Longbourn to London (17 page)

Indeed, my only sorrow in receiving your letter is that I must write my response and cannot take you in my arms to comfort any misapprehension you may feel for having written it. I cannot breathe upon your neck as I so wish to do, knowing now it pleases you. I dare not continue in this vein, or this letter will never be finished, and would certainly make you blush, though you must know I find you quite fetching when you do. But I know this of you— you do not like to be always blushing.

The solicitors are hard at work preparing the “excessively generous marriage settlement.” How I smiled when I read this, my love— I could hear you say the words as plainly as if you were in the room. The solicitors are hopeful they can return me to you a day or even two earlier than we have been led to expect. Whilst they toil, I am consumed with the errands of others and also with preparing this house for our week here, blessedly alone together. How I shall adore having you all to myself. The only thing better will be our fortnight at Pemberley before holiday guests arrive.

Holding your letter in my hand, full of such sentiments as truly gladden my heart, I am more ashamed than ever of the one letter I had previously written to you. I recall asking you to burn it, and I hope you have done so. Keep this one instead to remind you of how I long for you when we are parted for even a few days.

Please accept the book accompanying this letter with my deepest affection. It was newly arrived, and I thought it would please you as you prepare to live at Pemberley. There is a note with it written earlier, and I am grateful your letter arrived before the book was put in the post, as it may serve to distract certain parties from this longer letter, which is full of my love for you with every line I write.

We must avoid being parted in the future, once we are married. It certainly does me no good.

With deepest love,
F. Darcy

He read the letter through once, and after adding a brief post-script, was satisfied it said enough. He consulted his pocket watch, finding it well past time for the jewellers to open. He slid the letter into the book, and Mrs. Chawton wrapped it again promptly. Darcy chose to take it to the express office himself. He also had an express to send to Bingley, who could be counted upon to assist in setting certain plans in motion.

Chapter 11

An Eventful Week…part two

“Done to death by a slanderous tongue.”
William Shakespeare
Much Ado about Nothing

Jane and Elizabeth were in Longbourn’s front hall while the family footman loaded their small valises into the carriage for their overnight stay at Netherfield when an express rider arrived with a package for Elizabeth. Mrs. Bennet swooped down from the stairs when she heard the commotion.

“A wedding gift from Mr. Darcy, no doubt! The first of many jewels to come, I am sure, Lizzy.” She hovered as her second eldest daughter opened the package. “Oh fiddlesticks…only a book?” Mrs. Bennet turned away. “I do not see the romance of
that
. Only Mr. Darcy would think a book a fitting wedding gift.”

“Yes, Mama,” replied Elizabeth, “and only
I
would appreciate his thoughtfulness. It is a guide to the birds and flowers of Derbyshire.” Lizzy pulled the single sheet from inside the front cover, feeling a thicker letter tucked further back in the pages. She read the simple loving words, which her mother snatched from her hand and read aloud.

“Pretty enough sentiments. Well, if you are pleased, my dear, I am, too. Bingley sent Jane a lovely bracelet last week, gold it was, but if you are happy with a book, far be it from
me
to complain.” She handed the note back to Elizabeth and left the hall, calling behind her, “Have fun with Bingley’s sisters, girls! Do not overdo and make yourselves ill…”

Elizabeth and Jane exchanged a look and climbed into the waiting coach, Elizabeth still clutching her gift.

“There is a longer letter here, too, Jane! I did not tell you. but I have written Fitzwilliam a letter— such a letter. When he left, I had myself in a state. All my thoughts spilled onto the pages, and I do not know whether he will approve or censure. I doubt he would have received it before this book was sent.”

“Read the letter if you like, Lizzy; I will not mind, nor shall I snatch it from your hands to read for myself.” Both sisters laughed.

“Thank you, but no, I can wait until I have a few minutes alone at Netherfield.”

After the servants took their outerwear, Caroline Bingley and the Hursts ushered them into the drawing room. Caroline noticed the small thick volume Elizabeth was holding to her bosom.

