Chapter 1 - Saturday, September 5, 1812
"Elizabeth, I wish you would stay longer, I hate to see you ride on a post coach by yourself. If you could wait until a week before the wedding, Michael and I would take you home ourselves. Are you sure you must go?" her best friend asked yet again.
Elizabeth could not wait to get home. Her elder sister was getting married. Her letters had told of the handsome, rich, unmarried man who had taken over the lease of the neighboring estate. They had met at the local assembly and according to her sister, it was love at first sight. Her letters told of his romantic proposal in the garden at home. She could not wait to get home and share in the excitement.
Letters were fine and all, but there was nothing like being with her sister as she planned her wedding. She was a tiny bit glad that she had not been at home when her mother first found out about the engagement. She could only imagine the spectacle her mother had made when she had heard the news. But now that the wedding was only a month away, she hoped that the fuss had quieted down and she could just enjoy the final preparations with her sister.
She had had a very enjoyable summer with her best friend, Charlotte Lucas, now Mrs. Michael Smith, at her new house outside of York. Her childhood friend had found a man who appreciated her shortly after her 26th birthday. Charlotte had always held that she was not romantic, but once she saw Mr. Smith at the Spring assembly, her heart was lost to the tall, not necessarily handsome, but oh so charming cousin of their apothecary, Mr. Jones. Elizabeth was ecstatic for her when he proposed.
Elizabeth had stood up with her at the wedding and her friend had asked for her help in setting up her new household as her new husband would be traveling quite a bit for his business selling medicines and associated devices after they were first married. She had traveled to York with the Smiths but now, since she wanted to leave early to help her sister prepare for the wedding, she was to take the post coach first to Derby, then to Leichester and on to London by herself. Her uncle would meet her at the coaching station in London and take her to Longbourn himself. It was an exciting trip for a sheltered twenty year old gentlewoman.
"Don't worry about me Charlotte, I will be just fine traveling by myself. I am not like my sisters Lydia or Kitty, or your sister Maria that you must worry so. It has been so nice to be here with you, but I must get home to Jane. You would do the same if Maria was getting married, you know you would."
"I understand Lizzy, I will try not to worry about you. Say you will write as soon as you reach home."
"I promise Charlotte. Enjoy being a newlywed without your chatty friend in the way." The two friends hugged tightly before Elizabeth turned to Mr. Smith, curtsied and thanked him for taking such good care of her friend. He bowed to her and then handed her up into the coach.
Mr. Smith had particularly tasked the driver with his attention to his wife's friend. He was to make sure no harm came to her and no one took advantage of her. Elizabeth wished that she could have traveled with a maid, but her budget would not extend to such a luxury. She had a small amount of coin in her reticule in order to obtain meals at each of the stops and to pay for three nights in the coaching inns along the way. It would be a four day journey, made quicker now by the recent improvements in the turnpikes throughout England.
Her traveling companions were pleasant enough. She had taken particular notice of a serious looking widow who was traveling the same route as far as Derby and she felt safer in the company of such a stalwart companion. The remaining passengers consisted of an older couple traveling to Leichester to see their first Grandchild and a young man returning to London after visiting friends in Scotland. The roads were reported to be in good repair after the fine summer they had had. The coach swayed as it traveled along at a purported nine miles in an hour. It was going to be a ten hour trip just to get to Derby.
As it became later in the day, Elizabeth drifted off in the coach. Fortuitously, she was seated against the wall and could lean her head against the wall as she dozed. Thus, she never knew what happened when the coach hit a particularly bad rut in the road and pitched violently as the spokes of one of the wheels gave way. The coach came to an abrupt stop and Elizabeth was thrown across the coach, hitting her head and her wrist against the opposite wall and was rendered unconscious.
The driver did an admirable job getting the horses calmed down. By the time he reached the passengers, the other four people in the coach had scrambled out of the coach and were looking back at the unconscious lady. At just that moment, a fine traveling coach with two outriders pulled up to stop next to the damaged coach and a tall, fine looking gentleman came to offer his assistance. He turned back to the coach and firmly told the very young lady therein to stay in the coach. His groom helped the driver with the horses and his outriders took it upon themselves to aid the passengers in whatever way they could. None of the others were injured by more than a bump or a bruise and it was determined that they could continue on their journey as soon as a suitable coach could be found. It was obvious that this coach was not going to continue on to Derby in its present state.
The driver and the gentleman were particularly worried about the unconscious woman. She was dressed as a gentlewoman, but she was traveling post, by herself. The driver talked about being tasked with the particular care of the woman and revealed that he was to see her care given over to the next driver in Derby and this task would be passed along to the following driver in Leichester who would see the woman to the Blossoms Inn coaching stop in Cheapside, London where her uncle would collect her.
