Elizabeth sat in the shadowy room at Rosings and stared at the window before her. If she were able to ease her way to the window while the maid dozed by the door, and lift it quietly, she might find a way down into the garden below. Evening had come and the darkness would shield her as she made her way through the woods and away from Kent.
She hoped her letter had found Jane, and she believed it might have done if Cook had been faithful. Elizabeth’s heart fell as she had little reason, aside from the woman’s kindness, to think it possible.
The maid had sat with her since her arrival at Rosings to prevent any attempts at escape. Lady Catherine de Bourgh was her cousin’s patroness, and the mistress of this great estate. She had become quite angry when Elizabeth pulled free of her cousin’s grasp and ran from the entry the night of their first meeting.
“Collins, what sort of young lady have you brought before me? I have never encountered such behavior. I am not at all certain you have chosen wisely. She could not have had a governess with such poor comportment.”
Mr. Collins glanced over his shoulder at the great lady and bowed quickly. He turned away as Elizabeth screamed at the footman and driver. The men had easily caught her before she might set foot upon the road.
“Your ladyship, of course you are quite right about my cousin. She must learn her place in the few weeks before we are to wed. I hoped you might be of some assistance as your daughter is a perfect example of a proper young lady. My cousin would do well to emulate Miss Anne de Bourgh.”
Lady Catherine eyed Elizabeth Bennet as the driver and footman led her back inside. “Young lady, you do a great disservice to your parents with such an outlandish display. You will be confined upstairs until you come to understand your situation.”
Lady Catherine called for a maid and sent her along with the footman to see their strange visitor to the room that would become her prison.
Balling her fists at the memory, Elizabeth glanced again to the maid by the door and crept silently to the window. She felt for the chains on either side of the sash and pulled gently, hoping the noise would not awaken the maid.
A breeze pushed against her skirts as the sash rose and Elizabeth felt a thrill in her heart. Freedom was moments away and she must hurry. She ducked her head and gathered her skirts before stepping over the sill.
The door to her room swung open and she froze in place, tears flooding her vision as the maid leapt from her chair and advanced across the room. Elizabeth scurried to pull her other leg over the sill but the maid caught hold of her skirts and pulled her roughly inside. She tumbled to the floor in a heap and the maid closed the window, muttering under her breath.
Anne de Bourgh hurried to Elizabeth and knelt on the floor beside her. She sent the maid from the room with a cross word and demanded she close the door. She turned her attention to the sobbing young woman beside her and spoke as she fished for a handkerchief in the pocket of her skirt. “My dear, what is your name and why would you risk falling from the window in the dark of night?”
Elizabeth took the handkerchief the young woman offered and turned her face away as she dried her eyes. “I am Elizabeth Bennet and I must leave this house. My cousin, William Collins, has taken me from my home and intends to marry me against my will.”
Anne gasped at this revelation and shook her head. “How have you come to be in this room under the watchful eye of that maid?”
Elizabeth stared at the young woman who was clearly not a servant. She must be related to the awful Lady Catherine de Bourgh. “Mr. Collins brought me here several nights ago, and the mistress of this house had me locked away here after I tried to escape upon making her acquaintance.”
Anne de Bourgh rose from her seat upon the floor and paced about the room. Her mother was cold and cruel, that was no secret, but to imprison a young woman at Rosings was beyond the pale. “Mr. Collins is my mother’s parson and he spoke of you during tea several weeks ago. He gave the impression of a man happily engaged and so my mother must have been quite shocked at your behavior.”
Elizabeth stood and dusted her skirts, her eyes returning to the window. An idea formed in her head and she approached the daughter of her captor. “You must help me escape. Surely you see I should not be here, not in this manner.”
Anne took Elizabeth’s hands and spoke softly. “The maid will have alerted my mother by now. I must go, but you cannot leave through that window. The fall might leave you injured, or worse, dead, and all will be for naught.”
Elizabeth pulled her hands free of the kind young woman’s grasp and hurried to the window. “I would rather be dead than married to such a horrible man. No one knows of his cruelty and meanness.”
The door burst open a second time and Lady Catherine rushed in with Mr. Collins on her heels. “See here, Collins, take her away from my home! I will not have her influencing my daughter with her horrid lies.”
Mr. Collins took hold of Elizabeth and hauled her toward the door, his eyes gone to slits in his angry, red face.
Anne de Bourgh beseeched her mother at the sight of Elizabeth being handled so roughly. “Mother, please. Let her stay with me. It would not do for her to be seen at the parson’s cottage before they are married. You must think of appearances.”
Lady Catherine eyed her daughter and halted her parson as he dragged Elizabeth into the hall. “I would rather we were done with her, but in a week’s time she will become Mrs. Collins. Miss Bennet, you will stay in my daughter’s sitting room and seek to behave as she instructs. Further attempts to disrupt my home will be met with measures you shall not find enjoyable.”
