Page 40 of Till Death Us Do Part
Taken aback, he gave roughly the same number of bows, calling each of the sisters ‘Miss Bennet’ for lack of any better way to distinguish them. Mrs Bennet looked ready to burst, so he simply bowed to her and then turned quickly to her husband and offered his hand.
Mr Bennet said, “Be kind to her, sir. She will make you an excellent wife if you give her a chance. Pray give this to her. She will understand its meaning.”
With that, he handed Mr Darcy a small purse, bowed, and started gathering up his flock to head for their own breakfast, sans the happy couple.
Perplexed, Darcy went to join his—
He was walking towards the carriage where the lady was standing patiently waiting, when it finally sunk in for good. Hewas going to joinhis wife. She was his wife and would be for the rest of his life.
When he reached her, he said, “Mrs Darcy,” then offered to hand her into the carriage with a bow.
She nodded, took his hand even though he suspected she could have gotten herself into the carriage in half the time with a quarter of the effort without him, and was only being polite.
Once inside, she sat on the far side of the forward-facing seat, but then stared straight ahead in a way that thoroughly perplexed him. He expected teary goodbyes, waving handkerchiefs,something, but she just sat there waiting for him to decide where he wanted to sit. She had positioned herself off-centre in the seat enough that he could choose to sit beside her or sit in the opposite side without awkwardness. He had to admit that it was clever of her, or perhaps it was just politeness. She seemed almost as lost as he felt.
He thought that if they had gone to all this trouble to restore their reputations, the least he could do is try to keep up appearances, so he sat beside her, but not so close as to cause her discomfort, and called out to drive on.
17.The Wheel Turns
Both bride and groom felt all the awkwardness of their situation, but neither had the slightest idea how to resolve it. The obvious solution of simply starting a conversationmighthave been a good strategy; but between hubris, shyness, awkwardness, and stubbornness, neither was quite willing to bend enough to go first; nor did either have the slightest idea how to begin even if their courage rose to the occasion.
The first half-hour was spent with both of them looking out the window, at the other side of the coach, at their shoes, at their gloves, or anything other than the person sitting beside them.
Elizabeth did not even bother removing the bonnet she had been married in, somehow feeling that such a thing was too intimate for the present state of their relationship. The fact that it both blocked her view of the man sitting beside her, and vice-versa was not necessarily bad. She supposed she was obliged to adopt a mobcap, and her Aunt Gardiner had placed a nice one in her trousseau, but she was not about to change in front of a man or without a mirror.
Darcy did not even remove his hat or gloves for much the same reason, though neither would have much impact on his visibility of his new life partner unless she decided to ride with the coachman.
Elizabeth tried to think of something innocuous to say, but there seemed an embargo on every subject. She thought the coach was much nicer than those she was accustomed to, being smoother, quieter, and much better appointed. She almost smiled at the improvement in her situation, while reflecting that simply beinginsideof a coach when she arrived in Lambton would be an improvement. She was, however, afraid that saying anything at all positive about the coach or her potential new home would sound more like gloating than anything else.She thought complimenting the coach she had only recently acquired part of through unorthodox means would make her sound little better than Caroline Bingley.
A half-hour into the trip, she finally had some blessed distraction when she heard a familiar sound. She quickly slid across the seat and forward, which also had the coincidental benefit of moving her farther from her—
She almost gasped when the thought suddenly struck. She was moving away from herhusband, of the‘till death us do part’variety. It was an idea that made her pause a second in reflection, but it was too enormous a concept to really contemplate, so her mind shied away from the implications. Another sound shook her out of her stupor, so she continued her quest.
Mrs Darcy looked out the window to hear the familiar bark, coming from what was best described as a mutt. Her old comrade looked more like some sort of sheepdog than anything else, though, as to looks, that was being generous. He could have been just about any breed of dog, or some sort of odd mix. The bark reminded her so much of when she had last heard him, well after midnight, on her brief taste of freedom, in what seemed to be years ago but was really only a few weeks.
The dog chased after them until he reached the corner, then stopped running and barking, while looking carefully at them, as if to ensure they left the area post haste. Elizabeth thought that all she needed was an inebriated man to make the parallel experience complete; but then reflected that, with what she knew about nuptial celebrations, that was not out of the realm of possibility. A drunken groom was not unheard of, or even unusual, particularly in cases such as hers where the groom was neither attracted to her nor sanguine with the match.
She wondered exactly how much drink would be necessary to make herhandsome enough to tempt himbut quelled thethought. Neither her mother’s horrific sounding instructions for marital duties, nor her aunt’s much more hopeful ones, seemed useful.
Once she passed out of view of the dog, she slid back in the seat, but taking advantage of the movement, settled a little farther from her travelling companion. She considered it a practical move, and not the least bit petulant.
She startled when Mr Darcy looked at her curiously, and asked, “Do you know that farm?”
Elizabeth frowned slightly, but she was still mostly facing the window, so he could not see her expression. She had not been quiteprepared for conversation, but apparently this was to be the opening. She sat back in the seat, but farther away from the gentleman.
“I know the dog,” she said, and thought about adding some more clarifying details, or just more polite conversation; but she really had no idea what to say.‘I heard it when I was running away to avoid this exact situation,’seemed counterproductive.
Darcy looked a bit perplexed. “That seems… unusual. We are some miles from Meryton.”
Elizabeth just sighed, finally looked at him. “Perhaps, but that is as things are. I take it we are to Pemberley?”
Darcy thought it curious that she had studied his estate enough to know the best route to get there, but not overly so. Anyone aspiring to be mistress of an estate was bound to learn as much as they could, and it was not exactly secret that one of his houses was north of their present location and the other was south. It was also not a stunning bit of logic to presume that they werenoton the London Road, so therefore not likely to be going to Darcy House.
With a sigh, he gritted his teeth in preparation. “You are!”
Elizabeth startled a bit, trying to work out what exactly he meant, and finally gave up. “Would you care to explain?”
With a sigh, Darcy began, “I planned to discuss this when we stopped in Hatfield, but I suppose now is as good a time as any. I must go away for some months on a mission of crucial business. You will go to Pemberley and await my return.”
