“But he does not know where she is!” protested the girl, her eyes brimming. “Please, you mustn’t send Lydia away. She is my friend!”
“You will not be without a friend, for Miss Bennet will remain,” he suggested. “I would not send Elizabeth away,” he added softly.
Georgiana’s tears stopped and she regarded him suspiciously. “You would send one sister away, but not the other?”
“One of them is not wed to George Wickham!”
“And Elizabeth would permit you to send her sister away?”
“She will understand my reasons. We are of one mind, Georgiana.”
The girl rose, her features twisting in anger. “Is there anyone youdotrust besides Elizabeth Bennet? Why do you suddenly return and listen only to her? Where was this great attachment before, Brother?”
“It is not for you to question,” he answered shortly. “You do not know what I have seen. You are naïve—innocent, rather, and I would have you remain so, but you must not challenge my judgment.”
“Well, you cannot send Lydia away, for she ismyguest,” Georgiana tried stubbornly.
“Would you lure Wickham here? I am surprised at you, Georgiana, I would have thought you would have nothing to do with him!”
“It is not Lydia’s fault that she believed him. I did, too,” Georgiana crossed her arms. “It would serve him right for his child to be raised here at Pemberley, where he is never welcomed.”
Darcy’s face washed in horror. “Georgiana! You know that is impossible. I see the woman has bewitched you!”
“Has not Elizabeth—” this she spoke in an irritating sing-song— “bewitchedyou, Brother?”
His jaw clenched. “Georgiana, I have longed to see you for months, and I hope you have regretted my absence as well. I will not have our reunion tainted by such pointless arguments! Elizabeth will remain here, but Mrs Wickham must go. Richard is traveling to London. He can accompany her back to Longbourn. It is just as well that she should go soon, for I understand her confinement is drawing near.”
Georgiana grew pale. “Do you mean that Richard is to go, too?”
Darcy turned his back, unable to face her any longer. “There is a conspiracy against us, Georgiana, and I know only that it stems from within our own family. We cannot afford—”
“ButRichard!”
He turned back sharply. “We shall discuss this no further!” He paused, seemed to regret his words, and looked to the ground.
Georgiana was breathless and wide-eyed, still digesting the stranger in her brother’s place. “Fitzwilliam—” she began to protest.
His face hardened again. “We are finished discussing it. Bid your adieux to Mrs Wickham.” Then he left the room, jerking the door closed with his own hand.
Chapter forty-five
Byearlyafternoon,Elizabethhad finally retired to her own room, but she did not try to rest. No, William would need her….
She sat down to her bed and rubbed her eyes until they watered. Her heart ached when she saw the mistrust flashing in his eyes with each new person he encountered, for she knew it for what it was: fear. Perhaps he had genuine reasons to doubt those close to him, or perhaps the shadows from his captivity were truly so dark that he could not see, but she dreaded what would come when he pushed everyone away. Surely, he must understand that he needed to trustsomeoneelse, for he would never learn the truth if he did not.
She wished, perhaps foolishly, that she had heard at least some part of what George Wickham would have had to say. Lies, likely, but within the most convincing lie was always a kernel of truth. Would that she could have sifted his words! But after last night, when she had collapsed, broken, to the ground, he had bidden her a foppish adieu and galloped away. She wondered if he ever had desired Colonel Fitzwilliam’s protection, or if it had all been some elaborate tale to draw out her interest and compromise her in Darcy’s eyes. Or perhaps it had been an attempt to access Georgiana directly. She shuddered and tried not to dwell on what might have befallen, had not Darcy arrived when he did, and forgiven her as he had done.
Elizabeth dismissed her maid and dropped to her bed with the old journal. Reading would be a welcome diversion, but she did not feel herself equal to any of the great works in the Pemberley library. Lady Georgina’s ramblings and missives were typically short and colourful—the perfect combination to keep her from falling asleep. Elizabeth thumbed idly through the entries she had already read. Lady Georgina discovering herself to be with child—the child must have been George Darcy, she supposed; her husband leaving for business on the continent, in the aftermath of a tragic earthquake that had threatened some of his commercial interests; receiving the Earl of Matlock and her sister the Countess for the summer holidays—she presumed them to have been the colonel’s grandparents.
Elizabeth smiled drowsily with each deftly phrased quip penned by Lady Georgina. She had possessed a knack for delivering an insult in such a way that the victim was compelled to thank her for her graciousness. If only she herself knew how to be so subtle! She sighed, and despite her best efforts, her fingers fell between the pages and her eyes grew heavy.
A knock brought her instantly to attention, and she swallowed the thick feeling in her mouth before trying to speak. “Yes?”
The answering voice was muffled for the first few words. “Lizzy, you had better—” the door burst open, and Lydia continued loudly as she flounced through it— “come out here at once and set Mr Darcy straight! He is making a dreadful fuss of things, and dear Georgiana cannot stop crying!”
Elizabeth stifled a yawn and stretched, laying aside the journal. “Lydia, what is this all about?”
“Mr Darcy, that’s what! He will not listen to anyone, and it seems that you are the only person he has not cast out of the county. Come make him be reasonable, or I declare, I shall give birth in the drawing room just to spite him! Did you know that he is sending the colonel and me back to London?”
