Pirates and Prejudice (5 page)

“No, no, no!”
Lindel cried out. “Ye ’ave no need fer a napkin! Yer shirt sleeve’ll serve the
purpose better.”

“You mean the
shirt in my room with sleeves big enough to sail a ship and ruffles that should
only be worn by a woman?” Darcy shook his head. “Indeed, I shall not wear
that!”

“Ye must look
the part, Lockerly, in addition to speaking an’ acting the part.” Foster took
some potatoes from a bowl and set it back down in front of him. “But there are
other shirts in there without the ruffles. Ye ken wear those.”

“Good! Please
pass me the potatoes, Foster.”

Foster was
looking down at his plate and turned his head slowly, lifting only his eyes to
Darcy. “Who is ye talkin’ to? Me name is Forrest an’ I’ll do no such thing.
Ye’ll reach across the table for ’em, as ye’ll do fer anything else ye want!”

Darcy sat there
for a moment stunned, and then suddenly he began to chuckle. Then he began to
laugh out loud.

“What’s so
funny?” Evans asked.

Darcy shook his
head and extended both hands. “This! All this! I would have loved to have
gotten away with this behaviour as a child, but having proper manners was
instilled in me with severe repercussions if I exhibited otherwise. It has been
so long that I have lived that way, that it has become a part of me. I am
really not sure I can do this.”

“Trust me,”
Foster said. “By the end of our stay ’ere, ye’ll not think twice ’bout ’aving
to speak or act a certain way.”

By the time
Darcy retired for the evening that first day, his mind reeled with everything
the men had tried to teach him. The inarticulate din that had been coming out
of his mouth caused him to shudder. But if he had hoped that having a diversion
such as this would rid his mind – and his heart – of Elizabeth Bennet, he was
mistaken. Every mention of ridding him of his gentleman-like behaviour made her
accusation as fresh as if it had happened yesterday, not just over two months
ago.

C
hapter
5

Elizabeth stood at the rail of the ship, a hand tucked
through her father’s arm. The fog had begun to lift, and rays of sunlight could
be seen dancing across the water. A mild breeze moved the ship steadily along
the Thames towards the English Channel.

“My dearest
Lizzy, I am glad you agreed to accompany me to see my sister. I would not have
wished to travel alone, and you are sensible enough to know that you are the
one person whose company I find most pleasing and suited to my temperament.”

“I am delighted
you wished for me to come along.”

He reached over
and patted her hand. “Truth be told, I am concerned about Viola. I have no idea
how she will be when we get there. She most likely will be in a sickly state,
possibly worse. I needed to have someone strong by my side if we find her at
death’s door. I know you will prove to be invaluable to me.” He shook his head
sombrely and took in a deep breath. “I only wish I had made more of an effort
to see her these past few years.”

Elizabeth placed
her hand over his. She felt his long, bony fingers and the rough calluses on
his knuckles and gave his hand a light squeeze. “I shall be there for you,
Papa. If you need a shoulder to cry on, use mine.”

Mr. Bennet waved
his other hand through the air. “Upon my word, you know I never cry…”

Elizabeth stole
a glance at her father and thought she saw his eyes glisten.

He was silent
for a moment, and Elizabeth finally said, “We shall make this a very special
visit, Papa. We shall enjoy every moment with her and take good memories home
with us.”

“Yes, yes, my
dear, we shall.”

The two stayed
up on deck until the boat reached the English Channel. They passed the White
Cliffs at Dover and ventured further out into the sea. The waves became a
little choppy, and the wind picked up, moving the ship briskly along. Salt
water sprayed into their faces, and they both decided it would be best to
return below deck.

*~*~*

The ship made
good progress to the Isles of Scilly with a steady wind, relatively calm seas,
and a very knowledgeable and courteous crew.

Elizabeth’s
cabin was small, but clean. It had two beds, a chest of drawers, and a single
mirror on the wall.

Elizabeth got
along splendidly with her travelling companion, Miss Alice Whiting. She was
thirty-seven, never married, but seemingly content in her circumstances, living
with her brother and his wife. Mr. and Mrs. Whiting loved to travel, and his
sister almost always accompanied them. This was their third journey to the
Isles of Scilly to visit friends. They loved the beautiful beaches, mild
weather, and lack of crowds.

Despite a rather
large age difference, Elizabeth and Miss Whiting discovered they had much in
common. They both delighted in observing people, and more than once they shared
a laugh over something someone said or did that they found diverting.

