Rose and Lavender Water 11

Rose and Lavender Water

Part the Eleventh

Elizabeth was quiet and sullen at breakfast, barely touching her toast and marmalade.  Bella watched her carefully, remembering what she had witnessed the evening before.

A note came for her and Elizabeth looked up as if she expected some sort of communication herself.  Bella accepted it and saw that it was from Louisa Hurst.  It was an invitation for tea.  “May I go, Mama?”

“You know we are to go to the Lucases,” Mama reminded her, “but of course you may go.  I trust you will not mind going on horseback as we shall take the carriage.”

“No, I do not mind at all,” Bella responded, folding the note and placing it under her teacup.  She shared a look with Mary. 

There was a knock on the front door.

Elizabeth looked up as if expecting a visitor.

Hill came in and informed Papa that Mr. Darcy was waiting for him in his study.

Mary slipped her hand in Bella’s beneath the table.

Mr. Collins looked up anxiously.

Bella wondered what he had to be anxious over.  Certainly nothing could be amiss with Lady Catherine.

To put him at ease, Bella leaned forward and asked him quite solicitously, “When do you return to Kent, Mr. Collins?  I know Mary shall miss your company.  We shall all miss you reading to us in the evening, in fact.”

Elizabeth sighed and looked away, though a moment later she was keening her neck to see out of the dining room, out toward the hallway and toward Papa’s study.  What was she expecting?

“I am most gratified, Cousin Isabella, to hear that I have made some small contribution to the equanimity of the household.  I shall have to go back to Hunsford this very afternoon.  I only stayed so long so that I might squire Miss Mary to the Netherfield Ball.”

Mary blushed beside Bella, down her neck, and into her decolletage.

Mary and Bella blushed much the same way.  They were both pale and both unfortunately blushed from their cheeks down their necks to their chests.  It really was most unfortunate.

“We shall be sorry to see you go,” Mary told him politely, although Bella could sense the quelled passion in her voice.

“I shall be very sorry to leave you all,” Mr. Collins replied, looking at her longingly.

Yes, Bella thought to herself triumphantly, it was certainly a love match—at least for Mr. Collins.

There was a step in the hall, a few quick murmurings, and then the sound of the outer door closing.  Bella tried not to look.  A moment later Papa came back into the breakfast room, looking quite satisfied with himself.  “Well,” he announced, “it seems that not only is our Mary engaged to be married, but Mr. Darcy asked Isabella for her hand last night and she did not say a word.”

Bella’s violet eyes looked up at her papa and she held her breath.  “Surely you did not refuse him, did you, Papa?”

“Refuse him?” Papa asked as he whipped out his napkin and sat back down at the head of the table.  “He is the type of man to whom I would not like to refuse anything.  No, you are engaged.”

“Oh, how wonderful!” Mama cried.

Papa, however, was not finished.  He held up his hand just as several different conversations erupted at the table.

“Mr. Darcy,” he informed them, “is so anxious for his bride that he has gone to Town for a special license and expects to marry her on Friday.”

“But it is Sunday!” Mama cried.  She looked at the clock.  “In fact, if we do not leave now, we shall be late for Mr. Avery’s sermon.”

Mary immediately stood from her chair.

Papa quelled her with a look. 

Mary glanced at Bella and, a second later, retook her seat.

“I daresay we can be late to church just this once,” Papa told their Mama.  “We have reason enough to be.”  He looked at Isabella sternly.  “Did you agree to a short engagement?”

She would not be cowed.  She lifted her head and looked her papa straight in the eyes.  “I did, Papa.”

“For heaven’s sake, why?”

Elizabeth shifted in her seat across from Bella.  She refused to look in Elizabeth’s direction. 

“Mr. Darcy is eager to wed.  He has been in Hampshire this last fortnight and does not wish to be parted from me any longer.”

Papa deflated.  “Keep your secrets then.  I trust there is no scandal.  He has not—taken advantage of you?”

Bella bristled.  She was shocked that her papa would question her in such a matter, especially in front of her sisters.  “If someone has acted improperly,” she answered, “it has been neither me nor Mr. Darcy.”

“If you say so,” Papa said.  “At least I have nothing to worry about with Mary.”  He bowed his head, clearly thinking.  Then, after a moment, he said, “All right, everyone up.  We will be late already.”

