Sudden Awakenings (The Other Paths Collection)

Chapter 9

It was a somber company that journeyed to Longbourn that morning. Mr. Darcy sat opposite Elizabeth in the carriage, with Jane beside her, Mr. Bingley joined them as a chaperone. Caroline would dearly have loved to come on this visit as well, to be able to repeat the gossip to her sister later, but her brother forbade her. As it was, the carriage was already full.

The residents of Longbourn were in an uproar when they were informed of what had transpired at Netherfield.

“Why, of course, you must marry her, Mr. Darcy,” was Mrs. Bennet's indignant response upon hearing of the incident between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. “Her honor could not possibly be restored otherwise.”

Elizabeth angrily rose from her seat to intervene. “I have no wish to–”

“Calm yourself, Elizabeth,” said Mr. Bennet, entering the room. “Mr. Darcy, if you would kindly wait here in the small drawing room.”

Mr. Darcy nodded in response.

“Elizabeth, come with me, if you please,” Mr. Bennet said.

Elizabeth silently followed her father to his study. In a tearful voice, Elizabeth told him of her sleepwalking trouble and how she had mistakenly ended up in Mr. Darcy's room .

“I do not know what came over me. I did not know how I came to be in that room and not any other room of the house. Oh, of all the wretched, wretched rooms to be caught in!” Her cheeks pinked at the memory of waking up, finding herself in bed with Mr. Darcy. “I cannot account for my behavior. I swear I was not even aware of what I was doing, Papa. Truly, honestly!”

“I know, child,” Mr. Bennet said, shaking his head. “But it has taken place, and we must accept the consequences of it.”

“I cannot marry him. You know what he is like–how arrogant he is! How disdainfully he scorns our family. How can I be married to such a man?”

She repeated part of the conversation she had overheard that morning outside the breakfast room.

“Miss Bingley would have him believe I did this deliberately, in order to entrap him. But I tell you the truth, he is the last man in the world I would wish to marry! Please, Papa, do not force me to marry Mr. Darcy.”

“My child,” he said, “it would never be my wish for you to marry against your will, but you find yourself in a precarious position. A lady’s reputation is everything. Even if we can count on Mr. Bingley’s guests to remain silent, all it would take is one servant’s wagging tongue to ruin you forever. Gossip is like fresh kindling for the fire. It soon spreads throughout the whole community. Would you have your remaining sisters be shamed and disgraced, unable to wed, while you live out your days as a pariah?”

“No, Papa,” said Elizabeth, barely above a whisper. “I could not do that to poor Jane, nor to Kitty or Lydia. Even Mary must surely feel the sting of having such a sister, though at least she has already secured a reputable husband.”

“This is most unfortunate.”

Elizabeth wept .

Mr. Bennet could not see his favorite child in tears without being moved. “If you truly cannot abide having Mr. Darcy for your husband, then I will not force the matter.”

Elizabeth looked up, her eyes wide with wonder.

“But,” Mr. Bennet continued, “I shall need Mr. Bingley’s assurances that his servants will remain silent. If word of this gets out into our community, I will have no choice but to require you to wed, for the sake of your reputation and that of your sisters.”

“Thank you, Papa!” Elizabeth threw her arms around him.

S

After a brief word with Bingley, Mr. Bennet called Darcy to his study.

“Mr. Bennet,” Darcy began gravely, “I never intended to compromise your daughter. You must know that I–”

Mr. Bennet put up a hand to silence him. “I am well aware of the facts, Mr. Darcy. I readily believe my daughter's account that you are not to blame, and neither is she. And yet, this incident was witnessed by Mr. Bingley's household, his guests, and his servants. It cannot be ignored.”

“Yes, sir,” Mr. Darcy nodded. “I am prepared to do my duty towards your daughter. We will marry,” he said solemnly.

“I thank you for being an honorable man, Mr. Darcy,” said Mr. Bennet. “Lizzy, however, has expressed that she does not wish to marry you. She regards your disdain for our family as an impediment which cannot be overcome, even under such circumstances as these.”

“Sir, I–” Darcy began, but Mr. Bennet silenced him.

“I would not have you marry under the misapprehension that you have been entrapped by a scheming fortune hunter. I am prepared to let the matter rest, but I will require your absolute assurances that not a breath of this incident shall ever leave your lips.”

Darcy bowed his head. “You have my solemn promise, sir.”

“Good. I will not have my Lizzy’s reputation stained, nor her sisters by extension. Mr. Bingley has already given me his assurances that none of his household or his guests will repeat the tale. I have told Lizzy that she is absolved from marrying you so long as it remains an absolute secret she was ever near your chamber. But, should word of this get out by some means, and her reputation be threatened, I will not hesitate to make good on your promise to marry her.”

