Chapter Twenty
They had not long to wait; two messages arrived by the next afternoon while Darcy and Elizabeth were calling on the Bingleys to share their happy news.
The first was from Richard, who had arrived at Rosings and, bearing a note from Miss de Bourgh for the steward, and been granted access to all of Lady Catherine’s ledgers and papers. There was a wealth of incriminating documents, and Richard meant to take possession of them all.
The second missive was from the dowager countess, Lady Margaret Fitzwilliam. She had received her son’s plea for assistance the previous evening and was so eager to bring down Lady Catherine that she had packed her things at once and set out at dawn, her youngest daughter in tow.
Richard returned from Rosings that afternoon, travel weary but ready to wreak havoc, and he barely had time to reveal to Darcy all that he had learnt at Rosings before it was time for the three merry residents of Sandpiper Cottage to meet Elizabeth and Sir Edward at the hotel to greet the dowager countess and her daughter Lady Rebecca.
Elizabeth laughed as Lady Margaret was handed down from her carriage. “I had expected a large and imposing old woman,” she whispered to Darcy. “Your aunt might be mistaken for the sister of her children! Look at my poor uncle’s face!”
Sir Edward indeed appeared awestruck by the sight of the diminutive widow, whose elegant attire was overtly feminine, making her appear younger than her nearly fifty years. Lady Margaret was equally pleased with Elizabeth and Sir Edward as Richard performed the introductions.
“My son Richard devoted many paragraphs to your praise, Miss Gardiner, and it appears none of it was exaggerated, nor was his depiction of this charming village.”
“I thank you, but I am Miss Bennet ,” Elizabeth said with cheerful confusion. “My uncle is Sir Edward Gardiner; he is my late mother’s brother.”
The dowager countess cast another appreciative gaze over the red-faced Sir Edward. “This is not your brother? Well! Forgive my mistake – my impudent son referred to you only as Lizzy. It is a charming appellation, which I do hope you shall grant me the use of – though not my son, for his effrontery must be punished every once in a while.”
Elizabeth chortled and nodded her consent, and then stuck her tongue out at Richard, who recoiled with a hand on his heart. Darcy might have floated away from the lightness in his heart at seeing Elizabeth so easy amongst his relations.
“You will do very well for our dear William,” Lady Margaret declared. “I can see for myself that you are lively and warm, and there is such a glint in your eye that I shall wager a guess you are cleverer even than my nephew, which shall serve you well – for many years, I hope.”
Lady Rebecca was equally effusive in her delight with Sanditon, Elizabeth, and the Tremont Hotel as they all made their way inside. Sir Edward ordered his footmen to bring the ladies’ trunks to the finest suite on the ground floor, eliciting a laugh from Darcy when he realized that his aunt, also on that floor, had not been given the finest suite – he had no doubt she would have asked for it.
“I hope I may make use of a maid or two from your staff, Sir Edward; I have loaned a few servants to my eldest daughter Roberta, who is lately married and experiencing some difficulties in establishing her household – poor girl is fussy like Catherine, and having a hard time of things. I was delighted to have some excuse to put off helping her myself!” Lady Margaret said, giving an exaggeratedly girlish laugh as she attached herself to Sir Edward’s arm.
Connors the concierge was waiting at attention in the elegant marble lobby, and presented Lady Rebecca with a basket containing cakes, pouches of tea, two pretty painted fans depicting the coastal landscape, a pamphlet detailing the town’s attractions, and other various offerings.
He bowed deeply. “We have two maids ready to assist you in refreshing yourselves from your travels, your Ladyship. They will also bring hot water for tea and a selection of fresh fruit. I will be at the desk if you require anything before eight o'clock. At this hour, there is a public dinner in our Sunset Ballroom, though a reduced staff will be available should you prefere to dine in your suite.”
Lady Margaret thanked him, and Darcy shared a private smile with his beloved at the sight of the fastidious and dignified concierge as he realized his error. “Your Ladyships both are most welcome to Sanditon. May your stay at the Tremont be lengthy and enjoyable.”
“Thank you, Mr. Mayor,” Lady Margaret drawled, and they moved down the corridor, leaving a stupefied but satisfied Connors in their wake.
They passed Anne in the corridor, with Miss Lovelace on her arm and her puppy on its lead. She blanched but greeted them cordially. Lady Margaret said only, “I will deal with you later. Be in your rooms with your mother in one hour.”
His aunt asked Darcy and the others to make themselves comfortable in the parlor of her suite, promising she and her daughter would not be long in refreshing themselves.Darcy occupied the quarter hour they spent waiting on his aunt in regaling Elizabeth and her uncle with tales of his many happy memories with the Fitzwilliams; when Richard began to understand what Darcy was about, he ceased delighting in tales of Darcy’s youthful folly and instead began to sing his mother’s praises to Sir Edward. Darcy heartily agreed with it all.
