Elizabeth Bennet's Excellent Adventure: A Pride and Prejudice Vagary by Regina Jeffers Page A

“They come fer ye in the morning.”
    “You spoke to my sister? To Miss Darcy?”
    Darcy prayed Elizabeth joined Georgiana in Town, but he doubted the Bennets would think anything but the worst of him. They would not permit Elizabeth to come to London.
    “Yer sister ’ent ye a message.”
    Rogue handed Darcy the note, and Darcy accepted it gladly.
    “I thank you for your kindness, Mr. Rogue. You own my undying loyalty.”
    “Ye’ve paid me well fer me inconvenience,” Rogue protested. “Me and Mrs. Rogue hold plans fer a barn with yer gratitude .”
    “I will leave you to yer sleep,” Darcy allowed as he returned to the small storage room serving as his bedroom.
    Inside the space, he relit the rush candle he snuffed out earlier so he might read Georgiana’s letter.
    Settling heavily upon the thin mattress, Darcy unfolded the page to read the familiar script.
     
    William,
    Praise God you survived. I shall send for the colonel as soon as this note is on its way to you. You must know my anguish at your sudden disappearance. I could not bear your loss. Colonel Fitzwilliam knows no rest, searching for every possible lead to your whereabouts. Our dear family will know elation at your survival.
    I know you wish news of Miss Elizabeth, but I fear I cannot tell you more than to speak of your betrothed’s complete desolation at your absence. Neither the colonel nor I spoke to any of the Bennets after our return to London. In truth, my thoughts remained solely upon your fate, and I doubted any at Longbourn would pray for your safety. Even Mr. Bingley appeared incensed by the slight of his sister to be.
    Thankfully, you may now reclaim Miss Elizabeth’s affections and set the world aright, but first you must permit me to tend to your recovery. Until tomorrow, with all my love…           
    Georgiana
    * * *
    From the moment she departed Longbourn, Elizabeth planned how she would make her escape. Thankfully, her father did not realize the Gardiners meant to travel to Oxfordshire to visit with one of Aunt Gardiner’s nieces, who recently welcomed a son. The Gardiners would attend the child’s christening. In a letter to Elizabeth shortly after she and Jane arrived at Longbourn, their aunt confirmed the date for Elizabeth’s nuptials to avoid a conflict with her grandnephew’s naming day. Therefore, Elizabeth thought she could maneuver the appearance of visiting with her aunt and uncle. The difficulty would be to purchase a coach ticket to Brighton.
    She thought to explore Tunbridge Wells, but Elizabeth had no desire to return to Kent. In addition to the possibility that Lady Catherine would learn of Elizabeth’s presence in the neighborhood and arrive on Elizabeth’s doorstep to gloat on Mr. Darcy’s snub, there was the likelihood the gentleman himself returned to Rosings Park to claim his cousin. Elizabeth thought long on it: If Mr. Darcy married Miss De Bourgh, his abandonment of her would be readily forgiven. An endogamous marriage was much preferred by the aristocracy over connections to one such as she.
    The chance encounter of Mr. Darcy in London was the chief reason Elizabeth refused to take solace with the Gardiners. Elizabeth’s heart was too badly bruised to face Mr. Darcy so soon. She required time to harden her heart to the man.
    And so when her father’s coachman stopped at a coaching inn on the outskirts of London, Elizabeth claimed her opportunity to purchase a ticket to the seaside resort of which she heard so many tales.
    “Yes, Miss?”
    The inn’s proprietor approached.
    Elizabeth glanced about to make certain Mr. Lester still tended her father’s horses before responding.
    “Is there a coach to Brighton later today?”
    “One leaves here at five,” the man pronounced with authority.
    It was near one. Elizabeth could disembark in Cheapside and be back at the inn by three at the latest.
    “I hold business in my…in my late husband’s name in the neighborhood,” she said with