Alone with Mr. Darcy: A Pride & Prejudice Variation (16 page)

“Where is Miss Elizabeth Bennet?”
Wonderful – such an eloquent opening! What had happened to ‘good day’ and
all the usual pleasantries? Desperation had stolen them away.

Her eyebrows rose fractionally. “I cannot
tell you.”

“Cannot or
will
not?”

“Very well then; I
will
not tell
you.”

“Mrs. Collins, this is of the utmost
importance.”

“To you it may be, but to me, retaining my
friend’s trust is of greater importance. I hope you will find it in your heart
to forgive me.” The look she gave him said she would not care in the slightest
if he never forgave her.  

“I mean her no harm. I pray you, Mrs.
Collins, to assist me.” How infuriating it was to be forced to plead with her!

“Pray pardon me. My place is by my
husband.” She turned from him.

“Wait!” He could not allow her to get
away. “Would you at least write her and tell her I wish to speak to her –
as soon as possible?” The parishioners were beginning to pour out of the
church, and soon they would be surrounded.

There it was again – that narrowing
of her eyes. “I will
consider
it. Good
day
, Mr. Darcy.”

As he strode away, he cursed all stubborn
women. Richard would have to escort Lady Catherine in the coach on his own.
Darcy could not bear another half hour in company, not now.

Dinners at Rosings were hardly an event to
anticipate with pleasure, but Darcy made certain to be downstairs early on
Monday evening. Lady Catherine had mentioned in passing at breakfast that Mr.
and Mrs. Collins would be dining with them. “I try to invite them every Monday
since Dr. Graves dines with us after he sees Anne. That way he has someone of
his own station in life to converse with. I am extremely attentive to these
matters.”

Darcy did not care about the reason as
long as it brought Mrs. Collins within his reach again, but Richard must have
been puzzled, for he said, “Anne’s doctor stays for dinner? Did you not say he
lives in London?”

“Of course he does. I would never allow an
ignorant country doctor to care for my daughter! But his treatments for my gout
take several hours, and he prefers to see how Anne improves after a day of the
plasters he gives her, so he stays the night. He has his own room here.”

Richard’s sidelong glance at Darcy spoke
volumes of his opinion of a doctor who created such a lucrative opportunity for
himself. No doubt Lady Catherine must pay him extremely well to spend so much
time at Rosings, money which could be better spent repairing the horribly
rutted roads on the estate. But naturally Lady Catherine would never agree to
fix them until they were impassible.

When Darcy entered the blindingly gaudy
sitting room, he was surprised to discover Anne was already there, dressed in
an attractive pink gown and the full-length gloves she always wore even in the
warmest weather. She was accompanied by a woman about her own age as well as
Dr. Graves, whose handsome appearance no doubt explained Lady Catherine’s
interest in his protracted treatments. Anne usually did not join them until
just before dinner was served, no doubt to conserve her strength. Perhaps she
felt bolder with Dr. Graves present to attend to her.

Anne introduced her companion as Miss
Holmes. “Her brother is rector of one of the neighboring parishes, and Miss
Holmes is kind enough to stay with me when Mrs. Jenkinson visits her son in
Maidstone.” It was more than Anne usually said to him in the course of an
entire evening.

Perhaps it was the influence of Miss
Holmes, who appeared to have a livelier temperament than Mrs. Jenkinson. She
was bold enough to look him in the face and say, “So, you are the famous Mr.
Darcy of whom I have heard so much.”

He bowed silently, in no mood to encourage
flirting.

“And I see you are as taciturn as I have
been told! Well, I shall leave you to yourself, then.” She turned pointedly to
Dr. Graves and asked him a question about London.

Where was Mrs. Collins? He ground his
teeth with frustration when a new arrival proved to be Mr. and Mrs. King from a
neighboring estate. Odd; very few of the neighbors chose to accept invitations
from Lady Catherine. But he had not met this couple before, so perhaps they
were new to the area.

He dismissed them from his mind as Mrs.
Collins finally entered on her husband’s arm. He immediately made his way
towards her, but the presence of Mr. Collins prevented him from asking her
again about Elizabeth. Instead, he was forced to listen to a quarter hour of
obsequious flattery from the annoying man, while Mrs. Collins actively avoided
saying a word to him.