The sound of scraping chairs filled the room, and the Bennet family quickly got to the feet as they rushed to find their psalters and bonnets.

They entered during the first hymn, but their two pews up front were left conspicuously empty for them as they were the first family in the neighborhood.  Bella slipped in next to Mary and opened her psalter to the correct page, singing the familiar words quietly in her rich alto. 

They had missed the banns being read for Mary and Mr. Collins’ wedding.  Bella assumed there had been no objections.

She was not very attentive in church and Mary even kicked her at one point as she was not listening to the sermon.

After lunch, they saw Mr. Collins off in a trap, Mary’s eyes dry of tears, but he promised to write and he would be back within a month for the wedding.

The three fair sisters and Mama loaded into the carriage not a half hour later to go to Lucas Lodge and Papa locked himself into the study.  Bella went up to her bedchamber and read Lord Byron until the appointed hour came for her to take Nell from the stable and ride over to Netherfield Park.

Both Darcy and Bridgerton were not there, having gone to London for the special license.  They would have probably already arrived.

Louisa and Caroline were all pleasantries though Bingley, they said, was out hunting with Mr. Hurst. 

“I have a gift for you,” Caroline told her, taking her hand and calling for a servant.  “Send for my maid.  Tell her to bring the dress in.”

“The dress?” Bella asked.

Caroline only smiled.

Not five minutes later, a maid entered with a dress in yellow silks. 

“You must marry in yellows, no?” Louisa asked.  “This was my wedding dress.  We are about the same size.  I do not believe it will need to be hemmed.  You can try it on when you are home and check.  I believe it will look most well on you.  You shall not have time to commission a new dress.”

Bella reached out hesitantly and touched the fabric.  “I have never worn silk before.”

“Well,” Caroline told her, “let this be the occasion.  We can come over Monday or Tuesday and look at your bonnets, maybe bring over a few of our own.  We shall make certain you look quite the bride.”

“I do not know what to say,” she admitted, looking over at her friends. 

Caroline nodded over at the maid, who withdrew with the dress.

“Do not say anything,” Louisa advised her.  “We should like to do this for you.  You are the future Mrs. Darcy of Pemberley, after all.”

“I am certain Mr. Darcy shall not recognize me in silks and feathers.”

“If you should carry bluebells,” Caroline told her, “he shall have no choice but to recognize you.  Indeed, you shall be the perfect bride as long as we have anything to say about it.”

Bella smiled.

The tea was called for and the three friends settled in for a pleasant afternoon.

When Bella arrived back at Longbourn, it was to find Elizabeth in a foul mood.

She handed the dress to Mama, which was packaged in brown paper, and Mama was exclaiming over it joyfully.

“What is wrong with Elizabeth?” Bella asked Mary carefully from where they were sitting in a corner.

“I do not know,” Mary admitted quietly.  “Her mood has gotten progressively worse as the afternoon has continued on.  I cannot account for it.”

“Hmm.”  Bella eyed her middle sister and pondered it.

The reason became apparent after supper when they were all in the drawing room.

“Has not Lieutenant Wickham called?” Elizabeth asked when she was at her needlework.  She had thrown it to the side and looking anxiously at their father who was sitting, reading his paper. 

Papa looked over his spectacles.  “Why would Mr. Wickham have called, Lizzy?” he asked her in puzzlement.

Her eyes searched his desperately.  “Surely—” she began before swallowing.  “Surely his engagement to Miss King is over.”

Putting down his paper, Papa looked at her in curiosity.  “Has he paid you especial attention?”

Elizabeth now looked especially anxious.  Her gaze caught Bella’s.  “Ask Isabella.”

Bella looked up sharply.  “I shall not speak on it,” she told the room outright. 

Looking angry, Elizabeth asked, “Why not?”

“You should search your own heart for the reason,” she answered, going back to her own needlework.

“Lizzy—” Papa demanded.

Her wide blue eyes met his.  “Papa—”

Elizabeth’s breaths were now picking up.

Papa was eyeing his two daughters.  Then, suddenly, he stood up.  “Lizzy, Isabella, my study.”

Bella shared a look with Mary, set aside her cushion, and then stood, following an anxious looking Elizabeth into her papa’s study.

