The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy (25 page)

Of all the guests at Pemberley, Charles was the first to leave. After arranging for Belling to accompany his sisters and Mr. Hurst to Scarborough, he had asked Miss Darcy if he might depart as he had important business in Hertfordshire.

It was Kitty who first recognized the man on horseback as Mr. Bingley, and she immediately ran to the garden house where Jane and Lizzy were drying sprigs of rosemary. Lizzy was looking at her sister when Kitty told her the news, but her face remained unchanged. Jane had put on a protective shield, and Lizzy was no longer sure of the reception Mr. Bingley would receive.

By the time the sisters went into the parlor, their mother had already shared the news with Mr. Bingley that Lydia was shortly to be married, explaining it was only a matter of the time needed to publish the banns that was delaying the nuptials.

“I was aware Miss Lydia was soon to be married, and I offer my sincere wishes for the couple’s health and happiness.”

Mrs. Bennet rambled on for several more minutes before leaving with Kitty. The conversation that followed was stilted and awkward. Jane was polite but said little, and by the time they had finished their tea, Bingley was beginning to fear the worst. Miss Bennet no longer loved him. It was then that Mrs. Hill announced that Jane had a visitor.

“Who is it, Mrs. Hill?”

“An old friend, Miss Jane, who is waiting in the sitting room.”

“But who is it?”

With everyone staring at her, Mrs. Hill finally said, “It is Mr. Nesbitt, miss.”

Jane looked confused, but Lizzy’s mouth fell open. Surely, he was not here to renew his attentions. Not now. Not at this critical moment.

After Jane left the room, Mr. Bingley’s face showed that he was on the verge of despair. “Miss Elizabeth, it seems I am too late as Miss Bennet has a suitor.”

“No, he is not a suitor as such. There was some interest, but not recently.” But the statement was made with such a lack of conviction, it failed to reassure Mr. Bingley.

Lizzy was at a loss as to what to do. Should she go to Jane to make sure she did not accept an offer from Mr. Nesbitt or stay with Mr. Bingley to make sure he did not become even more discouraged and leave? She decided to remain where she was; Mr. Bingley was greatly in need of reassurance.

“Mr. Bingley, you said you knew of my sister Lydia’s upcoming marriage. May I ask how you came by that information?”

“Mr. Darcy told me.”

“Mr. Darcy? How would Mr. Darcy know?”

“The day after you left Pemberley, Darcy went to London to help find… I mean to offer his assistance in…”

“Sir, you may speak frankly. If you were unaware of the circumstances regarding Lydia’s elopement, you would be one of the few.”

“I am not sure what you know, Miss Elizabeth, but Darcy has a history with Wickham. He felt that if he had made known the defects in his character, your sister would never have left Brighton with him. He recruited my brother, George, in the search, and it is my understanding that it was George’s men who found the couple. But knowing Darcy, I am sure he has been working behind the scenes to do what he could to help your sister.”

So she had guessed correctly. Darcy had left the inn at Lambton with the intention of finding Lydia, and now that he had succeeded, what would be his next step? Would he return to her or close the book on their relationship, especially since Lydia’s marriage would make George Wickham his brother-in-law? For the present, she must put those thoughts aside and concentrate on Jane. What on earth was taking her so long?

***

When Jane went into the parlor, she found Mr. Nesbitt happily conversing with Mary about all the headaches involved in probating wills, with her sister hanging on every word as if each was a pearl of wisdom. But upon seeing Jane, Mary immediately left the room.

“Miss Bennet, it is a pleasure to see you again,” Mr. Nesbitt said, rising.

“I must confess, sir, that in light of your last letter, I am surprised to find you at Longbourn.”

“That is why I am here. My mother urged me to write the letter, and now I have come to tell you that I regard it as a cowardly act. Even though no plans were formalized, and thus no promises made, I should have come in person to tell you of the change in circumstances that prompted such an action. But before you think ill of my mother, please allow me to explain that she has raised me from the time of my father’s death when I was five years old. I have been her life’s work, and when she heard the news about your sister, she believed my career would be jeopardized if we married. But I have studied the law for most of my adult life. Although I believe your sister has made a grievous error in judgment, you cannot, by association, be held accountable for her actions. You are completely innocent of all wrongdoing, and as such, should not be punished. The law is very clear on this.”

Jane wondered what constituted punishment: Mr. Nesbitt’s ending the relationship or his attempt to begin anew? If it was the latter, then Jane had some sad news for the gentleman sitting across from her. As soon as Charles began speaking, stumbling through his sentences, every feeling she had for him had returned. His halting speech was one of the things she loved best about him, but instead of being with him, she was listening to Mr. Nesbitt instruct her as to her legal rights. At times, life could be very unfair.

