Pride And Prejudice, The Sequel

Chapter 8

After Georgiana and Ella had left, Elizabeth instructed Mrs Tompkins to wake her up in case any of the servants they had sent out came back and then went to bed. She was feeling sick and uncoordinated and her legs felt a lot like rubber. She covered herself with the blankets, because it was getting very cold and slowly drifted off to sleep.

When she woke up next, Mrs Tompkins was gently shaking her, "Mrs Darcy, wake up, a servant has arrived from London. "

Elizabeth immediately went down to receive the man. He did not have much to report, except that Miss de Bourgh had been spotted with a tall handsome young man in London. Whether they went to Scotland or any other place or simply remained in London, no one knew for sure. But they had looked at all the boarding houses in London and they were nowhere to be found. They must have left London by carriage, no one saw them book a train.

Elizabeth was still pondering over the report when the servant she had sent after the Rosings party arrived, "Her ladyship could not be persuaded to turn back, but she sent her curate, Mr Collins to come back with me to Pemberly and make sure the affair is handled accordingly," the servant said,  bowing deeply to Elizabeth in an apologetic manner.

"Tell Mr Collins I shall receive him when I am less likely to be irritated by his long speeches, in the meantime he should talk to Miss Jenkins, she is well acquainted with the matter than I am," Elizabeth said politely.

The servant bowed again with a smile, "As you say Mrs Darcy. "

"Thank you Clay, you may go,"Elizabeth dismissed the servant.

A few minutes later, Elizabeth heard the sound of a carriage drawing nearby and hurried outside. She hoped to see him,he had only been gone a day and a half, but so much had happened in the time he had gone to make Elizabeth miss him a great deal. She knew he was going to handle the matter better than she, and he will comfort her and lessen her worries and send Mr Collins on his merry way.

She was disappointed when she saw that it was only Georgiana, accompanied by Jane and the children. She was glad to see Ella getting along with her two cousins, Elizabeth sent them to Ella's room to play, instructing a maid to watch over them. She took Jane and Georgiana up her room, where Mr Collins could not impose his unwanted presence on them and gave them the full report of the servants.

"Oh what shall I do now? How I wish that he was here himself, to take care of the matter. Has Mr Bingley not come back Jane? "Elizabeth asked in anguish.

Had she not been looking at Georgiana, Elizabeth would not have known they were hiding something from her. She saw Georgina's eye twitch, and she immediately knew the girl was about to lie, not that she would have convinced anyone if she had tried anyway. Whenever Georgiana tried lying, her voice would shake and she would stammer and look down so much that everyone would know she was not speaking the truth, Jane was no better.

"Say not the lie you intend to say Georgiana. Jane answer me truthfully, has Mr Bingley come back?" Elizabeth questioned.

"No Lizzy,  he hasn't,"Jane said hastily.

Elizabeth nodded in understanding, "But he has written, hasn't he? "

"Er, yes,  a little bit," Jane replied looking away from Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was too excited to care, "Tell me what he says!  Has he found Mr Darcy? Is he coming home? "

"Er, no. "

"What does he say then? What had he found out?"Elizabeth asked.

"My dear Lizzy, do not trouble yourself with false rumours that may reach your ears, sometimes... " Jane began to say but Elizabeth cut her off.

"Rumours? What rumours? Give me the letter Mr Bingley has written, I want to read it myself."

"Lizzy no... "

"Give me the letter Jane,"Elizabeth said firmly.

Jane and Georgiana looked at each other, one nodded and one shook her head. Elizabeth fixed them with an unwavering stare, her eyes demanding until they finally relented. Jane handed her the letter, which she had been hiding in her bonnet.  Elizabeth opened the letter and read:

My dearest Jane,
I take up my pen with a heavy heart to deliver to you news of the most distressing nature that I could scarcely believe myself. Mr Woodland and I guided by Elizabeth's instructions, went to Mrs Younge, a former governess of Miss Darcy's to try and find Darcy. Mr Woodland spoke to her, for he is well conversant with the matters of law and the art of extracting information, she assured him that Mr Darcy had visited her yesterday, on issues concerning a certain letter and she had handed it to him after he threatened her in his own way.
According to Mrs Younge, Darcy had left her when it was nearing dark and she had asked him not to go back to Derbyshire at such a late hour but he had not listened.
Mr Woodland swears he heard a carriage arrive at Pemberly late at night, and he tell me that the guards have indeed confirmed that it was Mr Darcy's. Mr Woodland has good connections in London, and each one of them swears to have seen Miss de Bourgh with a tall handsome man of about thirty or more, driving in a silver carriage, heading north,  away from London.
Mr Woodland suspects that Darcy has eloped with Miss de Bourgh, but I tell him it is not so,  how could he do a thing like that when he loves Elizabeth so? Even if he did not have any regard for her, how could such a man full of pride tarnish his honour?
Mr Woodland would come back tomorrow to take away his bride, I shall continue to search for Darcy and relay any information I may get to you immediately.
Pray do not make the contents of this letter known to Elizabeth and give her comfort as she goes through this difficult time.
Love,
Charles Bingley.

Elizabeth reread the letter three times to try and understand the contents without any success. Her mind refused to believe whatever the letter was trying to prove as true,and her head was almost bursting with all the words echoing in her brain.

Finally she gave in and let the darkness overwhelm her, consume her and become one with her.

"Mrs Darcy? Mrs Darcy? Can you hear me? "

Elizabeth opened her eyes and blinked in confusion, she was in her room, and Mr Richardson, the Pemberly doctor was bending down at her, calling her name. She felt thirsty and disturbed, as if reading her thoughts, the doctor placed a glass of water at her lips and Mrs Tompkins moved to support her back so she could drink.

"Are you feeling alright Mrs Darcy?" Mr Richardson asked.

Elizabeth nodded her head, "Yes. What happened?"

"You fainted, Georgiana send for me. "

It only took one second to remember the reason she had fainted, Mr Bingley's letter to Jane. He had dishonored his vows to her and to himself, he had tarnished the Darcy name forever and had lied to her, promising her that he would love her forever. She did not want to speak to anyone about it, not even Georgiana who tried to convince her throughout the night that the contents of the letter were not true.

Next morning, she was up early enough to see Georgiana and her husband to the carriage. She kept a calm outward demeanor and treated everyone with her usual cheerfulness. She embraced Georgiana for a long time and whispered in her ear, "Pray tell my aunt Gardiner to send Marianne  to me, I very much wish to see her." Marianne was the Gardiners' first born,  a girl of thirteen who spend a lot of time with Jane and Elizabeth in Derbyshire.

"I will Lizzy, do not distress yourself over the contents of Bingley's letter. He only drew conclusions based on the evidence of a crazy lawyer. You who knows my brother best knows that he would do no such thing, "Georgiana pleaded.

Elizabeth smiled sadly, "I try to console myself in the hope that I knew how much he valued honour, but where is he Georgiana? Why has he not come back to me?"

"He will, you are way above Anne  in all ways, I do not believe that a man who has you will ever leave you for Anne."

"Thank you Georgiana. I wish you all the happiness in your new home," Elizabeth said, she embraced the girl one more time, then made a small curtsy to Edward and watched them go, waving at them until their carriage disappeared.