They were both
early risers, and the first morning out at sea they enjoyed a leisurely walk on
the deck of the ship before most people were up. They found that the morning
waters were calmer than later in the day.

The two ladies
also discovered that they had read many of the same books and enjoyed the same
favourite poets, which prompted lively discussions between them.

There was one
other thing they had in common. They had both turned down a proposal of
marriage.

Miss Whiting
confessed to Elizabeth that she now regretted turning down the proposal from a
man for whom she had felt only a friendship. She was under the impression that
she would have had more strength of feeling if she truly loved him.

Elizabeth
admitted to Miss Whiting that she had also turned down a proposal, but one that
she did not regret at all. She could readily laugh as she told Miss Whiting
about Mr. Collins and his oddities. Then she told her about how her friend
Charlotte readily stepped in to mend any sort of broken heart Mr. Collins may
have suffered at Elizabeth’s refusal, and promptly secured his offer of
marriage for herself.

“I honestly
believe,” Elizabeth told her, “that his pride was wounded more than his heart
by my refusal.” She smiled and shook her head. “He would have had a difficult
time going back to his patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh without having
secured some sort of understanding with a lady.”

As much as
Elizabeth could laugh about refusing her cousin’s offer and readily talk about
his unpleasant ways, she could not bring herself to mention refusing Mr.
Darcy’s offer of marriage. It was something that still aroused a great many
mixed feelings within her.

As they walked
together the second day out, Miss Whiting brought up the subject again.

“Do you think it
wrong, Elizabeth, for me to wonder how different my life would be now if I had
only said yes to him? I am not unhappy living with my brother and his wife, but
I wonder if I truly made a mistake.”

Elizabeth took
her arm and patted it. “We all wonder about things like that, Alice. I often
wonder how different my life might be if I had had a governess growing up, or
maybe even a brother. From time to time we all ask how things might be
different.”

“Yes, we do, but
there is a difference in wondering about being in different circumstances that
you cannot control and wondering about having made a decision that affects you the
rest of your life.”

Elizabeth looked
straight ahead. Accepting Mr. Darcy’s proposal would certainly have changed her
life, but she could not say that she actually regretted her answer to him.

“Do you know
what happened to the young man?” Elizabeth asked after a few moments of
silence. “Did he ever marry?”

Alice nodded.
“Yes, within a half year. I think it was then that all my regrets surfaced.”

“I can
understand that,” Elizabeth replied. Then with a laugh, she added, “I was more
shocked than anything else when I heard of my friend’s engagement to Mr.
Collins. I could not understand how she could do such a foolish thing.”

“Well, it is
good that you know you did not make a mistake. I, on the other hand, do not
have such assurance.”

Elizabeth tried
to smile, but could not. Mr. Darcy had not turned out to be the villain she had
first thought him to be, yet she still felt he had acted injudiciously in
discouraging Mr. Bingley in his affections for her dearest sister, Jane.

Elizabeth let
out a mournful sigh. She had the assurance that she did the right thing in the
one proposal, but did she have it in the other?

*~*~*

The journey to
the Isles of Scilly took them just within sight of the English shoreline as
they made their way south and west. Occasionally the coast would be out of
sight, and then different points of land would jut out enough to give all the
travellers a feeling of reassurance that they were not drifting aimlessly out
in the middle of the vast sea.

On the morning
of the third day out, the two ladies were up on deck, knowing they would be
arriving soon at their destination. Miss Whiting told Elizabeth to watch on the
right side of the ship for the small rocky outcroppings that were off St.
Martin’s island.

“They will keep a
good distance away from those dangerous rocks,” she said. “Apparently the rocks
all around the Isles of Scilly have taken many a good ship down, including a
fleet of four naval ships in the 1700s.”

“Heavens!”
Elizabeth replied. “That would certainly make for an undesirable adventure!”
She let out a laugh keeping a lookout on the starboard side. “Let us hope that
our captain keeps well away from those rocks!”

The boat finally
docked at the port on St. Mary’s without any such adventure. Elizabeth and Miss
Whiting wished each other God’s blessings and went on their separate ways.

Elizabeth joined
her father, and they disembarked the ship. She held on to his arm as people
rushed past, eager to reach their loved ones or set off to their final
destination. The merchant ship had been transporting a variety of produce and
textiles, and large crates were offloaded onto carts, which were now making
their way out of the harbour.