“In the days since I wrote that letter,” Mr. Nesbitt continued, “I have spent hours thinking about our time together. In hindsight, I could see that although you are pleasant company, Miss Bennet, I noted our conversations were strained. I had no such difficulty when talking to your sister Mary.”

Jane, who had been avoiding making eye contact with Mr. Nesbitt, fearing he might find encouragement there, now looked at him right in his eyes.

“Mary? Are you saying that you are interested in Mary?”

“I have no wish to hurt you, Miss Bennet, but the purpose of my visit is to ask permission to call on Miss Mary. As I have discussed with you on previous visits, it is my intention to study for the bar. As a result, the length of any courtship may be considerable and…”

Jane jumped out of her chair and made no attempt to pretend his news had upset her. Instead, she asked if she might go tell Mary the good news.

Mr. Nesbitt, who had been prepared for the possibility of Jane shedding a tear or two, was relieved to find her quite pleased with his decision to court her younger sister. Jane did not have far to go to find her as she was standing outside the door. Despite her proximity, she had been unable to hear what the two soft-spoken parties had been saying to each other. When Jane told her the purpose of Mr. Nesbitt’s visit, she stepped back from her sister.

“Of all people, Jane, I never thought that you would be so cruel. How can you say these things when you know how I feel about Mr. Nesbitt?”

“Mary, I am not in jest. Mr. Nesbitt is not here for me. He is here for you!”

It was another few minutes before Mary was convinced, but Jane finally pushed her toward the door. “I have business in the parlor, and you have business in the sitting room. Now, let us go to it.”

***

When Jane returned to the parlor, she was positively glowing.

“It seems we are to have a wedding here at Longbourn.”

“Oh, Jane,” Lizzy whispered. She felt as if she was going to be ill, and from Mr. Bingley’s expression, she was sure he was in a similar state.

“Mr. Nesbitt has come to Longbourn to ask for permission to court… Mary.”

“Oh, heavens!” Lizzy said, collapsing into the sofa. “What wonderful news! Mary, you say?” Lizzy’s eyes filled with tears of relief. “I must go to her immediately,” but did so only after giving Mr. Bingley a big smile.

“Miss Bennet, may I offer my congratulations. There is nothing like an impending marriage to bring joy to a house. Well, possibly the birth of a child. However, you must have the wedding first. Although that is not always the case, but usually it is.”

“I am in complete agreement, Mr. Bingley. There is nothing sweeter than finding the right person to love and cherish and to share your hopes and dreams with.”

“Even if that person is a dunderhead?”

“Especially if that person is a dunderhead as he is most in need of affection,” Jane said, smiling broadly.

Charles immediately crossed the room, and on bended knee, asked, “Miss Bennet, may I…”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Never mind. Go ahead.”

“Miss Bennet, may I ask for your hand in…”

“Yes.”

“…marriage.”

And Jane leaned over and firmly kissed her future husband on his lips, and the quiet Mr. Bingley let out a whoop that brought everyone in the house to the parlor.

Mr. Bennet had been in the study listening to Mr. Nesbitt’s reasons for his choosing Mary over Jane. He had obviously given the subject a lot of thought as he had a litany of Mary’s attributes at the ready. Because of his detailed presentation, Mr. Bennet was seeing his middle daughter in a different light. After calling Mary into the study and seeing how her love for this man had transformed her, he readily gave his consent. It was during Nesbitt’s recitation regarding his legal aspirations that they had heard Mr. Bingley’s shout.

When Mrs. Bennet realized that not only was Jane to be married, but Mary was to wed Mr. Nesbitt, she nearly collapsed, and Kitty had to pour her a glass of wine to calm her nerves.

“Oh, Mr. Bingley! Oh, Mr. Nesbitt! What happy news! You are perfectly suited for each other. Well, I don’t mean each other. I mean for Jane and Mary. What I am trying to say is I wish to add my blessing to your unions,” and she started to cry profusely with tears of joy. “Mary is to be married! Who would have ever thought?” And looking at Kitty, she remarked, “Now it is just you and Lizzy who must find husbands, but perhaps Mr. Bingley and Mr. Nesbitt have friends who are in need of a wife,” a comment Kitty did not appreciate, but one that Lizzy had expected. Her mother would not be happy until all five of her daughters were married, and Lizzy’s thoughts turned to Mr. Darcy in London.

Anne was near to exhaustion, but during the carriage ride to London, while Mrs. Jenkinson and Lord Fitzwilliam were sleeping, she continued to plan her next step to bring Elizabeth and Will together. She had come too far to concede defeat because of the actions of an irresponsible sixteen-year-old girl and a thirty-year-old degenerate. If it had not been for the change in circumstances brought about as a result of Lydia and Wickham’s escapade, she might have accepted Antony’s offer to visit with him for a month or so. She knew she could do some good there. With his daughters constantly in his thoughts, it seemed as if he really did want to begin a program of reform. It was one thing to embarrass one’s spouse, especially Antony’s mean-spirited wife, who put her in mind of Caroline Bingley, and quite another to humiliate two impressionable young girls, whom he loved dearly.

