The Means of Uniting Them, page 6
Mr. Gardiner’s countenance clouded. “I am afraid I do not understand, sir.”
“Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy began, “I was with her when she received the unhappy news about her sister.”
The other gentleman looked taken aback. His complexion colored.
Seeing this, Darcy said, “You look disturbed, sir. I know this is a family matter. One which ought to be confided in as few people as possible. I assure you that you may rely upon my discretion.”
“No–no, it is not that, sir. Indeed, I would expect nothing less of you.”
“Then, pray, what is the matter? By your–” Awkwardly aware that their conversation was much too sensitive to continue while standing in the hallway, Darcy asked, “May I come inside?”
Mr. Gardiner gasped no doubt due to his lack of etiquette. He opened the door wider and, stepping aside, silently encouraged Darcy to enter the room. “Pray, forgive my manners.”
Darcy nodded his head knowingly. Once inside, he threw a quick glance about the room, hoping to see his lady, only to find it empty instead. He cleared his throat, “As I was about to say, you seemed to have been taken aback by my confession of knowing about Miss Lydia and Mr. Wickham.”
“It is because I am–I was. I–”
“Did Miss Elizabeth not tell you about our being together when she received the letters from Hertfordshire? That I would come here to discuss what is to be done?”
Mr. Gardiner shook his head. “No. My niece did not say anything, save that the letters were diverted to Pemberley, and upon reading them, she borrowed one of your carriages and came here straight away.”
Now it was Darcy’s turn to be confused.
Why would Elizabeth not wish for her relations to know she had confided the entirety of what Miss Lydia has done to me?
He then surmised her reasons for secrecy no doubt had to do with her desire to speak with her relations in privacy.
“Sir, I pray you do not mind my knowing, and I further hope you will accept my offer of assistance to you and your family to help locate Miss Lydia.”
“I do not know quite what to say, Mr. Darcy. Such unparalleled generosity toward someone so wholly unconnected to you as we are is beyond anything I could ever hope for. As much as I believe we shall require every resource we can muster, I do not believe it would be proper to prevail on you in such a manner. Much as I respect you, indeed, both my wife and I and my niece as well, I believe I speak for all of us in saying you owe us nothing.”
“Mr. Gardiner, I beg to differ.”
The older gentleman arched his brow.
“There is another purpose for my visit here beyond my offering to be of service to you and your family–one that cannot be delayed a moment longer. May I prevail on you to ask Miss Elizabeth to join us? And your wife as well, for she will be just as interested in what I have to say.”
“I will be happy to ask my wife to join us for she is in the adjoining room overseeing the packing for our departure, but as for my niece, I am afraid that will not be possible.”
Darcy’s heart slammed against his chest. What could possibly prevent her from being able to join us?
“Is Miss Elizabeth ill? I know that she suffered the news quite poorly when we were together earlier.”
Mr. Gardiner shook his head. “No, my niece is not ill. She is not here.”
“Not here? Where is she? Where has she gone?”
“After she told us about Lydia’s elopement, she asked to be excused so that she might tend to an important errand.”
“An errand?”
“Lizzy said your carriage was waiting for her–that she meant to return to Pemberley and apologize in person for our abrupt departure after all the kindness you showed us during our time in Derbyshire. You see, sir, I had supposed she would be on her way back to the inn by now, hence my surprise in finding you at the door.”
Darcy said, “My carriage returned long ago, and Miss Elizabeth most certainly did not return with it. I do not mean to doubt you, sir, but did she really say she was returning to Pemberley?”
He nodded. “Indeed, that is precisely what she said. Are you sure there was no sign of her at your home?”
“I made a pointed effort to question the driver, and he assured me that he had delivered Miss Elizabeth to the inn safely. That was some time ago.”
Both gentlemen’s attention was soon drawn to the door of the adjoining room when it flew open.
Mrs. Gardiner said, “I thought I heard voices. Mr. Gardiner, why did you not tell me that Mr. Darcy was here?”
