Chapter Nine
DARCY
When the ladies left the men, Bingley came directly over to Darcy and said, “We must talk, Darcy, immediately.”
“It must wait, Bingley.” Darcy stood.
“I am afraid it can’t,” Bingley insisted.
“I am afraid it must. Forgive me, my friend, I must withdraw to my room and find something in my desk.” Darcy clapped his friend on the shoulder.
“Darcy, I really think you should hear this,” Bingley said as Darcy left him.
“In the morning, Bingley.” Darcy was already exiting the dining room.
He took the stairs two at a time, and entered his room to scare the wits out of his valet, Wodehouse.
“Are you well, sir?” The valet just managed to avoid dropping a tray with the brandy Bingley provided his male guests as Darcy burst into the room.
“I am certain that I hardly know, Wodehouse; do not allow me to interrupt your duties.”
Darcy opened his writing desk and removed the folded note.
He turned and left the room as quickly as he came, opening the missive and inspecting it as he had dozens of times.
Was it his intention to call Mrs Gardiner and Elizabeth out as liars before their friends and family?
He scarcely knew himself. He only knew that he had gone long enough without answers, and at the soonest opportunity, he would seek to have them.
There was raucous laughter from the dining room where the men were still enjoying brandy and cigars as he descended the stairs.
He had no desire to join the other men in his present state, but he also did not wish to join the ladies alone in the drawing room before the men returned.
He turned in the other direction and noticed candlelight coming from the library, then headed towards it.
Elizabeth was in the library, sitting on a chair alone in a corner and wiping her eyes.
“Mr Darcy!” She jumped up as he entered.
“Miss Bennet, I came to the library to be alone until the men return to the drawing room, bu-”
“Mr Darcy, how many times in one visit do you plan to ask me to leave the room in a house that I live in?” she demanded.
“But since I find you alone, I wish to say that I now agree that we must have a conversation, for there is too much confusion, uncertainty, and hurt between us. I find I can no longer bear it. We must have it out,” Darcy finished.
“Oh,” Elizabeth said uncertainly. “Well… what do you wish to say?”
“Miss Bennet, your aunt is not a liar,” Darcy began, rather badly, but he was never good at conversing when he felt awkward.
“What! Of course my aunt is no liar, why would you even suggest such a terrible thing? Mr Darcy, I understand that you have prejudices against people of lesser rank that you do not know well-”
“If that were true, I would never have come to know Bingley,” he interrupted.
“What I intended to say next is that you are also not a liar, Miss Bennet. I am more sure of it than I am of nearly anything else at this particular moment. You may not be in love with me as I am with you-” He paused as she flushed beet red.
“But you are not a liar. So, if you and your aunt are not lying, then how can this letter be explained?”
Elizabeth took the correspondence from him in perturbation and he watched as she glared at him reproachfully as she opened it. “Why, this is not my letter!” she exclaimed. “Where on earth did you come by this? I have never seen it before! This is not what I wrote at all!”
“I found it on the silver tray in Pemberley’s hall, where Mrs Reynolds leaves the post,” Darcy explained.
“It is very similar to my penmanship,” Elizabeth mused.
“But there are small differences. See how there is no loop in this D? Come and see the catalogue I started to organise all of Charles’s new books.
I began making that loop when I was eleven.
Papa always says it is terribly affected, but I like it. ”
“And this seven in the date is not quite right, but nearly,” Darcy pointed out the differences between the catalogue and the letter.
“I do not understand what has happened.”
“At this point I very nearly do not care.” Darcy bit out rather desperately. She raised an eyebrow at him. “About that.” He pointed at the letter. “That letter is the very least of my concerns right now.”
“Well as little as you are concerned by this letter in question, Darcy, I shall provide the answers anyway,” Bingley interrupted as he entered the room with his wife.
“Bingley, I do not care about the damned letter right now!” Darcy was beside himself in agitation.
It was a damnable situation and he was damned if he knew what had occurred, but he did know that Elizabeth Bennet was not a liar, and her aunt was not a liar, and he had seen the truth and confusion upon their faces.
He could finally see Elizabeth’s misery properly, and understood that she suffered, as he still did.
He did not even want to know about anything else.
