The Omen at Rosings Park: How Elizabeth Became Mrs. Darcy by Joseph P. Garland

Author:Joseph P. Garland [Garland, Joseph P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dermody House LLC
Published: 2023-08-09T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22.

Elizabeth Writes to Jane

A waiting Mrs. Bingley’s arrival at Pemberley from the Lake District was a letter, leaning squarely against a mirror over a chest of drawers in the lavish bedchamber that had been assigned to her.

Dear Mrs. Bingley,

I could not resist calling you so, but you shall always be my ‘Dearest Jane.’ I hope that your trip with Charles to the Lake District has been what you hoped it would be and you have seen at least some of it when you are able to turn your eyes from your dear husband.

I do not know when you arrive at Pemberley—where I am led to believe there is at least one fine lake not far from the great house—and are able to read this so I cannot know how stale my news will be and whether it will have been overtaken by events.

What news? you ask. It is simply that I have resumed a high degree of cordiality with George Wickham. He is a widower, as I am sure you were informed by Kitty and Lydia when you saw them. He still deeply mourns the loss of his wife but when he arrived to console me for my loss, I found that I could be of service to him with respect to his own.

I daresay that once my period of mourning for my late Mr. Collins is ended in less than a month, the feelings that I have for Mr. Wickham, which I believe to be to some extent reciprocated, may have the opportunity to flower.

Because of such news, I find myself unready and unwilling to speak of the more mundane events of my visit here. Kitty and Lydia are quite well, and each is endeavouring to become with child before the other, which would be amusing were it not such a serious bit of business.

Perhaps I will have more to tell you about them when I next write. I expect that you will write to me now and tell me of how wonderful your husband is, and, in anticipation of your assertions in that regard, I assure you that I have every confidence in the absolute correctness about anything you have to say about him.

I wish you and him (and your Derbyshire host) the best of health and hope to see you again when you return to town.

Lizzy

* * * *

ELIZABETH’S ENTHUSIASM for Wickham did not wane in the succeeding weeks. Indeed, it appeared to push aside her deep yet muddled thoughts of Darcy and the feelings she uncovered and wrote (only to herself in the end) about while she was in Hunsford, which she did not dare mention in this letter. Her own confusion about her…heart was, if anything, enhanced as the handsome widower again proved himself a gentleman of charm and grace and now some funds.

In Brighton, Mrs. Collins and Mr. Wickham walked often, and he took her to visit his in-laws at his wife’s family’s estate in Crawley. While there, he gave her a tour

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