Upon arrival in London, Anne had written to her mother to inform her that she would rest for a few days at the townhouse before returning to Kent. It was while she had been picturing a typical evening meal with Mama dominating the conversation that the idea had come to her. During supper at Rosings, Anne would speak of the likely engagement of Mr. Charles Bingley to Miss Jane Bennet. She would work the conversation around to Jane’s sister, Elizabeth, and would mention that Will and she had been together at Pemberley. That would prompt a cascade of questions, which she would answer truthfully. “Yes, Mama, I do believe Will is quite taken with Miss Elizabeth, so much so that I suspect he is in love with her.” As soon as she learned of a possible alliance between Fitzwilliam Darcy and a farmer’s daughter, she anticipated that her mother would order the carriage to be made ready to leave for London the next day, and it had happened exactly as she had predicted, except for one thing: Her mother had set out for Hertfordshire, not London.

And while her mother was busily interfering in Will’s affairs, Anne had ample time to review the papers her solicitor had given to her while she was in town. In two weeks’ time, she would reach her twenty-fifth birthday, and at that time, she would come into an inheritance left to her by her de Bourgh grandparents that had, up to that time, been controlled by her mother acting as trustee on her behalf. The papers contained many surprises, all of them pleasant. Not only was she now an heiress with a generous yearly allowance, but she also owned the lease on the house in town and rental properties in Tunbridge Wells and Weymouth. Although not a surprise, the
crème de la crème
was that she was now the mistress of Rosings Park.

As she had been instructed by her father in the last days of his life, Anne had met with the family solicitor, Mr. Markling, on her eighteenth birthday. According to the provisions of the will of the first Lord de Bourgh, only a de Bourgh, by blood, could inherit the estate.

“Apparently, when the original Lord de Bourgh purchased a barony from Charles II,” Mr. Markling explained, “he was coolly received by the English elite, and his response was that no one but a de Bourgh would ever inherit Rosings. If you should die without issue, Miss de Bourgh, the estate will pass to your father’s nephew, Martin Hargrove, who will then adopt the de Bourgh name.”

He further explained that the will provided a life interest for her mother. However, once she had reached her twenty-fifth year, Anne would have the final say in all matters affecting the estate. She had no intention of taking on such responsibilities, but her new situation would provide an opportunity for negotiation between mother and daughter.

Looking at the numbers once again, Anne was amazed by the size of her fortune. Apparently, smuggling generated handsome profits, which had enabled generations of de Bourghs to vastly increase their wealth and to build and expand Rosings Park. But she immediately thought of all the things she could do with that much money. Firstly, she would attempt to recover everything Antony had sold from the Fitzwilliam estate to pay his bills. Secondly, improvements of the cottages would be accelerated. Thirdly, the parsonage would be expanded because Anne believed Charlotte would shortly have some good news to share.

A few days after she returned, she would visit Mr. Rampling, the sexton, who had taken care of the church for decades, and his forty-year-old bachelor son. Albert Rampling had been born with misshapen legs. Because it was so difficult for him to get about, he had been unable to find employment. Instead, he had dedicated his life to recording the traditions and customs of those who lived in southeast England, and one of her greatest pleasures was when he shared his latest historical nuggets with her. Now, she would be able to provide an annuity for the Ramplings. That would allow them to move out of their small, damp house into a larger cottage with a library where Albert could record his stories, and she might possibly assist him with organizing his notes. In any event, she would see to it that his writings were published.

As important as those things were, she was even more excited because now she would be able to provide her cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, with an allowance sufficient for him to follow his heart and to marry for love, and she believed the trail would take him right to the home of Miss Pennington, the daughter of the Fitzwilliam solicitor. The money would allow him to sell his commission in the army and to pursue his desire to study the law. There was so much to look forward to, not the least of which was a change in her relationship with her mother. In two years’ time, Mama would be sixty years old, and the infirmities of age were already noticeable. She suffered from arthritis and gout, her hearing and eyesight had diminished, and she could no longer get around without her cane. The new arrangement might possibly bring the two women closer together, as Lady Catherine would look to Anne to provide the necessary care she had once provided to her daughter.

But discussions about their changed circumstances would have to wait until her mother had returned from her crusade to prevent a marriage between Will and Elizabeth. But like the Crusades, she would fail, and sometime in the near future, Lady Catherine de Bourgh would have to acknowledge the marriage of her favorite nephew to a farmer’s daughter from Hertfordshire. And that put a smile on her face.