Desperate Hearts: A Pride and Prejudice Variation Page 4

  “And who knows, Caroline … it could be a very productive weekend!” Louisa giggled. “Let me tell you again how pleased I am that you are taking the larger share of organizing Charles’ miserable farmers’ ball. You always have such wonderful ideas for entertaining. And of course I could not bear to try and cope with all of Charles’ neighbours without you by my side.”

  “Then it is settled. I shall go to Surrey next weekend, leaving on Friday after the ball. And stay in Surrey until Monday or Tuesday. As to the ball … hmmm. So far I have started working on the supper menu and Charles has delivered the invitations and hired the musicians. I have only to finalize the supper with the cook, arrange the flowers and decorations, and organize a play list with the musicians. Decorations will not be so difficult as it is only Charles’ country bumpkin neighbours we will be entertaining, and I daresay anything will look elegant to them!” She and Louisa again shared a laugh, this time at the expense of the locals. “Let me go write a letter to Deirdre and then ask Charles if I may have use of a carriage for the weekend.”

  “If Charles cannot spare the carriage, I have no doubt that Mr. Hurst will send you with ours,” Louisa assured her. “It is certainly of an equal quality with our brother’s carriage, and I believe it may have been resprung more recently than Charles’ carriage. I imagine we will not need it until your return.”

  “Very good. I will go now to write the letter and find one of Charles’ lazy servants to post it. Unfortunately there will not be time enough to stop in London for a new gown or two, but I believe I can make do with the gowns I brought with me from town. Let Charles and his ‘friends’ be happy about the ball. I am quite excited about this visit, Louisa! It could be the beginning of a whole new life!“ Caroline gushed.

  Her elder sister smiled benevolently at her as she rushed from the room, stopping first in her brother’s study to collect paper, pen, and ink, and then to her own chamber to write. Louisa returned to browsing her magazine. Within a half-hour’s time Caroline had written the letter and handed it off to one of the footmen to post first thing on the morrow. Caroline then turned to her closet and began the selection of gowns that she would have her maid pack for her trip to Surrey. Fortunately she had brought some of her better gowns with her, although she had not needed them here in Hertfordshire where ladies apparently did not know, or care, how to dress properly.

  Seven: That evening after dinner …

  “How pleasant it is to have one’s house to oneself again,” Caroline remarked as her brother, the Hursts, and Mr. Darcy all entered the drawing room.

  “Do you mean to say that you will be even more pleased when I too have quit Netherfield Park, Miss Bingley?” Mr. Darcy asked with a twinkle in his eye and the slightest of smirks on his lips. He was keenly aware of the loss of the Bennet sisters’ company for the past few days and of Caroline’s unceasing flirtations – or, more accurately, calculations – towards himself. He looked over at Bingley and the two men exchanged a brief look of understanding.

  Caroline was quick to respond. “Not at all, Mr. Darcy – you are my brother’s particular friend and also a good friend to the Hursts and myself. You are practically family, and therefore always welcome here. The Bennet sisters, on the other hand, imposed themselves on us for far longer than propriety would find acceptable. Two of them, due to nothing more than one’s having a simple stomach virus! I still do not understand why Miss Eliza Bennet felt it necessary to burden us with her company for all that time. As I told their charming mother when she and her two hoydenish daughters came here to Netherfield, Louisa and I, and the servants, could certainly have tended to Jane quite capably.” Caroline grumbled, hoping to turn both her brother’s and Mr. Darcy’s opinion against the Bennet sisters. Neither Bingley’s obviously growing attachment to Jane Bennet – as evidenced by his successful discussion last night with Mr. Bennet for permission to court her – nor Caroline’s suspicion of Darcy’s nascent admiration for Eliza Bennet, were pleasurable for her to contemplate.

  “Well, I was very happy to have them both here as they are both delightful young ladies,” Bingley declared. “I did not consider either of them to be a burden in the least. In fact I have missed them since they left! I look forward to seeing them again Tuesday night at the ball, and now having gained her father’s permission to court her, I intend to call upon Miss Bennet at Longbourn as frequently as she will allow me to do so.”