“Yes, sir.” Darcy said, feeling strangely disappointed.

S

“This will not do at all,” Mrs. Bennet complained to Jane in private.

As soon as the gentlemen had left, Elizabeth had gone out for a walk through the pasture to be alone with her thoughts. Kitty and Lydia went to Meryton to call on their Aunt Phillips, and Mr. Bennet remained in his study to meditate on the day’s events.

“Lizzy not marry Mr. Darcy! How can she throw such an opportunity away? It is unaccountable!” Mrs. Bennet shook her head. “And here, I thought it would be you who would come away from Netherfield engaged!” She stroked her eldest daughter’s cheek lovingly.

“I tried my best, Mother,” Jane insisted. “I did everything exactly as you asked. It was difficult to fool my hosts, not to mention Mr. Jones, into believing my illness. In fact, I do not think Miss Bingley believed it at all. The first evening, I pretended so convincingly that I actually fell asleep! Then, the following day, Lizzy came and I was so worried she would insist on conveying me home.”

“It was excellent thinking, on your part, to suggest she stay with you,” her mother commended.

“Yes, but it made it all the more difficult. I told her she need not remain in the room with me while Mr. Bingley read to me, but she would stay. Such a good little chaperone!”

Mrs. Bennet shrugged. “She always did have rather too much of a sense of what was proper. But I suppose Bingley’s sisters would not have let him remain alone with you regardless, so no matter.”

“Quite true. And then, I attempted to enact our plan that night, but Miss Bingley caught me in the corridor! I was forced to make the assertion that I was thirsty and in need of a glass of warm milk before returning to bed. I did not dare make another attempt that night. I never expected Lizzy would be the one to rise the next night, though.”

“That was truly surprising! But she did not do it deliberately?”

“No, it was that foolish sleepwalking of hers. I thought she might have taken a leaf from your book, at last, but she seemed so upset about the notion of marrying him! Perhaps I ought to have been pursuing Mr. Darcy instead of Mr. Bingley,” Jane mused.

“Your fortune certainly would be greater if you had! But Mr. Darcy lives so far off, while Mr. Bingley is likely to remain here at Netherfield, especially if he were to marry. He might even decide to purchase it! And I could not bear to have you so far away from me.”

Jane smiled. “And Mr. Bingley is so congenial, while Mr. Darcy is so cold and foreboding. Yet I think he would make a good match for Lizzy, if we can persuade her not to throw him away.”

“We cannot let it happen, Jane. We must do something to ensure Mr. Darcy makes good on his promise to marry her,” Mrs. Bennet insisted.

S

“You will never guess what has happened, Aunt Phillips!” Lydia exclaimed as she and Kitty rushed into her house. Mrs. Phillips was at home, alone, as she usually was while her husband was at his office. She had little better to do than to fill her days with gossip, especially when it came from her sister or her nieces.

“Tell me quickly, my loves!” Mrs. Phillips urged them.

Kitty and Lydia apprised her of what had taken place between their sister and Mr. Darcy the night before.

“But you must not breathe a word of it to anyone!” Kitty said. “Or Papa says Lizzy will have to marry Mr. Darcy and she hates him!”

Lydia nodded. “She told Papa that Mr. Darcy thinks we are all a mercenary bunch and that Jane is trying to trap Mr. Bingley into a marriage.”

“Was Lizzy really found in Mr. Darcy’s own bed?” Mrs. Phillips asked with eager eyes.

Kitty nodded. “Oh yes! I heard it myself when she confessed it to Mamma and Papa. They were found together in their nightclothes!”

“My goodness!” Mrs. Phillips exclaimed.

“Papa made us promise we would not tell anyone about all this so you mustn’t say a thing!” Kitty said.

“My lips are sewn shut!” Mrs. Phillips promised. “You know I am the soul of discretion, and wouldn’t do a thing to harm you girls.”

Despite all Mrs. Phillips’ promises, as soon as her nieces had left, Mrs. Phillips, who could not keep a secret to save her own life, hurried straight away to her husband’s office to tell him the news. He chided her for sharing it, especially when they were not at home. He felt safe, at least, that they were alone, forgetting that his assistant had come into the office an hour earlier than usual, and was in the back room, able to hear the whole thing.

Mrs. Phillips, too, had forgotten about her maid, who, ever eager for the latest morsels of gossip and sensing that this was a particularly good one, had been listening behind the kitchen door when Kitty and Lydia had called and heard all that they had said. She repeated the tale to her mother, the baker’s wife, and to her sister, who was a maid in the Goulding household.

S

Meanwhile, Mrs. Bennet was more direct in her violation of Mr. Bennet’s orders. She called on her good friend, Lady Lucas, where she made her promise not to repeat a word of what was said.

