“Jane,MrBingleyandMr Darcy are here.” Elizabeth’s voice was soft, hoping she would not wake her sleeping mother. She eased herself into the chair opposite Jane’s.
Mrs Bennet was not sleeping, however. At the mention of Mr Bingley’s name, her eyes snapped open. “Oh, Jane, he has come! He has come! Oh, I knew it, we are saved! I knew you could not be so beautiful for nothing! Oh, my dearest Jane! And you are so sly, not to tell me he was coming!”
Jane was horrified. “Mama! I am sure he has only come to inquire after Papa!”
Mrs Bennet was out of bed now, hurrying to put on her things. “Nonsense, girl!” she waved airily. “Hill! Oh, where is Hill! I must go meet our guest! Jane, do you go down and see to him. That’s a good girl. But promise me you will not say anything important until I come down! Lizzy! Help me with my gown!”
Mrs Bennet trembled and fluttered, so excited she made Elizabeth’s task doubly complicated as she tried to secure her mother’s gown. Primping her unruly curls beneath her lace cap, Mrs Bennet flew out of her room, her second daughter following reluctantly behind. Elizabeth prayed her mother would do nothing to embarrass Jane or Mr Bingley… especially in front of Mr Darcy.
“MrBingley!Wearesoglad you have come to see us today!” Mrs Bennet was all smiles as she greeted her favourite guest. She cast a dark look in Mr Darcy’s direction, but he did not notice. Mr Collins was busily regaling his esteemed one-man audience with his patronizing concerns at the Parsonage at Rosings Park.
Darcy’s head came up finally when Elizabeth entered the room again behind her mother. He stared in mute concern when he saw her downcast visage, her eyes devoid of her usual impish sparkle. She was biting her lower lip, her gaze meeting his and sliding away with a humiliated blush. He was beginning to feel it would be worth enduring Mr Collins’ company all day just to see her smile at him. The mother, on the other hand….
Bingley had seated himself next to Jane, but he rose to greet Mrs Bennet. “Madam, I am very sorry to hear of Mr Bennet’s accident. Is there any assistance we could offer during his convalescence?”
“Oh, my dear,dearMr Bingley! It is so good of you to call! Why, we are all so distressed by Mr Bennet’s mishap. I have warned him again and again against the dangers of riding, but he would not listen to me! No one ever does, you know. Oh, my poor nerves, he cannot know what I suffer! And now here we are, with Mr Bennet on his death bed and five girls without a roof over their heads! But they are the mostbeautifulgirls, are they not, Mr Bingley?” She batted her eyelashes at the hapless Bingley, who had shrunk somewhat closer to Jane during her speech.
Elizabeth’s cheeks were burning. When she finally dared to raise her eyes, she found Mr Darcy’s gaze on her with an expression she could not read. She groaned, her every sensibility cringing. She could not let him see any more of her family’s humiliation than necessary! Steeling her courage, she tried to undo the damage from her mother’s callousness. “Mama, you know Papa is not on his death bed! He will recover very well, Mr Jones said so.”
“Oh, that Lizzy, she thinks nothing for the future! What does Mr Jones know, I ask you? Never any thought for what I must suffer. Mark my words, young lady, you’ll be starving in the hedgerows by the end of the month!” Mrs Bennet waved her handkerchief flamboyantly for emphasis.
“Ah, on that point, Mrs Bennet, allow me to set your mind at ease.” Collins stepped dramatically to the centre of the room. A chill of foreboding swept through Elizabeth.
“Mrs Bennet, you know it was my intention to try to remedy the wrong that I unwittingly inflict upon your amiable daughters by the iniquitous crime of inheriting Longbourn estate. To that end, I have had it in my mind to seek an acceptable means of securing your daughters’ future well-being. I came here because I had heard much of the beauty of your daughters, and I wished to see for myself. I am now quite certain, and I know you will sanction my excellent intentions to make… a suitable arrangement.”
He grinned broadly. “I have, at long last, selected the lovely Miss Elizabeth as the companion of my future life. Cousin Elizabeth, you have made me the happiest of men!” He drew near the astonished young lady and familiarly put out his hand to touch her forearm.
The room erupted. Mrs Bennet leapt up in immediate joy, coming to embrace her future son-in-law with the favoured Bingley now quite forgotten. Jane and Mr Bingley immediately turned to each other with scandalized whispers.
A burst of uproarious giggling behind Mr Collins alerted everyone to the presence of Lydia and Kitty. They, along with Maria Lucas, had been passing by the open door of the room on their way out to Meryton. They would not leave now; this was too juicy to pass up! The three girls huddled near the doorway, hiding peals of laughter behind their gloved hands.
