Elizabeth's Covenant Read online

  Elizabeth’s Covenant

  Florence Gold

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental.

  Author’s Note

  The author uses UK spelling and US grammar.

  Author’s Page

  This work is in copyright as stated by Berne

  Convention for the Protection

  of Literary and Artistic Works.

  All rights reserved.

  Text: Copyright © 2019 Florence Gold

  Images:

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  Cover: ana damian

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

  By Florence Gold

  A Struggle for Love

  Mr Darcy’s Legacy

  Weeding at Pemberley

  Soon to be published

  Elizabeth and Darcy at 1900

  Chapter 1

  “Mr Darcy stopped by today…again,” Mrs Collins said to her husband.

  Lately, Mr Darcy came so often to the Parsonage that the news startled Mr Collins, making him wonder if he must inform Lady Catherine about her nephew’s visits. Most of the times he had not been home when that particular guest arrived, though, from Mrs Collins enthusiastic narration, he found out about each of his visits.

  “It could not be for society,” Mrs Collins said, “as he frequently sat with us for as long as ten minutes without opening his lips. We make all the effort to avoid an embarrassing situation.”

  She was trying to have a pleasant conversation with her husband—like she remembered her parents had from time to time. However, that proved to be much more complicated than she imagined at the beginning of her marriage. Besides the Parsonage’s matters and Lady Catherine’s wellbeing, he did not have or enjoy other preoccupations. It might look like a good thing not having a tendency to gossip, but in his case, it was not a quality but plain indifference for the world around him, including his wife.

  “Maybe Mr Darcy comes for Elizabeth,” Mrs Collins said hesitantly. She watched Mr Collins vigorously shake his head while his voice displayed a slight trace of anger, “Mrs Collins, you do not know what you are talking about! I hope you keep this particular thought to yourself and not spread it in Hunsford. Such an intention could lead to a disaster. How could you imagine that a gentleman from such a prominent family could have feelings for Miss Elizabeth?”

  As his wife looked at him with reproach, he added in haste, “Do not forget that she is my cousin—we come from the same family. It is only decency that drives me to recognise her place in society. Not that I do not appreciate Miss Elizabeth. I agree she is a pleasant and educated young lady—as even Lady Catherine observed—yet it is foolish for her to aspire to such a relationship.”

  With these final words, he stood up majestically and went to the garden, leaving Charlotte even more perplexed than before. She agreed Mr Darcy was not right for Eliza; although, not from the motive her husband imagined with his usual disdain for people and adoration for Lady Catherine. Eliza did not like him and her attitude showed her true feelings. However, Mr Darcy kept on coming back and maybe that was a sign he wanted to change her opinion of him.

  Unquestionably Elisabeth was angry with him. Everything that happened since his arrival made her evolve from mere dislike to profound aversion based on his role in Jane’s unhappiness.

  Colonel Fitzwilliam’s involuntary confession—on how Darcy saved a friend from the inconveniences of a most imprudent marriage—made Elizabeth finally understand Mr Bingley’s hasty departure from Netherfield and his failure to meet Jane in London. It was not his fault—as she presumed—but the acts of Mr Darcy who took the liberty to regard Jane as not a suitable wife for his friend.

  Mr Darcy did not give a reason for this interference. However, Colonel Fitzwilliam understood that there were some substantial objections against the lady. Elizabeth could not understand why Darcy decided to destroy her sister’s happiness. Jane was the most affectionate, generous heart in the world. One could not be near her and fail to see her benevolence and her innocence. Elizabeth recalled the circumstances in which Jane and Mr Darcy met, and she could not find the least proof that her sister had behaved anything else but perfectly. She was a polite and kind person whom everybody tended to like from the first moment. The only ‘fault’ was her poverty, but as Mr Bingley was a wealthy man, he did not need a rich wife. He was not in Mr Fitzwilliam or Mr Wickham’s position to be forced to marry an heiress.

  After all, Mr Bingley’s family was not so preeminent to consider marrying Jane as a misalliance. His family’s money came from trade while in their family they had vicars and landlords who had a penchant for culture and instruction. Mr Bennet raised his daughters encouraging them to complete their education by reading and observing the world around them. They did not have a governess—as Lady Catherine found out with astonishment and contempt—but they had their father as an example and mentor. Her mother could be sometimes annoying. However, that was not a motive to encourage a friend to withdrew from a relationship. She remembered that Mr Darcy looked a little ashamed of his aunt’s ill-breeding when Lady Catherine insisted that Miss Bennet would never play well unless she practised more. That proved not only her mother but also ladies like Mr Darcy’s aunt could be ill-bred and make embarrassing remarks.

  So the question remained, what had driven Mr Darcy to interfere in his friend’s life. Unfortunately, she could not speak with anybody in the Parsonage. Charlotte was an old friend. Still, she was now married to Mr Collins, and Elizabeth was uncertain how much she told her husband from the confidences they might share. There were things she did not want him to find out.

