“Tell me,” he glanced toward the house, “Has your… your husband any friends among the commanding officers? Someone who might, perhaps, have owed him a favour?”
“I think it is my father-in-law who does. He is the governor of Porto, you know, and he has just come from Braga. I do not know what business he has there, but he goes often.”
“I think,” he mused, “I must find your brother. Firstly, though…” he grimaced painfully, licked his lips, and nearly strangled on his next words. “Tell me more about your marriage.”
Chapter twenty-five
Pemberley
“Lizzy,whenareyougoing to set aside that dull stuff and join us?” Lydia poked a fist into her bulging abdomen and cocked an impatient frown toward her sister. “First that fat old diary, and now the accounts. I begin to think you will turn into one of those books!”
Elizabeth looked up from the ledger, rubbing her eyes when they failed to adjust. “I cannot make heads or tails of this. Surely, there is something I have overlooked.”
“Is it not the steward’s duty to keep track of all the books? Come, Lizzy, you must listen to Georgiana learning the harp, she is really quite remarkable!”
“Our uncle promised to keep apprised of matters on behalf of Colonel Fitzwilliam, and I was to report to him and begin teaching Georgiana to look things over.” Elizabeth kneaded her brow as her pen scanned down the page once more. “It would seem that Pemberley is somewhat larger than Longbourn! I do not understand some of these entries. There appears no proper justification for these expenses here, and yet here, I see the budget has corrected itself as if by magic.”
Lydia waved her hand impatiently. “That is why there is a steward for these matters. Surely, to be employed at Pemberley, the man must know his business! Now come!”
Elizabeth sighed and closed the ledger, marking the page of curiosity with a slip of scrap paper. “Lydia, how does Georgiana seem to you today?”
Lydia paused and looked back to her sister. “Quiet.” She started to walk on, then turned round once more. “Lizzy, did you know that George once deceived her as well?”
Elizabeth drew a sharp breath. “She told you, did she?”
Lydia nodded, her face a blank. “I wonder that she is so friendly to me, after everything.”
“I do not. You can be quite enchanting, you know. She must have come to think very highly of you to confide so much.”
“But my name is now Wickham! How can she overlook that, after what nearly happened to her? I even told her about her brother coming to my rescue. She said she had wondered about it, and she cried a little, thinking of her brother, of course. I thought she would throw me out of the house altogether, but she did not. She simply wiped her tears and hugged me. Fancy that! She said it was just what she would have expected of him, and that what happened after was not my fault. She ought to have gotten angry, oughtn’t she?”
Elizabeth turned away, dashing some moisture from her eyes. After all her fears, Georgiana had proved as generous as her brother!William…. She drew a tight breath and then offered her sister an easy shrug in reply. “Georgiana is a Darcy. They are kind by nature.” She blinked and touched Lydia’s cheek affectionately. “And she knows what it is to believe in someone who proves false. I believe you have her whole sympathy.”
“She almost ended up as I did,” Lydia mumbled. “Pregnant and abandoned, with all her money stolen!”
Elizabeth draped an arm about her sister. “But her brother looked after her,” she smiled wistfully.
“Just as he tried to do for me! And just as you have done. It is too bad you were not born a man, Lizzy, you would have made a capital brother.”
Elizabeth laughed. “I have not Mr Darcy’s capacity to intimidate my sisters’ prospective seducers with a mere glance!”
“You speak too little of yourself, Lizzy. Even Mr Bingley told me once that he sought your approval before daring to approach Jane. I hope you are about if I ever do see George again.”
She raised a bemused brow. “You wish for me to run him off?”
“No, to hold him still. I should like nothing better than to twist his nose off!”
Elizabeth fixed her sister with a stern expression. “You must leave off this nonsense, Lydia. You only cause yourself more pain by dreaming up ways to avenge yourself on a worthless rascal.”
“You do not know what it is like! My body is a wreck, and in every way that matters, I am a stupid nobody! Everyone here knows George for what he is, and they all know very well what my circumstances shall be once the child is born. I will go back to my father’s home, and I will live as a widow with a child to raise.”
Elizabeth tugged her sister a little closer with a mischievous grin. “Come, Lydia, matters could be worse. Remember that Mr Collins will one day inherit Longbourn.”
Lydia glared back. “Do you know, sometimes I wonder why I like you, Lizzy.”
“It is for my bonnets of course,” Elizabeth chuckled. “And my clever wit.”
Lydia marched away in an affected huff, but she was giggling. “It is not fair, how you always make me laugh when I would rather be cross!”
