Consequences (24 page)

Charlotte was silent for several minutes, looking away from Elizabeth as she stared into the light of the candle. “Eliza,” she said at last, “please do not misunderstand me, but do you think your nightmare might be related to coming here to this house where I am the mistress instead of you?”

Charlotte held up a hand to still Elizabeth’s instant answer. “Yes, yes, I know you do not envy me, and I know you do not have a second thought for refusing Mr. Collins, for you find my husband quite foolish, an estimate with which I shall not quibble. However, at least I do have a settled establishment while you do not. And this fact is one we have evaded talking about; actually,
you
have evaded talking about it, for I have mentioned it a few times. But you are so quick-witted you have always taken the conversation into other avenues. And that is because you did not desire to discuss the unpleasant truth that
you
actually need a settled establishment much more than I did.”

Elizabeth made no comment to this statement, which Charlotte considered as adequate encouragement to continue. “On my part, if I had not married, I could have stayed at home with my parents and then with my brother when he inherited the estate. I would have been a burden, true, but I would at least have had a home after my father dies. But when
your
father goes to his reward, Eliza, you and your sisters—and your mother!—will not be as fortunate. Unless you or one of your sisters makes a good marriage, you may well have to shift for yourselves.”

Elizabeth would have preferred to respond with a laugh so as to shrug off Charlotte’s well-placed assertion, but the feeling in her room this night would not allow such an evasion. She sighed at last. “I cannot disagree with you, Charlotte—not tonight. But nothing could have allowed me to be as good a wife to my cousin as you have been. And Lady Catherine! After a few examples of my impertinent behaviour, she would have had me walled up in the cellar at Rosings!”

The two friends laughed and were glad of an excuse to break the feeling of gloom hanging in the room like a shroud. Outside, the sun could be seen lightening the horizon in preparation for another wonderful, spring day, and Elizabeth felt her heart lift at the thought of getting outdoors again.

“Well,” said Charlotte mischievously, “perhaps Mr. Darcy will declare himself and solve all those problems, Eliza.”

Elizabeth answered absently, looking out the window at the growing dawn. “That would be no solution, Charlotte. Not only do I not believe there is any attraction on his part, but even if there were, it would mean nothing. I could never marry such a man, not if he were the last man in the world.”

Charlotte was terribly shocked by this casual, offhand statement from her dear friend.

Reject such a man as Mr. Darcy?
she thought in dismay.
Even though he could be the financial saviour of her mother and her sisters when her father dies? It is unthinkable! Why, it might well lead to the complete ruin of her family!

Charlotte could not think of anything she might say in response to such a wholly childish and impractical attitude. Until this moment, she would not have believed even Elizabeth, with her unrealistic, romantic illusions of marriage, could be so irresponsible as to act in such a manner, but the opinion she had just voiced indicated she might well do so.

She sat for some moments marshalling her thoughts. Her wonderings about Mr. Darcy’s motivations in visiting the Parsonage so often seemed idle musings, without any real importance other than for daydreaming. She often wondered whether he might be in love with her friend, which would have been very agreeable, but it never occurred to her that Elizabeth might not be agreeable in return. She simply accepted it as proven fact that Elizabeth’s dislike for him would vanish if she ever had reason to believe Mr. Darcy was in her power. Yet she had obviously been wrong, and she now decided it was time to press the issue.

Elizabeth must be made to see how very impractical and even ruinous such continued romantic notions could be!
Charlotte thought.
She has never really considered the grim problem she and her sisters face, not really. Yet how can I convince her? She is much quicker than I am at conversation, and she is usually able either to find a completely logical reason to counter every argument I make or to make a jest of it. Well, this time I will not be deterred!

At length, Charlotte said earnestly, “Elizabeth, I want to talk to you, and though it may not be a subject you want to discuss, you
must
listen to me this time.”

“Yes, Charlotte?” said Elizabeth as she turned back to her friend with a smile. She had been watching the sun come up through her window while Charlotte sat silently, and the new day and the morning songs of the birds were improving her mood with every passing minute.
Perhaps a quick walk through the Park before breakfast would be just the thing,
she thought.

