The Brazen Mr. Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Julia Biscayne

Author:Julia Biscayne [Biscayne, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Mr. Darcy, Darcy and Elizabeth, JAFF, Byron, Regency Romance
Publisher: Jane Grix
Published: 2020-07-04T22:00:00+00:00

WINTER BECOMES SPRING and soon I am in Kent, arriving at the Parsonage. Mr. Collins comes out to greet Sir William, his father-in-law, and for a moment I do not recognize him. Lady Catherine’s health regime has been successful. Mr. Collins is half the man he was before – and much better looking with a square jaw and trim waist. I also see that Charlotte has convinced Mr. Collins to abandon his curls – another improvement.

Unfortunately, Charlotte is smaller as well and her father says, “My dear child, have you been ill?”

Charlotte reassures him that all is well, and she happily gives us a tour of the Parsonage. Later, when Mr. Collins is walking Sir William and Maria around the gardens, Charlotte and I sit quietly in her drawing room.

“I am so glad you came,” Charlotte says. “I have missed you.”

“And I you. But I agree with your father that you are too thin. Has Lady Catherine put you on a restrictive diet as well?”

Charlotte says, “Not entirely, although she reviews my menus every week. My thinness is more because my stomach is often unsettled.” Charlotte places a hand on her belly and blushes. “I am with child.”

I am happy for her because this is what she wanted – a little family and her little house. I try not to imagine an amorous Mr. Collins pressing her into her bed, creating that child. Over the next two weeks, I see that she has made a good life for herself.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh is not what I expected. She is a tall woman, most likely handsome in her youth, well-dressed and with shocking white hair piled high on her head. She is thin and wiry and talks constantly when we visit. She is full of questionable advice and gossip. She interrogates me after dinner, wanting to know everything about my family and my relations. Once she finds that all my sisters are out and that I did not have a governess, she sits back with a superior air and looks down her nose at me. If I were Charlotte that I would go mad if I had to spend many evenings in her company.

Miss de Bourgh is even thinner than Charlotte. She is also expensively dressed, but she is short and frail. Her health is poor, and she says hardly three words stung together, but some of that could be due to her mother not allowing her to get a word in edgewise.

During our second week there, I learn to my dismay that Mr. Darcy and his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam will be soon be visiting their aunt for Easter.

Charlotte says, “I know you do not like Mr. Darcy, but the Colonel is the second son of the Earl of Matlock. Lady Catherine says that the first son is not robust, so there is a possibility that the Colonel will inherit the title.”

I glance up from the shirt I am hemming. “Why are you telling me this?”

Charlotte looks at me as if I am a simpleton.

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