“What could you have done to the lady to upset her so, Fitzwilliam? You are always the best of men, and everyone here at Pemberley admires you.”
“I was not in the best of moods when I entered Hertfordshire, Georgiana. I insulted her before we truly met, and I am afraid I often appeared rather haughty. Like you, I find it difficult to converse with strangers, and I did not make myself agreeable. On several occasions, I believe Miss Elizabeth was attempting to reprimand me for my unkind and standoffish behaviours.”
She seemed to think this over for several moments. “Do you indeed find it difficult to converse with strangers, Fitzwilliam? You speak to so many people about business and estate matters that I am surprised that you find itdifficult.”
Darcy flushed slightly. “Perhaps it is better to say that I find it difficult to speak to strangers who are female and of a marriageable age. I have been so often pursued by women in the ton that I preferred not to engage with any of them. Richard and Bingley are far better at speaking to women than I.”
Smiling, Georgiana reached over to take his hand. “Well, then, brother, if you see your Miss Elizabeth Bennet again, you willhave to strive to act more like Richard than like your typical sober self.”
Darcy shook his head at this thought. “I am not certain that is the best solution, but I will do my best to win her, should I encounter her again. Would you like a sister, Georgie?”
“I would, very much, brother. So take care to be nice if you meet with Miss Elizabeth again.”
Chuckling, Darcy promised he would.
At Longbourn,the holidays passed in a much livelier manner. Elizabeth was pleased to have her aunt and uncle come for a visit, along with their children, but that only added to the general exuberance that was typically found there.
Mrs. Bennet spent much of the first day of the Gardiners’ visit complaining that her daughters were still unmarried, despite her efforts. She had little to blame Jane for, but she had much to say about Elizabeth refusing Mr. Collins’s proposal. That Elizabeth would have been unhappy in such a marriage was of little concern.
“Oh, sister, if only Lizzy could have been made to see sense. Now, Charlotte Lucas will replace me as mistress of Longbourn when Mr. Bennet passes, and the girls and I will be cast into the hedgerows. No one else will have Lizzy since she refused him, and she will have to make her own way in the world. I will not support her since she would not do her duty and marry Mr. Collins,” Mrs. Bennet cried.
“Calm yourself, Fanny. None of you will be cast into the hedgerows. The girls are still young enough to marry, and Thomas is healthy. Perhaps Jane could come to London with us after Christmas, and she can meet a few gentlemen there,” Mrs. Gardiner suggested after enduring enough of her sister’s complaints.
Mrs. Bennet seemed to be pleased with this idea and willingly agreed to the plan. However, she mentioned Mr. Bingley several more times and encouraged her eldest to seek the gentleman out while in town.
Though Mrs. Gardiner invited Elizabeth to join them in London, she declined, as she had much to do at Longbourn to help her father and the steward prepare for the spring planting. Elizabeth was to travel to Kent to visit the newly married Charlotte this spring, and she needed to remain home until that time.
When her friend approached her with the request, Elizabeth had been initially reluctant. There were several reasons. First and foremost was the fact that Mr. Collins was an obsequious fool who she had rejected only days before he offered for her friend. She anticipated an uncomfortable visit, but reluctantly agreed in the end.
The second reason for her reluctance was entirely due to her recurring dream. She no longer dreamed it nightly, but often enough that her mind ensured that she did not forget it.
She had heard Sir William received an anonymous warning about Mr. Wickham in particular and all militia members in general. A London solicitor had written recommending that credit for all the militia members be offered sparingly and had mentioned that his client had a number of receipts for money owed by Mr. Wickham in particular. Since then, it was learnedthat Wickham owed far more in Meryton than the rest of his peers, so he was now limited to purchasing what he could afford in coin, and those in town had become suspicious of him.
Unfortunately, that did not mean he was restricted to his quarters; he still freely socialised in their little community. Though Elizabeth paid him little attention, the younger girls, particularly Lydia, still found him attractive and interesting and continued to pursue his acquaintance.
Elizabeth spoke of her concerns to her father, who laughed them off. The Gardiners were slightly more concerned but agreed that the Bennet girls’ lack of dowry likely meant they were in little danger. By the end of their visit, Wickham was courting Mary King, who had recently inherited ten thousand pounds from her grandfather to the disappointment of many women in Meryton. While Lydia complained loudly about this development, Elizabeth felt a deep sense of relief.
Soon, Jane departed for London, and Elizabeth spent the winter months working with the steward to prepare the tenants for the crop rotation they planned to start this year and waiting to travel into Kent.
Chapter Four
Shortly after the new year, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam finally arrived at Pemberley. He had news of Wickham, who was, for once in his life, not running up debts since the letter from Darcy’s solicitor had ensured he could not spend as freely in Meryton as he might have done otherwise. Fitzwilliam was not satisfied that they had done enough but hoped that Colonel Forster would keep an eye on the reprobate to prevent him from ruining anyone or anything else.
That first evening, over several glasses of port, Darcy confessed to his cousin his feelings for Elizabeth Bennet and his intentions to pursue the lady were they to see each other again. He did not, however, mention the dream in which he proposed to her, and she rejected him soundly. However, since the colonel would accompany him to Rosings in March, and that was where the two encountered each other in the dream, he wanted his cousin to know his plans in case Elizabeth was there when they arrived. Despite the fact that he still questioned the nature of the dream, he felt certain that they would encounter each other in Kent.
“What in the blazes are you thinking, Darcy? You cannot mean to connect yourself to such a woman,” the colonel demanded once the story had been told.
“I love her,” Darcy replied simply. “At the first event I attended in the village, I insulted her most grievously before we were even introduced, and I need to make amends for that before I can even begin to court her. I … I acted like the arrogant bastard you often accuse me of being when I first arrived in Hertfordshire. While I am certain Wickham told her a sad tale of my so-called mistreatment of him, she readily believed the tale because of my initial insult. I left her vulnerable to him. She may not have the fortune he requires, but she needs to know the kind of man he is. I have taken small steps to protect her and her sisters, but I want her to know the truth—the whole truth.”
“She is beneath you, Darcy,” Fitzwilliam insisted. “The family will not be happy with your choice. Particularly Lady Catherine.”
“In status and wealth, perhaps,” Darcy conceded, expending considerable energy to quell his rising anger at his cousin’s attitude toward the woman he loved, “but not in character. Truly, she is my superior in every way that matters. I do not care about her status or wealth, and while I may not particularly like her family, I love her more than I can adequately express. She thinks little of my wealth and lineage and will not accept me unless she believes me to be worthy. I will need to strive to prove myself to her. I will also need to manage to speak to her without becoming a bumbling fool.”
Fitzwilliam scoffed. “I cannot believe there is a single woman in England who would not accept your proposal of marriage, no matter how much you might have insulted them. Surely, you know you could crook your finger, and most women of thetonwould come running. What kind of woman is this with no wealthand no connections who would refuse you if you deigned to offer for her?”
With absolute certainty, Darcy stated, “Elizabeth would refuse me. She values character over wealth.” He could still feel the sting of her words from his repeated dream. By now, he was fairly convinced the dream was of what would happen if he acted as he did in the dream. When they met in Kent, he would court Elizabeth. Not that he knew how, but he wanted to try.
Quirking an eyebrow at his cousin, Fitzwilliam said, “I cannot wait to meet your paragon, as I believed you would never find one to meet your exacting standards. Lady Catherine will raise a fuss, cousin, regardless of the female, and my father and mother may refuse to accept the daughter of a mere country squire with no connections and no dowry to speak of.”