He needed to be alone with Elizabeth, and he needed to know if she could learn to love him before he went mad.
“Is all well, Jane?” Elizabeth asked. “What will your guests say if we all abandon them?”
“It is all right, Lizzy,” Mrs Bingley assured her sister.
“I hate to say it was providential, that is hardly kind to the poor lady, but Miss Jane was taken down very quickly by one of her headaches. Everyone believes that you and I are tending her, and that Charles has sent Mrs Nicholls for a powder. Daisy has her well taken care of.”
“Darcy, I do not know what is going on here.” Bingley waved his hand back and forth at Darcy and Elizabeth. “But you ought to proceed with all of the facts.”
“Bingley, tell us and get out,” Darcy growled.
“Did either of you happen to see my younger sister’s face when you spoke of the confusion with the letter?
No? Well I did. She looked terrified until the subject was changed.
And what I know about Caroline and you do not, is that she has been a near expert in forgery all the way back to her school days.
She nearly got both herself and Louisa expelled when it was learned that she was signing our father’s name to their grades and examination reports, and making false reports to bring home to our parents so that she and Louisa would not get into trouble for their poor application to their studies.
I do not keep important documents in my study.
They are now locked in my rooms. She once signed my name to bank drafts she stole from my desk to pay for her dressmaker bill when she spent more than I was likely to pay a few years ago. The woman is a menace.”
Bingley continued. “What is more was that at Pemberley, on the day in question, I myself encountered my sister walking up the stairs with a letter in her hand. When I asked if she had received mail, she said that she had not, but that she meant to send a letter, and just before she gave it to Mrs Reynolds, she recalled something else she wanted to add to it, so she was taking it back to her room to finish.”
Bingley shook his head. “I should have known. I should have been more suspicious. Caroline was outraged that Elizabeth had been invited to Pemberley, if you recall, Darcy. I am sorry.”
“Excellent. I am very glad to know what happened.” Darcy scowled at his friend mutinously. “Can we be alone, now?”
“Of course! Come, Charles, we can discuss what is to be done about Caroline later. We must return to the drawing room at once. Lizzy, keep the door open, and do not stay long?” Jane Bingley, sweet angel that she was, dragged her husband to the door.
Darcy smiled beatifically at her. “Bless you, Mrs Bingley.”
“Lizzy, I will visit you tonight before I retire. You have some explaining to do!” Mrs Bingley and her husband quickly departed.
Darcy looked at Elizabeth in nervous apprehension, not knowing how to proceed.
Instead, she spoke first. “You thought I fled Derbyshire to avoid seeing you again.”
“Yes.” There was nothing else to say in reply.
“You must have been so hurt, especially after I behaved so differently when we met in your gardens. I am sorry.” She looked sad.
“You should not be sorry!” Darcy insisted. “What can you have to apologise for?”
“But I am sorry, sorry that you spent all of that time thinking that I hated you!” She shook her head.
“Miss Bingley must be the most wicked woman I have ever met! She caused us both so much pain; I have been waiting for you for months. I was so certain you would instantly comprehend my uncle’s obligations, and that you would come for me.
How could you do anything else? I was so sure! ”
Her admission of her own struggles took his breath away, and he felt lightheaded as she took the lead and said, “Mr Darcy, since reading your letter and understanding you better, I have come to understand that you are the man who–in character and temperament–is most suited to me. Against everything I thought I ever knew about myself, I am in love with you. Our acquaintance has been fraught with misunderstandings, and I have had my fill of waiting, as you must have done as well. Would you do me the honour of accepting my hand in marriage?”
He thought his chest would seize in exhilaration as he swept her into his arms and embraced her, spinning her around, and brought his head down to hers for a long awaited kiss.
He raised his head and looked down at her. “I cannot believe that you asked me.”
“You already did the asking once, I felt I ought not put a man such as yourself through the indignity of asking again,” Elizabeth giggled. “Will you speak to my father?”
“I believe I will visit him early in the morning for a private conversation,” he promised.
“He will wish to hear it from me before he gives you his blessing.” She straightened his cravat. “When you return to the drawing room, will you ask him to come and speak with me here?”
“I have no desire to return to the drawing room, but we cannot be missing all night.” Darcy swooped down for one more glorious kiss, and left her.