  Caroline decided this was the perfect time to announce her own planned absence from Netherfield. “Perhaps you will miss me while I am away next weekend?” she tossed out casually to the room at large while studying her fingernails, waiting to see if either her brother or Mr. Darcy would respond. Both men, as well as Mr. Hurst, turned to her, and her brother asked her to explain.

  “I have had an invitation from my dear friend Deirdre Hetherington – you remember her, Charles, I went to seminary with her – to spend the weekend at her brother’s estate. Perhaps you know it, Mr. Darcy. Rington Grove in Surrey?” Caroline asked nonchalantly as she seated herself on the sofa next to her sister.

  “Yes, I do know it, and I am also acquainted with Paul Hetherington, as his father and mine were old friends,” Darcy answered. “Paul and I used to play together as boys whenever our families visited each other. I haven’t seen Paul in some years, although I have heard that he is still a very amiable fellow and manages Rington quite successfully. I don’t recall his sister very well, but I am sure you will have a most enjoyable weekend in their company.”

  “If you wish to renew your acquaintance with Mr. Hetherington, Mr. Darcy, I am certain I could ask Deirdre to include you in the invitation,” Caroline asked hopefully.

  “I thank you, Miss Bingley,” Darcy answered with a blank smile, “but I believe I will remain here and continue to enjoy your brother’s hospitality, shoot his birds, and beat him at billiards.” And accompany him to call on the Miss Bennets, he added to himself. Then he turned back to the writing desk where he had begun composing another letter to his sister.

  Caroline was clearly disappointed, but following her sister’s advice she commented that there would be several other gentlemen in the party who would probably also engage in some shooting. Darcy just shook his head and continued writing.

  Accepting defeat – at least temporarily – Caroline asked Charles if he would arrange for her to take one of his carriages. Charles was only too glad to see his sister had made plans for the weekend that did not include bedeviling himself, or Darcy, or the servants at Netherfield, and offered her the use of his barouche. And so it was settled that in two days’ time Caroline would be off for a visit to Surrey – during which time Bingley hoped to call on Miss Jane Bennet, and Darcy hoped to accompany him so he could see Miss Elizabeth Bennet, free of the snide remarks of at least one of Bingley’s sisters.

  Eight: Breakfast at Netherfield, Friday, three days after the ball

  “I am leaving shortly for Longbourn. Will you accompany me again today, Darcy?” Bingley grinned at his friend. He expected Darcy, who, as evidenced recently at the ball and yesterday when the two gentlemen called at Longbourn, was clearly becoming more and more attached to Elizabeth Bennet, to readily agree, and was surprised when his friend shook his head. “As much as I would like to join you, Bingley, I am afraid I must take care of some urgent business. This express from my Aunt Catherine which just arrived requires my immediate attention. Please make my excuses to the Miss Bennets for not being able to wait on them today.”

  Bingley noticed the grim line of Darcy’s mouth and asked him if all was well with his aunt. “I believe my aunt herself is quite well, but she seems to have been the recipient of some gossip – no doubt from her toadying parson, that Collins cousin of the Bennets – and has sent me a most distressing letter. I really must attend to it immediately. Apparently she has determined that I have breached my commitment to my cousin Anne and demands that I away to Kent immediately to contradict the reports. If I do not, she has threatened to travel to t
own and descend upon my London townhouse, or even worse to come here to Netherfield, for satisfaction. And while I do not consider myself a coward, I would very much prefer not to have to confront Lady Catherine when she is in full dudgeon. I am hoping it can all be resolved with a carefully-crafted letter speedily dispatched.”

  Bingley shrugged his shoulders and wished good luck to Darcy. “Shall I see you at dinner here at Netherfield, Darcy?” he asked. “Yes, I plan to take my meals here today. I am certain I shall not conclude my letter and have it sent out for delivery much before dinner time. I am quite pleased that you will be here as well rather than at Longbourn, so I am not obliged to dine solely with the Hursts," Darcy replied.

