Page 7 of Elizabeth’s Choice

Elizabeth hid her giggles while she observed the gentleman fretting anxiously. With her easy disposition, she found herself amused with the situation and was pleased that the haughty man had been humbled so much that he would apologise this profusely. “I accept your apology and appreciate your honesty, Mr. Darcy. My only request is that you treat me as a rational being without regard to my sex or mode of dress. Respect my choices in life and I will respect yours.”

“I give you my word, Captain. I suppose that is all anyone wants in life, to be treated with respect, no matter what wealth or station in life one might be given. And also, although I did not actually announce myself as Bingley at our first meeting, I allowed the presumption to continue and sincerely apologise for the duplicity,” he wrung his hands in embarrassment. “I typically abhor deception of any kind and why I might have been so offended thinking that you had lied but failed to realise my own shortcomings and you were right to call me a hypocrite. Bingley has been a longtime friend and he had a prior engagement that day. He is a good man and did not want to disappoint you so he pleaded with me to take his place in order to honour his father’s wishes. If you would like, I can arrange to have him come here to meet you and apologise as well.”

“That will not be necessary, Mr. Darcy. I must confess that there was a slight artifice on my part as well,” Elizabeth grinned, “so I will forgive you of that if you will forgive me. You see, I am the second Bennet daughter and met you in my elder sister’s place. I believe the pact between my father and Mr. Bingley’s father was for his son and the eldest unmarried Bennet daughter to meet, but I took Jane’s place because she is very shy. It was not a lie but not exactly the truth so I am sorry for that.”

Darcy nodded with a slight smile, “Thank you for telling me the truth. And I hope for your approval to dine with you tonight with Georgiana and Colonel Fitzwilliam. I have been banned from it unless you agree to allow my presence.”

“Considering that it is your home and it is your cook, I suppose I should allow it, but…” she quirked her eyebrow as an idea entered her mind, “are you up for a challenge, sir? How are your skills in archery? If you can hit the centre of the target in the middle of the field over there,” she pointed to the target butt made of hay, “I will grant you three wishes that I am able to grant.”

She saw Richard approaching them and repeated to the officer, “I am in the process of negotiating your cousin’s dinner invitation, Colonel Fitzwilliam. If Mr. Darcy is able to hit the centre of the target, he will receive three wishes from me; three simple wishes that I am capable of granting, with the first being his invitation to tonight’s dinner at his own home. If he misses, then he will have to grant me three wishes. What do you think?”

Richard laughed as he answered, “I think it is a good idea. When was the last time you lifted a bow, Darce? Five years ago? I think you will be able to ask for anything you want, Miss Elizabeth, since he will surely fail at hitting the target.”

“We have a quarter hour before the next class so are you willing to give it a try, sir? Let us say anywhere on the target butt, then, since it has been so long ago for you,” Elizabeth gestured at the bow and arrows laying on a table.

Darcy straightened his jacket and broadened his shoulders, “Since I have listened carefully during the past two hours and know all there is to know about archery, I am willing to make the wager. My first wish is to be invited to dinner tonight.”

And he confidently approached the table and lifted up the bow and arrow and aimed at the target, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He focused on the centre of the target and holding his breath, released the string of the bow.

~*~

Georgiana Darcy giggled cheerfully that evening at dinner as she commented, “I cannot believe my brother was so awful and missed the target entirely, Captain! What will you use your three wishes on?”

Elizabeth smiled as she responded, “I will see what I might need in the future, but I promise it will not be unreasonable or burdensome. I do not wager often but it has been useful to have a few favours on hand, like your cousin who helped me with setting up the lessons in Ramsgate because I wanted to give it a try. Perhaps your brother will help me with something to increase my edification one day.”

“And how many more favours does my cousin owe you, Captain Fairfax,” Darcy asked with raised eyebrows, “I believe I owe you four now, since you allowed me to join you for dinner tonight.”

Richard laughed and responded first, “I owe none more, as Miss Elizabeth is ever gracious and asked for three simple tasks. Shall I tell you what she wanted?” He looked at her and grinned as he shared his story with his cousins, “The first one was the easiest, as her wish was to be introduced to my tailor and I did not have to say another word while Miss Elizabeth convinced Mr. Meyer to make her clothes. She has the most distinguished tailor in all of England and he now jumps at the chance to design new styles for her. The second was to get her into the Royal Exchange, which would have been difficult if not for my parents publicly sponsoring her in archery events and Miss Elizabeth having won so many competitions already. With the third being to promote the archery lessons here, my debt is clear.”

