Chapter Six #2
“I don’t even know if I like him,” she murmured under her breath, watching Mr Darcy and her aunt dance gracefully.
Her aunt was laughing and Mr Darcy produced that broad smile again, the one that showed his dimples.
Before tonight, I did not even know that he had dimples!
But he is really a very handsome man, especially when he smiles…
she sighed and turned away. He might admire her, but it would surely go no further than that.
No doubt even if he did not marry his de Bourgh cousin, there were wealthy and probably titled ladies queuing up for him to select his bride.
A penniless country girl would be a very long way down the line.
Elizabeth half-expected to be importuned by Mr Collins at any moment, now that she no longer had Mr Darcy standing beside her to protect her with his superior rank, and was quite delighted to hear from her aunt Philips that he had been offered a ride as far as Longbourn with the Gouldings, who were going early, and left with them, pleading a headache.
Mrs Bennet, on hearing this news, just restrained herself from screaming and fainting.
Her darling Lydia was home at Longbourn with only servants to guard her.
The last thing Mrs Bennet wanted was a potential compromise of her favourite daughter by that odious man, who would make poor darling Lydia scrub floors!
She found her husband, and hissed to him the news, and that they must return home at once to protect Lydia’s reputation!
Glancing about the room, Mr Bennet spied Kitty coming off the floor breathless and heading for the punch bowl.
“Now, now, my girl, that’s quite enough of that.
Your mother is tired and I am taking her home now, and I think you had best come with us.
Your aunt can escort the other girls.” Spying Elizabeth watching the dancing, he made his way over to tell her.
She only nodded abstractedly and wished him a good night.
Following his dance with Mrs Gardiner, Darcy could not quite resist returning to Elizabeth’s side. He offered to fetch her a glass of punch or lemonade, but she declined politely, saying that she was not thirsty.
“May I ask you a question, Mr Darcy?” Elizabeth asked after they had watched the dancing in silence for a few minutes.
“You may ask anything you wish of me, Miss Elizabeth,” he said quite sincerely. Elizabeth’s cheeks again turned pink, she looked away from him, and then she took a deep breath, seeming to gather her courage.
“I daresay you have observed that my youngest sister Lydia is not here tonight.”
“Indeed,” Darcy agreed. Miss Lydia would have been hard to miss, loud, silly and prone to exposing herself as such. “Is she unwell?”
“No,” Elizabeth tilted her head at him. “She is guilty of being a foolish, headstrong girl. As am I, but Lydia was silly enough to voice her opinions aloud to our father.”
“Headstrong I can well believe,” he said dryly, “but I could never think you foolish, Miss Elizabeth. Your wits are too sharp for that.”
“Perhaps, then, it is pride I am guilty of. Indeed, the worst kind of pride, for in my vanity I believed that I had a superior understanding, and I did not want to believe the words of one who had not merely a belief in their own cleverness, but true knowledge.”
“I – have not the pleasure of understanding you,” Darcy said after a few moments.
“I am talking in circles, I suppose, because I do not like to admit I am wrong. Very well, Mr Darcy, I shall cut to the chase. I believed my own judgement of character superior enough that I dared to question – although I was not insolent enough to do so aloud – the veracity of my aunt’s knowledge of the past deeds of our mutual acquaintance, Mr Wickham. ”
The black rage that descended over Mr Darcy’s face for a moment then alarmed her, and she took a slight step back, wide-eyed. He calmed quickly with a deep breath, though, and reached to offer her his arm. “Pray, will you take a stroll with me, Miss Elizabeth? The room is warm.”
They strolled along the hallway, unknowingly following in the earlier footsteps of Jane and Mr Bingley.
The party was louder now; many of the guests somewhat inebriated and raucous.
Darcy kept Elizabeth close to him by means of placing his free hand over hers on his arm and leaning down to speak quietly in her ear.
