“And you will ensure she does not live with us, will you not?” she laughed when he grimaced. “I cannot fault you for that thought, William, as it is exactly in line with my wishes.” She felt him sigh against her. “Let us go down now and see what we can learn.”
That said, she took him by the hand and led him back downstairs to her father’s book room. “Lizzy, Darcy,” the elder man greeted them. “What can I do for you?”
“We have come to speak of this ‘business proposition’ you have, Papa,” Elizabeth answered first. “Given that you did not deign to answer a single of my letters asking you to explain why you preferred us to marry from London, I was amazed to receive one that seems to be asking my husband for funds.”
Mr Bennet was taken aback. “That letter was sent to your husband, Lizzy, and was meant to be between us gentlemen. You had no right to read it.”
“I did have the right when my husband gave it to me to read, sir,” Elizabeth retorted tartly. “My husband views me as a partner in this marriage and not as an adornment; I am privy to all his business.”
“That is nonsense,” Bennet replied. “You will learn, Mr Darcy, that keeping the women out of your business is best. I am sure, in time, you will prevent your wife from being so involved in men’saffairs.”
“As my wife said, we are equals, and my business is hers. There is little of which she is unaware, and if she does not know it now, she will in time. I do not intend to live a life separate from my wife and welcome her into my life and my business,” Darcy replied stiffly.
Bennet scowled. He did not wish his daughter to know it, but he realised Darcy would not condone excluding her. With a grimace, he plodded forward. “I have a … situation and could use some help, Darcy,” Bennet admitted, his words trailing uncertainly.
“What kind of help, sir?” Darcy asked, his voice icy. Elizabeth placed her hand on her husband’s arm, clearly indicating where her loyalty lay.
“Well, I intended to tell you after dinner, over port, and without my daughter present, but the fact is, last autumn, about the time Lizzy rejected my heir, I attempted to do something to aid my daughters in the event of my demise by investing with a gentleman I knew from my school days. One thing led to another, and the investment failed, and now I owe these gentlemen five thousand pounds. They cannot do anything with Longbourn since it is entailed, and I have been giving them small amounts as I was able, but they are no longer satisfied with that. They are threatening to throw me into debtors’ prison, and on this last visit, just a few days ago, they … they offered to take Jane in payment.”
Neither Darcy nor Elizabeth could speak after this pronouncement. The initial revelation was bad enough, but that these men threatened to take her sister was beyond Elizabeth’s imagination. She was well-read and knew precisely what these men would do with her sister if they took her.
“Papa!” she cried. “You cannot be serious. How can you be so much in debt? Why would you not have contacted my uncle Gardiner for a reliable investment opportunity if you wanted to do something to help my sisters?”
Darcy laid his free hand on the one already resting on his arm, and she calmed somewhat. “What are you asking me to do, Mr Bennet,” he said, his voice stern.
“I was hoping you could give me five thousand pounds to settle my debt,” Bennet proposed. “You took my Lizzy, and Gardiner told me ofthe settlement. Surely, you can afford to give me that much since I gave you my favourite daughter.”
“Tell me more about this investment that resulted in you owing such a large sum,” Darcy insisted.
Bennet was initially reluctant to tell all, but eventually, under Darcy’s insistent questioning and unrelenting glare, he divulged the whole story. It was not an investment but rather an ill-advised foray into gambling that resulted in Bennet becoming entangled with disreputable men.
“I need the funds by the end of this month, or they will take Jane as repayment,” Bennet said finally. “They are serious and have threatened to harm, perhaps even kill, me if I attempt to keep them from doing as they wish. Somehow, one of them got a look at Jane while she was in London and decided she would fetch a fair price in a … certain place.”
Elizabeth paled at this shock, and Darcy was concerned until he saw the anger flashing in her eyes. “How could you do such a foolish thing, Papa?” she demanded. Looking at her husband, he nodded almost imperceptibly, and she continued. “We will give you the funds, but it will not be a gift. It will be a loan, and you will pay back every farthing. I am guessing the shopkeepers in Meryton are refusing credit only to the Bennets, not everyone, as Mama seems to think, either because you have failed to pay your bills as you paid off your gambling debts or because they know something of what you have done.”
Bennet acknowledged it was the former, adding to Elizabeth’s anger about the situation. “William and I will discuss the terms of the loan, and before you receive a farthing, you will sign our agreement and promise to do all we will insist upon.”
There was little Bennet could do but agree to whatever terms they set forth. Elizabeth stormed out into the gardens behind the house, and Darcy excused them both before he followed her. Bennet sat heavily in his chair and contemplated what brought him to this point.
Chapter Seventeen
Darcy quickly caught up with Elizabeth and, finding a spot hidden from view of the house, pulled his wife into his arms while she cried. “I am so sorry, William,” she sobbed.
“Why are you apologising, my love?” he replied softly. “You have done nothing wrong, and I am deeply impressed by how you handled your father. While I might have been inclined to simply give the funds to him, it is wise of you to require him to sacrifice to repay the money. He may very well do something like this again if there is no pain or effort required of him to correct the situation he has created.”
“You are correct that simply giving him funds will not require him to make any changes in his behaviour,” Elizabeth told him, her voice muffled as she was pressed to his chest. “This way, perhaps we can help my sisters since he will never make the effort to do so. We can invest the money he repays us to serve as dowries for my sisters or use a portion to pay for school or a governess to educate my younger sisters. Surely something can be done to correct their behaviour. Jane and I have tried often enough, but to no avail.”
Darcy nodded his agreement. “What stipulations would you like to include?” he asked as he led her to a bench he saw a little farther from the house.
“He must tell Mama, and they must learn to live on less. He will need to do what he can to increase the estate’s earnings and pay more attention to the running of it,” she grimaced before she stated her next thought. “Do you … do you think you could give him a few suggestions to improve the estate’s income? He has largely left things to Mr Todd, his steward, to manage and does little himself, and I am sure many things have been neglected while Jane and I have been away.”
Once again, he nodded his agreement. “I will ride out on the estate tomorrow morning to see what I might suggest. If we stay a few extra days, I will also look at his books.”
Elizabeth thanked him. “I have made suggestions over the years that he has not implemented. The steward would occasionally do as I suggested, but Papa would never agree if it required any expenditure of funds. And now, there will not be funds available to do so, even if he were to agree.”
When they reached the bench, Darcy sat down and pulled Elizabeth into his lap, comforting her with his embrace. Elizabeth broke the silence. “We have been here for such a short time, William, and already I am anxious to depart. I am angry at Papa for putting his family—and us—in this position, and you must know he was thinking of this when he agreed to us marrying. He knew he would ask you for this money and fully expected you to give it to him without condition.”
“Hush, love,” he crooned as she tensed in his arms before feeling her tears soak his cravat. He rubbed her back and soothed her by whispering words of love until she calmed. She, at last, took a shuddering breath and sat up, remaining seated where she was.