“But I feel indebted to you now, Colonel Fitzwilliam, for introducing me to Miss Darcy and we have become good friends. With the delicious dinner tonight and the best of company, I might ask Mr. Darcy to be invited every night,” Elizabeth easily bantered.

Darcy immediately replied, “Done.” He flustered as all eyes were suddenly on him, “I mean, of course, if my sister would like to invite you any time you wish, you are… welcome here.”

Georgiana happily added, “Well then, you are invited every evening for the duration of your stay in Ramsgate, Captain Fairfax!”

“I thank you for the invitation, Miss Darcy,” Elizabeth laughed, “and I will gladly accept some but I have several engagements to which I am already committed. And please call me Lizzie, Miss Darcy. It has been such a pleasure to meet you.”

“And please call me Georgie, Lizzie! Georgiana is such a long name but my shortened name started with my father and only Richard and William call me that, and I am so pleased to make a good friend,” Miss Darcy happily responded.

Elizabeth asked, “William? I did not know that was your given name, Mr. Darcy.”

“It is actually Fitzwilliam but my family calls me William. May I ask, when did you begin your archery career?” Darcy enquired with furrowed brows. “Did you always prefer to wear trousers? Not that I am questioning your mode of dress, Captain. I will never make that mistake again,” he stated as he shook his head. “I had heard several rumours of a certain lady who dressed in gentlemen’s wear in London but did not realise that you were the one winning all the archery contests.”

“I was nearly seven when I insisted that I don breeches and my father gave in after I refused to eat until he agreed. I was so stubborn that I stayed in my bedchamber for three days straight and my mother fussed that I would die of starvation, but little did she know that my elder sister had been sneaking in food and I actually ate better those three days than ever because the housekeeper would also hide dishes for me to eat!” she explained with amusement. “I won my first big competition in London ten years ago when I was aged ten. It was something that came to me naturally and between reading books and climbing trees, I found archery to give me much solace from the chaos of growing up with four other girls in the house.” She turned to Georgiana and continued, “I have a question for you, Georgie. What happened to Mrs. Younge? Is she out on a personal errand again tonight?” She also looked at the companion’s employer to check if he might have any knowledge.

Darcy took a deep breath before speaking, “We are releasing her from her position and she is confined to her rooms tonight. She will be leaving in the morning without a reference due to some discoveries my cousin and I made.”

“Ah, might I assume it has to do with her lack of protecting Georgie from a certain… gentleman?” Elizabeth asked.

“Georgie and I have discussed openly about the situation and we are relieved that a dire scenario might have been prevented,” he clarified. “I have known George Wickham all my life and he is not of a good character. When we confronted Mrs. Younge and pressed for the truth, she finally confessed that he had seduced her and convinced her to help him court my sister in order to attempt to elope with her, all because she has thirty thousand pounds as her dowry. Wickham is a scoundrel and a gambler who is nearly thirty years old.”

Elizabeth’s eyes grew broad and then she growled angrily, “I find little sympathy for the man as well as the woman who would take advantage of an innocent, young lady and am glad you were able to stop their scheme quickly. I am so relieved Georgie was protected. My youngest sister just turned fifteen and I cannot fathom someone attempting to harm her in such a way, even if she is already out, as my mother has always been insistent that my sisters find husbands as early as possible. I do not believe one is ready for marriage even at twenty but it is more common in the countryside to be out so young, I suppose, and Hertfordshire is known for its lack of eligible bachelors.”

Darcy dropped his fork indecorously in surprise but quickly composed himself after picking it up and asked, “You are from Hertfordshire? Have you always lived there?”

“No, actually. My father moved into his family home when I was fourteen after his father became ill. I grew up in Oxford and snuck into some of the universities there quite often. I even hid in one of the libraries daily for a week straight to read many of the books there until one of the professors caught me and my supposed punishment was to attend his classes. He was my father’s friend and knew that I was interested in learning about mathematics and he told me that I ended up being his best student amongst the other gentlemen in his class, even though I was only twelve at the time,” she laughed. “The other students were amused that a young girl was a part of their class but eventually got used to me being there and I was allowed in several other classes as well. Although I was considerably younger, I learned history, mathematics, literature, philosophy, and sciences during those years and many thought I was a boy because of the way I dressed. I wanted to cut my hair to truly look like a boy but my mother drew the line at that and I had to appease her for being such an awful daughter to her.”

Georgiana declared, “You are so accomplished! I know of no ladies who has an Oxford education!”