“I know.”
Darcy sighed. “She does not deserve to suffer.”
“No,” Elizabeth said quietly. “She does not. Not for all her mistakes.”
“I often think,” Darcy said, “of a different young girl, almost sixteen, deciding to marry a man who she believed to be a good one, and who was much the opposite—I hope, I hope I have done something to makethatgirl happier.”
“You have; you must know that you have.” She warmly kissed his hand.
“Tell me,” Darcy asked, “what would you do with Georgiana?”
“What wouldIdo? I hardly know. I would—were I in her place…I do not know what I would want us to do, beyond—she has the Darcy ability to despise herself. We must avoid encouraging that.” Elizabeth laughed. “People can be so contrary.Shemight feel happier if we shouted at her, treated her unkindly and despised her.”
Darcy laughed, “Someone must feel the mistake keenly, and if her relations do not, she must accomplish the task herself—I could not. I could not treat her with anything but kindness, and with the knowledge that though she has made a serious mistake, she has repented of it.”
“As Georgiana said often, she thought they would be married—she was foolish more than wrong. You know, she only understood what Wickham was about, what it meant, when matters had already becomeirrevocable—Georgiana insists that she would not have stopped him, even had she understood everything; she insists that she allowed herself to be seduced, and that we must not think better of her than she deserves. Inthat, sheisvery like you.”
“We are family,” Darcy said.
“You cannot judge so harshly a girl who was so ignorant. Who understood so little. Poor Georgiana.”
“Ought we try to hide the whole thing from the world?” Darcy’s nose wrinkled in distaste at the thought.
Elizabeth sighed. “Must we? If we must. It is what is customary.” Then she laughed. “And you know how we are both slaves to custom.”
Darcy rolled his eyes. “Not quite.”
“I mean pagan customs, specifically.”
That caught Darcy by surprise, and he started laughing quite hard.
“For my part I would rather the scandal than to lie. Hiding a matter that is no one’s business is one thing, but to hide this would involve such efforts and difficulties that it would reach the status of a lie.” Darcy sighed. “But my duty is to Georgiana.”
“What does she wish, you think?” Then Elizabeth laughed. “We ought to ask her, in time.”
“Yes,” Darcy agreed. “But there is no hurry—I must tell the rest of my family. At present relations with Lady Catherine are broken, and I will give her no kindness, nor respect until she offers an apology to you. Lord Matlock and his wife, however, should be told in person, and asked for their advice. Even if I shall only act on what they recommend if I agree that it is sound, I respect them both sufficiently that I wish to give them the opportunity to have speech. And everyone will wish to meet you. When we return to Pemberley, we will call a family gathering to discuss Georgiana’s situation. Matters will be clearer by then.”
Elizabeth leaned her head against Darcy’s chest. “I hope it does not bother you that I do not feel any anxiety about meeting them. I am moreworried about meeting that housekeeper of yours, Mrs. Reynolds, who played such a role in stories of your childhood.”
“My dear Elizabeth.”
Darcy then yawned, and the two of them separated to each go to their separate beds. Darcy wished they were not.
Chapter Twenty One
As the carriage took them closer to Longbourn, Elizabeth eagerly looked out the windows. There, there—she had always noticed that farmhouse as a child when they left Mr. Gold’s estate after dining with them. And beyond it was Oakham Mount, rising softly above the surrounding farms, with oak trees near the top and a collection of marble benches.
A little stream divided Mr. Long’s land from Mr. Smith’s.
“Oh, no,” Elizabeth exclaimed as they passed the burned remains of a cottages on Mr. Long’s land, and not thirty feet away from the ruins, several workers scurrying around the timber frame of a new building. “I wonder what caused the fire.”
Then Lucas Lodge, where their nearest neighbors and Mama’s closest friend lived. “I’ve mentioned Charlotte Lucas to you, once or twice,” Elizabeth said. “She lives there. Poor girl, Papa says that she is nearing thirty, and still unmarried. I do hope you will like to meet her, as I am eager to renew the acquaintance.”
Darcy took her hand. “All of your friends shall be mine.”
She felt that mysterious piercing sensation which went up her arm when he touched her hand. And she experienced that warmth and the affection that she was filled with for Mr. Darcy.
They still had not joined as man and wife or even kissed in that particular way of couples.
