Mr. Darcy's Refuge Read online

  “Just because he feels sympathy for the poor, poor Frenchmen who are doing their utmost to kill as many Englishmen as possible.”

  Elizabeth began to make a retort, then stopped as a thought occurred to her.

  “What is it?”

  “I was thinking about what he said to me when he saw the earl approaching the house. He told me to hide because he would rather see me face Napoleon’s guns than be in the same room with his father with no one to protect me.”

  “That is the most sensible thing I have heard of him so far. The worst bullets can do is to kill you.”

  Elizabeth gave him a sharp glance, but said nothing.

  “But I will say, Lizzy, that was a remarkable set-down that you gave Lord Matlock. I was proud of you.”

  It was an olive branch of sorts, but Elizabeth was not sure if she wanted to accept it or not. “I should join the others.”

  She circled the house without catching sight of Jane and the colonel, nor did she find them in the arbor or the formal garden. The only other likely place was the small wilderness beyond the ruined wall. She turned her steps there and was only a few feet from the wall when a sound came that she had not heard in far too long. It was the sound of Jane laughing freely, not a forced or polite laugh, but a real, joyous laugh. The murmur of the colonel’s voice followed and Jane laughed once more.

  Elizabeth could not recall such gaiety in her sister since Mr. Bingley had left Netherfield. Jane had been sad throughout the winter and during Elizabeth’s stay at Hunsford, and after that, Jane’s spirits had been equally oppressed by the conflict with their father, even though it did not involve her. Between the two blows, Jane’s natural good humor had been replaced by a quiet sadness.

  If Colonel Fitzwilliam could give Jane a few minutes of happiness, Elizabeth had no desire to interrupt the tête-à-tête. Her own appearance would only bring up the painful subject of their father. She crept quietly back into the garden, then took care to lose herself in the shrubbery for at least a quarter hour.

  She did not have a chance to speak to the colonel alone until he was ready to depart. As the groom brought his horse, the colonel said, “I hope my visit did not make matters worse for you.”

  “Not at all. I just wish sometimes that I could go back to before all this happened, but of course one cannot step into the same river twice – and it would be very unwise to try when the aforementioned river is in flood. But I am sorry for my father’s inexcusable behavior.”

  “You need not apologize – your sister has already done that at length, despite my protests, and quite charmingly as well.” He took the reins of the horse in one hand. “I must say, Bingley was a fool to leave her. Darcy as well, but Bingley even more so.” He shook his head in disbelief.

  Elizabeth laughed. “You will get no argument from me on that score, sir. I am glad you can still believe that after meeting with my father today.”

  He swung up into the saddle with a practiced grace. “As I said earlier, you have met my father, Miss Bennet. Until we meet again!”

  Chapter 13

  Elizabeth usually enjoyed summertime, since it gave her so much freedom to ramble and explore, but this year it seemed that she was simply marking time. Her tour to the Lakes was now the object of her happiest thoughts; it was her best consolation for all the uncomfortable hours which the discontentedness of her father made inevitable.

  The trip was almost upon her when Hill, her face white, announced a most unexpected visitor. “The Countess of Matlock is here, Miss Lizzy.”

  Elizabeth dropped her embroidery in an untidy heap.

  “Jane, Mary – you should not stay here. Truly.” Elizabeth sounded half-strangled. She moved to stand behind her chair and gripped its back, her knuckles showing white. It was a poor defense, but it was the best she had.

  Mary merely looked quizzical, but Jane, who knew more of Elizabeth’s confrontation with Lord Matlock than Mary, said, “We will not leave you to face this alone.”

  Before Elizabeth could importune them further, Hill showed in an elegant lady of about Mrs. Bennet’s years, wearing a fashionably cut gown of green silk. “The Countess of Matlock.”

  Lady Matlock surveyed the room with a glance and moved directly to Elizabeth. “You must be Elizabeth! I may call you Elizabeth, n’est-ce pas?

  Elizabeth gripped the chair back more tightly, glancing from side to side with a certain desperation. How had Lady Matlock recognized her? A description of her appearance would have fitted Mary equally well. “I would be honored, Lady Matlock.”

  “Ah!” The countess spread her hands in front of her. “You want to know how it is I knew you. It was simple; Richard told me you have met my ’usband, and you are the only one who looks as if you expect me to pluck all your feathers and serve you for dinner.” She pronounced her son’s name Ree-shar in the French manner, and it was a moment before Elizabeth realized of whom she was speaking. Leaning forward and using a confidential tone, Lady Matlock added, “You need not fear. I am nothing like my ’usband, vraiment.”

  Making an effort to loosen her fingers, Elizabeth said, “I mean no disrespect to Lord Matlock.”

  Her visitor trilled with laughter. “Ah, but I do! Come, sit by me, cherie. We must become better acquainted, you and I, since you are to be my niece.” She gracefully seated herself on the sofa and patted the space beside her.

  So this was where Colonel Fitzwilliam had learned his amiable manners. Elizabeth sat as instructed, albeit with a nervous glance at Jane. “Thank you, madam.”

