“Now, Elizabeth!” the man roared. He turned his glare on Darcy. “I will have words with my niecealone, sir!”
Georgiana could not see her brother’s face, but she could well imagine it. Fitzwilliam Darcy was not in the habit of backing down to any man. She watched Elizabeth turn quietly to him and give him a look of such warm reassurance that it would have made her heart soar—if only she were not convinced that Elizabeth had betrayed her.
William deflated. She could see all of the starch go out of his manner even from behind. Deliberately, he gave Elizabeth back her hand and forlornly gazed after her retreating figure. Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder more than once, but she obeyed her uncle. The entire Bennet family, save for Jane, filed into the house, and the door banged closed, rattling on its hinges.
Georgiana clenched her eyes shut and buried her face in Bingley’s handkerchief. The sobs began anew. Everything was wrong! Her life as she knew it was over, and William’s chances with Elizabeth were blasted. Not that she ought to regret that, if Elizabeth had violated her confidence, but he had been so hopeful! Her dear brother had found love at last, and it was all a sham!
A gentle hand rested on her shoulder, and she looked up, stunned that William could be approaching her so kindly after what she had just done. It was not he. Jane’s sweet face, warmed by an understanding softness, smiled into her own. “Come, Miss Darcy. Shall we find someplace out of the cold where we can talk?”
“ElizabethBennet,areyouout of your senses?” Edward Gardiner paced the floor in his brother-in-law’s cramped study. His niece hunched in a seat, her hands pressed anxiously together between her knees and her eyes studying the carpet. “Lizzy! Look at me!” he snapped impatiently.
Elizabeth raised her face. He could still see the bright mark against her cheek from that horrible Darcy girl. “How did you become mixed up with this dreadful family? Indecent, both of them! I will not see this go any further!”
Elizabeth closed her eyes, and a fat tear escaped. What she would have given two days ago to be able to depend upon just such a determination from her uncle! Now, searching her feelings, she found it was the last thing she wished. “Uncle, please, there is so much you do not know! Please let me try to explain!”
He blew air through his teeth, running his fingers over his thinning pate. Exasperated, he, at last, took a seat. His vibrant and spirited niece sat wilted and lost before him, dejected and defeated. No, he could not allow this to continue! Whoever this Darcy fellow was, if he held this kind of power over the indomitable Elizabeth Bennet, his society must not be tolerated.
Elizabeth took a deep breath to begin, but the door to the study creaked open. Holding up his hand to stay her explanation, he looked to find his wife entering the room. She closed the door softly behind herself and took a seat next to Elizabeth, patting her niece’s hand. Mr Gardiner studied his wife shrewdly. Madeline had a fair bit of the romantic in her, but she was not known to him to take leave of her senses where the decent comportment of young ladies was concerned.
“Well, then. Which of you is going to tell me what is going on?” His gaze shifted from one to the other. The women exchanged a look, Elizabeth surrendering easily to her aunt’s firmness.
“My dear, it is not as bad as it appears,” Mrs Gardiner suggested sweetly. “Perhaps if I start at the beginning?” She repeated to her husband what Elizabeth had told her of the hours immediately following Mr Bennet’s accident and Darcy’s unexpected announcement, keeping her eyes on her niece’s for confirmation that she had got it right.
Mr Gardiner pinched the bridge of his nose. “My dear, what you are telling me does not improve my opinion of the gentleman. And you, Lizzy, I have never known you to tolerate officiousness! How is it you can accept this situation with equanimity?”
“I did not, Uncle. Not at first.” Elizabeth spoke around the tightening in her throat, willing her heart to steady and her breathing to slow. Carefully, she spent some minutes elaborating on her improved understanding of the man in question. With deepest humility, she laid bare all her misconceptions and regrettable conduct. “I have come to see that I was wrong about him, Uncle!” she concluded. “You must believe me; he is a good and honourable man.”
“Indeed. Is that why I caught the two of you in a compromising position in the middle of the road?” Mr Gardiner spoke with a brittle edge in his voice. “Well, tell me, Lizzy! Are those the actions of an ‘honourable’ man?”
Mrs Gardiner turned widened eyes on her niece. Elizabeth flushed guiltily, confirming her uncle’s accusation. “Lizzy!” she whispered in scandalized awe.
“And that sister of his!” Mr Gardiner continued. “An unprincipled hoyden! She attacked you, Lizzy! Scandal or no, I will not permit you to ally yourself with such a family!”
“Miss Darcy was not herself!” Elizabeth cried defensively. “She is a sweet and vulnerable girl, Uncle! I do not know what has set her off, but she clearly believes I have wronged her somehow.” Suddenly she straightened. “Where is she, Aunt? Did she go? Poor Georgiana!”
Her uncle snorted derisively and rose, stalking to the window.
“I expect she has returned to Netherfield, Lizzy,” Mrs Gardiner supplied. “Her maid left the kitchen a while ago. I believe Jane and Mr Bingley saw her home.”
Relief washed over Elizabeth’s face. “Dearest Jane! She will know what to do. Is Mr Darcy…?”
“Do you mean that rather pathetic figure in the garden?” Her uncle turned a wry expression on her. Elizabeth leapt to her feet, joining her uncle at the window. Darcy did indeed look morose. He sat alone on a little stone bench, his head in his hands and light snow crusting his greatcoat.
Elizabeth’s breath fogged the glass, and she lightly traced a small hole in the mist so she could still make out his shape. Mr Gardiner watched her carefully. He had never seen Elizabeth offer the slightest concern for any gentleman, but she seemed markedly anxious over this fellow’s disturbance of mind. It showed some propriety of feeling, he supposed, that the gentleman had remained at Longbourn after the others had departed, and by all appearances, suffered greatly over the afternoon’s events.
Mr Gardiner sighed. “Send him in, Lizzy. I will speak with the man—alone.”
CarolineBingleyhadspentthree out of the four hours it took to travel to London weeping in desolation. All of her plans were lost to her! There would be no glorious Pemberley to impress her friends, no handsome and prestigious Mr Darcy to usher her about London society. He was so perfect for her! Why could he not see it?
Everything was going along so smoothly until those wretched Bennet sisters had spoilt it all! Jane had begun it with her porcelain face and milk toast ways. Ninny that she was, Caroline could have predicted Charles would fall for her. Why could he not have pursued Georgiana Darcy instead, as she had desired? Jane possessed no virtues that the Darcy heiress did not, and was penniless besides!
Still, all might not have been lost if it had not been for that horrid Eliza Bennet. What on earth was Darcythinking? If he wanted a woman with a little spirit to warm his bed, she would have been more than willing to fit that bill! Had she not always been enthusiastic and clever when he was around? Impossible man!
Eventually, she dried her tears. It would take a good hour’s rest for the effects of her lamentations to fade decently enough to make herself presentable at her London home. She closed her eyes in thoughtful repose. Surely it was not yet too late! What could she do, so far from the centre of it all?
She had to concoct some excuse, some means of returning to their prior intimacy. There remained no avenues before her! Desperation turned in her breast. She needed Darcy! Hours—years!—spent gazing longingly at his chiselled profile had cultivated a powerful feeling within her. Dared she call it love? It was near enough. What was love but a strong desire and affinity of disposition? He would make her the perfect husband!
His ample material consequence and his established societal capital were his primary attractions, but Caroline was no ice queen. Darcy’s person was by far the most pleasing she had encountered in her circles of influence. She had come to believe that his physical assets matched to perfection what she had always sought in her ideal mate.
