Page 56 of A Most Favourable Match

“My uncle is at work and my aunt has accompanied Jane back to Longbourn,” Elizabeth explained as she showed Darcy into the drawing room. “I am sure they would wish me to offer you some hospitality in their absence. Would you take tea?”

Darcy shook his head. Really, it was no more proper for him to take tea alone with Elizabeth Bennet than with Caroline Bingley, but Elizabeth’s straightforward and capable manner somehow made the offer seem perfectly appropriate. Her cold tone also told him that she had no desire for him to accept it. She was only doing what she thought her relatives would do.

“Do not let me put you to any trouble, Miss Elizabeth,” he told her, producing the letter from his pocket and holding it out. “I came only to give you this and ask that you read it. I am going to Pemberley now and plan to stay there until winter. You need not see me again.”

“Very well,” Elizabeth agreed, taking the letter after a very brief hesitation. “Do give my regards to Miss Darcy. I hope she enjoys the remainder of the summer in Derbyshire.”

After that, she only waited, clearly wanting and expecting Darcy to leave. Did she feel the same way about him as he felt about Caroline Bingley?

It was a bleak thought, and not one that Darcy wished to test. Bowing a polite farewell, Darcy took his leave.

There was nothing else to be done. He would have to accept Elizabeth’s feelings and attempt to conquer his own.

Chapter 19

“That was a long sigh, Lizzie,” Mr Gardiner remarked as their plates were taken away from the supper table. Thankfully, his expression was more curious than anxious. “Have you something on your mind? You’re not sickening too, I trust. Your complexion seems too rosy for that.”

Upon hearing her uncle’s question, Elizabeth abruptly realised she had been staring out of the dining room window somewhat rudely, considering that there were only two of them at supper tonight. Sitting up straighter in her chair, she returned her uncle’s smile.

“No, I am perfectly well, only tired, Uncle,” Elizabeth claimed.

She could not truthfully deny having something on her mind, or rather, two things. Both were letters, and she wished to discuss neither. First was the reply sent by Jane to Lord Grantchester, the key points of which Elizabeth remained ignorant. Second was the letter delivered into her own hand by Mr Darcy, its contents now very familiar to her after several readings, and impossible to put from her mind.

“And worried about Jane, I’ll warrant,” her uncle suggested, looking at her with compassionate eyes. “There’s no need, I’m sure. Dr Groves was very confident in her recovery as long as she followed his instructions. When we saw her off this morning, Jane looked far better already, did not you think? Your aunt will take good care of her on the journey, too.”

“Oh, I know,” Elizabeth answered quickly, not wishing to give any additional care to her kind uncle. “Jane was looking very much better today, and there is no one I would trust more to attend her than our aunt. The very thought of country air must be working on her, I think.”

Elizabeth had tried and failed to link Jane’s improvement to her response to Lord Grantchester’s letter and thereby deduce her sister’s answer to it.

Had Jane agreed to break her engagement and was now relieved of the tension of uncertainty, even if her heart was breaking? Or had she insisted on keeping the engagement and was feeling joyful in her resolution, regardless of her husband-to-be’s doubts?

“Good, good — stewed plums!” Mr Gardiner commented, half to his niece and half to the maid now serving their dessert. “Well, let us talk of cheerful things so that your aunt does not find us in low spirits when she returns from Hertfordshire tomorrow. Are you looking forward to the music and picnic in Hyde Park? Autumn might be around the corner, but August is the hottest month.”

They talked lightly for a while of the weather, the musical program, and what picnic food should bepacked. Elizabeth suggested that she should go to Hyde Park the following morning and see how the event was being set up so that they should easily find a good spot for their party to settle. Mr Gardiner had many ideas to consider.

But all the while they were talking, Elizabeth could not help her thoughts turning from Jane’s letter to Mr Darcy’s. To her embarrassment, she could feel her cheeks warming again with her thoughts and giving them the rosiness her uncle had observed.

The letter had contained no renewal of the sentiments Mr Darcy had professed at the Suttonfield ball, thankfully. Nor had his manner on delivering the letter led Elizabeth to believe that his astonishing declarations could have been anything but a moment of madness, perhaps spurred on by the free-flowing champagne.

Instead, the first part of the letter contained equally remarkable assertions about the character and life of Mr Wickham, once almost Mr Darcy’s foster brother and now a sworn enemy.

…While it is your privilege to judge my character as you will, based on my own actions and the promptings of your mind and conscience, I beg that you will not do so on the basis of false information provided to you by Mr George Wickham, the most unprincipled scoundrel ever to have entered my family circle…

If Mr Darcy’s account was reliable, George Wickham was indeed a blackguard and rake of the first order, and a determined gold digger and pursuer of rich heiresses besides. He had left a trail of ruined reputations,broken hearts, and gambling debts across both Derbyshire and Cambridgeshire before the awful events that led Mr Darcy to sever their ties forever.

It was the tale of Mr Wickham’s relatively recent attempt to elope with Georgiana Darcy that had horrified Elizabeth the most, even as it had convinced her of the credibility of Mr Darcy’s letter in its entirety. She was sure that he would never make up such a story about his sister, and could only guess at the strong feelings that prompted him to share it at all.

…Thankfully, I came to Ramsgate in time to foil the elopement. Georgiana confessed all to me, and Wickham was permanently and irrevocably banished. He was dislodged from our lives with unsurprising ease once it was made clear that he could never touch a penny of the thirty thousand pounds Georgiana stands to inherit. She was not yet sixteen years old at this date…

Elizabeth shuddered, thinking both of Miss King’s lucky escape and of the predatory nature of any grown man who would take advantage of such a young girl’s affections. Lydia was only just fifteen and no more fit for marriage and making a home than she was for practising the law or trick-riding with a circus pony.

Hot shame washed over Elizabeth when she thought of how unfairly she had charged Mr Darcy over his conduct towards George Wickham. She had been duped, just as a thousand others had been duped before her, it seemed. This was no excuse, however, for someone who prided themselves on their sharp mind and quick wit. Elizabeth should have known better.

Why had she believed George Wickham’s storiesso easily? Was it only that he had a pleasing face, an easy manner, and looked well in a red coat? If so, Elizabeth was no better than Lydia or Kitty. She supposed she had also been flattered by his confidences and already quite determined to believe the worst of Mr Darcy, despite knowing so little about him.

Upon such revelations, such new understandings, Elizabeth thought that her heart might have softened considerably toward Mr Darcy… if, that is, he had not gone on to write a final two pages of his letter on the subject of Jane’s engagement.

I now address another grave charge you have laid unfairly against me. You have several times accused me of opposing your sister’s marriage to Lord Grantchester on account of my own personal prejudices and a narrow-minded, too-great regard for rank and wealth. Yes, you are correct that I oppose this marriage utterly. Nor do I deny that I have encouraged Lord Grantchester to end the engagement.