“Mr. Darcy?” said Caroline. “I have apologized to Miss Bennet. She has forgiven me. We are—”
“Quiet,” Mr. Darcy interrupted.
Caroline hunched up her shoulders.
“Secondly, I shall be sending a maid for Miss Bennet and she will be joining everyone for dinner in the evenings,” he said. “You will have to conduct the introductions to my sister yourselves, I’m afraid, but that should not be a true hardship. I trust you can manage that. I shall hopefully return soon. I don’t anticipate being gone too long. When I get back, we’ll put all of the rest of this to rights.”
“You’re leaving?” said Elizabeth.
“You should have told me,” said Mr. Darcy. “You kept that from me, and I would have never behaved the way I behaved with you had I known what you had gone through, what that villain of a man did to you. Toyou.”
Wait a minute? Was he angry with her? What did that even mean? “I’m sorry, but I did not think you would look charitably on me if you knew,” she said. “Keeping it from you was dishonest, and it was not to my credit.”
“This is not a scolding, not for you, Miss Bennet,” he said. “But it is frustrating, I suppose, because it’s yet another time when I become aware that you do not understand my character at all. I would not punish you for his sins. I am not that sort of man.” He shook his head. “But it does not matter. You will know me hereafter. We shall have time.”
What did that mean? Time? Was he still insistent that she be his mistress? “Where are you going?”
“What is important,” he said, “is that I shall be asking for a report on how things are conducted here, and if I find that either you, Miss Bingley, or you, Mrs. Hurst, have mistreated this woman while I am gone, I will not be pleased. I will not stand for it. I am appalled at what you have done to her, utterly appalled. I feel this sort of sick rage when I think about—” He clenched a hand into a fist. “But then I am appalled at myself as well. Between the three of us, we have done her a number of great wrongs.” He lifted his gaze from the fireplace to find hers. “My apologies, Elizabeth.” His voice cracked.
What was he apologizing for?
Elizabeth was entirely confused.
He straightened. “Right, then. Remember, I will have reports on your behavior. See to it that you do as I say.” And then, he simply walked right out of the sitting room, leaving them all there to gaze after him.
Silence reigned for several long minutes after he was gone.
Louisa was the first to speak. “Well, he has not turned us out.”
“I don’t need your bedchamber, Caroline,” said Elizabeth. “I am fine where I am, though I suppose it is a bit of a trek for the servants, so if I should move somewhere closer to the—”
“I think we must do as he says,” cut in Caroline. “I have never seen him like that.” She shuddered. “Did you see the way he balled up his fist like that? He is rather terrible when he is angry.”
Elizabeth had to agree to that. He had not raised his voice or raged or kicked things, but the quietness of his anger had been, yes, terrible. “Well, all right, I suppose we shall do as he says, then.” She paused. “But I don’t understand anything. I don’t think I should be dining at Pemberley or meeting Miss Darcy. I am so obviously with child, and… well, I don’t think I should.”
“Yes, where is he going?” said Louisa. “Does he still wish you to be his mistress?”
“I do not know,” said Elizabeth. “He… after knowing that Mr. Wickham… you said it made him violently ill, Caroline.” She looked at the other woman.
Who nodded. “Indeed.”
“So, he must not wish that anymore,” said Elizabeth. “On the other hand, it was all very confusing. He said strange things that I could not make sense of, that he would not punish me for Wickham’s sins, for instance, but there is no way to undo whatever consequences have been wrought on me, no matter what bedchamber he puts me in or how many of his sisters he introduces me to.”
“He only has one sister,” said Caroline.
“No, I know that,” said Elizabeth. “I was saying that for emphasis. I only meant he’s angry and he’s behaving erratically.”
“Yes, where could he possibly be going?” said Louisa.
“I am sorry, Eliza, but I think we must do everything he said,” said Caroline. “You must come to dinner. You must meet Miss Darcy. We cannot disobey him.” She turned to her sister for support.
“Yes, I agree,” said Louisa.
Elizabeth nodded. “Yes, of course. I do not know why I am thinking I have any reputation to salvage, anyway.”
“Well, it is only Miss Darcy,” said Louisa.
“And all the servants at Pemberley,” said Elizabeth quietly.