  As much as she enjoyed the trip, the unexpected news regarding Jane was more than she could bear on her own. She needed to discuss it and clear her mind, and her only possible confidant was Mrs Gardiner, who was in London. Finally, she had to admit that there was another problem that tormented her—Mr Darcy’s visits to the Parsonage were for her and she did not know how to react to such attention. She found herself torn between her duty to Jane and a strange feeling of enjoyment that Mr Darcy’s visits secretly aroused her soul.

  Charlotte and Maria were out visiting parishioners in Hunsford while she had preferred to stay home and read the letters she received. Usually, she was eager to have news from Jane. However, this morning she began by reading Mrs Gardiner’s letter, which contained some precious advice.

  Elizabeth had been honest in describing in detail the burden she lately carried. Was it possible to have a decent relationship with a person who had such a low opinion of her sister and, in the end, their whole family? Her aunt’s answer bore her well-known cleverness. Tactfully and with much benevolence, Mrs Gardiner answered that one must know the exact details of an event to form a correct opinion.

  “That is so true,”—Elizabeth thought. She had found out only glimpses from a casual discussion that unfortunately angered her so strongly that rage overcame her love for reasoning.

  On this last thought, the maid knocked at the door asking her to
come down to the parlour where a gentleman wanted to see her.

  “Who is this gentleman?” Elizabeth asked the maid.

  “He is one of her ladyship’s nephews,” the servant answered, making Elizabeth’s heart tremble in a strange mixture of feelings. She would have liked the gentlemen to be Mr Fitzwilliam and have a pleasant morning. Although buried in her heart, she secretly wished the visitor to be Mr Darcy.

  “Is Mrs Collins back?”

  “No, Miss. Mrs Collins told me she would be back around noon.”

  “And it is only 11 o’clock!”—Elizabeth thought.

  ∞∞∞

  The gentleman waiting for her in the Parsonage parlour was indeed Darcy. Her conflicted feelings exploded with the intensity of a volcano. She remembered all the times in the past when she disliked him—the words he proffered at her own expense or Mr Wickham’s. And then, in front of her eyes, appeared Jane’s beautiful face torn by tears and suffering. Despite her aunt’s advice, she was determined to let her anger show and have an explanation. But the man she found looking out of the window was so far from the conceited and arrogant man she knew that she stood still in astonishment. She could see beads of sweat on his forehead even if outdoors it was not a warm day.

  He looked at her as he bowed and the intensity of his gaze made her blush.

  “I am sorry Mr Darcy that you find only me at home,” she finally said, and her words were received with something that looked like relief…and gratitude. He wanted to speak, but he did not know how to begin.

  “It is what I hoped for…” he said and stopped. Then he looked at her again, but this time she could not decipher his glance.

  “I have something to tell you, Miss Bennet,” he continued with apparent hesitation. And despite her anger and frustration, curiosity prevailed.

  “Yes, Mr Darcy!” Elizabeth replied like an invitation.

  He nodded, and when he finally spoke, his voice was almost tender.

  “I have tried to fight and not recognise my true feelings for you!”

  Greatly surprised, Elizabeth leaned on an armchair, then she sat inviting him— with a short look—to take the other chair. But her gaze was far from benevolent and he did not know if he should continue. She had expected other subjects of conversation, yet his utterance was so far from any of them.

  “I do not think I understand you, sir!” she spoke with a glacial tone—some of her composure regained.

  “Yet it is not so difficult to see that since we first met, I have developed a certain attraction towards you!”

  “Since we met, sir?” she said. “What about that moment when you said in front of many people that I was not sufficient nice to interest you?”

  “It is not what I said,” he answered, and Elizabeth could not but observe his intense excitement.

  “Maybe these are not the exact words, but it was a clear opinion.”

  “Miss Elizabeth,” he said with a serious and profound voice, “I may have said some unpleasant words in the past, but they are in the past! I admit having reservations about certain aspects…but the general feeling is that I want to live my life with you!”

  Warmth filled her entire being preventing her from answering for a long while. Then all her feelings turned into rage.

  “General feeling?” she asked with such a disdain that the man in front of her stood up incapable of retaining his emotion or his composure. “Then there are some reasons for you to still doubt your decision.”

  She could not talk anymore, so angered she was. She even thought to throw him out of the house, though it was not her house and she could hardly imagine how to do such a thing. His words were so offensive that she just wanted him to disappear.

  “There always are!” he answered with a voice that Elizabeth knew too well. He was again the man that looked at her with selfish disdain, eager to tell a truth that could hurt for the sake of honesty that he wrongly understood.

  “I suppose they are the same motives that made you advise Mr Bingley against pursuing his relationship with Jane,” she said, only to see him freeze, incapable of talking.

  “As you can see, Mr Darcy, your acts are not forgotten or as concealed as you might probably think.”

