Chapter 31
WHERE GRACECHURCH STREET IS IN AN UPROAR, AND MRS WICKHAM DOES NOT GET TO DANCE THE FIRST SET.
Elizabeth had been locked away upstairs with her sisters and aunt for thirty minutes, but it felt more like hours.
It was one thing to know that Darcy had paid to bring about Lydia’s sham of a marriage; it was quite another to watch the irrefutable evidence of its hypocrisy unfold before her eyes.
Clearly, her youngest sister cared more for dancing than she did the welfare of her absent husband, just as Mr Wickham cared more for himself than for his silly wife.
They were far better matched than Elizabeth had originally thought, but it brought her no comfort, only disgust.
When someone knocked upon the door, Elizabeth literally leapt at the opportunity to answer it, praying she would find Hannah waiting just beyond the threshold, poised to announce Darcy’s arrival—or better yet, Darcy himself come to claim her.
Elizabeth had no patience for Lydia’s petulant complaints, her aunt’s wearisome lectures, and Jane’s useless reassurances.
She wished to be anywhere else—all the better if she could find respite from the mayhem in a quiet corner in another part of the house with Darcy.
She opened the door and nearly sighed with relief when she saw Hannah.
“Begging your pardon, miss, but Mr Darcy is downstairs with a fine-looking lady.”
“Mr Darcy!” Lydia cried. “Finally, someone who can be of use to me, for none of you have done anything at all to find out where Wickham has gone. Of course, I shall go to the assembly in any case, but if he is not to be found I shall be very angry with him, I daresay!”
She made to push past Elizabeth, but Elizabeth had more than her fill of Lydia’s self-professed entitlement for one evening; she would not allow her to accost Darcy, especially in front of his aunt.
She took her firmly by the arm and said, “You will stay here Lydia and you will stop arguing with Aunt Gardiner at once. I will speak to Mr Darcy.”
“La, Lizzy! Why should you do it? Wickham is my husband, after all.”
Somehow, Elizabeth resisted the urge to shake her.
“And Mr Darcy is soon to be mine. You will remain in this room and be silent or I will send Mr Darcy out of this house without a word to him about your troubles. Lady Carlisle does not need to know of your misfortunes. Indeed, I am tired of hearing of them myself.” With an apologetic look at her Aunt Gardiner, Elizabeth quit the room, amazed that she had retained enough self-possession not to have raised her voice or put her spoiled sister over her knee.
She all but ran down the stairs. She was halfway to the drawing room when the door was thrown open and Darcy stepped into the hall, shutting it firmly behind him. Her heart sank as she observed his countenance—he appeared vexed. Upon seeing Elizabeth, however, his demeanour softened.
“Sir,” she said with more composure than she felt, “please forgive me for failing to welcome you and Lady Carlisle upon your arrival. I have been otherwise engaged.”
Darcy shook his head and went to her. “I am the one who is sorry. Mrs Lawrence informed us of Mrs Wickham’s situation—in detail.”
Elizabeth covered her eyes with her hands. “Mrs Lawrence’s knowledge of it is embarrassing enough. That your aunt should be privy to our troubles is absolutely mortifying.”
To her utter shock, Darcy snorted, removed her hands from her face, and raised them to his lips.
“In all likelihood, she thinks nothing of it at this point. Her ladyship has had an eventful day herself and, while she is certainly concerned for your family and what you likely suffer, I believe she is almost relieved to have something other than her own misfortunes to occupy her conscience. She appears quite happy to visit with Mrs Lawrence. I have been dispatched to fetch tea.”
Elizabeth regarded him with some scepticism. “That is a relief, I suppose, though I am sorry to hear that your aunt has suffered any sort of misfortune. I hope nothing serious has occurred.”
“It is quite serious, I am afraid, but nothing to concern yourself with for the moment. I am certain you will hear the sordid details later, and likely from Lady Carlisle’s own mouth.
One would think my proper aunt would desire privacy and discretion, but it seems that is not the case.
She readily revealed all to Bingley’s aunt with little prompting.
” He paused, then frowned, and drew her farther away from the drawing room, towards the back of the house where they would have more privacy.
“How are you?” he asked, tenderly touching her cheek. “How is Mrs Wickham?”