A young boy
walked towards them, asking people he passed if they needed assistance. Mr. Bennet
reached into his pocket and pulled out some coins and a slip of paper. He
stopped him with a wave of his hand.

“Young lad, we
need a carriage to convey us to this address. Would you be so kind as to find a
driver to take us there?”

The boy bobbed
his head, taking the coins and the piece of paper. “Yessir, I’ll fetch one fer
ye at once!”

They waited just
a bit longer before seeing a carriage round the corner, the young boy running
alongside as he directed it to Elizabeth and her father. The carriage driver
stepped down, and Mr. Bennet pointed out their luggage. He gave the boy another
coin for his promptness.

With a quick nod
of his head and a “Thank ye, sir,” he skipped away.

Elizabeth and
her father stepped into the carriage and sat across from one another. As the
carriage moved along, Elizabeth turned her head from one side to the other,
enjoying the view out of each window. They climbed a small hill and Elizabeth
looked back at the harbour. Although smaller than the one in London, there were
a good many ships of all different sizes. They rose and dipped in harmony at
the command of the waves. And out beyond, in the other direction from which
they had come, she could just barely see the perilous rocks, some large and
some small, that stood ready to battle any ship that dared come near.

“So, Elizabeth,”
Mr. Bennet said after a while. “From all that I could collect by your manner of
speaking, you and Miss Whiting seemed to enjoy each other’s company. Of what
interesting topics did you speak to find you so engaged?”

“We talked about
things women like to talk about. I am quite certain you would find it all
tedious!”

“I suspect you
are right, Lizzy, but I have no objection to hearing about your new friend.”

Elizabeth
laughed. “We spent many late nights talking about how she has had to live with
her brother and his wife as she never married and how I live in a household
with four sisters, three of whom are quite silly, but one who is my dearest
friend.”

“Miss Whiting
seemed pretty enough. She has had no suitors, eh?”

Elizabeth bit
her lip. “She did tell me about a proposal she once turned down and now regrets
– just a little.”

Mr. Bennet
laughed. “Splendid! I suppose you were able to lament about the proposal
you
turned down and now regret, eh?”

“You know I most
certainly have no reason to lament turning down Mr. Collins’s proposal, for I
do not regret it in the least! What I did lament was how Charlotte took it upon
herself to secure his engagement herself.”

“Imprudent
affair on her part, indeed. But I fear, my dearest daughter, that your mother
still begrudges you for refusing him.”

“Still? But she
does not say anything to me about it anymore.”

“That is because
I admonished her not to say another word to you about it,” Mr. Bennet said as
he reached out and patted Elizabeth’s hand.

“I thank you for
that, Father.”

“Oh, she had a
difficult enough time of it when you visited Charlotte in Kent. I do not think
a day passed when she did not wonder aloud how you felt now that you had seen
how content Charlotte was being married to Mr. Collins. For you must know how
often Mrs. Lucas talks about it.”

“I imagine so,”
Elizabeth said softly.

“No need to fret
about it. I believe your mother was more upset about not being able to boast to
Mrs. Lucas about your marriage to my esteemed cousin and instead has had to put
up with Mrs. Lucas boasting to
her
.”

“If only your
cousin had been a more sensible man.”

Mr. Bennet
laughed. “Yes, if only. I cannot think of one sensible man in my family. Not
that I know them all, mind you.”

They rode a bit
longer in silence. Elizabeth had never once thought about what might have been
different had Mr. Collins been handsome and sensible. She may have been more
than pleased to accept his offer of marriage.

She glanced at
her father and wondered of his thoughts. Did he regret not having a son or not
putting away a good sum of money as a handsome dowry for his five daughters?
She never really saw him worry. She imagined her mother did enough worrying for
the two of them.

“Well, Lizzy,
there were no stormy seas or pirates,” he said after a while, conveniently
changing the subject. “Will not your mother be most disappointed?”

Elizabeth
laughed. “I believe, Father, that the journey was so calm, that even Jane would
have managed nicely.”

“Ah, yes! She
just may have,” he answered. “But then, there is always the journey home.”

*~*~*

They reached the
top of the hill and looked out over the vast ocean and rocky beaches on one
side, and heather-filled fields on the other. Wisps of clouds were strung across
a deep blue sky, seemingly content to remain where they were and enjoy the view
below. Elizabeth did not think she had ever seen anything so beautiful.