Page 14 of Losing Lizzy
“Both.”
Darcy swallowed the angry words rushing to his lips. If the man could not view how desperate Darcy was to find Elizabeth, this trail had ended. However, before he left, it was necessary for him to know what else the Matlocks had practiced against him. “What of the Countess of Matlock? What role does she play in this drama?”
“Not Lady Matlock,” Bennet corrected. “I have not had the pleasure, or should I say, displeasure, of the countess’s call upon Longbourn. No. It was that harridan to whom Collins bows and scrapes. We at Longbourn were again gifted with the less than gracious Lady Catherine de Bourgh. She assumed I required more of an enticement than her brother had delivered. Instead of six thousand pounds, her ladyship offered me seventy-five hundred. Fifteen hundred pounds more than the earl. When I refused her, with a few choice words of what I thought of bothher and her brother, she breezed out of here with her customary threats to my family and another round of insults directed at my wife’s low connections.”
Darcy had held suspicions regarding Lady Catherine’s involvement in his kidnapping, for during those years at sea, he had heard a handful of comments regarding the woman who had paid to have him removed from London. Most assuredly, none aboard the ship expected him to learn of the duplicity practiced against him. However, he knew of two times the captain ofThe Lost Sparrowhad written to London to demand additional payments to keep him imprisoned. Originally, he had thought the woman could have been Miss Bingley, but after the first year, Miss Bingley would have desired his return in hopes he would marry her. On the other hand, when Lady Catherine arrived upon his doorstep to demand he do his duty to his Cousin Anne and then had confessed at having called upon Elizabeth and demanded Elizabeth release him, they had argued in emphatic tones. He denied any contract between him and Anne and pledged his love for Elizabeth, and she had made a variety of threats that he belatedly realized likely had led to the worst years of his life.
He said in more calm than he felt, “I will deal with Lady Catherine. She will not dare to cross your path again.”
“I have threatened both of your relations with violence if they even think to darken my door again.”
“Yet, you still refuse to tell me what you know of Elizabeth.”
“My daughter wished a new life,” Bennet said simply. “I promised I would guard her wishes with my life. It is all she asked of me when I sent her out into the world alone.”
“You mean Elizabeth wanted a new life—one that did not include me?” Darcy asked.
“Elizabeth was told you were dead. She had few options.”
Darcy stood. “I will never stop searching for her. Until I hear the words from her lips denying our relationship, Elizabeth is my betrothed. Nothing has changed except the date of our wedding.”
Bennet did not rise to show Darcy out, nor did he summon a servant to do the honors. “You have erred, Darcy,” he said as he leaned back into his chair, a sad smile upon his lips, “everything has changed, and you cannot turn back time.”
Although he did not want to depart without a definite location for where to find Elizabeth, Darcy knew if both Matlock and Lady Catherine could not break Bennet, neither would Darcy.
Frustrated, he returned to his coach to depart Longbourn. “London,” he instructed Mr. Farrin.
“Aye, sir.”
Darcy climbed into the carriage and laid his head back against the squabs. “Where have you gone, Elizabeth Bennet?” The coach rolled into motion. He briefly closed his eyes and attempted to keep his memories of the woman he loved fresh, but, even so, he knew he no longer held a clear image of her. “Do not leave me, love. I do not think I can live out my days without you.”
He stared out the small window of the coach, watching the trees lining the drive speed by as Mr. Farrin set the horses to their paces while Darcy decided upon what he should do next. Lost in his thoughts, it had taken him several seconds to realize Miss Bennet stood beside the open gate to Longbourn waving her arms in the air, not in farewell, but in an attempt to draw his attention. He used his cane to rap on the coach’s roof to signal Mr. Farrin to stop.
When the coach rolled to a halt, Darcy disembarked and trotted back to where the lady waited for him.
“Thank you for stopping,” she called as he drew near.
Darcy presented the lady a brief bow. “It is pleasant to see you again, Miss Bennet.”
“And I you. I could not believe you walked through Longbourn’s door again. We all had heard you had died in some sort of attack in London. Footpads or highwaymen.” She blushed. “I suppose there are no highwaymen in the City. When I saw you today, I thought myself delusional for a moment, for Elizabeth has been much on my mind of late.”
“There are many days since we were last together, I considered death superior to the conditions under which I resided.”
The lady glanced to his waiting coach, “Would it be ungenerous of me to ask that your coachman move your carriage around the bend in the road so it cannot be seen from Longbourn’s upper storeys. I would prefer those within did not observe us conversing.”
Curious as to what Miss Bennet had to say, he presented Farrin the necessary orders, and then he offered the lady his arm. Nodding toward a nearby wooded path, he said, “Perhaps you would honor me with a walk together.”
She tentatively placed her hand on his arm, and they stepped off the main road to the manor house. “You have come looking for Elizabeth,” she said softly.
“I have, but your father claims no knowledge of Miss Elizabeth’s directions,” he explained.
“I am not surprised,” she admitted. “Mr. Bennet has shared nothing with the family as to what has become of my sister. Whatever Elizabeth did not take with her has been given away to charity. The idea was to ‘disown’ her—banish Lizzy—in order to save the rest of us, but the plan was an act in futility. The neighborhood is too small for others not to consider my sister tainted and us equally so by connection.”
Darcy heard the sadness in her words. “I am grieved my shortsightedness brought ruin to your door.”
Miss Bennet blushed thoroughly. “I did not mean to place blame upon your shoulders, Mr. Darcy. I always believed something beyond reason kept you from Elizabeth’s side.”
He admitted, “I was attacked upon London’s docks and pressed into service upon a ship sailing under multiple flags.”