“I dare not think how this came about! My poor Lizzy, being taken advantage of by Mr. Darcy. And him not to marry her!” she wailed.

Lady Lucas was appropriately horrified. “It is utterly dreadful, Mrs. Bennet! If I were your husband, I would have called Mr. Darcy out with pistols at dawn.”

“Oh, that Mr. Bennet would defend his daughter’s honor so admirably! But I would be dreadfully frightened for his life. He is no marksman, you know. I believe he must have been thinking about his poor girls, and unwilling to give over his life, knowing that Mr. Collins and Mary might turn their sisters out of the house as soon as he is cold in his grave. But I have your assurances, Lady Lucas, that you will not say a thing to anyone?”

“Oh, certainly!” Lady Lucas swore. “It would be absolutely dreadful if news of this were to get out.”

As soon as Mrs. Bennet had left, Lady Lucas told the whole of it to Charlotte and Maria, also begging them to keep it a secret. Charlotte could be counted on, but Maria shared her mother’s propensity for gossip, and immediately told her friends Harriet and Penelope Harrington, as well as William Goulding, whom she met with in secret. In this way, the news of Elizabeth’s disgrace quickly spread throughout their acquaintances.

Jane, however, had a far more cunning plan. She soon had a contribution to submit anonymously to the Meryton Gazette’s gossip column, which she was sure would make a splash.

S

Elizabeth had scarcely begun to think herself safe from marrying Mr. Darcy, when her father summoned them all to the drawing room.

Mr. Bennet attempted to remain calm as he addressed his wife and daughters. “I would like to know how, despite my strict orders, your sister’s disgrace has become known.”

“We did not tell anyone we know,” Lydia began.

“Except for Aunt Phillips,” Kitty put in. “But she promised us she would not say a word! But we didn’t tell anyone else, Papa. Honest!”

Mr. Bennet was angry. “You expressly defied my order! Are there any other confessions to be made? Jane? Mrs. Bennet?”

He looked at the two. Jane looked sheepish, while Mrs. Bennet protested, “I told no one, save for my particular friend Lady Lucas. But Mr. Bennet, you must own that I require someone with whom I can share my troubles! And Lady Lucas positively assured me that she would not repeat it to anyone, on her life!”

“Jane, what have you to say for yourself?”

“I told no one!” Jane insisted. “Do you honestly believe I would hurt Lizzy’s chances of finding a suitable match, as well as my own?”

“Then how do you explain this?” He presented her with the morning’s paper, folded over to the gossip section .

“We have received reports of a most peculiar occurrence at the grand estate of Netherfield Park. A young lady from a neighboring village, known for her spirited nature but lacking in social graces, has been accused of invading the privacy of a distinguished guest.

It seems that the gentleman, from a renowned Derbyshire family, was disturbed in his slumber by the uninvited visitor. Her motive, it is speculated, was to gain his favor and secure a match of convenience.

Such an audacious act is unheard of in polite society. A lady of refinement would never dream of behaving in such a manner. It is a scandal which threatens to tarnish the reputation of both the young woman and her family, which includes three unwed sisters.

We can only hope that the gentleman will act honorably towards the lady and her family by securing her to himself in holy matrimony.”

Elizabeth snatched the paper from her father and looked at it in horror. “When did this appear?”

“In this morning’s issue of the Gazette. I daresay everyone in town saw it. If they did not know of your disgrace before, they surely do now!”

“Who would do such a cruel thing?” Elizabeth cried.

Jane pulled her into her embrace. “Dearest Lizzy, it is positively dreadful! Someone who learned of your misfortune sought to make light of it so maliciously!”

“I’ll bet it was Lady Lucas!” Mrs. Bennet raged. “For she has always been eager to see my daughters displaced so that hers might stand a better chance in society. And after I trusted her so implicitly!”

“It could have been anyone,” Jane suggested. “Perhaps even one of the Harrington sisters, for they are good friends of Maria’s. But we do not know that anyone will take this article seriously. After all, no names are mentioned. ”

“On the contrary,” Mr. Bennet said. “It would explain the stares I received when I went into Meryton to purchase a new hinge for the pigpen gate, as well as the nasty comment I received from the ironmonger, who suggested my money would be better spent on new locks for my doors, to keep my daughter from wandering about.”

“How awful!” Jane exclaimed, while Elizabeth muttered something about Mr. Ferris losing their custom, as they could be better served by the ironmonger in the next town.

Mr. Bennet shook his head. “Well, Lizzy, it pains me to say it, but now that this whole debacle has come to light, I am afraid I must insist on your marrying Mr. Darcy after all. There is no way around it. ”

Elizabeth’s face fell.