“You are such a great reader, Miss Eliza. Pray, what is that book?”

Elizabeth looked at the book in her hand and was surprised to be still carrying it. “Mr. Darcy sent me a treatise on the flowers and birds of Derbyshire. It arrived just as we were departing Longbourn.” With great reluctance, Elizabeth sat it on a side table as Hurst passed thimble-sized glasses of wine to the ladies before filling a goblet for himself.

“What a singular sort of gift,” smiled Louisa Hurst. “So like Darcy. He knows your love of nature already.” Elizabeth thought she detected a note of honest sincerity in Louisa’s tone. Perhaps Louisa recognised her husband would never be so observant of her interests. Could it be that she was secretly pleased for Darcy in his choice of wife?

“Are there game birds listed?” Hurst asked, pursuing his current line of interest. The weather had turned warmer but stayed rainy, and he feared the fine shooting at Netherfield was over for the season.

“Indeed, Mr. Hurst, I do not know. I have yet to peruse it,” Elizabeth responded.

At that moment, Georgiana Darcy entered the room. “You have come!” she cried, taking the liberty of giving Elizabeth a quick impulsive hug, met by Elizabeth’s relieved and crushing embrace. “And Jane,” Georgiana said, once Elizabeth had released her and she could again draw breath. “How lovely to spend time with you.”

Caroline eyed Georgiana’s reception of the Bennet sisters with deepening envy. No Darcy had ever welcomed her and Louisa so warmly.

Georgiana remained standing when the others settled again. “Elizabeth, since we have a few moments before dinner, would you join me in the music room?” When Elizabeth approached her, Georgiana whispered, “I have a duet I would like to try. It would please my brother to hear me play while you sing. We shall surprise him.”

“Nothing would make me happier,” Elizabeth whispered in response. Georgiana smiled. Elizabeth scooped up her book as they left the room but neglected to notice Darcy’s letter slipping to the floor. Only Caroline detected the loss.

“Dear Jane.” Caroline stood and casually sidled to the place where Elizabeth had been sitting. “Charles and Colonel Fitzwilliam are visiting with Sir William this afternoon. They should be here well before dinner. Would you care to rest until then?”

Why does she want to get rid of me?
Jane wondered. Knowing Caroline had schemed to separate her from Bingley brought wariness to Jane’s normally unsuspecting nature. “I am perfectly well, Caroline, but unlike my sister, I have neglected to bring a book. I will step into the library for a moment, if I may.”

“Of course,” Caroline replied coolly. “We are less than a fortnight from its contents being yours. Pray join us when you have made your selection.”

Jane felt like a duck oiled for roasting, but she was not such a silly goose as Caroline surmised. Bingley had acquainted her with the entrances and exits of all the rooms during her previous tour of the house. She knew there was a connecting door to the library from the sitting room, and observed it was ajar. Jane left the drawing room by the hall door and entered the library by the next door down. She then hustled to the drawing room connecting door to listen.
What has become of my manners? s
he thought, but her intuition begged she be on guard.

As soon as the hall door closed after Jane, Caroline bent to pick up the letter on the floor.
My Dearest Elizabeth
was written on the outside in Darcy’s precise and even hand. Caroline pondered the several ways she might cause Eliza Bennet some trouble: she could unseal the letter, remove the salutatory page, and try to pass it off as a love letter from Darcy to herself; or the letter might contain revelations of improper behaviour with which to sully Eliza’s virtue; or a page of it might be used to imply Eliza received a letter from some other source—Wickham perhaps?—but no, Darcy’s penmanship was too distinctive.

Louisa noticed her sister had grown quiet. “What have you there, Caroline? What letter is that?”

Behind the library door, Jane’s heart jumped into her throat.
She has Lizzy’s letter from Mr. Darcy!

“We might have some sport with this Louisa, if you are willing to assist me in making up a plot. It is a letter from Darcy to his ‘Dearest Elizabeth’. It slipped out of her bird book.” Caroline’s voice dripped venom. Her ill humour overtook her wits as she tore the letter open. She did not see Hurst rise from his chair and stare at her in disbelief.