  Nodding to his friend, Bingley accepted his hat, gloves, and riding crop from his valet.

  And Caroline Bingley, who was descending the stairs, overheard all their conversation, and smiled to herself as she prepared to depart for Surrey.

  Nine: Kent – the previous day

  The footman approached Lady Catherine de Bourgh with a salver. “The post has arrived, Your Ladyship,” he said, and presented the silver tray, which contained three letters addressed to his mistress. Lady Catherine acknowledged him but did not thank him, as she rarely thanked anyone much less a servant.

  She picked up the letters and looked through them to see who they were from. One was obviously an invitation, from a well-known address in London, and the second was from her solicitor. She placed these two on the table adjacent to her throne-like chair while she opened the third letter, posted from Meryton in Hertfordshire. She knew that Mr. William Collins, the parson at Hunsford, was spending several days at his cousin’s home near Meryton in Hertfordshire. And she also knew that Mr. Collins always kept her well informed about all events that might affect Lady Catherine or her family in any way.

  Breaking the seal with a bejeweled letter opener, she took the thick letter from the envelope and began to read. As usual with Mr. Collins’ writing, the characters were written with such force and with so little attention to form that reading it presented no small challenge:

  Your most gracious and honourable Ladyship,

  I continue my visit with my relatives, the Bennets, in Hertfordshire, and unfortunately, both at family meals and while attending various social engagements, I am unable to escape the incessant gossip that the locals, including my lively cousins, are so fond of indulging in. This faulty habit does, however, have its uses, and I have gleaned, amongst the prattling and nonsense, some useful intelligence. As a clergyman as well as your humble servant, I feel it my duty to apprise you of some interesting occurrences that have lately taken place here in Hertfordshire that concern your estimable nephew, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.

  Even before I arrived at Longbourn (my esteemed cousin’s small estate here in Hertfordshire), the local populace could speak of nothing save the letting of a large neighbouring estate that had stood vacant for over a year. The tenant is a Mr. Charles Bingley, who is in residence with his two sisters, his one sister’s husband, and a guest who is apparently an intimate friend of Mr. Bingley’s: your nephew Mr. Darcy. I gather that the two gentlemen began their acquaintance at Cambridge. Mr. Bingley is possessed of a sizeable fortune (in excess of five thousand a year), although he is in fact not truly a gentleman: Bingley’s father made his fortune in trade somewhere in the north of England – Yorkshire I believe has been mentioned as their family’s home – and the younger Mr. Bingley carries on the business. What circumstance compelled Mr. Darcy to befriend Bingley I do not know, but I understand that Bingley and his sisters have more than once been guests at Pemberley.

  When I arrived at Longbourn I learned that just a few days earlier there had been a public assembly in Meryton, and that Mr. Bingley, along with the rest of his party, including your nephew, had attended. At this assembly, Mr. Darcy was, I am told, subjected to intense scrutiny by the local mothers who are attempting to marry off their unworthy daughters to rich men. Among these scheming mothers I am mortified to own that my own relative and hostess at Longbourn must be counted as the most brazen of them all. She managed to arrange an attachment for her eldest daughter Jane (who, I must admit, is extremely handsome and has a very sweet disposition) with this Mr. Bingley, and attempted to instigate an attachment between her second-eldest daughter Elizabeth and none other than Mr. Darcy. This plan, however, was in short order thwarted by your nephew, who had the good sense to dismiss the girl as being not worth his notice.

