her godfather like, 'Put yourself in her position. With all the machination common at court, would you not like to have some simple and innocent pleasure? Like playing a game with a child,' also helped.

The next day, by the time she was ready for her appointment, Elizabeth was prepared to face her chess opponent. She was dressed in the gown which the Duke had supplied for the occasion, making Elizabeth feel like an elegant lady. While her mental state had not reached equanimity, at least she was no longer a quivering jelly.

She kept repeating her mantra, my courage rises at every attempt to intimidate me. She did not believe it, but it helped her pretend to courage.

The one thing which finally helped was her godfather, who was conveying her to Buckingham House, saying, 'Just remember the kind lady whom you met as a child and with whom you have corresponded. She has not changed.'

~O~