Only Elizabeth and Mr Darcy were silent. The faces of both were a startling white, two pairs of dark eyes glittering dangerously. Elizabeth’s mouth fell open in outraged consternation, while Darcy’s welded shut in barely suppressed rage.Elizabeth, my Elizabeth, married to that arrogant toad? Impossible!
His eyes fixed on her as her face turned from white to flaming scarlet.The cretin is touching her!Fury began to blind his eyes and quiver through his limbs. He lunged at the shoddy parson, grasping his little parochial collar and throttling his empty head back and forth until Collins’ teeth rattled and his feet left the floor, then listened as the man’s lumpy shape made a satisfyingplopas he slithered to the carpet.
Darcy blinked when he found himself still seated. Gratifying as that particular fantasy was, he yet continued in his task of holding the cushions down to the sofa—civilized and detached, just as a gentleman ought to be… doing absolutely nothing about any of it. His hands clenched as his mind cursed and stormed in a flurry of verbiage not fit for mixed company.
Elizabeth balled her fists.Shewas not constrained by any such ingrained notions of propriety. She shot to her feet, causing Collins to jump backwards in preservation of his toes. Stunned silent no longer, Elizabeth stalked closer to the supercilious oaf who would dare to announce an engagement without even asking her permission.
“You forget, Mr Collins,I have made no answer!”she hissed. Had he addressed her privately, she could have found it within her to attempt to spare his feelings. Instead, he had humiliated her and tried to manipulate her publicly. She could not bring herself to show a speck of remorse, and in fact, felt it imperative to dismiss the notion with all the more vehemence. “It isimpossiblefor me to accept your proposal. My feelings in every respectforbidit!”
“What are you talking about, Lizzy? Of course, you will marry him!” Mrs Bennet turned from the object of her salvation only long enough to chide her daughter. “Miss Lizzy will be very honoured, Mr Collins! And I must say, you are very sly to have waited until now to surprise us all!”
“Out of the question, Mama! Icannotmarry him, and Iwillnot!” she cried. “You cannot make me Mama!” Elizabeth began to feel a sense of panic. She felt reasonably certain that her father would have supported her, but here, in this moment, she had no one to defend her. Even loyal Jane had felt it best to remain silent. Elizabeth glared at her sister, but Jane only covered her face with white fingers.
If this went too far… if word got out in Meryton that Collins had proposed before so many witnesses and her mother insisted upon her acceptance, while her father was bedridden, his fate uncertain…. She began to feel sick. With her father ill, anyone of sense would consider it her duty to secure the family’s future! A vision of herself bonded for life to this perspiring, hateful clod made her shudder visibly. Better to sully her reputation and become an unmarriageable spinster, endangering her entire family, than be stuck forever with him! Forced to tolerate his attentions! She commenced trembling all over, her palms cramping and beginning to sweat.
Darcy was having similar thoughts. Everything he admired about Elizabeth Bennet would be squelched and crushed under the bonds of the snivelling Collins. Her independent spirit would wilt, her fire and wit would crumble with no one but this simpleton to pass her life. A complete and utter waste of such a brilliant treasure! Collins, buffoon that he was, could not even fathom how far above him she was! What hideous twist of fate would have placed her, his beautiful Elizabeth, beneath his own notice and within reach of the likes of Collins?
Darcy’s mind was suddenly filled with the worst idea, the most unimaginable…. Collins would demand everything of her, owning all her days and even her midnight hours. Elizabeth to bearhischildren? Unthinkable! He would never escape the haunting agony either; the humiliated shell of the former Miss Elizabeth Bennet would greet him every spring at his aunt’s estate. A nauseating image of his precious Elizabeth, diminished by her husband’s insipid banality and beleaguered by hordes of homely, red-faced children came to mind. Bile surged into his throat.
“Elizabeth Bennet!” her mother snapped. “Youwillmarry Mr Collins, or I shall never speak to you again! Now, come right over here this instant and say you will marry him!”
Elizabeth lifted her chin, tears beginning to glisten in her eyes. “Icannot!” she declared heatedly.
Without a thought, Darcy was by her side, clasping her nearest hand in his own. “No, indeed, Miss Elizabeth cannot agree to marry you, Mr Collins,” he agreed.
Elizabeth flicked her eyes gratefully to his. She had no idea what objection he intended to raise, but for once, she was thankful for his presence. No one else seemed inclined to defend her.
