Page 3 of One Night with Mr. Darcy
Elizabeth must make sure to marry. This marriage, to Mr. Collins, it would mean that after the death of her father (though she hated to think of such a thing), Longbourn would be hers and her husband’s. Jane (as long as she was still alive) would be there, and Elizabeth would be able to care for her sister.
A marriage to Mr. Darcy?
Well, Elizabeth had fantasized about bringing Jane along to Derbyshire, about convincing her new husband that they should take a holiday to the sea to help improve her sister’s health, which Mr. Darcy would well be able to afford.
None of that was to be.
Shemustmarry Mr. Collins.
At that point, she wasn’t even thinking about the possibility of being with child, just of duty and Jane and how much of a mess of everything she had made.
“I am wretched, sir,” she said. “I don’t know what came over me. It’s as my mother said, that I do not know my own interest.”
“That you are foolish and headstrong?” said Mr. Collins in a low voice.
“Aye, perhaps. I have my faults, sir, but all have faults, do we not? We are all sinners in the eyes of the Lord and we all suffer from defects of—”
“Miss Lucas, she seems neither headstrong nor foolish,” said Mr. Collins, doleful, looking back over his shoulder at Lucas Lodge.
“No,” said Elizabeth, hanging her head, for it was likely true that Charlotte would make Mr. Collins a better wife than she. Charlotte was seven and twenty and so eager to leave her parents’ household as to excuse all manner of things in a husband, even one as odious as Mr. Collins. Charlotte would likely be quite docile and agreeable. Elizabeth, well, she was unsure she couldbearbeing married to Mr. Collins.
Mr. Collins closed the distance between them and took one of her hands in his. He patted the top of it. “Now, now, then, my dear Miss Elizabeth. You needn’t sound that way. I am a gentleman, and a gentleman does not back out of a marriage commitment, my dear. There is no need for concern on your part.”
Elizabeth drew in a sharp, relieved breath. She hadrefusedhim. Hewasfree. “Y-you’re too good to me, Mr. Collins.”
“Mmm,” said Mr. Collins, still patting her hand. “Well, I must say that your mention of our sinful, worser natures has moved the better part of myself. I struggle sometimes with pride, I suppose, and I think it will humble me muchly to have a wife such as you, who challenges me at every turn.”
Humble him to have her as a wife? Elizabeth gritted her teeth.
“I think, however, this is a path given to me by the Lord himself, and it will sharpen me to a point, like a whetstone, and make me into holy weapon for his service.”
Elizabeth thought his metaphors were becoming a bit muddled there, but she nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Yes, my wife-to-be,” said Mr. Collins. “This is my destiny, I think.”
They gazed at each other.
“But perhaps there is no rush in it?”
“No!” she said, letting out a laugh. “No, no rush indeed.”
“A long engagement, then, wherein we take our time getting to know one another.”
“That sounds perfect,” she said.
Quite perfect.
Yes.
Until she found herself with child with no set wedding date.
CHAPTER TWO
ELIZABETH’S FIRST LETTERSto Mr. Collins came back unanswered.
Her next ones grew more and more desperate.I find I am exceedingly eager to begin our lives together, actually. I do not know what led me to wish for any delay.
Finally, a letter came back, and Mr. Collins detailed within that he was ill. He had taken ill after his visit to Hertfordshire. His symptoms sounded rather frighteningly similar to Jane’s.
