Page 59 of Till Death Us Do Part: Book 2
Mary asked incredulously, “How can you possiblynot know?”
Darcy sighed and said, “Mrs Darcy and I did not—” then he paused, wondering just how bone-crushingly stupid he was being with his admission, but he knew he would have to give something to get something.
He looked around and reiterated, “Private conversation,”wondering what exact form of madness had overtaken him, that finding some clue to his wife’s location was more important than his pride, his embarrassment, good manners, good breeding, his reputation, or even common sense.
He finally continued, “We did not get along, and I know she did not want to marry me. Beyond that, I can guess what you mean but not with certainty.”
Jane sighed, searched for a volunteer, came up short, and decided it was her duty.
“You are correct. Lizzy did not want to marry you. Shereallydid not want to marry you. Shereally-reallydid not want to marry you. Our father forced her.”
She ended by staring at the ground, unable to look at him, while Darcy’s heart sank, and his stomach wished he had dispensed with breakfast in Hatfield.
Kitty took up the narrative. “She tried torun, Mr Darcy,” then she seemed to stand up straighter, perhaps to give herself courage, and added, “twice!”
Darcy started at the news and could not seem to answer with anything other than a mumble, as he swayed on his feet. He felt Longman’s hand on his shoulder steadying him, and he wondered that the Bennet sisters did not seem to mind thegroom’s presence. Longman had a way about him that made people just trust him, so either the Bennets did not worry about him, they trusted Darcy’s judgement, or they simply did not think about it.
Mary said, “The first time she took just a valise, the money she had saved, twenty-five or thirty pounds—and justleft.She walked to Hatfield in the middle of the night and started taking coaches towards Manchester. She thought to hide out there, and she probably would have got away with it, but by luck a thief-taker caught her in Lambton and brought her back.”
Darcy suspected as much from the description he had received in the bookshop from Bartlet, but to know shewalkedto Hatfield, in the middle of the night, just astounded him. He had to sheepishly admit to being impressed.
A memory returned from his ride after the wedding. Elizabeth looked to the side of the road when a dog barked, and Darcy had asked if she knew the farm. She replied,‘I know the dog’,which made no sense at the time, but made all the sense in the world in retrospect. Had she been chased by that dog in the middle of the night, in the dark? Might her flight have ended early with toothmarks on her leg? What had it taken to hear that—to know that was only the first of the many dogs, literal and figurative, that she might have to face alone—andstillprefer that to becoming Mrs Darcy?
He found himself swaying, but Longman was no more enamoured with gentlemen fainting than ladies, so a solid squeeze on the shoulder reminded Darcy to get hold of himself.
“That explains quite a lot, Miss Katherine. I learned recently that she had been to Lambton, but not the scope of the thing. Did she bring a maid back with her? I know she became close to one named Molly Hatcher and took her along wherever she went.”
Jane replied, “We were not here when they returned.” Then she faltered, but finally added, “Father started locking her into her room at night and roping the door shut for good measure.”
Lydia hopefully added, “He did not want her to pick the lock and escape.”
“Was picking a lock something she could do?” Darcy asked in surprise.
“Of course! We all can! Can’t everybody?” Lydia laughed.
Darcy just shook his head, wondering how much of a secret life women had. For his own part, if his escape from a prison depended on his picking a lock, he would starve to death before he worked it out.
Lydia continued, “Maybe all women do not know, but all sisters of Elizabeth Bennet do. She taught us. She was reading gothic novels day and night at the time and was convinced at least one of us would get locked up in a dreary tower someday.”
He wondered if she thought her prophecy had come true at Pemberley but did not dwell overly long on the thought.
“You say your father—roped her in?That seems—” and he tried to think of a polite word.
Mary helpfully said, “Will ‘extreme’ or ‘excessive’ do?”
“Yes, I think it might.”
Lydia laughed. “Not extreme enough!”
“What do you mean?”
“She took an old file she found in the garden and one of Father’s old large books that she hated, and knocked out the—” then she looked around at her sisters, and asked, “you know—the things in the other side of the door.”
Darcy guessed. “Hinge pins?”
“Yes, that was it. Father roped one side of the door closed, so Lizzy opened the other. Then she took a bag of apples and onions and walked to London. She thought she could convince your uncle, Lord Matlock, to save her from her fate.”
A memory of a conversation with his uncle and Bingley just before the wedding came back to him as if he had experienced it the day before, and he asked, “Did she take your father’s coat?”