She turned to the maid and instructed her on the procurement of laudanum to be used upon their wayward guest should she be caught with even a foot outside Anne de Bourgh’s sitting room.
Elizabeth found her new prison to be well appointed with books and ample sunlight from the long windows set across the sitting room. The view from those windows pierced her heart and she ached for the freedom to flee across the grounds.
Mr. Collins weighed on her mind, but she was not made to endure his presence in the sitting room of Miss Anne de Bourgh. The maid was also absent, for the young mistress would not agree to her company and so she was left to her post outside the door.
Elizabeth was grateful for these small mercies and yet her mind wandered endlessly to avenues of escape. The days were passing swiftly and there was little time before her cousin would become her husband.
She glanced to Anne and admired the young woman’s dress, it was of the best material and the embroidery was of the finest hand. Elizabeth wondered at her generous spirit, so unlike her mother.
Anne glanced up and smiled at her new friend and placed her book upon the table. “I wonder, and you must not answer if you do not wish, whether there is another your heart is taken with Miss Elizabeth?”
Elizabeth’s brow furrowed and she sensed a keener mind than she had just the evening before when first they met. “There is a man whose presence delights my heart, a mutual feeling I believe, but he is unaware of my situation. Had my cousin chosen one of my sisters as his wife, I might have remained in Derbyshire. His mother and I were at the beginning of a wonderful acquaintance before they left for London.”
Anne rose, her mind busy with the answer her guest had given. She sat beside Elizabeth and considered her words. The door to the sitting room opened and the maid entered with their luncheon and sat it upon a small round table by the large windows and turned to address her young mistress. “Your mother is displeased with your insistence upon dining with Miss Bennet. She demands your presence at dinner this evening.”
Anne nodded to the maid in acknowledgment of her words and waved her away. “My mother scarcely speaks to me at dinner.”
She took Elizabeth’s hand and the two advanced to the table and sat, one gazing out the window and the other full of questions about the man from Derbyshire. “Let us share this meal, Miss Elizabeth, and speak of this man you have come to admire.”
Elizabeth turned her gaze from the window and smiled at the young woman before her. Once more she was struck by her graceful presence and accommodating manner. Where had she learned such hospitality and openness with a mother such as Lady Catherine? It must have been her governess or companion but still, would not the Mistress of Rosings demanded her daughter be as sharp-tongued as herself?
“I first met him in Hertfordshire a year ago when he came with his friend, the man who let Netherfield Park and later married my sister. He appeared to be a reserved man, uneasy amongst all save his friends. Our acquaintance was brief for he was called to Derbyshire for a most tragic reason.”
Anne dropped her fork and struggled to swallow her last bite. She sipped from her glass and regained her composure before speaking. “I cannot help but think of my aunt in Derbyshire as you speak, Miss Elizabeth. She suffered a great loss about the same time you say this man left Hertfordshire. Lady Anne Darcy and her son Fitzwilliam Darcy were devastated at the loss of my dear cousin, Georgiana Darcy.”
Here Anne stopped and placed her napkin over her mouth, sobs wracking her thin frame. Elizabeth rose from her seat and hurried to kneel beside the grieving young woman. “I am quite sorry to have brought the memory of her death into this room and into the heart of one so kind.”
Anne dried her tears and shook her head. “You could not have known of our connection, Miss Elizabeth. Lady Anne is so unlike my mother you would not think them sisters. Georgiana, rest her soul, was as close to me as if we were sisters. The last time I saw Georgie was at Easter last. I would have gone to Pemberley did I know how little time she would remain upon this earth.”
Elizabeth embraced the only friend left to her and fought the tears that gathered in her own eyes. She recalled her words of dying spoken so easily to this young woman in her self-pity only yesterday. She knew then, as now, that life was precious no matter the troubles one might face.
Anne dried her eyes and patted Elizabeth’s hand. “We must send word to my cousin and his mother at once, for they will have to come from Pemberley.”
Elizabeth stood and returned to her seat. “The Darcys left for London before my sister and I left Derbyshire. Lady Anne assured me they would come to Netherfield before returning to Pemberley. Mr. Darcy did inquire as to any promise I may have with another. Do you believe he would have spoken so without reason?”
Anne’s happy laughter lifted Elizabeth’s spirits further and hope blossomed in her heart at the joy in the young woman’s face. “My dear, it can only be that Fitzwilliam has feelings for you. He is not a man of idle chatter and false adoration. My mother seems unaware of a terrible trouble that shall surely come to Rosings on your account. You must not worry, for you shall never be the wife of my mother’s parson.”