Darcy and Mrs. Gardiner greeted each other in the usual way under such circumstances, and she then said, “Where in heavens is my niece? I trust the two of you have come from Pemberley together.”
Mr. Gardiner said, “Our Lizzy did not go to Pemberley. Mr. Darcy has not seen or heard from her in hours, it seems.”
Mrs. Gardiner’s mouth gaped. “Oh, dear!”
Chapter 14
“My niece is not here.”
Mr. Gardiner’s words had been troubling enough to Mr. Darcy when he first heard them. Now fully aware of the reason behind Elizabeth’s absence, he panicked at the thought that the best part of his life was now gone away.
Not knowing where she had gone was a cause for great tumult in his mind.
Is Elizabeth so determined to release me from our engagement that she would put herself in harm’s way?
He asked himself the question time and again as he hurried from the Gardiners’ room in the inn with the gentleman himself in tow.
Together they would search every street, question any stranger, and do whatever was necessary to find out where Elizabeth had gone. They supposed it was entirely possible that Elizabeth had simply set out by foot for a solitary stroll, but if that were indeed the situation, then why would she lead her relations to believe otherwise?
Sitting around the inn, supposing such a premise to be true, was not an option. Darcy dispatched his driver to return to Pemberley and organize a search party to scour the woods and everywhere else between Pemberley and Lambton.
Next, he spoke with the innkeeper.
“I beg your pardon,” Darcy began.
To say the innkeeper was not immune to the fact that he had been prevailed on by one of the wealthiest estate owners in Derbyshire was an understatement. He nearly tripped over himself in abandoning his prior employment to be of service to Mr. Darcy.
“The young lady who accompanied the Gardiners, Miss Elizabeth Bennet - perchance you recall seeing her during the past hour or so?”
The rotund older man scratched his head. “I’m afraid I haven’t, sir. But I shall be happy to convey any message to the young lady upon her return.”
A disturbance in the nearby vicinity of where the two men stood immediately caught their attention. The innkeeper turned and silently scolded a young woman who had dropped a tray piled with dirty plates, half-empty cups, and used silverware.
Her expression filled with contrition laced with embarrassment, she threw a quick glance at the innkeeper before kneeling to clean up the mess she had made.
“Sally,” the innkeeper said, “You’ve attended young Miss Bennet throughout her stay at our fine establishment, haven’t you?”
She nodded.
He summoned her to his side, an order which she seemed reluctant to obey. “But, sir, I fear I must clean up this mess directly.”
He shook his head. “And you most certainly shall after I’ve asked you what I mean to ask you.”
Her head lowered, she hurried to the innkeeper’s side. “What is it, Papa?”
“Mr. Darcy here is asking about Miss Bennet’s whereabouts. You may be far more familiar with her comings and goings than I am. Would you happen to know where she has gone off to?”
Sally lowered her eyes. She bit her lower lip. She said nothing.
“Listen to me, Daughter. Mr. Darcy is a very important man–one who does not have time to countenance your silly games. If you have information about where Miss Bennet is, then tell me at once.”
“I–I promised not to utter a word of her whereabouts to anyone,” cried the young woman, her voice trembling.
“Mr. Darcy of Pemberley is not just anyone!”
“I gave my word not to say anything to Mr. Darcy, especially.”
Darcy said, “Miss, I understand that a promise is a promise and not meant to be broken, but in such a case as this, you would be wise to do so. I have reason to believe Miss Bennet might have placed herself in great jeopardy by leaving her family without telling them where she was going. Surely you would not wish to see her succumb to an unfortunate fate.”
“No, sir,” Sally replied quietly, shaking her head. “I’d never forgive myself if something bad were to happen to Miss Bennet.”
The innkeeper said, “Then you know precisely what you must do. You must tell this gentleman everything you know, so he will know how to act.”
“I watched Miss Bennet board the coach.”
“You did what?” the innkeeper demanded.
