Page 45 of Roses from Pemberley
“My apologies,” said Darcy, as another silence fell.
At length Jane said, “But, Mr. Darcy, there is a question I would like to ask you.”
“Ask me anything, Miss Bennet.”
“Did the behaviour of my family - my mother and younger sisters - that night…play a role in your decision to warn Mr. Bingley against me?”
Darcy stared at her for a moment before quietly answering, “Yes…I suppose it did.”
It was then that Mrs. Bennet cried, “Are you turning against me now, Jane? Your own mother?”
“No, of course not,” said Jane. “I just wish…”
“Yes? What is it that you wish?”
Elizabeth recalled that night, and how Kitty and Lydia were running around drunkenly, a slew of officers in pursuit of them. They could not have mortified her more if they tried.
“The thing is, Mamma,” she said slowly, “it might be better if you were to curb Kitty and Lydia’s behaviour…on occasion. For it might actually lessen their marital prospects - and indeedallyour daughters’ marital prospects - if they continue to behave the way they do.”
Mrs. Bennet looked stunned for some time before eventually saying, “But my mother always taught me to be…lively.”
“That may be,” said Elizabeth, “but there is a difference between being lively and being unappealingly loud. One, a gentleman may appreciate. But the other…” She suddenly turned to Darcy and asked, “What do you think, Mr. Darcy?”
“I…yes. I agree with Miss Elizabeth.”
Mrs. Bennet, now feeling that she was being picked on, turned to Darcy once more and said, “And what about the living your father promised to Mr. Wickham, which you denied him?”
Surprised by the sudden turn in conversation, Darcy said, “What does that have to do with anything?”
Elizabeth pinched the bridge of her nose and wondered how it had come to this. Such a pleasant morning it had started out to be. And now…this. Nevertheless, she did wish to know the answer to her mother’s question and so looked once more at Darcy.
“And did you believe him, Miss Elizabeth?” that gentleman responded, addressing her instead of her mother.
“I had nothing else to go by,” she said weakly.
Darcy, on the other hand, shook his head in apparent disappointment. And Elizabeth began to feel as if she’d made a terrible mistake.
“I thought you were more discriminating than that,” Darcy said wearily.
Elizabeth, propelled to defend herself, replied, “As I said, I had nothing else to go by. You appeared - at least in those days - to despise everything and everyone around you…”
“While he, on the other hand, flattered you?” asked Darcy bitterly. Elizabeth shrugged and he continued, “Wickham probably impressed you with his charming manners and particular attention. And that was all it took for you to believe every one of his syrupy lies.” He cleared his throat, then added in an imitation of Wickham, “You are so perceptive, Miss Bennet. Darcyisarrogant and proud and everything undesirable in a man. And he has treated me in the most deplorable manner.”
“Do not mock me, Mr. Darcy!” she cried.
“I am not mocking you,” said Darcy, with a single shake of the head. “I just…Did you truly believe that I could do such a thing? Behave so dishonourably?”
I had nothing else to go by,she thought again but did not say.
Eventually Darcy stood up and said, “I hope you enjoy your memories of him, Miss Elizabeth, and the wonderful illusion he presented.”
Finally roused to speak, she responded, “So, now what? Are you leaving?”
“What would you have me do? Defend myself? Do I not deserve the same trust as you so willingly gave to him?”
“I just wish to know the truth,” said Elizabeth in a small voice.
“Unfortunately, I am in no mood to share it just now.”