Elizabeth brushed Darcy’s shoulder as she leaned close to whisper, “The pair of you grow worse than Mrs. Jennings and Mrs. Knightley – shall you next join in their little wager?”
“Not at all,” Darcy whispered back to her. “I am prepared to submit to the superior wisdom of the ladies, as my aunt has commanded.”
When the two ladies emerged from their separate chambers, ready to speak with their visitors, Richard instructed Georgiana to take Lady Rebecca out to the terrace and perhaps stroll down to the beach.
Georgiana looked to Darcy in protest, and though he understood her desire to be included, he could see that their cousin had no wish for her to be pained by whatever was to be revealed – or worse, tempted to speak too candidly of it to Lady Catherine. “Go and reacquaint yourself with Lady Rebecca – the five years’ difference in your ages must not seem so very great anymore.”
Sir Edward was not immune to the charms of Lady Margaret, which her son and nephew had extolled. He served her tea and refreshments himself, and more than once stammered over his words to her. “I understand if you wish not to include me in your discussion – Lizzy and I have a great deal of admiration – er, preparations – the supper in the ballroom…. It must be a private family matter….”
Lady Margaret smiled indulgently. “It is a family matter, and you are to become family. That is the point of all this, is it not?”
The five of them were seated around a low table in the center of the parlor, and both Richard and the dowager countess had laid packets of old documents upon it; Darcy eyed them with a mounting sense of dread, knowing they must begin but fearing what he might discover. But Elizabeth was at his side, and he would endure anything if it meant he would find a way to be with her; anything short of destroying his sister’s future.
His aunt smoothed out her skirts, looking every bit like a little queen as she gazed between all her companions with poised benevolence. “I wish to ascertain that I understand the situation properly. Darcy, you have been coerced by Lady Catherine into affiancing yourself to Anne, and after her marked preference for another, and forming a new attachment of your own, you wish to sever your aunt’s control over you so that you might marry this charming young lady, our dear Lizzy. Have I got it right?”
“Yes,” he said somberly. “I have learned that Anne wishes the same. Her affections lie elsewhere – though thankfully not with the fortune hunter that has now jilted her.”
“Ooh, fascinating,” Lady Margaret purred.
Darcy frowned. “It is a sad circumstance, though she looks forward to a cheerful spinsterhood once her mother has been dealt with. There has been considerable abuse, which I was not aware of.”
“I rather pity her,” Elizabeth said. Darcy had told her every particular of his conversation with Anne, evoking an impassioned and almost protective response toward his cousin, who had been prone to slight her rival.
“You are generous,” Lady Margaret said, appearing even more impressed with her future niece. “Tell me, William – you are willing to break forever with Lady Catherine? Your late mother was uncommonly fond of her.”
“Perhaps my mother was blind to Lady Catherine’s true character, or perhaps my aunt was not so very bad a dozen years ago. Either way, familial harmony seems impossible with such a tyrant as she has grown,” Darcy replied. Beside him, Elizabeth squeezed his hand. There was not pity in her look but pride, and this bolstered his resolve.
Lady Margaret gave a wistful nod of her head. “Very well. I must own to some little regret that I have not been a more diligent aunt to you, and perhaps to Anne, having so many children of my own, though they are nearly all grown.”
“But you have come to Mr. Darcy’s aid now, when it appears he needs you most, my lady.” Sir Edward gave her a reassuring pat on the arm and then hastily withdrew his hand, his face turning furiously pink.
“What I have to tell you does not quite feel like a kindness,” his aunt said, her gaze falling on the packet of old papers. “But I have been very active on your behalf since receiving Richard’s express. Some of this information I already possessed, and the rest I obtained from your solicitor, who also works for Rupert, and who knows when not to anger the widow and mother of a peer.”
“If you have been to see John Knightley, I daresay your information corroborates much of what I discovered when I raided Rosings,” Richard said to his mother.
The dowager countess nodded ponderously. “I should like to know what Lady Catherine holds over you, William. What I have to tell you is likely worse, but I should prefer to be in possession of all the facts.”
Darcy’s stomach twisted. Whatever it was, it must be something dreadful. Richard gave him a grim nod, but Darcy hesitated. Sir Edward held up his hands and shook his head. “I need not be told anything, sir, so long as it is not injurious to my niece.”
Elizabeth and Darcy exchanged a communicative look. “It could affect your sisters,” he said softly.
She pressed his hand in hers once more. “You are a dear man to think of them.”