  “Richard has told me all about you. You have quite charmed him! Darcy, of course, he only scowls, the poor boy. I knew immediately that I must meet the lady who has captured my nephew’s so elusive heart.”

  Elizabeth could not suppress a smile. “It was quite unconsciously done, your ladyship.”

  “But of course it was! Darcy would never have taken notice of you had you been one of those young ladies who fawn over him so embarrassingly! He hates that so very much.”

  “I was as far from fawning as possible! My behavior toward him could only be described as impertinent.”

  Lady Matlock tapped Elizabeth’s cheek with her folded fan. “Then we shall do splendidly together, you and I. We shall be impertinent, and Darcy will stop scowling all the time and learn to smile again. I wish you did not have to wait until Christmas!”

  “So do I, Lady Matlock, but my father thinks otherwise.”

  Lady Matlock frowned, the feathers in her elaborate coiffure bobbing indignantly. “Your father, he is the ogre, yes? The one who refuses to let poor Darcy see you?”

  Elizabeth wondered whether it would be more polite to agree that her father was an ogre or to argue the point. “He means well,” she said without conviction.

  “I would hope so, for if he does not, he is merely a fool, and for a man it is perhaps better to be an ogre than a fool, n’est-ce pas? Richard is with him now, I believe.”

  At that moment the two gentlemen appeared. Lady Matlock looked at Mr. Bennet appraisingly. “Ah, you must be the ogre, then!” she exclaimed in apparent delight, her accent making even this sound like a compliment.

  Mr. Bennet made a perfunctory bow. “At your service, madam. But you need not fear; I have already whetted my appetite for human flesh upon your son, so you are quite safe from me.”

  The colonel looked amused as he claimed the chair nearest Jane. “Fortunately, my wounds are something less than mortal.”

  The rest of the visit proceeded as unremarkably as a visit from a countess to the house of a country gentleman of small fortune might be expected to do. With the absence of her mother and youngest sisters, there was little to embarrass her. Mary was too much in awe to speak, and Mr. Bennet limited himself to the occasional sardonic comment.

  When at last Lady Matlock’s carriage pulled away, after that lady had pressed upon Elizabeth many invitations to call on her when she should be in London, Elizabeth was surprised to discover that Colonel Fitzwilliam, who ha
d ridden to Longbourn rather than travel in the stifling carriage, had remained, standing between Jane and Mr. Bennet.

  “I hope you are satisfied,” Mr. Bennet said dryly to him, “though my restraint was not due to anything you said, but instead came from my own conviction that any woman unfortunate enough to be married to your father deserves pity, not censure.”

  Colonel Fitzwilliam chuckled. “True, though she has not lived with my father for many years. She fed him poison once, you know, and withheld the antidote until he signed the papers granting her a separate household. It is a well-known story.”

  Mr. Bennet clasped his hands in front of his chest. “Truly a lady after my own heart! – although I fail to see the need for an antidote. Do give her my compliments. And now I believe you were leaving, sir.”

  “True, although, I will be leaving your home only a short distance to bespeak a room at the inn. Miss Bennet has informed me that there is an assembly in Meryton tonight, and was kind enough to invite me to attend.”

  Mr. Bennet removed his glasses and placed them in his waistcoat pocket, then surveyed the colonel from head to toe. “Am I to understand that you are in the habit of gracing country assemblies with your august presence?”

  “No, but your eldest daughter is remarkably beautiful, and I am in the habit of accepting such invitations when they come from ladies of remarkable beauty.” He bowed toward Jane, who colored prettily. “I hope you will do me the honor of dancing the first set with me.”

  As Jane nodded, Mr. Bennet said, “On the contrary. I think you accepted because you delight in annoying me.”

  The colonel assumed a thoughtful expression. “Delight is perhaps the wrong word. Better, perhaps, to say that it simply comes naturally to me.” He winked at Elizabeth. “Miss Elizabeth, since I have already requested the honor of the first set from your sister, may I hope that you are free for the second?”

  Elizabeth looked straight at her father as she said, “I will look forward to it, sir.”

  ***

  At the assembly, Colonel Fitzwilliam immediately became the subject of discussion among those who attended. Word that he was unmarried and son to an earl circulated at an astonishing pace, followed by rumors of more dubious origin, including that he was courting Miss Bennet and in line to be a General. In a moment of wicked amusement, Elizabeth considered mentioning his fictional sickly elder brother, but refrained.

  The colonel danced twice with Jane and Elizabeth, once with Mary, and once each with two young ladies whom Elizabeth felt certain had been pointed out to him by Jane as being the most in need of some gentlemanly attention from the son of an earl. She had not seen Jane in such good looks and spirits since Mr. Bingley had decamped from Netherfield, and she was grateful to the colonel for his part in it.

  “It was at an assembly such as this that I first set eyes on Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth told the colonel during a break between sets.

  “And he fell violently in love with you.” The colonel handed glasses of lemonade to Elizabeth and Jane.

  Elizabeth laughed. “No, indeed. He said I was tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt him to dance, and that Jane was the only pretty woman in the room. And in my hearing, no less!”

  “Trust Darcy to say something foolish! No wonder you took such a dislike to him. Apparently you tempted him afterwards, though.”