Elizabeth stepped closer to him, close enough that their bodies touched, and laid her head against his shoulder.
In the next moment she found herself enfolded in his arms. “She is as unrepentant and selfish as ever and speaks only of dancing,” she replied, wrapping her arms around Darcy’s waist. “It is clear to me Lydia cares as little for Mr Wickham as he does for her. I can hardly credit that I am related to such an unfeeling, self-centred creature.”
“Nor can I,” he said, placing a kiss upon her head, “but she is your sister, in any case.”
Elizabeth received no consolation from this statement, only more dissatisfaction.
“My sister,” she said in annoyance, “expects that you will go out of this house at once and find her husband for her—that you will drop everything and see that it is done. She is determined she will dance the first set at some ridiculous assembly this evening. Should Mr Wickham fail to oblige her by being found, I would not put it past her to demand you escort her in his stead.”
“That, I will never do. While I take great pleasure in dancing with you, I have no desire to attend an assembly with your youngest sister. I need to attend my wayward aunt instead, as she is now my houseguest until further arrangements can be made. I will write to Colonel Fitzwilliam, however, and inform him of Wickham’s absence. ”
“You need do nothing of the sort.”
“As I said, she is your sister. Do you not want Wickham to be found and held accountable for abandoning her in the middle of London?”
“I want only to be rid of him!” She was dangerously close to losing her composure.
“He has done nothing but cause misery of the acutest kind, and I do not refer to the fresh misery his truancy has caused today.
I refer to his lies and his deceit and the general malaise and devastation he leaves in his wake wherever he goes.
“Had I never met Mr Wickham, I would not have heard his abhorrent tales about you and believed them. I would have gotten to know you without his hateful interference, despite your initial comment about my looks. I despise and loathe him! At this point, I care nothing for his return to my ungrateful sister. She cares little for him beyond what her vanity allows. There is little point in any of us exerting ourselves on their behalf, for neither of them shall ever appreciate our efforts. They cannot even appreciate each other.”
Darcy’s hold tightened, and he sighed as he laid his chin upon the top of her head. “Where is your uncle?”
Elizabeth lifted her head from his shoulder and willed herself not to cry. “He is in his study with Mr Bingley. They have been in conference there since shortly after Lydia’s arrival.”
“Then I will go to them now. I will only be a moment, then I will return to you. I do not wish to burden the Gardiners with additional guests when they are already dealing with Lydia’s calamity.
I will bring my aunt and Bingley’s to Darcy House, and you as well should you desire to leave Gracechurch Street, though I must warn you that both ladies are more likely to be engaged with each other than in overseeing our respectability. ”
Elizabeth touched the shining brass buttons upon his coat, then laid her hand over his heart.
Its steady cadence calmed her and allowed her to better compose her disjointed thoughts.
At that moment, there was nothing in the world she wanted more than to leave her uncle’s house to be with Darcy.
Darcy House, Pemberley, Scotland, even a ship bound for Australia; accompanying this man whom she loved to the end of the earth was preferable to remaining under the same roof as Lydia.
“While I would be willing to go to the moon with you,” she told him, her lips lifting in a melancholy smile, “I cannot leave Jane. She is on her honeymoon. She should not have to deal with Lydia’s wretched behaviour any more than I should, or my dear aunt and uncle for that matter.
To abandon her to bear the weight of it would be unfair. ”
Darcy pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead.
“I will speak with your uncle and send word to Colonel Fitzwilliam. Wait for me here. I will not have you distressing yourself further.” He turned towards the direction of Mr Gardiner’s study, but a sharp knock sounded upon the front door, and he paused.
Hannah appeared out of thin air, brushing past them in the narrow hall. A moment later voices could be heard in the vestibule, Colonel Fitzwilliam’s among them.
Elizabeth’s eyes widened as she looked to Darcy, and together they hastened down the hall. They arrived in the foyer just as Mrs Wickham came running down the stairs. Mrs Gardiner and Jane, each wearing an exasperated expression, followed closely on her heels.
“Lord!” Lydia cried, wrinkling her nose at the colonel’s presence. “You are not my Wickham. Why is everyone standing about in such a stupid manner?” She stomped her foot on the stairs. “I want to go to the assembly!”