Darcy was ready to throttle Mr. Collins by
the time dinner was announced. Mrs. Collins’s look of relief at the prospect of
being separated from him by the length of the table did not improve his mood in
the slightest.

At least the dinner conversation was
better than usual, as he was seated by Mrs. King, who proved to be well-read
and witty, much as he imagined Elizabeth might be in twenty years. When she
mentioned her recent return to Kent, he said, “Perhaps that is why we have not
met before, even though I come here at Easter each year.”

“Oh, we have been away for some years. My
husband served as the ambassador to the Viceroyalty of Peru, and of course I
could not resist the opportunity to travel to the other side of the world with
him.”

He would cross the ocean to be with
Elizabeth, but she would not even speak to him. “Did you enjoy it?” he asked
dully.

“Oh, yes. It is another world, so unlike
our England it is almost impossible to describe. The raw beauty of the jungle
alone is worth the voyage. And the indigenous people – they are so
mysterious. No one ever truly knows them.”

From her other side, Richard said, “That
sounds like something from a novel.”

She tapped his arm with her fan. “I will
tell you a secret, young man. I wrote one, and I have just received my first
copy from the publisher.”

“I will be certain to read it,” said
Darcy. He could see Elizabeth making a similar resolution. Would she find
travel stimulating? Perhaps not all the way to Peru, but he could take her to
Italy and Greece. If only he could
find
her! He glared at the oblivious
Mrs. Collins. He
had
to find a way to speak to her.

Instead, of course, he had to remain with
the other gentlemen after dinner while the ladies withdrew. He listened with
half his attention as Richard drew out Mr. King on the subject of his travels.

“The voyage was the hardest part. I was
seasick the entire way, but my bold Jocelyn stood in the bow with the spray in
her face.”

Richard laughed. “I have only had the
misfortune to sail to Portugal, and wild horses could not drag me on a ship
again! I have never felt so ill in my life, stuffed in the hold with dozens of
soldiers. I was ready to kiss the ground when I disembarked.”

It was good to hear Richard speaking of
anything during his campaigning days without any evidence of distress. True,
the voyage hardly counted, but he had seen his cousin go white from a mere
mention of the Peninsular War. Perhaps time was easing his memories.

When they rejoined the ladies, Darcy found
Mrs. Collins firmly fixed beside her husband, and apparently not inclined to
even look in his direction. He bided his time until she left her husband’s side
to return her teacup, but before he could even lift a foot to move in her
direction, Dr. Graves stepped in front of him.

“Mr. Darcy, this is a fortunate
happenstance,” said the doctor. “I had hoped to find the opportunity to speak
to you this evening.”

Darcy’s hands tightened into fists. Over
Dr. Graves’ shoulder, he saw Mrs. Collins setting down her teacup with a polite
word to Anne, but then Lady Catherine gestured to her and proceeded to engage
her in vigorous conversation. He had missed his chance.

He glared at Dr. Graves. “Yes?” He had no
intention of appearing welcoming to the man, who was no doubt hoping for his
patronage.

“As you may know, Miss de Bourgh has been
under my care for the last two years. I have recommended repeatedly to her
mother that Miss de Bourgh would benefit from exposure to a different
environment and wider social circle.”

Darcy held up his hand. “You may tell my
aunt you did your best to convince me Anne’s very health depends upon my
marrying her and taking her away, but that I proved obdurate. She will be
unsurprised, I promise you.”

“You quite mistake my meaning. Lady
Catherine did not ask me to speak to you, and I have not the least interest in
whom you plan to marry. However, owing to her ladyship’s plans, you are in a
unique position to convince her to allow her daughter to pay a visit, perhaps
to your sister, or to anyone else you deem suitable. I am certain it would
prove beneficial to your
cousin
.” He placed an emphasis on his final
word, as if to remind Darcy of his responsibilities.

Darcy’s lip curled. What was the man
hoping to gain from this? “How kind of you to take such an interest in your
patient. However, such an invitation would only encourage Lady Catherine in her
schemes, and might raise Anne’s expectations only to suffer a later
disappointment.
That
would hardly be beneficial to her health.”

Dr. Grave smiled. “I assure you, Mr.
Darcy, Miss de Bourgh has made clear to me she has no, ah,
expectations
of you whatsoever; and should Lady Catherine insist upon her marrying you, she would
refuse. You need have no fears in that regard.”