  “It seems so, though I cannot imagine why. I was very impertinent to him.”

  “He no doubt thoroughly deserved it. On the subject of impertinence, may I hope that my presence has not caused speculation that could make you uncomfortable?”

  “No, especially since they seem to be linking your name with Jane’s, not mine. Your presence tonight is sure to be a nine days’ wonder here, but fortunately, I will be leaving Longbourn in two days, travelling with my aunt and uncle to the Lake District. By the time I return, I imagine the fuss will have died down. The gossips will have found someone else to talk about.”

  Elizabeth had no idea how correct her prediction would prove to be.

  ***

  “I wonder what Colonel Fitzwilliam said to our father before they joined us,” said Elizabeth as Jane tugged a brush through her hair that night.

  “You will be amazed at my daring, Lizzy! I asked him directly about that. Apparently, he said that although our father might insult him with impunity, secure in the knowledge that he would not retaliate against his cousin’s future father-in-law, rudeness to his mother did not fall into the same category.”

  “And I am certain he said it in such an amiable manner that it was impossible to take offense!”

  “Yes, he is a very amiable gentleman.” Jane fell silent, and Elizabeth knew she was thinking of a different amiable gentleman who had disappointed her hopes. “But still, he can be firm, and he knows his own mind.”

  It was just as well that there would be few chances in the future for Jane’s path to cross that of Colonel Fitzwilliam. Elizabeth did not want her sister to be disappointed in love yet again.

  ***

  The Gardiners’ carriage rattled on the rutted road as the travellers departed from Meryton. Elizabeth gloried in the luxury of being alone with her aunt and uncle. “You cannot begin to imagine how glad I am to leave Longbourn behind! I am looking forward very much to the Lakes, but I do not think I could have borne another day at home.”

  Mr. Gardiner cleared his throat. “I have some disappointing news about the Lake District, Lizzy. Since I must be back in London sooner than expected, we decided it would be wiser to substitute a contracted tour, so we will be travelling no further than Derbyshire. The scenery there is second only to the Lakes, and it will also give us the opportunity to visit the town where your aunt spent some of her childhood.”

  Elizabeth was excessively disappointed by this news. She had set her heart on seeing the Lakes, but she did her best to mask her dismay. “But even this morning you spoke about visiting Windermere!”

  “I admit to practicing a little deception,” said Mrs. Gardiner with a slight smile. “We have known of this change in destination for several weeks, but feared that your father might not allow you to join us if he knew we planned to travel so close to Pemberley. We will send a letter in a day or two informing him of our change in plans.”

  “I imagine Derbyshire is large enough that Mr. Darcy and I are unlikely to cross paths by accident, but you are no doubt correct.” Elizabeth picked at a loose thread in her glove as she allowed a fraction of her bitterness into her tone. It would be hard to know he might be so nearby and unable to do anything about it. On the other hand, there was no reason to believe he would be in residence at his estate; he might be anywhere. Realizing that her words might have sounded reproachful, she added, “I am so glad you invited me to join you. Without this journey to look forward to, I do not know how I would have survived the last month.”

  Mrs. Gardiner patted her hand. “I am so sorry, Lizzy. I had hoped that once you were back at Longbourn, your father would be more understanding.”

  “He no longer gives me orders, although I am still not allowed to contact Mr. Darcy. What I cannot bear is his mockery.”

  “His mockery?”

  “Oh, it is nothing new. He has always said that his daughters were silly and ignorant, and I paid no attention because he would say that I was quicker than the rest, and my flattered vanity insisted he must be speaking in jest. But it is no longer amusing to be told I am silly, especially when he is the one who is choosing to remain in deliberate ignorance. I am sorry; I do not mean to spoil our trip with my complaining. I want to hear all about what we will see in Derbyshire.” She forced herself to smile.

  Her aunt nodded understandingly. “If that is what you wish, but I hope you know I am always happy to listen to anything you would like to say.”

  Elizabeth’s throat was too tight for speech, so she limited herself to a quick nod of her head.

  Mr. Gardiner, his brows slightly drawn, said, “We have an ambitious itinerary planned. We wil
l visit Oxford, Blenheim and Kenilworth on the way, and of course in Derbyshire there will be a great deal to see – the Peak, of course, as well as Dove Dale, Matlock and Chatsworth.”

  The mention of Matlock brought Colonel Fitzwilliam immediately to mind. Was she doomed to spend the entire trip faced with reminders of her situation, when she had hoped to put it from her mind in the beauties of the Lake District? “It sounds delightful,” Elizabeth said firmly.

  Chapter 14

  The human mind is a curious thing, and there can be no surprise that Elizabeth, having resolved that the possibility of an accidental encounter in Derbyshire with Mr. Darcy was ridiculously remote, could not keep herself from hoping to see his tall form every time they rounded a curve in the road. By the time the travellers had reached Lambton, the town where Mrs. Gardiner had passed her childhood, Elizabeth was heartily sick of the constant cycle of wishful thinking and disappointment. On discovering that Pemberley lay not five miles from the inn where they were staying, her anxiety rose even higher.