The gentleman spoke to the driver, "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Fitzwilliam Darcy, master of Pemberley, along whose border you are traveling. I am on my way to my estate with my sister and her companion. This young lady can obviously not travel further. I will give you my promise that I will see to her care and see that she is delivered to her family as soon as she is able to safely travel that distance. I will send a rider to the next posting inn and ask them to send back a coach as soon as one is available. It is only but a few miles and it should be accomplished quickly."
The driver was very willing to have this problem lifted from him. He unfortunately could not tell the gentleman either the lady's name or her uncle's name, only where he was to collect her on Tuesday the Eighth. As soon as they were in agreement, the lady's trunk and portmanteau were unloaded from the post coach and added to the luggage on Mr. Darcy's traveling coach.
Mr. Darcy called over one of his outriders and tasked him with traveling to the post coach stop in Lambton and returning with a coach as soon as possible. His outrider took off at a fast pace and was quickly gone from sight. The driver thanked him and went to see to the comfort of his remaining passengers.
Mr. Darcy called over the other outrider and tasked him with finding the family physician in Kympton and requesting his presence at Pemberley as soon as possible. Thereafter, the young man was to return to the estate and ask the housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, to prepare a room for their unexpected guest.
Mr. Darcy then went to his own coach to deliver the news that they would have an additional passenger for the remainder of their trip. Mrs. Annesley was shocked that her new employer would undertake such a task for a stranger. His sister Georgiana, who was 15, thought the whole scenario sounded like something out of a romantic novel, but dared not speak so out loud as her brother was not in a mood likely to be susceptible to her juvenile romantic ramblings, after what had happened at Ramsgate this summer. She already felt bad that he had turned down an invitation to spend time with his friend at his new estate, just to take her home to Pemberley.
Removing a blanket from a cabinet in the coach, Mr. Darcy went to the damaged coach to retrieve his new guest. With the widow's help, he wrapped her up in the blanket and gently carried her to his coach, laying her down across one of the soft benches for the short trip to Pemberley.
Unfortunately with all the commotion, no one thought to look for the young lady's reticule which had landed under the seat in the coach and was not to be found until the coach was repaired and returned to use, about a fortnight later, and of course was never returned to its owner.
By the time they reached Pemberley, Mrs. Reynolds had everything well in hand, as he had expected. The physician was on his way and a room had been prepared for their mystery guest. Mr. Darcy gently lifted the young lady from the coach and carried her to the guest room. Mrs. Reynolds shooed him out of the room to prepare the lady for the physician's visit.
Once the lady's luggage was brought in, he asked Mrs. Annesley to go through the trunk to see if there was any indication of the lady's identity or any information that might help them find her family. He did not think it would be proper for him to be rummaging through a lady's clothing. The only useful information came from a series of letters found wrapped in a ribbon inside the trunk. Mrs. Annesley felt it was a bit inappropriate for her to be reading these letters, but it was decided to be the best way to glean any information about the young lady who was still unconscious.
The young lady's name was determined to be Elizabeth, also called Lizzy by her family. The letters were all addressed to her friend, Mrs. Charlotte Smith, in Bishopthorpe, Yorkshire, attention Elizabeth. Her letters indicated that her sisters were Jane (the quiet eldest), Mary (the studious one), Kitty (the follower) and Lydia (the unabashed brazen one) and they lived somewhere that was four hours from London. They had an aunt and uncle in London and another aunt and uncle in their hometown, which unfortunately was unnamed, but which, through the letters, was shown to have an assembly hall, a modiste, several taverns, a cobbler and a bookstore (as if that did not describe most of the towns in England). Her oldest sister was engaged to be married to someone named Charles who leased "that old estate to the north" of their family estate. She had been staying with a family by the last name of Smith in Bishopthorpe, in Yorkshire, and was traveling home to help her sister plan her wedding that was due to take place in about a month. Her father had given his permission for her to return via post coach and tasked her to remain alert around strangers.
It was ascertained from her letters that she spoke French and Italian, read Latin and Greek and played the piano when she could be bothered to practice. She was playing a game of chess through the mail with her father as indicated by a notation of a chess move written on the back of each envelope. As interesting as the young lady appeared to be, there was frustratingly little to go on in order to find her family.
Once the physician had seen Elizabeth, he determined that her wrist was broken and had to be set and splinted, and that she had a bump on her head that was likely the cause of her somnolence. He was not particularly worried about her, but requested that he be appraised when she awoke and would determine any further diagnoses at that point.
Mrs. Reynolds had a rotation of maids assigned to look after their guest, whom they titled "Miss Elizabeth". There was little change for the next three days, and the lack of progress was wearing on Mr. Darcy greatly. He had tried not to admit to himself that she was a beautiful young woman. He knew she was a gentlewoman and that her father owned an estate not far from London. There was little else that he could ascertain as long as she was asleep. He hoped that she would soon awaken and that he could gather enough information to assure her family that she was alright. The thought of his sister lying in some unnamed estate house, unconscious, without his knowledge, was a right torment to him. That had been the real impetus behind him offering to help the young lady, not just the fact that she was lovely. Or so he told himself.