Darcy felt as if his heart had expanded in his chest. She had an entire family he scarcely knew, sisters whose faces he could not remember and new connections he had never met before, and yet he loved and cared for them all because they were a part of her, and they had played their part in shaping her into the woman who had shone brilliant light into the darkest time of his life.
With a swell of resolve at the responsibility before him, he gravely addressed his aunt. “It has been a tradition, since the death of my father, that I have taken Georgiana to the seaside every summer. Two years ago, I took her to Ramsgate. I remained a few days to see her settled with her companion before I journeyed to Rosings at my aunt’s request, to aid in some matters of business there, and to again deflect her demands that I marry Anne. I departed abruptly after quarreling with her, and when I reached Ramsgate I discovered that I had been entirely deceived in the character of Georgiana’s companion, Mrs. Younge, who was in fact in league with George Wickham. They had conspired to compromise my sister, and only my early return prevented their elopement. I was too late, however, to prevent the worst. The following spring, when we were in Scotland, she bore his child in secret, and we found a family to adopt the baby girl.”
Lady Margaret had listened with a look of mounting shock, and when Darcy finished, his aunt let out a string of oaths that caused Sir Edward to gape and then look upon her with even greater admiration.
“Those Wickhams are the worst thing to ever happen to your family! Poor Georgiana, what an awful ordeal! But that wastrel’s father has done much worse to your family,” Lady Margaret said.
Darcy tensed at the mention of his late father’s steward, whom he had always thought well of. “Old Wickham?”
His aunt nodded. “As you know, I was sick with grief after my husband died, and seldom left Bolswick Abbey. It was more than a year before I began to sort through my husband’s things as Rupert sought to make Matlock House in London more his own. Early this spring, I uncovered what appears to be evidence he was compiling against his sister – a scheme of Catherine’s in collusion with old Wickham. I suspect that the harpy was leveraging some secret knowledge against poor Robert, too, and he died before he could free himself from her treachery.”
Darcy blinked at his aunt in disbelief. “Are you suggesting that my aunt and old Wickham were embezzling from Pemberley?”
“I am not suggesting it; I am stating it as a fact. Between 1799 and 1806, from the time your mother took ill, until your father’s death, they were involved in an illicit affair and they diverted more than fifteen thousand pounds from your estate. It seems the steward became more careful after you took over the management of the place.”
Darcy shot up from his seat and began to pace the room, determined to suppress his furious wish to burst into the next suite over and strangle his aunt. “Fifteen thousand pounds!”
Richard nodded, gesturing to the documents he had taken from Rosings. “She has claimed in the ledgers you once helped her with that the funds came from an elderly aunt of Sir Lewis, but there are letters from old Wickham that support what my mother says.”
“And she preyed upon my father’s distraction during my mother's illness, and then his own! It is beyond the pale!” Darcy shuddered, wondering at the true depth of her cruelty to Anne, if Lady Catherine could stoop to such evil as this. “And my uncle knew of it? You have known of it since the spring?”
Lady Margaret looked stricken. “My conjecture is that Robert discovered this just a few months before he died. He visited you a few times that summer, before you travelled away, and my guess is that he obtained these documents from wherever old Wickham had concealed them.”
She rose and crossed the room, reaching out to him in a conciliatory gesture. “When first I learned of it, I had just seen you at Bolswick Abbey for Christmas. You were so attentive to Anne, so loving and eager to please her. I believed her to return your affection despite the afflictions of her health, and I did not wish to sour your attachment with such a revelation. I had resolved to think carefully about how best to tell you when Pemberley burned, and then I did not want to compound your misery. I am glad that the truth has come out at last; I am sure I would have told you before you actually married her.”
“Fifteen thousand pounds,” Darcy sighed.
Sir Edward blew out a great huff. “That is an unfathomable sum! It would take the Tremont five years to earn such a sum, Lizzy.”
“Nearer to six, I think,” she murmured, looking at Darcy in horror.
Lady Margaret took Darcy by both hands and looked earnestly at him. “I am terribly sorry, William, and beg your forgiveness for my delay in telling you what I know. I hope it is some consolation to you that had I been more timely, you may not have pursued Anne here to Sanditon and met your estimable Miss Bennet.”
Darcy bowed his head in wistful agreement and looked over at the woman who did indeed make all his tribulations bearable. He sat down on the sofa again, and she leaned in with a look of concern. “William, are you well? Is there anything I can get for you?”
He bestowed a look of grateful adulation on his future bride as her kindness eased the sharp edges of his ire. And then Richard handed him a flask, saying with a hard look, “I fear there is more.”
Even Lady Margaret looked surprised. “More, Richard? Oh dear.”