“Eliza,” said Charlotte, looking her friend directly in the eye, “did you mean what you just said? About Mr. Darcy?”

“Mr. Darcy? Oh, you mean about him being attracted to me? Do be serious, Charlotte. I am supposed to be the overly romantic one, you know. You told me so yourself.”

“But what if he was attracted to you, Eliza? Did you mean what you said about not marrying him if he actually offered marriage?”

“Of course, Charlotte,” said Elizabeth in surprise. “You know how I feel about him. His pride and conceit are beyond belief, and I am sure he assisted Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst in convincing Mr. Bingley to leave Netherfield last fall. No, I was completely serious in what I said about Mr. Darcy.”

“Eliza, you must not simply dismiss such a man as Mr. Darcy so cavalierly,” said Charlotte urgently, reaching out and grasping one of Elizabeth’s hands when her friend made a move toward getting out of bed. “I must remind you of the consequence of Mr. Darcy, of his fortune, and of his place in society. Any children you might have would receive advantages they would not otherwise.”

“But they would have a most odious father, Charlotte,” said Elizabeth with a smile, extracting her hand from Charlotte’s grasp and beginning to get out of bed in order to end the conversation.

Or, at least she
tried
to extract her hand and get out of bed. She frowned down in puzzlement at her hand, where Charlotte still grasped it firmly and simply would not let go.

“Mr. Darcy is regarded by the rest of society as a most honourable man, Eliza,” said Charlotte, ignoring Elizabeth’s frown and her repeated attempts to free her hand. “Many men seek his advice on diverse matters. Colonel Fitzwilliam has mentioned it several times. But now you must listen carefully to me, for you have ignored your family’s situation for far too long. You must think on what is going to happen to you and your sisters when your father dies.

“Yes, yes, I know. That subject occupies your mother’s every waking hour, and I am sorry my husband will inherit Longbourn from your father. That does not matter to what I have to say. The fact that your mother is obsessed with the subject is no reason for you to completely ignore it yourself. When your father dies, where will you live? How will you live? You were probably correct to refuse Mr. Collins, even though that would have solved your family’s problem, for I cannot believe you could have withstood his foolishness. But you would be completely thoughtless and imprudent to act in a similar manner toward Mr. Darcy. I do not have a very good opinion of men in general, as you well know, but it is obvious that, whatever Mr. Darcy is, he is no fool.”

Elizabeth looked at her friend. “You
are
serious, Charlotte?”

“Yes, I am, Eliza. I do not want to see you continuing to ignore the reality of your situation. For example, a marriage to Mr. Darcy would provide security for your mother and sisters they would not otherwise have, and yet you blithely ignore that fact. It is not sensible; you must see that!”

“Well, they would already have that security had Mr. Bingley’s sisters—with, I am sure, Mr. Darcy’s assistance—not separated their brother from Jane.”

Charlotte looked at her quizzically. “Does Jane still suffer from that separation, Eliza?”

Elizabeth shrugged helplessly. “She does not say so in her letters, at least not directly, but I believe much of the happy animation which used to characterize them is missing. Yes, I believe she still suffers, and I believe she still loves him.”

“Then there is another reason you must again listen to me, Eliza,” said Charlotte, moving closer to her on the bed in order to maintain her hold on Elizabeth’s hand. “If, somehow, what I am conjecturing did come to pass and Mr. Darcy did show a preference for you, you would be most unwise to reject his intentions. It would be an even greater mistake to reject them with anger, which I believe would be quite likely, based on the feelings you have just expressed. After that, Mr. Darcy would almost certainly go to any lengths to avoid your presence in the future.”

“Good!” exclaimed Elizabeth with a savage smile.