“Miss Bennet said she no longer wished to remain in Lambton–that she wished to be anywhere but here, so I went with her to the station, and we waited until the first coach was ready to leave, at which point she paid the fare and boarded it. And then I waved goodbye to her as her coach was pulling away. I stayed there until the coach was out of my sight.”
Darcy said, “Think carefully, young lady. Did you ascertain the coach’s destination?”
She nodded. “It was bound for __shire.”
Darcy turned to the innkeeper. “Pray, see that the Gardiners are informed of what has happened. Tell them that I will do everything in my power to return Miss Bennet safely.”
Hardly waiting for an acknowledgment of his instruction, Darcy was gone directly.
Chapter 15
Darcy arrived at the station in the next town some twenty miles or so from Lambton just in time to see an awaiting coach boarding the last of its passengers. There was no sign of Elizabeth, which, to him, meant one of three things. Either she had boarded already, or she had taken an earlier coach, or she was elsewhere in the local vicinity, having opted to stay there in hopes of further eluding discovery. Wanting it to be the former and unwilling to chance that it was not, he stopped the public coach just as it was beginning to pull away.
Heaven help him should the driver mistake him for a would-be robber. Fortunately for Darcy, the driver did not. He immediately drew his team of horses to a halt. “I beg your pardon, Captain?” the visibly disturbed man yelled.
“I believe you have a passenger aboard, a young woman who is traveling alone!” Darcy shouted.
The driver rubbed his chin. “I might. Who’s asking?”
“I am Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley. You, no doubt, have heard of me. The young woman of whom I speak is connected to my family. I mean to come aboard to see if she is inside.” Darcy retrieved a small satchel of coins from his pocket and threw it to the driver. “For your trouble!”
Not waiting for any sort of confirmation, Darcy opened the door, looked inside, and exhaled upon seeing Elizabeth’s face among the travelers. Even the vexation written all over her face did not diminish his joy.
He had no desire to make a scene, but he surely would if Elizabeth meant to be stubborn. “May I have a word with you, Miss Bennet?” he asked while doing his best to maintain every appearance of cordiality. How could she possibly refuse such a polite request?
When it appeared that Elizabeth intended to maintain her current attitude, Darcy extended his hand to her. “Outside,” he insisted, taking her hand in his. Reluctantly and rather begrudgingly accepting his assistance, Elizabeth stood with the only belongings she brought with her in her free hand.
“You should not have come,” Elizabeth cried with energy once they were a comfortable distance from the coach.
“I cannot let you do this.”
“Sir, I know you said that you did not want to be released from our engagement, but I feel it deep in my heart that you will one day thank me for walking away.”
“Did you really think I would let you walk or, better said, run away from me? After the time I have spent with you at Pemberley, after I have had a glimpse of what our life will be, after the words of love that were spoken between us, I could not give you up even if I wanted to.”
“My family is ruined; I just know it. There is nothing to be done to change that. I shall not, and I will not be the means of dragging your good name down too. I beg of you, sir. Let me go!”
Darcy said, “Even if you insist on throwing everything we have away, I will surely do everything in my power to affect a better outcome for your sister, for your family, and, most of all for you, than is otherwise expected.”
He drew closer. “Elizabeth, my love. Even if this situation had not unfolded as it did, trials will come, and they will go. Far better that we face this particular one, especially, together.
“I know you are scared amid all the uncertainty of what the future holds for us even without the added burden of your family’s uncertain future. I am scared too. You fear you know nothing about love. At seven and twenty, I confess to knowing nothing about love either. You are my first love, you are my woman, my life. Stay with me. Trust me. Love me.”
Shirking from his hand reaching out to her, Elizabeth shook her head. “I cannot help but feel that this is my fault. Perhaps had I not been so foolishly taken in by Wickham’s charms, maybe my youngest sister would not have been such easy prey. Maybe he would never have given her a passing glance.
“I posit the sacrifice of my own future felicity is fitting penitence for Lydia’s loss of hers.”