Bella had only been in her Papa’s study twice.  It was especially cramped, with several bookshelves, a few botanical specimens, and a desk piled high with letters and ledgers.

Papa turned around and regarded his two daughters.

“Now,” he demanded, “why should Mr. Wickham call?”

Elizabeth looked like a trapped rabbit.  She was silent for a long moment, looking at Bella for assistance, before blurting out, “He loves me.”

“He loves you, does he?  Has he told you so?”

Elizabeth looked shocked.  “He did not need to.”

“A man, in my experience, needs to tell you.  His actions can lie.”

“George did not lie to me,” Elizabeth refuted.

Bella had folded her arms and looked at the ceiling.  She was counting in her head, trying to wish herself away from the situation.

“How are you involved in this situation, Isabella?”

She bit her lip, upset.  “Mr. Darcy,” she began quietly, “and I walked in on—”  She paused.  “Mr. Darcy said it was to my credit that I do not know what I saw.”  She breathed out heavily.  “He did not wish for me to speak on it.”

Papa ran a hand over his face.  He seemed to age ten years over a matter of seconds.

“That is why he is rushing your marriage.  Elizabeth compromised herself and he is trying to marry you before a scandal gets out.”

Bella nodded. 

Sighing, Papa nodded.

“And you, Lizzy, think Wickham will marry you because he has compromised you.”

“He loves me,” Elizabeth reiterated.

Papa shook his head.  “What folly have you involved yourself in, girl?”

“He—” Elizabeth paused.  “We became one, Papa.”

It happened so quickly that Bella did not even realize that Papa had slapped Elizabeth at first.  She heard the sound of skin against skin resounding through the room and turned to see Elizabeth bracing herself against a bookshelf.  Bella stared at her for a long moment before turning to her papa, who suddenly looked tired.

“You stupid, stupid girl.  What if you are with child?”

“He said that could not happen,” Elizabeth whispered.

“And you believed him?” Papa demanded angrily.  He took a moment to compose himself.  “You shall go to your room.  Immediately.  You will not come down until I say so, and that will be after your sister Mary’s wedding.”

Elizabeth opened her mouth to protest, but Papa lifted up his hand to hit her again and she shrank back.

A moment of silence rang out in the study, and all Bella could hear was Elizabeth’s ragged breathing.

“Your meals will be brought up to you.  You will not share your disgrace with your sister Jane, nor with your Mama.  Isabella, I know you are close with your sister, Mary, and she is soon to be a married woman.  I leave it up to your discretion what you tell her.”

Bella’s violet eyes widened, but she nodded in agreement.

Papa turned back to Elizabeth.  “You will go now.  There will be no more talk of Mr. Wickham.”

“What if he should come for me?”

“He shall not come for you, your stupid girl.  He got what he wanted from you.  Now he has thrown you away.—Go.”

Elizabeth scurried out of the room, the door shutting behind her.  Bella could hear her small footsteps on the stairs and, somewhere off to her left, she heard the door to Jane and Elizabeth’s room open and close upstairs.

Bella looked at her papa.  “I would have told you but Mr. Darcy—”

“He was protecting you,” Papa said in resignation.  “What else did Mr. Darcy say?”

Bella looked at her papa carefully.  “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes, child,” Papa told her, going around his desk and taking a seat behind it.  “Tell me what your fiancé has said on this subject.”

Bella hesitated and then took a seat in one of the chairs set up in front of the desk.  She smoothed out the wrinkles in her muslin skirts and then folded her hands carefully.  “He was very upset to learn about Mama’s connections.  It was why he was not at Aunt Phillips’ card party.  He went away to Hampshire to consult his friend on the matter.”

“He came back.” 

“He came back and we came upon Elizabeth ruining herself when he took me aside to propose.”

“So he is not best pleased with the Bennet family.”

Bella took a deep breath.  “No.”

Papa’s dark blue eyes looked at her.  “He is going to cut you off from us completely, then.  He is not going to allow you to associate with us at all.  It will be as if you were never a Bennet of Longbourn.”

She bowed her head.  “He will allow me to see Mary if Mr. Collins does the same.”

Papa swore under his breath.  “He is harsh.”

Bella took in a deep breath.  “I love him, Papa.”

“What of Jane and Mr. Bingley?”