  Shortly after my arrival at Longbourn, one of the Bennets’ neighbours, Sir William Lucas, who is by all appearances and accounts a well-respected gentleman as well as having achieved knighthood, invited several neighbouring families, among them the Bennets (including myself) and the Netherfield occupants, including Mr. Darcy, to an intimate evening of music, cards, refreshments, and dancing. It was at this gathering that I remarked on Mr. Darcy’s interest in the second Bennet daughter; it appeared that his estimation of her had so much improved since the assembly and he seemed to be paying her a great deal of attention, far more than she deserves. First, he joined into a group of ladies and gentlemen, including my cousin Elizabeth, engaged in discussing the presence of a militia in Meryton, the small village adjacent to Longbourn where Sir Williams’ own house, Lucas Lodge, is located, with several of the officers of that militia. At one point he fetched a glass of punch for Miss Elizabeth. Some short time later, when the dancing music started up, he danced two dances with my cousin, although he stood up with nobody else all evening except Mr. Bingley’s sisters, with whom he is long acquainted.

  Yesterday morning, when Mr. Bingley arrived at Longbourn to call on my cousin Jane, I discovered that Mr. Darcy had accompanied him. Mr. Bingley suggested, as it was a fine day, that he and my cousin Jane might take a walk towards Meryton. Mrs. Bennet immediately directed that my cousin Elizabeth and my younger cousin Kitty accompany them to chaperone, and Mr. Darcy offered to walk with the two younger Miss Bennets.

  The party left Longbourn straight away. My cousin Kitty returned about an hour later, alone, and explained that she had turned off to visit Sir William Lucas’ younger daughter within minutes of their departure, leaving the other four to walk on. They did not return for almost another two hours. When they did return, they were fairly bursting with reports of a visit to the Meryton bookshop as well as to their aunt’s house in Meryton for cake and wine. My cousin Elizabeth returned home clutching a new book, and we discovered that the book – a catalogue of wildflowers – was purchased by Mr. Darcy! She claimed it was not a gift, but simply a loan, and that he fully intends to retrieve the book from her and add it to his library at Pemberley, although I am still not quite sure what the facts of the matter truly are.

  Last evening the Bennet family attended a private ball given by Mr. Bingley for the entire neighbourhood including the officers of the local militia stationed in Meryton. Although I also received an invitation, unfortunately I was indisposed and could not attend, having tripped on a root in the shamefully unkempt Longbourn gardens and twisting my ankle, necessitating that I elevate it at all times. Clearly this estate requires a firmer hand, like mine, to maintain it.

  This morning I was obliged to listen to the Bennet ladies while they gossiped about the doings at the ball: my cousin Mary exhibited her moderate talents at the pianoforte, my two youngest cousins danced every dance with the officers in the local militia, my cousin Jane spent most of the evening in company with Mr. Bingley, and my cousin Elizabeth spent most of her evening in the company of Mr. Darcy. Not only had they danced two sets together, they also sat together while at supper. My cousin Elizabeth danced with a few men of the militia as well as one or two locals, although Mr. Darcy danced with nobody else except his hostesses – Mr. Bingley’s two sisters. From what I am given to understand, Mr. Darcy spent the rest of the evening walking around the perimeter of the dance floor watching my cousin while she danced with these other partners. No doubt if it could be done with propriety he would have asked her to stan
d up with him several more times!

  I am certain that this will give you a clear picture of Mr. Darcy’s inappropriate and growing attachment to my cousin Elizabeth. If you require any additional information from your humble clergyman, I hope you will not hesitate to write to me in care of Mr. Nathaniel Bennet at Longbourn House in Hertfordshire. I expect to arrive back at the parsonage in Hunsford late on Saturday and will be available at any time after that to wait on you.

  I should also tell you that I have made an offer of marriage and been accepted by Sir William Lucas’ eldest daughter Charlotte, who perfectly meets your criteria as well as my own. Although I had hoped to choose one of my Bennet cousins for my wife in light of the entailment that leaves Longbourn to myself after Mr. Bennet’s passing, none of the sisters suited my person or my position. Charlotte does both. We have not yet set a date but I am convinced the arrangements will be made before my return to Hunsford. And I am certain that you will approve of my choice.

  Your humble and loyal servant,

  William Collins, Rector of Hunsford