Page 17 of The Widower of Pemberley

G Darcy

After Elizabeth said that she had been invited to Netherfield for the day, Mrs. Bennet seized the letter from Elizabeth and scanned it quickly. “Dining with the officers! No, you would not see the gentlemen. We must find a way to keep you there until they return. Here is your chance to steal Mr. Bingley from Miss Darcy.”

“That would hardly be a kindness to her.”

“Nonsense,” her mother said. “As an heiress, she must have dozens of wealthy gentlemen wishing to marry her.”

“And that means,” Mr. Bennet said with his eyes twinkling, “you can have no guilt at imposing any heartbreak upon her in this case. Well, Lizzy, are you equal to it?”

“I am afraid, sir, that Mr. Bingley is not to my taste.”

Jane exclaimed, putting down her fork sharply in a way that suggested she had forgotten the exact height of the table. “Oh, but he speaks so kindly! He has a most pleasant voice. And there is nothing bland about him, not like you said. I am surprised that you do not like him more. Every time I have met him, he has improved in my opinion.”

“My dear Jane,” Elizabeth replied, smiling, “I giveyouleave to like him, and his pleasant voice, as much as you wish. You have liked many a stupider person. I do notdislikehim at all. But I do not mean to catch him—whether it would cause heartbreak for Miss Darcy or not.”

Jane had an odd look on her face.

Their father laughed. “My dear, on such occasions I am obliged to say—the lady doth protest too much.”

Elizabeth resisted the impulse to toss a bread roll at her father.

“Lizzy, your duty is to get Mr. Bingley if you might,” her mother interjected. “I insist upon it. You will go on horseback. Then if it rains, you cannot come home until the gentlemen return with the carriage.”

“On horseback!” Elizabeth exclaimed. She looked out of the window. “It looks like rain. I would not like to walk in that.”

“Walk! You would not be fit to be seen by anyone,” Mrs. Bennet cried, aghast. “After three miles in the mud?”

Elizabeth sighed. “I dare say you are right. Papa, might I have the carriage?”

Mrs. Bennet replied for her husband. “The horses are needed on the farm today, are they not?”

The reply was a raising of eyebrows from her husband. He then said, “Lizzy, if you particularly prefer the carriage, you might have it.”

“No. No. I shall not be moved upon this matter,” Mrs. Bennet said. “Lizzy will go on horseback. It will do her good to practise with the animal. It is ridiculous how she lets her nonsensical anxiety about riding keep her from an exercise that is as healthful as it is respectable. Particularly when she insists that she is brave enough to face anything.”

“I do not noticeyougoing to many places on horseback,” Mr. Bennet replied.

“Oh, very well!” Elizabeth exclaimed with some annoyance. “Enough, Mama. I am not so afraid that I cannot ride a horse if necessary. I shall take Nelly.”

Her mother smiled quite benignly, and Elizabeth had a sense that she had been rather played for the fool. But itwasbetter for the farm if it could keep the carriage horses for the day.

Once settled into the saddle, Elizabeth hurried Nelly along at a pace faster than she was comfortable with, hoping to reach Netherfield before the rain began, and she suspected that part of why she had let her mother convince her to take the horse was that shedidhope to see Mr. Darcy in his domestic circle before she came home.

Elizabeth was decidedly curious and even a little nervous to meet Mr. Darcy’s child, despite little Miss Emily Darcy only being three years of age.

To distract herself, Elizabeth tried to settle in her mind as to whether there was any connection between Mr. Bingley and Georgiana.

Her best guess, from how Georgiana spoke about Mr. Bingley, was that her friend was aware of him as a man that she might one day marry, and she did not find the prospect repellent, but she also had no affection for him at present.

However, Georgiana was a shy girl. She was likely to hide her deepest feelings out of a sense that she could not let them be seen. Elizabeth had no confidence upon the matter.

Only half a mile from Netherfield, the heavens opened in a great gush, as though God were dumping a decanter of water on England. Hoping to avoid a complete soaking, Elizabeth urged Nelly into a fast canter, but they managed only another hundred yards before thunder and lightning cracked loudly directly above her. The lightning struck the top of a glorious old oak just inside Netherfield’s park.

From the first, Nelly, the calmer of the two riding horses shared by the women of the family, had not been happy to have Elizabeth on her back.

This wise horse had long ago learned that Elizabeth was not much of a horsewoman and that she too sharply pulled on the reins when she wished to slow, held them incorrectly at all times, and rode in an awkward and stiff manner.

The thunder and lightning coming from almost directly on top of them startled the horse, and when she bolted, Elizabeth lost her grip and fell, hitting the ground with a painful jolt.