“He is determined to separate them.  I will not tell you his reasoning.”

Papa looked out the window over the gardens.  “I suppose that is what we get for marrying you off to a great man.”

“It would not have been so bad if Elizabeth had not—done what she had done with Mr. Wickham.”

Papa returned his attention to her.  “What is it that she has done?”

Bella took a moment.  “She was pushed against a bookshelf.  Her skirts were hiked up and he was pressed in between her.  When she had—somehow disengaged herself from whatever was happening, Mr. Wickham was adjusting his trousers.”  She paused.  “I do not know why exactly.  It seemed most peculiar.”

“Your mother will hopefully explain it to you properly the night before your wedding.”

“Will she?” Bella asked, shifting in her seat.  “I must confess, given what I have seen, I am not looking forward to such a discussion.”

Papa looked at her wryly.  “A bookshelf is not supposed to be involved.”

Bella breathed out heavily.  “That is a relief.”

Regarding her for a long moment, Papa then dismissed her.  “Say nothing to your mother, other than that I have sent Elizabeth to her room.”

“Mama will wonder why.”

“Refer her to me.”

Bella only nodded before returning to the drawing room.

Elizabeth did stay in her room and Jane said nothing about the change in situation.

Mary did ask her about it that evening when they went to bed.

“She compromised herself with Wickham at the Netherfield Ball,” Bella confessed.  “Mr. Darcy and I walked in on them.”  She blushed.

“Compromised herself!” Mary gasped.  “Compromised herself how?”

“I am not entirely certain,” Bella confessed.  “It was most strange.”

Mary’s wide eyes seemed even bluer.  “And she thought Wickham would come and claim her hand in marriage?”

“But he did not.”

“No,” Mary agreed.  “It seems he has no honor.”

“We knew he has no honor,” Bella reminded her.  “Remember the lies he was telling of Mr. Darcy.”

“Yes,” Mary agreed, lying down on the bed.  “I wish Matthew were here.  He would make this all seem better.”

“He can never know,” Bella pressed.  “This has to be a family secret.”

Mary looked at her.  “You said Lizzy was compromised.  What if—what if she is with child?”

“Then Papa must send her away and we will never speak of the matter again,” Bella decided.  “There are surely places for young women to go.  The country for instance.”

“Bells,” Mary reminded her.  “We already live in the country.”

“Elsewhere in the country?” Bella guessed.

Mary sighed. 

It was not until Tuesday that Bella received word that Darcy had returned to Netherfield Park with the special license.  A note arrived from Louisa saying that he had brought with him from London his sister Miss Georgiana Darcy and a cousin, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, though he was much occupied with business.  Louisa also asked if the ladies could call with bonnets to see what would best suit Bella for the wedding.

Bella immediately hurried to her mama to ask for permission, which was naturally granted.

Louisa, Caroline, and Miss Darcy arrived in a carriage an hour before teatime with several hatboxes.  They descended upon Mary and Bella’s shared bedroom and Caroline insisted that Bella change into her wedding dress.

“We must see it!” she insisted.  “We need to see the whole picture!”

“Indeed,” Louisa agreed.  “Send Miss Mary down when you are finished, and we shall all come up.”

Bella gave a small smile and hurried up to her bedchamber, allowing Mary to help her change.

The three women entered the room not five minutes later with no less than six hatboxes.

“Well,” Caroline said, “let us get to work.”

Georgiana Darcy was a tall girl with deep brown curls that fell around her shoulders and verdant green eyes.  She was slim with a childlike figure that had not matured into adulthood yet, but Bella could tell that she would one day certainly be pretty if not beautiful, and Bella was sure to include her.

“What do you think of this one, Miss Darcy?” she asked, trying on one of Caroline’s bonnets that had several rosettes and green ribbons.

Mary was looking at her critically and had handed her lace gloves that Georgiana had brought, instructing her to take off the white ones she was wearing.

“Not the green,” Georgiana decided.  “It clashes with the yellow.”

“Yes, I quite agree,” Louisa commented, opening another hatbox.  “What about pink ribbons?”  She lifted out a straw bonnet with a pink lining and pink ribbons.  It was rather simple but very elegantly made.