“Mr Wickham is a blackguard of the first order, Miss Elizabeth. What did Mrs Gardiner tell you?”
She looked up at him, wide-eyed and vulnerable, and whispered “Louise.”
“I see. Well, she was not the first or the last girl he left in such a situation. I have discovered, since inheriting Pemberley, that my father paid for the support of no less than three illegitimate children of Wickham’s in Derbyshire alone.
The good Lord only knows how many more may be scattered around the country.
I could not believe, knowing of his – proclivities – that my father still left him a living, but I have known for many years that Mr Wickham should never be a clergyman.
I paid him the value of the living – agreed between us as three thousand pounds – and told him never to darken my door again. ”
“Three thousand pounds!” Elizabeth’s voice was barely a squeak. “But that is a fortune!”
“It is, apparently, but one-tenth of what Wickham feels he deserves.” Darcy lowered his voice further.
“Miss Elizabeth, I must ask you to keep what I am about to tell you in the strictest confidence. My cousin your aunt is aware of the facts, but I would prefer you told no one else, not even Miss Bennet.”
“You have my word, Mr Darcy,” Elizabeth promised fervently, thinking that keeping a secret was the least she owed him after hating him so misguidedly.
“The reason I have not exposed Wickham’s character to the neighbourhood, is that he might have it in his power to ruin my sister’s good name.
Just three months ago, in August…” He went on to tell Elizabeth all about Ramsgate and Mrs Younge, and concluded; “But I think I shall write a letter to my cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam, who is with the Regulars, and ask him to have Wickham’s militia commission investigated.
I cannot imagine where he received letters of recommendation for his good character, unless they were forged, as Mrs Younge’s references turned out to be. ”
Elizabeth stopped walking and looked up at him, her beautiful dark eyes swimming with tears.
“Oh Mr Darcy,” she said softly, “I am so sorry. For everything. For your poor sister, for misjudging you, for thinking ill of you – no wonder you did not want to dance with anyone at the Assembly! If such a thing were on my mind, it would take me two years to want to dance again, I am sure, not two months! How could you want to take pleasure in anything, knowing how sorely her poor heart must be hurting?”
Darcy smiled at her, grateful for her understanding.
“She is much recovered. Her new companion, Mrs Annesley, is a wonderful lady and has done a great deal to help Georgiana understand that it was not her fault, that Wickham preyed on her in hopes of gaining pecuniary advantage from me. I must take some share of the blame, also, because I never made her aware of his faults. She knew no ill of him. I have been trying to keep her as my baby sister, trying, as I dare say all fathers and brothers do, not to allow their little girls to grow up, to keep them innocent of the world’s harsher truths. ”
Elizabeth smiled at that. “You have learned a valuable lesson, then, I daresay. My father could no doubt save you a great deal of heartache if you would only consult with him over what to expect from teenage girls; he has after all a vast amount of experience on the subject!”
Darcy was struck by the notion, and nodded. “I think you must be correct, Miss Elizabeth – as usual! Thank you for your wise counsel. I am sure your father has learned a great deal about dealing with unruly, impertinent daughters.” His eyes twinkled, and Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open.
“For shame, sir! Their family might call Lydia and Kitty such names, but it is dreadfully rude of you to do so!” she sparked back, and he chuckled.
“Did I speak of Miss Lydia and Miss Catherine?”
She playfully swatted at his arm, and he laughed again, a deep rumble of sound.
“Wickham described your sister as very proud,” Elizabeth said softly, when they had walked in companiable silence for a few moments more. She felt Darcy’s arm tense beneath her hand, but it took him a moment to speak.
“That he dares to speak of her yet…” Darcy said between gritted teeth. “What else did he say of her?”
Elizabeth had been wracking her brain, trying to remember the conversation. “I recall that he said she was affectionate and pleasing as a child, and that he had devoted hours to her amusement.”
“Hah,” Darcy let out a snort. “Not likely! Wickham was always urging my cousins and I to play games that were far too old for poor Georgiana to join in.”