“No, Elizabeth,” Darcy said. “This situation is not one of your making? Why must you pay for a debt you do not owe?”
Endeavoring to maintain every appearance of composure, she replied, “I might ask you the same thing, sir?”
“Because it costs me nothing in the grand scheme of things, except you, except your love if you allow it. Nothing, except a small fortune to persuade Wickham to do the right thing, should it come to that. What is all the wealth in the world without the one person who means the most to you to share it with?”
“My offering you your freedom has nothing to do with my love for you or lack thereof. I believe I will always love you–far too much to attach the shame of my family to your own family’s good name.
“Must the shades of Pemberley be thus diluted? I fear you will end up despising me because of it, as will your family–your sister.”
“No–I will not allow you to use my family’s good name as an excuse and neither would my sister, especially my sister. You know all too well that your own sister’s fate might well have been Georgiana’s but for my fortuitous arrival in Ramsgate.”
Darcy could scarcely believe he was on the verge of losing the one woman who meant everything to him. How desperately he wanted to kiss Elizabeth’s lips - lips he had studied so ardently the day of his first proposal. To silence her protests, to comfort and reassure her, to succeed in convincing her to trust in his love for her.
“What if your efforts do not meet with success?” Elizabeth asked.
“I will do my best.”
“And if your best is not good enough? What if my sister is ruined? What of the ensuing shame for everyone connected to her?”
“Our lives will go on–yours and mine–as man and wife.”
“What if your family rejects me because of the scandal?”
“I will never allow anyone to hurt you.”
“And the ensuing harm to you in the opinion of society for having such a wife? What of that?”
“As my wife, I promise you shall have no cause to repine.”
Fully aware that the coach had not yet left the station, Mr. Darcy signaled to the driver to be on his way, and the latter promptly obeyed.
At last, there the two of them stood. Mr. Darcy reached out his hand to Elizabeth. “Are you with me?”
At length, Elizabeth accepted his hand and all that such a gesture entailed: her place in his heart with all the love he was willing to give and a resolve to trust in this man who had pledged his everything to her.
Moments later, she surrendered herself into his warm and tender embrace, and with that action came the realization that there indeed was no place else on earth she would rather be.
Epilogue
After having attempted to run away from a future with Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth had since determined she never wished to part from him again, and thus she accompanied the Gardiners and Mr. Darcy to London where they were subsequently joined by Mr. Bennet in pursuit of the youngest Bennet daughter.
As a consequence, Elizabeth was in town when the wayward couple, Lydia and Mr. Wickham, were discovered living together as though they were man and wife and in the worst part of London.
Having compromised young Lydia and received nothing he could not take from another innocent and unsuspecting young woman, Wickham had made it perfectly clear that he had no intention of marrying Lydia–that was until Mr. Darcy made him an offer he could not refuse: marriage to Lydia and a commission in the North or a lengthy stay in prison owing to massive debts which had been assumed by Darcy himself.
Mr. George Wickham was a scoundrel and a reprobate to be sure, but he was no fool. Being married to one of the silliest girls in all of England was to be his fate.
News of Elizabeth’s own engagement to Mr. Darcy had been delayed until the newlywed Mr. and Mrs. Wickham had come and gone away from Longbourn. Only Jane and Mr. Bennet had been informed: the former was overjoyed, and the latter pleased but subdued in his response, saying: “I have given Mr. Darcy my consent. He is the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare refuse anything which he condescended to ask. I now give it to you as you are resolved on having him. I could not have parted with you, my Lizzy, to anyone less worthy.”
While Mr. Bingley had indeed left Pemberley with the intention of returning to Hertfordshire to make amends to Jane for his neglect and hopefully rekindle the flames that had been left unattended for far too long, business in town called him away far sooner than he would have wished. He had only been in Hertfordshire long enough to have a long overdue family dinner with the Bennets, and while Mrs. Bennet had made her expectation for a marriage proposal perfectly clear, Jane’s feelings on the matter, he had not entirely ascertained.
