“Shall I begin by telling you of the buckets of tears my brother-in-law has shed, Miss Marianne? Or ought I to commend you for tormenting him with admirable moderation? Perhaps I shall tell you that my brother and I gave him a very stern lecture this morning.”
Marianne grinned. “I am glad to hear all of those things. My cousins would have me be kinder to him, as Jane no longerfeels what she did in the autumn; but she is incapable of bearing any ill will toward anyone.”
“Except his sisters, I hope.”
“Are they truly so horrid? You must be very well acquainted with them.”
“They are selfish and supercilious,” Lady Rebecca said with an impish smile. “As convenient as my marriage to their late brother was, I was sorry to gratify them in such a connection. One might imagine the daughters of a tradesman would think any connection to the gentry worth some civility, but they act as if their father was a lord. The eldest married a boorish idiot and awaits the day he eats or drinks himself into a permanent stupor, while the youngest thinks to get her claws in my cousin Darcy – or my brother the viscount. If I thought there was any real danger of her succeeding, I would compromise her with a stable boy before I allowed the match!”
Marianne gave a startled laugh at her new friend’s candor; she liked her very well already. “You are generous to think better of their brother. But you already know what I think of the male species at present, and therefore I cannot repine what I have said to Mr. Bingley. If he has wept for Jane, it is just what he deserves. I can think of other men who should also be made to weep for what they have done.”
“I have no doubt, Miss Marianne; I daresay young ladies who have been treated properly have not your taste for vengeance," Lady Rebecca prompted her.
“If you would not object to hearing two very dismal tragedies, I believe I can trust in your discretion,” Marianne said. She smiled, knowing she had found a companion who would not encourage her to nobler sentiments like patience and forgiveness.
Lady Rebecca’s eyes twinkled with interest. “Good Heavens, have you both been crossed in love? By all means, tell me everything! But I must warn you that I shall very likely try to do something about your troubles.”
“I do not think there is anything to be done – although a measure of vengeance does sound appealing,” Marianne huffed. She related her history with Willoughby in excruciating detail, and managed to shed nary a tear. “At least there is some justice in the world, for my cousin Lizzy wrote that when she met with him in London, she gave him such a dressing down that his betrothed called off their engagement. He denied that there everwasan engagement, but how can I believe anything he says, after such wickedness?”
“Good Heavens! To seduce a girl of such a tender age,” Lady Rebecca tutted. “My cousin Georgiana is but a year older than this Miss Williams, and Charles still thinks of her as a child.”
“Do you mean Miss Darcy? Lizzy said that Miss Bingley spoke of her often, hinting that she would make a better bride than Jane, and Mr. Bingley never discouraged her aspirations.”
Lady Rebecca sighed. “Perhaps he does not contradict his sisters as he ought to – I only meant to say that even Charles, whom I suppose you are resolved to despise, is not as depraved and dastardly as your Mr. Willoughby.”
“He is notmyWilloughby; I suppose he never was. But if you thinkhima villain, prepare yourself for something very shocking indeed.” Though Marianne had the discretion to conceal Edward’s name, she related the salient points of her sister’s heartbreak, and did not restrain herself in abusing Lucy Steele. “My cousins write that evenheis quite mortified by the connection. And then, when we read my cousins’ letter… I hardly know what to think.”
Marianne grew sensible of her own indiscretion, for she was on the verge of revealing more than she knew her sister would like. Of course, Elinor scarcely wished to discuss Edward at all. Marianne could not see how Lady Rebecca might fully come to know them, to understand their character and their present dejection, if she did not at least illuminate the despair they suffered.
“So your cousins have met with both of your disappointing beaux? I hope they gave this other fellow the same treatment as Willoughby – as you have done for the man who disappointed your cousin.”
“I fear Jane was far too kind to him. She added a postscript to Lizzy’s letter, for he called on them in the interval. Jane said that it was evident he had soured on his sweetheart, but she seems to be under the impression that Elinor has rebuffed Edward in some way. Oh!”
Marianne brought a hand to her mouth, for she had said his name. Rage boiled in her chest, and she balled her hand into a fist at her side. Why should she not defame him, when he was proven a deceiver twice over? “He concealed his engagement from Elinor when they met at Norland, and how he thinks to deny his connection to Elinor.”
“Does your sister cherish some hope that he may free himself of this unpleasant young lady?”
“She does. He visited on Christmas Eve, though he stayed but half an hour. Elinor would not tell me what they spoke of, but this morning when we read the letter, she finally confessed that shehadthought to wait for him.”
Lady Rebecca glanced round at Elinor, who was speaking to the colonel with considerable animation, and then she smiled at Marianne. “So your sister is still attached to this Edward, who means to end his mesalliancewith the nasty Miss Steele, and yethe has called on your cousin, a recent heiress, and told her that her cousin refused him! Does he seek to courthernow?”
Marianne shuddered. “Jane would never! It is not her nature to do what Lizzy and I have boldly done, but she would never receive any addresses from him!”
“I suppose I must be relieved for the viscount’s sake,” Lady Rebecca said with a smile. “But poor Richard!”
Marianne suppressed a smirk as she looked in the direction of Elinor and the colonel. She began to think it a very fine thing that her sister, whom Edward was determined to disappoint, should appear so pleasantly engaged with a man who clearly enjoyed her company in return. Still, she feigned ignorance as she asked, “What do you mean?”
Lady Rebecca made a droll face at her. “Let us not pretend with one another! You must suspect what I do, that my brother has shown your sister a marked preference.”
“There is no chance of him being secretly betrothed, is there?”
“He would find the very notion of a secret engagement idiotic; such a thing would never occur to him. If he loved a woman my family disapproved of, he would tell them precisely how little that influenced his own happiness, and in such language as I ought not describe to you.”
Marianne frowned. “I had always thought the concept to be a romantic one… until lately; now I think them the cruelest thing in the world.”
“I suppose that must be the common thread between Mr. Willoughby, Edward, and even Charles. None of them had the temerity to defend the women they loved before their overbearing relations.” Lady Rebecca lapsed into a moment of contemplative silence, and then with a sly smile she asked, “Butwhat of Lizzy – Miss Elizabeth Bennet? She gave my cousin a sound lashing – has she some heartbreak that fuels her ire?”
“No, she has been luckier than the three of us. She fancied Mr. Wickham, for a time, but she was relieved at being unaffected by his pursuit of another local girl”
