Page 5 of United By Happenstance
Elizabeth’s amazement gave way to greater feelings of offence. “Lady Catherine, if I sought Mr Darcy’s attention, it was for reasons you cannot presume to understand at a glance. You have widely mistaken my character, ma’am, if you think me here to ensnare him.”
“But of course, you should seek to deny it. I am ashamed of you! Such an appearance of innocence as you have may fool a lesser mind, but you will find me wise to your arts and allurements. I think it best that you and Miss Lucas are removed from the house immediately.”
“You will not find me unwilling,” replied Elizabeth, rising immediately to go.
“Not so hasty,” hissed her ladyship. “I have by no means done. It is clear to me that by some contrivance or manipulation you have placed a considerable hold upon my nephew. I have never seen him less composed in the presence of any young woman. I intend to knowallbefore it becomes a matter of gossip. Tell me, then, Miss Bennet—have you had an assignation with him?”
Elizabeth stood stock-still, white-lipped, until the molten outrage which had filled her spirit left her. “Your assumptions and your accusations, your ladyship, are as pernicious as they are ill-judged. You impugn my honour as much ashiswith such a question. What your nephew might say, had he heard you utter such an enquiry, I might only guess. You certainly have insulted me by every possible method. I must beg to take my leave of this house.” She turned swiftly again to go.
Lady Catherine’s arm shot out to bar her way, and she raised her voice to exclaim, “You will hear me out! It is for Darcy’s own honour that I detain you. I care nothing for yours. So far there has been no scandal, and no falsehood has spread. So it must remain. Do I make myself clear on this matter?”
The door to the salon suddenly opened with a bang as it twisted back forcefully on its hinges, and Mr Darcy’s voice immediately filled the shocked silence. “This is beyond bearing! How can you so slander Miss Bennet, and then dare to speak ofmyhonour? Have you no sense to know when matters cease to concern you? This interview ends—now!”
Lady Catherine reared back and hissed, “How dareI? How dareyou! For now I see it clearly. You have debased yourself, Nephew!”
Mr Darcy went white with anger, and Elizabeth flinched, both at her ladyship’s insult and her anticipation of a volatile response from the gentleman. But when Mr Darcy spoke again, his voice rolled with the threat of a storm over a sea of calm. “You understand nothing. There is no debasement here but yours, and all from yourslanderoustongue.”
Lady Catherine gasped at his words, but, contrary to her nature, kept her silence.
Mr Darcy turned to Elizabeth and made her an irresistible offer. “You have suffered a grievous and unforgivable injustice. Please allow me to take you home.”
FIVE
Mr Darcy accompanied her swiftly from the room, but once they were in the hall, he reached out suddenly, and very gently, took her elbow. She could feel that his hand was shaking—or perhaps it was herself who was so shaken.
“Miss Elizabeth?—”
“Mr Darcy?—”
“A moment, please. You seem unwell. Would you accompany me to the study, if only for a moment? I think it best that I return you to the company of my sister and Miss Lucas after we have both regained our composure.”
Elizabeth nodded mutely and allowed him to conduct her past the door to the music room and down the stairs. Once they gained the quiet space of the study, he let go of her and gestured to a table glistening with crystal decanters. “Is there something I can get you for your present relief? I keep some sherry here, if brandy is not to your taste.”
Elizabeth heard him asking her preference as if from a distance. She nodded at the sherry without much thought and made her way to a chair near the room’s long window. She sank into the cushion and closed her eyes a moment with a sigh, and when she opened them again, she watched him busy himselfpouring her a little glass. The mundane task seemed to steady his nerves a little, even as she felt hers unravelling at this act of kindness. After such distress just moments ago, the balm of his hospitality shook her once again.
He offered the glass to her, and she took a sip dutifully, her eyes still on him. She was absorbed by what she read in his expression as he equally read hers: the concern, the brightened emotion in his gaze, the rapid changes in his colour as his anger faded and passed into something simultaneously more and less composed. Far from the proud aloofness that she had always associated with him, in this moment he seemed so very open, so very near, like his own heart was racing as much as hers, and all his thinking and feeling in as much a tangle as she found knotted up within herself.
“Miss Elizabeth,” he said at last, “there are no words to properly convey my apologies for what you have suffered just now. For Lady Catherine—my own aunt—to attack you with such unmerited ire in my own house!”
“There is nothing you must say to me,” Elizabeth said gently. “The fault here belongs to Lady Catherine.”
“Not entirely. She would not have attacked you thus without some cause. Forgive me. It is indelicate to speak of this—but I am certain when I first saw you today that my aunt perceived some change in me that raised her alarm. It was unconsciously done, but I undoubtedly betrayed my thoughts in that moment, and she presumed to judge you most ungenerously.”
“It was nothing you have done,” Elizabeth countered. “I do not think you heard—just now—when Lady Catherine disclosed that she saw something inmybehaviour that exposed me to her worst suspicions. You cannot blame yourself.”
He shook his head resolutely. “But I do. I blame myself for exposing you to her censure, and I have wronged you on one other point as well. For despite my influence with her, I havedone nothing to check in her that sense of unscrupulous pride that sets her so at odds with others in the world. Indeed, I even mirrored it and was encouraging of that habit of thinking meanly of others. You know this—for did I not wound you myself, only a month ago? Did I not humble, demean, and pain you at the very moment when I should have raised you up as a woman worthy of my utmost regard?”
He groaned and covered his face with his hands as if the bitter irony were blinding him. He sank into the chair opposite her with a sort of boneless helplessness that Elizabeth found riveting. She watched him take a heavy breath, and just when her sympathies caused her to wonder whether she should say something to comfort him, her judgment convinced her of the justice of his painful epiphany. She would not interfere while he was still in its power. She sipped her sherry and waited for her senses and his to reunite into a semblance of calm.
Gradually, Mr Darcy gathered himself. His hands unveiled his face, and he regarded her with a sincerity that fixed her further into silence. “Please accept my profoundest apologies for speaking and thinking so, for paining you, for disparaging your own family when my own has treated you despicably. I am sorry, so terribly sorry. I find I am teaching myself at the price of your own pain, and I am humbled.”
Elizabeth had ample evidence before her to know that he felt his own words keenly. Here was a man whose demeanour among others always showed the utmost self-control, yet he sat before her now entirely discomposed. A man whose pride had once given her a disgust of him, and who was now plainly disgusted by it himself. The transformation was remarkable, and Elizabeth hoped the great cost of his new humility gave it permanent value.
She set down her glass on the little table beside her, then rose. His eyes widened as she approached him, but this did notdeter her courage. She placed her hand on his shoulder as she stood before him. “I believe that when a wrong is acknowledged, keeping hold of its memory is unpardonable,” Elizabeth said softly. “I forgive you freely, sir.”
A huff of air escaped him, like she had dealt him a blow rather than given him the succour he sought. His frame shook with it until he pulled in a breath and raised his face to her in wonder. His hand reached up for hers, pressing into it where it still sat upon his shoulder.
“You are too generous with me,” he said softly. “Far too generous.”
