The Trials: A Pride and Prejudice Story by Timothy Underwood

Author:Timothy Underwood [Underwood, Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Timothy Underwood
Published: 2017-05-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Darcy was an experienced rider, and his horse was well trained. He simply directed it along the right road, and it kept a steady pace.

Clop, clop, clop.

The road to London was crowded with travelers. Young peasants walking back and forth, the occasional post carriage dragged by a team of two, once or twice some aristocrat racing past on an unsteady chariot with a team of four.

The air warmed as the hours passed, and Darcy had to stop several times to let his horse drink and rest, and to refresh himself. It was a beautiful sky with big white fluffy clouds sitting in a span of perfect blue. The trees around him were green, and there was a warm buzz of life everywhere, and he could not stop smiling.

Everything was still horrible.

Elizabeth had kissed him.

Darcy smiled.

Damn Lady Catherine. She was mad. Hang her. Hang her.

The horse felt Darcy’s tension and entered a faster trot. Darcy tried to breathe slowly to calm himself and he reined the horse in, since the road was still long and too crowded to go quickly.

His aunt. His mother’s sister. A human evil.

She could not be allowed to win. Giving her any victory was wrong. She had become a rabid dog, and he was family. It was his responsibility to defeat her. He needed to rescue Emma, and thus Elizabeth from her grasp, he needed to make it possible for Anne and Richard to marry, and he needed to protect Georgiana.

Darcy snorted. While he was at it, he could fly to the moon and retrieve some cheese from the surface.

But maybe this wasn’t impossible. Richard’s idea had seemed completely wrong the previous day, but now it began to grow on him. It would be a scandal, and a mockery of church and law. But if he and Anne pretended to marry, then they could all leave Rosings together and then once they were away from Rosings, the deceit could be announced and established. Richard and Anne could marry, and as Lady Catherine would already have given up her position as Emma’s guardian she would be able to do nothing.

If he and Elizabeth married first, any future marriage would be invalid. Of course then Lady Catherine would prosecute him for bigamy. But Darcy didn’t think the punishment would be particularly intolerable. He could ask his lawyer. Or they could find a different way to invalidate the marriage. One that was not illegal and quite so scandalous.

No matter what he did, Georgiana would still be exposed to Lady Catherine’s revenge.

As the day reached noon, the sun began to beat down, and the sweat poured down Darcy’s back. The houses and hamlets grew thicker. The road changed to cobblestones from the dirt and gravel of the turnpike. He’d reached London already. He smelled the thick fumes from the cesspits where the nightsoil was being cooked by the summer heat.

The traffic was thick and roiling. Hordes of people rushed from place to place, shouting and paying little heed. Pedestrians darted

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