“He described her as handsome and highly accomplished,” Elizabeth went on hesitantly, “But said that she was like you, very proud.”
“Some might think her so,” Darcy said after a moment.
“But the truth is that she is very, very shy, and quiet in company that she does not know very well. It strikes me that she is rather like your sister Miss Bennet; reserved with those who are not close to her. I must confess to you that before tonight I had not encouraged Bingley in his pursuit of your sister, because I truly did not think that she returned his affections. I rather thought that your mother was promoting the match.”
Elizabeth was annoyed at his presumption, but she had to admit him to be partially correct.
“You are correct in the last part of your surmise, sir, my mother has been most assiduously promoting the match. But Jane does not show her feelings lightly: she fears giving too much of herself and being disappointed. Her heart, though…”
Darcy pressed his fingers down on hers gently.
“You need say no more, Miss Elizabeth. The look on Miss Bennet’s face when Bingley announced their engagement told me that I had been very much in error.
It was not triumph I saw in her expression, but genuine love; and I am abashed to learn that my assessment of her was so wrong. ”
They walked a little longer, and then Darcy sighed.
“Wickham is right in one particular; I have indeed been guilty of being too proud. I see myself clearly now. As a child, I was taught what was right, but not to correct my temper. I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit. Thinking meanly of those beyond my family circle, I have been properly humbled tonight to learn that some of those whom I had looked upon with disdain, are indeed part of that family circle.”
That eyebrow of hers that he was coming to love, arched high. “Disdain, Mr Darcy?” Elizabeth asked.
“To my own shame, yes. Not you; never you! You and Miss Bennet are all that is praiseworthy, but your mother – well, your mother is very much like every matchmaking mother of the Ton who has been thrusting their daughters beneath my nose for years, and I despised her for it. In truth, she has more cause than most, for I see now that it is fear for your future that motivates her to want to see you all well-settled, not merely mercenary motives.”
They would perhaps have walked longer; but just then Miss Bingley came out of the ballroom.
“Goodness me, Mr Darcy, whatever are you doing out here? You must not monopolise Miss Eliza, you know, I am sure all of the officers are keen to have a dance with her,” and she latched onto Darcy’s free arm.
Her glare at Elizabeth, though, made it clear she felt it was Elizabeth who was monopolizing Darcy, and that she would be permitted to do so no longer.
Elizabeth offered Caroline a charming smile. “Thank you so much for your concern, Miss Bingley, but I do not feel the need to ensure a partner for every dance merely to gratify my vanity,” she said, and giggled inwardly as Caroline’s eyes narrowed.
Caroline wasn’t sure if she had just been the recipient of a barbed comment or not.
Had Miss Elizabeth spotted her introducing one or two young ladies into groups of gentlemen just before dances started?
Caroline could have been said to be doing her duty as hostess by making sure even the wallflowers got a dance or two, but of course the spare gentlemen had to offer her a dance as well.
Her vanity would indeed have been pricked if she had not been partnered for every dance.
Caroline turned her back on the cheeky country miss, linking her arm through Darcy’s and dragging him back into the ballroom.
The last dance set was about to start and she had deliberately avoided finding a partner for this, determined that Darcy would end the ball with her, as they had started it. But he said suddenly;
“Excuse me, Miss Bingley,” and went over to where his strange stammering friend was talking to another of the Bennet chits, the plain one.
A moment later, Mary was standing up, blushing, and accepting Mr Darcy’s hand to join the set.
Mr Hutton moved towards Caroline, smiling, and she steeled herself to talk to the half-wit.
At least she wouldn’t have to sit the dance out! But then Hutton walked right past her.
“Miss Elizabeth, if you do not have a partner for this d-dance, would you do me the honour?”
Caroline Bingley was left standing all alone as the dance began, seething as she watched the merry foursome smiling and laughing together.