“Your uncle is better educated and from a more respectable family. Peake is the first of his line to make anything of worth of himself. I would not allow your uncle to marry my sister either.”
Elizabeth ground her teeth together.
A gust of icy wind outside rattled the windows. The sky was turned grey. Darcy’s coffee sat on the window sill, gone cold.
“You should not argue with me on such a matter,” Darcy added.
“Notarguewith you? Heavens! Not argue? What next will you demand?”
“You — not in front of others. YouknowI do not mean every argument. But on a serious matter, when we are married, I expect all respect to be shown in public.”
“Appearances?That.” Elizabeth spat. “Georgiana is miserable. Your sister. For no reason. Your sister made miserable by your obsession with appearances.”
“Mr. Peake and Mrs. Hood watched. And Georgiana. We should present a unified front to them all.”
“She will never achieve a splendid match.”
“Elizabeth…”
“Peake is her choice.”
“Her marriage is notherchoice. I am her guardian. Her brother. It is my place to determine her happiness.”
“Why do you not wish to see Georgiana happy?”
“Elizabeth.”
“I should not have said that.” She covered her eyes and pulled out the chair she had gripped and she sat heavily on it. Elizabeth looked at him with her deep soulful eyes. “I am made so angry. But, pray, let us talk rationally.”
Darcy nodded, but then he said, “I fear we have nothing to speak of. Georgiana is my responsibility. I will not sell her to a tradesman, no matter what.”
“Sell? Where is this obsession with money? Besides, Peake does not have enough to buy her.”
“Then he is a fortune hunter.”
“They love each other. Yousaidyou saw that.”
“Beneath. Under. He is under her.”
“Breeding creates inferiority, in addition to sex? Georgiana and I cannot make our own choices because we are women, and Mr. Peake is not worthy of happiness because he wasn’t born with a giant pile.”
“A Darcy woman, a granddaughter of an Earl of Matlock, will not marry a tradesman. The shades of Pemberley would rebel at such pollution.”
Darcy took a firm pose. He stood before the breakfast table with one hand behind his back. He needed to make Elizabethunderstand. He felt an uncanny anxiety. Why did she need him to explain? She should just know. His wife should feel in her guts the consequence of the Darcy family. She shouldfeelthe grandeur.
“Theshadesof your estate? You intend to ruin the happiness of your sister and of a decent, respectable man, to protect the tender sensibilities of yourghosts. I had joked with Georgiana about your estate having gothic tendencies. And now you tell me it ‘twas no joke. Have you other secrets I should know before we embark on matrimony?”
“This is not a-a matter of humor. Work with me to keep Georgiana from suffering—”
“I am working uponyouto spare her unnecessary suffering. Permit her to marry Mr. Peake.”
“Youought to see that it speaks ill of his character that he sought to persuade Georgiana. The difference in status. You must understand. Why can’t you understand? Georgiana has been isolated, and she is brimfull of affection. If he had been a good man, he would have made no offer of marriage. It speaks ill of his character. Lizzy, just understand.”
“Georgianamade the offer. Mr. Peake demurred at first for the reason you suggested. I had the entire story from him.”
“He sought to cast himself in the best light.”
“You are not listening to me.”
