Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam became frequent visitors at Hunsford in the days that followed and Charlotte mentioned to Elizabeth, when they were alone, that Mr. Darcy would not have come so often except for Elizabeth’s presence.
“Charlotte, do be sensible. You know as well as I he is promised to Miss de Bourgh. They are a perfect match.”
Her friend gave a most unbecoming snort at this and rolled her eyes. “Eliza, if you were honest, you would admit that Miss Anne does not fawn over him nor seek his particular attention. He pays very little in return, nothing more than you might expect between cousins. It is only Lady Catherine’s mislaid hope. They shall never be wed. I have told you so before.”
“How might you be so certain of such things, Charlotte? Even if they never wed it does not follow that Mr. Darcy loves me. You do recall his insult at the Assembly.”
Placing aside her embroidery, Charlotte sighed. “Mr. Darcy does not visit our cottage every other day for spiritual guidance, Eliza. I have seen the way he watches you in conversation with the colonel. He seems almost ready to throttle the man and sweep you off your feet. The tension in this parlor is unbearable when the three of you are present.”
To this, Elizabeth had no answer as she had noted the same. It must be obvious to all and the idea worried her. “Do you think Mr. Collins sees it too? Or the de Bourghs when we dine there? I would not like to be the cause of discord.”
Charlotte took her friend’s hand. “Perhaps Miss Anne knows for she is only frail of body and not of mind. Lady Catherine could never think either of her nephews would make a match with you. I do not think she would believe it even if Mr. Darcy proposed. As for my husband, he has his eye ever on his patroness. There is no need for worry where he is concerned.”
Elizabeth remained in the parlor as Charlotte went upstairs to rest before they were to have tea at Rosings Park that evening. Unable to remain trapped indoors with her thoughts, brought on by Charlotte’s talk of Mr. Darcy’s feelings, Elizabeth left the cottage. She longed to walk alone and sort her thoughts.
Mr. Darcy had walked with her upon three occasions in past days and she hoped not to see him this day. He had very little to say during those rambles across the park and she could not think of entertaining his brooding company.
Making her way farther across the park away from the grove, Elizabeth breathed deeply of the fresh spring air. The stillness of the woods to her right assured her the rough path she had found the day before would remain abandoned.
As she walked along, Elizabeth examined each meeting with Mr. Darcy. The colonel was ever present when she walked except for the few times Mr. Darcy had come alone. Nothing had transpired then to give her even a hint he might feel more for her than any other acquaintance. Charlotte must be mistaken or merely hoping for such a match since it would bring her friend to Kent every Easter.
Elizabeth allowed the sun to distract her and left the path to run through some wildflowers which appeared as the woods opened onto a small glen. Delighted by her find and no longer mindful of any company that might appear, Elizabeth plucked a handful to take back to her room at the cottage and settled upon a small boulder.
Not a quarter of an hour later, when she had been tempted to rise from her seat, Colonel Fitzwilliam appeared on the path. He waved and called out to her and Elizabeth felt her breath leave her in a sigh of relief. Though she had not wanted company today, at least it was not Mr. Darcy.
She picked a few more flowers on her way back to the path and smiled as the colonel held out his arm for her hand. He was ever the gentleman and not just in his excellent manners. He did not unsettle her mind as Mr. Darcy did with his brooding spells. He was ever smiling and jovial, a most agreeable gentleman like Mr. Bingley, but far more steady in nature than that gentleman.
“Colonel, how lovely to see you today. How did you find me out here away from my usual paths?”
“Miss Elizabeth, it must have been fate that brought us together this afternoon. I left my horse to the grasses near the grove and wandered here unable to deny the lure of such a wild place. I am not a man who cares much for the symmetry of most gardens and paths.”
Elizabeth considered his words. “‘Tis odd for a military man. Precision and order guide your days, do they not?”
“Indeed, fair lady, you make a fine point. Perhaps that is why I abhor it in nature. It is a device of man that rules my days. To escape it from time to time feeds my soul.”
She felt a strong kinship to the man then, a knowing of the balm nature provided shared between them.
“If I may say, you seem so unlike your cousin, as does Mr. Bingley, his friend who let Netherfield Park. Mr. Darcy would never speak of the such things as we have since meeting. Even when he walks with me, he remains silent except for an odd question at the strangest moments.”
The colonel chuckled before regaining his composure. “Darcy is reserved with those he does not know well; I cannot deny it. But with family and friends, he is easier to know. He cares very much for our happiness. He told me of a friend he recently advised on a terrible match. Saved the man from a marriage doomed from the start, he said. I had thought it might be Bingley he spoke of but mind you that is only conjecture on my part. It seemed a recent event and I knew they spent the whole of last Autumn together.”
Elizabeth drew in a sharp breath. She had suspected Mr. Darcy of steering Mr. Bingley away from Jane. But in her mind, the chief architect had been Miss Bingley. The doubts planted drove Mr. Bingley to return to London without offering for Jane’s hand. The truth threatened to overtake her and she turned abruptly back the way they had come. With difficulty, Elizabeth kept her voice steady as she sought to know more.
“We cannot know who Mr. Darcy spoke of but I wonder why the young lady was considered unsuitable.”
Elizabeth marveled at her control over her emotions. Her sister Jane was more than a suitable match for Mr. Bingley. The objection must lie with her family. Either her uncles; the lawyer in Meryton and the one in trade in London, or perhaps it was her mother and father. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s behavior surely astounded Mr. Darcy.
Her head began to ache with wondering how Jane had offended the man yet she sought to know as much as she might from the colonel. “Did Mr. Darcy speak on his reasons for this interference?”
“There were some very strong objections against the lady.” The colonel watched his companion’s reaction as they left the path and entered the grove near his horse.
Elizabeth finally asked the question that had nagged at her since their conversation began. “And how did he separate them?”
“He did not go into such detail,” said the colonel, “he only told me what I have now told you.”
Elizabeth made no answer though her heart swelled with indignation. Colonel Fitzwilliam asked her why she was so thoughtful.
“Your cousin’s conduct vexes me. What right has he judge?”
“You believe his opinion carried such weight with Bingley?”
“You said yourself he admitted to saving a friend from an ill-advised match. Whether it was Mr. Bingley or another friend, why would Mr. Darcy presume to know better than his friends what might constitute their happiness?”
Richard Fitzwilliam could see the sharing of his cousin’s deed had not impressed Miss Bennet.
Before he might speak further on the matter, she graced him with a lovely smile. “We do not know the particulars of the case and so it is not fair to condemn him. Shall we talk of nature instead as you see me safely to the parsonage?”
The colonel whistled for his horse and the beast followed along behind them as he obliged Elizabeth’s conversation for the remainder of their walk.
When at last they arrived at her cousin’s cottage, she parted amicably with the colonel but shut herself up in her room when he had gone. Retrieving Jane’s letters from London and reading them left her with tears that only increased the aching of her head.
Elizabeth was unwell when a little later Charlotte knocked upon her door. The conversation with the colonel had left her without comfort. She would not go with her friend to Rosings Park for tea.