Darcy’s eyes swiveled toward Anne, who was
giggling behind her hand in response to something Miss Holmes was saying. Could
it be true? He had always assumed Anne shared her mother’s desire for a match between
them, but he had never discussed it with her. Or anything else, for that
matter. He always avoided showing any interest in Anne lest her mother start in
on her ridiculous ideas again. 

Just then Lady Catherine said, “What is
that you are saying, Darcy? What is it you are talking of? What are you telling
Dr. Graves? Let me hear what it is.”

He gritted his teeth. “We are speaking of
the value of travel in maintaining health.”

“Of travel! Then pray speak aloud. It is
of all subjects my delight. I must have my share in the conversation, if you
are speaking of travel. There are few people in England, I suppose, who have
more true interest in travel than myself. If I had the opportunity to travel
that young men do, I should have seen all of Europe.”

Dr. Graves turned to his patroness. He
said smoothly, “Perhaps some day Miss de Bourgh will have the chance to travel.
I was just telling Mr. Darcy of the remarkable improvement she has shown this
year.”

“Indeed, she is much better; I could not
concur more. Thanks to her current regimen and the tonic I give her every day,
her health is continually improving. I have told Mrs. Collins she would benefit
from taking the tonic as well.”

The doctor’s smile seemed to slip a little
at the mention of the tonic. “Yes, I brought you several new bottles of it,
made precisely to your recipe by the finest herbalists in London.”

Lady Catherine waved this aside. “Darcy, I
am certain you must be able to see how much stronger Anne has become. She is
quite ready to take on the management of Pemberley.”

Darcy ignored her last comment, but
dutifully turned to examine Anne. Astonishingly, she
did
appear to be in
better health than in past years. Her cheeks had some color in them instead of
the ghostly pallor she had sported for years. When had he last seen her swoon?
Not since his arrival, unless she had hidden it well. Once it had been a daily
occurrence.

Her smile, another thing which had been in
short supply for years, make her look almost pretty. But that was very new;
even last night she had worn her usual cross expression. Perhaps the presence
of the lively Miss Holmes instead of sour Mrs. Jenkinson had improved her
spirits.

“I am glad to know she is in better
health,” said Darcy icily. “Some day, after all, she will need to manage
Rosings
.”
It was better than a direct contradiction which would lead to a scene
unpleasant to them all, but his aunt was perfectly capable of hearing only what
she chose.

“That as well,” she said with a decisive
nod, and turned back to Mrs. Collins.

Darcy frowned at Dr. Graves. “You see?”

The doctor eyed him, then said slowly. “I
do see. I see an elderly lady who cannot move without pain and has little time
left in this life, with no power whatsoever to force two young people in their
prime to marry. All she has is words.”

“No power over me, perhaps, but she could
disinherit Anne. The estate does not pass automatically to her.”

“That is true; she would hate to lose
Rosings, but being disinherited is not the end of the world.”

The man clearly did not understand the
bond between a family and its birthright. Anne would no more give up Rosings
than he would surrender Pemberley.

***

“Again? You are going to the parsonage
again
?”
Richard stared at him in disbelief.

“There is no reason why I should not.”
Darcy did not meet his cousin’s eyes.

Richard counted on his fingers. “You
called on them yesterday after seeing them at dinner the day before and at the
church the day before
that
. The parson is a fool and his wife does not
even like you. I’ve seen those looks she gives you! And she is plain to boot,
so I hope you are not interested in her, or I will have to question your taste
indeed.”

“For God’s sake, Richard! She is a
pleasant person, and there is nowhere else I can go to avoid our aunt.”

“You.” Richard shook his finger at Darcy.
“You are up to something, and attempting to keep it secret from me.”

“Clearly you must be very bored, since you
are chasing after phantoms!”

“And what
did
you do in
Hertfordshire, anyway, to earn her dislike? If she can tolerate her ridiculous
husband’s company on a daily basis,
you
must have truly offended her.”

“If my doings are of such great interest
to you, perhaps you should set spies on me.” Darcy jammed his hat on his head.
“Good
day
, Richard.”

His cousin’s laughter followed him. “Never
fear, I will not attempt to follow you to your little assignation this time. I
would hate to see you forced to employ base stratagems to talk to her. The
parson’s wife, of all things!”