For the first few minutes there was a jovial feeling in the carriage, as they all smiled around, as though they’d achieved some impressive feat in escaping Lady Catherine. But then Elizabeth recalled the cause of their quick travel.
Her dearest friend was in real danger tonight, wholly under the control of Mr. Wickham, and he had threatened both her and Lydia with a gun.
“How could Lydia have been so stupid!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “And now the whole world will know through Lady Catherine and her servants of her stupid, inexcusable behavior.”
Bingley shrugged. “She’s young. High spirits and all. Devastated that the officers will leave in a few weeks.Mysister behaved worse. And Lydia thought the better of it in the end.”
“You’ll not convince me to be in friendly countenance with Lydia for a month.”
“No, no,” Bingley said. “Don’t be in that way — poor girl has received the shock of her life. No need to punish her further.”
“I don’t mean to—”Oh God. She pressed her hand against her mouth.
A sudden horrifying thought crossed Elizabeth’s mind. “Such a scandal! Everyone really shall know — when an heiress with twenty thousand pounds behaves in such a way, it will be the gossip for the whole of society for a month.”
Darcy placed a supporting hand on her knee. “Elizabeth, do not worry so.”
“Lord! And you’ll be involved in this too. Mr. Darcy, if you do not wish to be connected with me after such disgraceful behavior on the part of my family, I—”
“No.” He smiled at her. “Nothing could scare me away from you.”
“You have not thought about this — it is not merely the scandal. My sister has acted in a manner that can rightly be despised… you cannot wish to be connected so directly to a woman who behaved in such a way.”
An odd expression crossed Darcy’s face. “Ah, well…”
“Ah! Miss Elizabeth, you surely can’t think that Darcy would be so weak livered!” Colonel Fitzwilliam ejaculated.
“Darcy,” Elizabeth gripped his hand. “I beg you not to make any choice you would regret, and—”
“I love you, Elizabeth.” His voice was a throaty whisper that sent a shiver of desire down her spine despite the presence of his sister and Charlie.
She smiled tearily back at him.
“You two! Marrying! Congratulations!” Charlie exclaimed. “Never thought that would come off. Weareto be brothers! Despite how Caroline made a mess of everything — I still can barely forgive her. Even though I worry terribly for her.”
“Everyone loves their sister,” Darcy said. “Even when they behave abominably.”
“Ah, true.” Charlie nodded his head. He grinned widely. “Lizzy, you and Darcy! Congratulations. I’ll need to tell you all the stories of how he behaved in university. You’ll not believe the things he got up to.”
“I suspect I will.”
“I mostly studied my Latin and Greek, and argued.”
“What about that time with the goat and the dean?”
Darcy stared at Charlie; Charlie grinned back. Darcy suddenly giggled in a manner that she could not have imagined hearing from him before. “Your fault! That one was your fault!”
“Now, I must hear the—” Colonel Fitzwilliam began to speak.
Georgiana interrupted them with a half desperate shout. “I nearly eloped with Mr. Wickham! Please don’t end matters with Fitzwilliam, even if you cannot love me as a sister anymore.”
Elizabeth studied the somewhat panicked looking face of the girl sitting next to her.
Oh.
A great deal suddenly made sense about how Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam had treated Mr. Wickham when he came to Meryton.
Elizabeth embraced Georgiana. “Of course I can still love you — I do like you more the more I know you. And you are a sweet creature — I do not blame you at all for being fooled by such a man. And he is very handsome.”