“Not so good as you think, perhaps, since that would also mean he would almost certainly go to any extent to ensure his closest friend would never have reason to see your sister. He would know that, were Mr. Bingley to resume an acquaintance with Jane, he—Mr. Darcy, that is—would not be able to avoid being thrown into your company. Since being in your company would likely prove painful to him, he would thus go to great lengths to make certain Mr. Bingley would never see Jane again.

“On the other hand—and listen to me now, Eliza—if Mr. Darcy
did
show an attraction or perhaps even made you an offer at some point, you must consider very carefully how you should respond. If you accepted an offer of marriage, for example, then Mr. Bingley and Jane could not be kept from being in company again, either at Netherfield, London, or at Mr. Darcy’s estate in Derbyshire. If their affection for each other is as you believe, there would at least be a chance for them to repair their relationship. Not even Mr. Bingley’s sisters could prevent that. And I would wager that Mr. Darcy, by that time, would have no reason to assist them further in their attempts. There would at least be a chance for Jane in that event. Otherwise, if you angrily refuse Mr. Darcy as you have intimated, I am certain there could never be a rapprochement.”

This last argument was one to which Elizabeth could not respond, for the thought that she might hurt Jane had never occurred to her. In fact, the argument began to concern her greatly. She was provoked to find some way to refute what Charlotte said, but she was unable to do so. Certainly, she believed Charlotte was correct about Mr. Darcy. He would be dreadfully wounded—right in his monumental pride!

But the humour she found in her internal jest died away as she thought deeper. If such an event as Charlotte described ever did transpire, she became quickly and unhappily certain Charlotte was right; Mr. Darcy would go to great lengths to ensure he never saw her again. And he would go to the same lengths to keep Mr. Bingley from ever seeing Jane again. An unexpected meeting such as there in Kent would not be repeated, of that she was convinced. But as for the rest of what Charlotte said, could any part of it be true?

“Even if what you say is sensible, still I can hardly bring myself to believe it signifies anything at all,” said Elizabeth uncertainly. “Putting my own sentiments aside, I still believe Mr. Darcy has no feelings toward me other than contempt. I know he never looks upon me except to disapprove.”

Charlotte shrugged. “I do not know enough to say one way or the other, Eliza. It is clear he comes often to my house for reasons of his own, and it is undeniable that he looks at you a great deal, but I am not certain of his true opinion. His gaze is steady and earnest, but whether it is motivated by admiration or absence of mind is a question I cannot answer.”

“You make me feel ashamed of my selfishness, Charlotte,” said Elizabeth uneasily, “for it never occurred to me I might do something to hurt Jane. But suppose you are right? Suppose he
is
attracted and I followed your advice? How could I live with such a proud, arrogant man?”

“Did not Mr. Bingley tell Jane that Mr. Darcy is quite pleasant and amiable among those of his circle?” asked Charlotte shrewdly. “Would he treat a wife differently than he treats his friends?”

Elizabeth had no response to make to these questions, and Charlotte continued, “And how could such a man be that prideful and unpleasant and still retain the firm friendship of such an amiable man as Mr. Bingley? Is it not possible that there has been some mistake?”

“How could there be a mistake?” cried Elizabeth. “Mr. Wickham has laid out his character in the most detailed manner possible!”

“Ah, yes,” said Charlotte flatly. “Mr. Wickham.”

“Yes, Mr. Wickham!” retorted Elizabeth sharply. “How could I consider an attachment to a man who has treated Mr. Wickham so badly, in addition to assisting in ruining my sister’s happiness?”

“You know that I have never joined in your appreciation of Mr. Wickham, Eliza,” responded Charlotte calmly. “Yes, he has the appearance of amiability, but it was most improper of him to lay his private relationship with Mr. Darcy before you as he did when you had only just been introduced. He spoke in great detail, yet Mr. Darcy evidently never did the same in response. Do you remember what Jane learned when she asked Mr. Bingley about Mr. Wickham; he told her that he was sure Mr. Wickham had offended against Mr. Darcy, even though he knew none of the details. It would appear,” said Charlotte dryly, “that Mr. Darcy’s sense of propriety is far in excess of that demonstrated by Mr. Wickham.”