Darcy waved away the flask, and Richard poured a little of its contents into his mother’s tea, which she held out with an expectant look, before returning it to his coat pocket. “Did you not think it strange that Lady Catherine would have kept such damning evidence of her misdeeds? Such things ought to have been burnt at once.”
Cold dread welled in Darcy’s gut, steeling him with an uncanny prescience before Richard gave voice to the final piece of the puzzle.
“She compelled George Wickham to… to do what he did. I cannot say why he might have been made to fear his father’s misdeeds coming to light – Lady Catherine could have led him to believe there would be legal repercussions, or perhaps he did not wish to destroy any chance of a future reconciliation with you. But he was indeed moved to protect the secret of his father’s crimes, by ruining your sister.”
Elizabeth whimpered and brought her hands to her face, tears welling in her eyes. “No! How unspeakably cruel.”
Darcy sat in stunned silence, scarcely noticing the quiet compassion written on the faces of those around him. In his mind he was transported back to that visit to Rosings, which had been his last. A month before, Lady Catherine had recommended Mrs. Younge to his notice. She had even made the suggestion of Ramsgate as their coastal destination. She had managed it all so cunningly, detaching Darcy from his sister and leaving Georgiana to the mercy of their aunt’s pawns. He began to suppose that even the quarrel had been deliberate, driving him back to Georgiana before Wickham could turn greedy and actually abscond with Georgiana.
Richard combed through the documents, sighing and grimacing and muttering oaths. “This would have been enough to cost her everything, but at least it will purchase her silence and protect Georgiana. Can you live with it, Darcy?”
At present, it was only Elizabeth’s opinion that mattered to him. He searched her composed countenance, fearing she would not wish to make any alliance with such a treacherous family. “What do you make of all this, my love?”
“It is not for me to say.” But Elizabeth read the desperation in his gaze, and gave a gracious dip of her head. “I admire your temerity and gravitas in facing this entire ghastly ordeal. I am truly fortunate to have found such a worthy gentleman. But to answer the colonel’s question, I must say that Georgiana is the purest, sweetest person, and utterly worth enduring this knowledge and abstaining from… whatever manner of justice you might otherwise pursue.”
Darcy wanted to take her in his arms and weep, from joy as much as despair. “Well said; that is just what I feel. For you and for Georgiana, yes, I can live with it. But if I ever set eyes on George Wickham again….”
“Agreed,” Richard said with a menacing military grimace.
Lady Margaret had begun to silently shed a few tears, which Darcy only noticed when Sir Edward offered her a handkerchief. She rallied her dignity and said, “We have a half hour yet before Anne will be expecting us, and then we can confront the heinous old badger and be done with the unpleasantness – there is a dinner party this evening, and according to the programme I was given, a ball on Monday. Let us dwell on happier prospects! Miss Bennet – Lizzy – who shall manage your wedding plans? Is there a Lady Gardiner or…?”
As Sir Edward nearly choked, Elizabeth stood up and smiled sadly at the dowager countess. “The nearest I have to a mother figure now is my friend Lady Parker, who is only seven years older than I. My sister Jane – Mrs. Bingley – will likely wish to be involved, and perhaps my stepmother. But you shall find me perfectly willing to be edified by your superior taste and judgement.”
Lady Margaret laughed gently. “Come and have a chat with me – we will stroll about and speak of lace and flowers, and perhaps catch up to Georgiana and Rebecca.”
Darcy could see what his aunt was about and was pleased that Elizabeth instinctively understood. The two ladies left by the terrace door, giving Darcy and his cousin an opportunity to discuss their plan of attack before confronting Lady Catherine.
“I suppose that is my cue to depart, and I am surely wanted in preparing for the dinner event,” Sir Edward said.
Darcy stood and shook hands with the man. “I thank you, sir, for your discretion.”
“Of course, we are nearly family.” Sir Edward’s expression turned pensive. “What Lizzy said before – it must be the same for you. I am no more than a dozen years older than you, but if there is ever – what I mean is that, after all I have heard of your tribulations, I feel a kinship with you, a familial friendship that I hope you may one day… well, hmm. Yes. Must be going, now. Best of luck with… what follows. See you at dinner?”
Sir Edward fidgeted nervously as he stepped toward the door, and Darcy clapped a hand on the fellow’s shoulder, giving him a look that conveyed what he could not express in words. “Thank you, and yes.”
The two men both nodded, and again Darcy’s wounded heart swelled with hope for his future happiness. He bid his almost-uncle good afternoon, and with a heavy sigh he sat down next to Richard. He considered what his aunt had said – they would rid themselves of this horrible mess ere long, and then there would be much to look forward to.