Bella took the green bonnet with rosettes off her head, handed it back to Mary who put it back in its box, and accepted the pink.  “I do rather like this color,” she admitted to no one in particular,” and carefully put it on the head.

Georgiana sucked in a breath.

“Does it look that ill favored?” Bella asked in concern, turning toward the looking glass and taking herself in.

“Oh no, Miss Bennet!” Georgiana decreed.  “You look so beautiful in it!  Pink is truly your color.” 

Bella considered herself in the mirror for a long minute and then made an elegant bow at the side of her chin before displaying the bonnet for everyone to see.

Caroline clapped her hands.  “Indeed, that is the one!”

“Quite lovely,” Louisa agreed.

Mary was looking at her critically.  “One moment,” she said and she went to their closet.  She rummaged through it and took out Bella’s dark pink pelisse that she was wearing the first time she saw Darcy.  “I know a bride always wears yellow, but I think this would go quite nicely and would pull the entire outfit together.”

“Oh indeed,” Georgiana agreed.  “Do put it on, Miss Bennet!”

Bella obliging did as she requested and then took herself in in the looking glass.

“Quite the bride,” Louisa declared.  “I think we have it, ladies!”

“And the gloves?” Bella asked.  “Have we decided on the gloves?  Should I wear my pink ones?”

Caroline picked up her hands and considered them.  “No, not the pink.  I think the lace.  It is quite elegant.”

Mary picked up her hands next.  “You know I like the pink, but I quite agree with Miss Bingley.  Wear the lace.”

Louisa smiled at her.  “It is all decided then.  Georgiana, dear, do we have your approval?  What do you think Mr. Darcy will think?”

Georgiana considered for the longest of moments.  She considered for so long that Bella thought she would not speak at all.  Finally, she declared, “I think Fitzwilliam will be most pleased.”

Bella let out a breath she did not realize she was holding.  “It is all decided then.  Well, then, ladies, I will ask you to take away the rest of the hat boxes, I shall get changed, and I will meet you downstairs for tea.”

“A fine plan!” Louisa declared as he started stacking the hatboxes, leaving the open one for the bonnet Bella was currently wearing.  “And remember, ladies, not a word at Netherfield Park.  This is a strict secret.”

Georgiana gave a small smile.  “You know I am the soul of discretion!”

Caroline and Louisa shared a look that Bella did not quite understand. 

Still, the three ladies departed with the hat boxes and Mary helped her out of the silks.  “You shall look quite the lady on Friday,” she declared.  “To think, only three days before the wedding.”

“I am not sure what I shall do, waiting for my own wedding.”

“I shall have to wait for three more weeks,” Mary reminded her, “and you shall be up in London.”

“However, I shall return,” Bella promised.  “I should not miss my own sister’s wedding.  I have promised to stand up with you.”

“That you have,” Mary agreed as Bella stepped out of the dress and Mary laid it on the bed.  “Come, let’s find your muslin.  I think I hung it back up.”

“I think I was wearing the blue,” Bella told her.

“I think you were,” Mary agreed.

The two sisters hurried with Bella’s toilette.  She quickly placed rose water at her wrists and behind her ears before they went down for tea.

Elizabeth was still locked in her room.

Fortunately, none of the ladies from Netherfield had asked about it.  It was not likely they would notice Elizabeth’s absence.  Jane had gone into the garden to give Bella privacy, not even asking after Mr. Bingley.  Bella began to wonder if Jane had any real affection for Bingley, given what she knew of Darcy’s thoughts on the matter.

The five young women had tea together, discussing the wedding and the Netherfield party’s plans to leave for London on Saturday, the ladies all traveling in a carriage with the gentlemen all traveling on horseback.  All their extra trunks would travel by cart. 

Mary smiled at the plans and offered her opinion on carriage riding.  Louisa kindly inquired into her own wedding in a month, though she did not commit to being present when it would take place.

Georgiana, however, said, “Oh, yes, Fitzwilliam mentioned.  I believe we Darcy’s are to travel down for it again in a month’s time.”  She looked at Bella for confirmation.  “Do you not think so, Miss Bennet?”

“I do believe that is the plan, Miss Darcy,” she agreed with a smile.  “I should be glad to have you with us.”  And with that, she offered another cake, and the conversation turned to Mr. Collins’s parsonage in Hunsford.