Louisa was shocked. She was not the quick and clever woman her sister was, but she saw instantly and with horror the ramifications of Caroline’s angry actions. Caroline’s nerves had become brittle to the breaking point as plans for the double wedding progressed—the wedding breakfast was to be held at Netherfield—and Louisa feared just such a situation as this might arise. In one motion, Caroline risked alienating their brother, his betrothed, and their brother’s best friend, thus losing the condescension of Darcy in extending his considerable hospitality and connections to her and her husband.

“Shall I read it out?” Caroline did not wait for an answer. Her voice was loud and crackling. “’My dearest Elizabeth’…is it not too sweet? ‘The first letter you have ever written me is in my hands. I have not set it down since opening it, as it is now my dearest possession.’” Caroline abruptly stopped. Her hands were shaking with jealousy edging close to lunacy.

“Caroline!” Louisa stepped forward and snatched the letter from her sister, unfortunately leaving the outer envelope page in Caroline’s hands.

Caroline could see the hasty post-script Darcy had included.
Loveliest Elizabeth, while I am in London, please do not forget I love you. F. D.
Caroline burst into wailing tears. “How I hate her!” she shrieked.

Jane burst into the room just as Hurst reached his sister-in-law and shook her by the shoulders. “Stop this at once, you silly cow! Do you want to ruin us?”

Jane took the crumpled envelope from Caroline’s hands and turned to stare sternly at Louisa, who meekly handed the pages of the letter to Jane.

Mr. Hurst released Caroline as she sank, still crying, to the floor. Hurst, Louisa, and Jane watched with disdain, alarm, and sorrow, respectively. Jane looked questioningly to Louisa, wondering why she would not help Caroline through this crisis. She knelt next to her, taking her shuddering shoulders into her arms, and looked up at Louisa. “Will you not help me console her?”

“I would sooner see her rot,” Hurst fumed, holding Louisa’s wrist.

Louisa looked up at her husband with tears just starting to spill. “Marcus, please, she is my sister. I know she has committed an unpardonable sin, but I fear for her senses. Please let me help Jane get her to her room and sedated.”

Hurst released his wife’s arm, and Louisa crouched next to Jane. Together they raised the whimpering Caroline to her feet. When the three women turned to the drawing room door, they were met with the shocked faces of Elizabeth and Georgiana, who had heard Caroline’s anguished scream and proceeded from the music room with all possible haste.

“Oh, Lizzy, please help us.” It never occurred to Jane that her sister, the obvious recipient of Caroline’s unhinged wrath, would withhold compassion. “Find the housekeeper and brew the calming tea you make that so comforts Mama.”

Elizabeth felt as if her own wits were wanting. She stared at Jane a moment until the words finally penetrated her comprehension. “Yes, of course.” Elizabeth turned from the room in search of the Netherfield housekeeper.

“Lizzy, wait,” Jane called. When Jane, Louisa, and the nodding, weeping Caroline reached the hall, Jane held the disassembled parts of Darcy’s letter to her sister. “It fell out of your book. Caroline picked it up.”

Elizabeth’s eyes grew wide as she took the pages, but she merely nodded and continued on her way to make tea. She knew Jane would explain further once Caroline was safely settled. Georgiana followed Elizabeth.

When the tea was taken to Caroline’s room, Elizabeth stopped outside the door and whispered to Georgiana. “Please take this in. I cannot. I know my presence will disturb her.”

Georgiana held no fondness for Caroline Bingley. During her time at Netherfield, Georgiana was shocked by Caroline’s continued pursuit of her brother despite his betrothal and the constant talk of his affection for Elizabeth. The depth of Darcy’s adoration had become a continuing joke between him and Bingley, with much teasing and innuendo that both men thought the ladies of the household would not comprehend, but of course they did. Georgiana was astonished at her brother’s forbearance in the face of Caroline’s constant insults aimed at Elizabeth and her equally constant references to the Bennet family’s want of connections.