  “They were not secret, and I am not ashamed of them…” he said, perceiving in her eyes how angry she was. “How did you find out…?” he asked.

  It took Elizabeth just a second to decide that it would be unfair to bring the colonel into that story. She did not blink when she said, “It is the danger when having a family that has as its main preoccupation gossip.”

  As Darcy did not understand, Elizabeth continued, “Caroline Bingley and Louisa Hurst are not the most discreet people in the world, especially when they want to hurt!”

  Darcy breathed deeply and paced a few steps around the room. Elizabeth thought he was going to leave, but instead, he went to the window and then came back. It was not the way he imagined his proposal that day.

  He had lived the last two weeks since his arrival at Rosings in tremendous fretfulness. Each day that passed, each meeting with Elizabeth made him more and more perplexed. For the first time in his life, he was unable to deal with or to understand the complicated, unaccountable thing that took possession of his mind and heart. He remembered the advice he gave to Bingley and here he was…in the same situation, in love with a Bennet sister. His past cautiousness regarding her family was shuttered away by the intensity of his feelings. All he could think about was to come and ask her to be his wife. At Pemberley, they would hardly be in danger of seeing her family too often. Far from being in Bingley’s situation with his estate only a few miles from Longbourn.

  He experienced a continuous swinging to and fro—he was decided, and he was not—until that morning when he realised that his turmoil would not pass unless he took that step.

  In his imagination, not a shadow of doubt clouded the day. At noon he would be betrothed and finally happy. Elizabeth was the woman he loved. He even made plans to publish the banns as soon as he would be back in London and then, during the next weeks, he would have time to go to Pemberley to prepare for her arrival as a wife.

  But her face was so far from the happy expression he imagined.

  “You came to ask me to marry you?” she said, and as he wanted to talk, she stopped him with a hand gesture. “And instead of showing intense or, at least, warm feelings, you tell me there are circumstances that prevented you from asking me wholeheartedly to be your wife.”

  “It is not what I meant!” he said with a sharp tone he could not control anymore. “Our conversation took such a strange turn, my intention was only to ask you to marry me.”

  “And you began this proposal by telling me you still have doubts…! You have to accept that it is a most unconventional marriage proposal…and offensive!”

  Darcy stood up again; his proposal was not going the way he envisaged it. Instead of happiness, he only felt frustration.

  “I think one has to be honest in all circumstances of life!” he said, looking at her from near the window. “Marriage is based on honesty.”

  “From my part, Mr Darcy, a marriage is based on love. The honesty comes the same way love does. And respect. You do not respect or value my family, and I have to tell you, sir, I am not alone in this world. I have my father and mother, my sisters, who will always accompany my…new family and me.”

  Darcy nodded before her words.

  “If you want to marry me, it means you appreciate me as a woman, so it looks like you have some problems with my family! I love my family, and my husband will have to respect that!”

  “I do!” he said, coming back to sit in front of her, hoping to hear her saying Yes.

  However, Elizabeth was far away from such a decision.

  “From the very beginning, from the first moment of our acquaintance, you impressed me with your arrogance, your conceit, and your indifference—if not disdain—for the feelings of others. My general feeling about you is that I do not like you!
”

  Darcy was stunned; he looked at her incapable of moving of speaking, it was such a surprise that he felt his heart struggling in pain.

  “Miss Elizabeth,” he said, trying to stop her and she stopped indeed.

  It was perhaps the first time he called her by her name and she slightly blushed. She could not deny that in spite of his arrogant attitude, his words showed from time to time his real state of mind. He was excited and even looked to be in love, but he was not ready to be completely happy about his proposal.

  “How can you expect me to say yes to such an arrogant proposal?”

  Elizabeth looked at how he clenched his fist; it was a gesture she had seen in the past when he was distressed. It was not menacing but mostly an attempt to regain his composure.

  “Then, let us forget this discussion and permit me to speak again!” he said, but it was too late. He could feel it as she also did.

  “I will not marry a man who advises his best friend not to marry my sister. What kind of family would we have with my husband despising my family?”

  “Miss Elizabeth,” he tried to mend the situation, “I do not despise anybody; it could be my attitude to blame. I just thought your sister did not have strong sentiments for Bingley. She looked rather indifferent and ready to receive other men’s attention.”

  “Mr Darcy!” Elizabeth cried with anger. “Instead of showing regret or the need to change you do nothing but to persist in your ideas!”

  “I did not intend any harm, Miss Elizabeth. My acts were to prevent and not to interfere.”

  “To prevent what, Mr Darcy?”

  “My friend from suffering,” he said with such a sincere voice that Elizabeth looked at him in astonishment. She remembered her aunt’s words from the last letter. In cases like that, one might be driven by good intentions and not necessarily by ill-will. However, she felt sad and betrayed that Mr Darcy’s interference made her sister suffer and even endangered her future. There were situations when a young woman could not recover from such a loss and kept on mourning for the rest of her life.