Confrontations
Chapter 12
Elizabeth was outraged by Lt. Wickham’s tale. She had been mad at Mr. Darcy when he first barged into the hospital tent and, without regard of anyone else’s comfort he created such a ruckus, disturbing the peace of many of the patients. However, over the days since he arrived she came to appreciate his conversation, his obvious intelligence and his debating skills, actually enjoying to spar with him. She had to admit that he was also rather handsome and albeit seldom displayed, he did have a wry sense of humour. She had thought that she might come to like him more than she liked any of the young men she had met before. To think that he was a callous, arrogant and spiteful man disappointed her to no end, but it only reinforced her opinion of those who thought themselves better and above others solely based on their accident of birth. Why, she knew any number of soldiers of humble origins who proved themselves more noble at heart than Mr. Darcy apparently was. She decided to show the man no consideration from then on, as he deserved none.
Darcy noticed the abrupt change in Miss Elizabeth’s behaviour towards him. She was now rather curt when talking with him and she would not engage in lengthy discussions with him on any topic, unlike on the first few evenings when they dined together. He was wondering if he offended her somehow, or if she had maybe formed some expectation on him and was disappointed that he did not try to flirt with her and woo her. But although he found her very enticing and a truly interesting lady, he could not consider her seriously, even she must be aware of that, and he was not in the habit of idly flirting with ladies. Then again, maybe she was not fully aware of the huge gap in their social status. She had been abroad and away from English society for quite a long time, ever since she had been very young, not yet eighteen according to Murphy. He thought that it would be best to gently address the issue and clear the air between them, as he did not wish to raise her expectations but he very much wished they could be friends and have more of the stimulating conversation, the kind they had in the first days after his arrival.
Truth be told, if it weren’t for Fitzwilliam being wounded, this would be the best time he’d ever spent in company in a long time. He abhorred the typical house parties at his friends’ estates which were always full of intrigues, with young ladies endeavouring to wangle a proposal from a gentleman they set their cap at and cads trying to obtain the favours of na?ve young ladies. He did enjoy spending time with his best friend Bingley, but unfortunately more often than not his sisters were going wherever Bingley was and them, he could not abide. Here there were no such intrigues and he found the company rather pleasant and engaging.
Determined to tackle the issue as soon as it may be, he intercepted Elizabeth as she was hurriedly crossing the camp towards her tent after dinner, during which she had been just as chilly towards him as she had been over the past few days.
“Miss Elizabeth” he bowed to her, offering his arm for her to take but she pretended not to see it and only gave him a slight nod, ready to hurry on and be quickly out of his presence. “May I please have a moment of your time please?” he continued, disappointedly letting his arm fall at his side.
Elizabeth almost rolled her eyes as she gave him a look of utter displeasure but she nodded again wordlessly, while starting to walk, at a more sedated pace in the direction of her tent. Darcy fell in step with her, his hands now firmly clutched behind his back while she had her arms crossed around her waist.
“Miss Elizabeth” Darcy cleared his throat, wondering how to best breach the topic. “I have noticed that you have been avoiding me for the past couple of days. Did I do anything to offend you?”
“Offended me? Not at all sir” she answered coldly, looking straight ahead.
Her rather abrupt answer confirmed to Darcy that she was probably indeed disappointed with his lack of showing her the kind of attentions she expected of him, probably the most eligible bachelor she had ever come across.
“You must know Miss Elizabeth that I admire your kindness and your bravery very much. You are truly an extraordinary lady. However, I am the grandson of an Earl and the Darcys, albeit not titled, are amongst the oldest families in the land” he said rather haughtily. “It is expected, nay demanded of me that I marry a lady of the Quality, one of impeccable pedigree who would expand the consequence of the Darcy name. I am sure that when you think on it from society’s point of view, you must be aware that I cannot act upon my admiration of you. Your humble origins, for even though your father is a gentleman, he is of no consequence even in the ton, let alone the High Society in which I move, forbid it. The fact that you had to become a nurse also makes me suspect that his estate is not a very prosperous one. Furthermore your relations in trade make it impossible for me to form a serious design on you… You must know…”
“Mr. Darcy!” Elizabeth interrupted him, indignation swelling in her breast at his insulting speech. “Are you under the illusion that I expect your addresses?”
“Are you not?” he asked with bemused surprise.
“Nothing could be farther of it, sir” Elizabeth scoffed. “I never entertained any… hopes as far as you are concerned, you can rest assured of that” she smirked. “Now that we have this cleared up, I think we both should be able to go and get a good night’s sleep.”
“But your behaviour towards me changed so much over the last few days…” he said, still dumbfounded by her denial of any interest in him.
“Ah, that! That was only after I learned of your abominable treatment of Lt. Wickham” she said with the fire in her eyes rekindled.
“Wickham is here?” Darcy exclaimed heatedly, for a moment forgetting what they were actually discussing.
“He is indeed” Elizabeth replied coldly. “He is wounded, but fortunately he will mend with no ill consequences to his future wellbeing. However, the same cannot be told of the misfortunes you have inflicted upon him” she spat. “He is forced to face war and injury, maybe even death, because you deprived him of the future your father intended for him. And all this because you could not bear that your father held the son of an employee in high regard.”
“I assure you Madam, I have not injured Wickham in any way. All the misfortunes he might be complaining about are of his own doing” Darcy’s face heated with the vexation that she would question his character while defending that reprobate.
“I can easily believe that you honestly believe this to be true sir. After all, you consider yourself and all those of your station right in anything you are doing, no matter how injurious it might be to those of a lesser status, only because you are the grandson of an Earl and move in the High Society ” she said in a mocking tone, “while those who are born to less affluence than you must be inherently wrong. Well sir, just because you were high born does not make you better than others. It was a matter of chance, not earned by any action or quality of yours.”
“This is an ignorant and overly na?ve country bumpkin speaking” Darcy retorted. “You Madam have no idea what you are speaking of. What do you know about the High Society, about the quality of the ton, about the refinement which can only be achieved through generations of good breeding? Nothing. All you know of is the life in an army camp which is very different from how society works.”
“You are making my point sir” Elizabeth replied, trying to keep her voice modulated and not give in to her growing ire. “You and your ‘society’ are full of your own superiority and look down on everybody who is not part of it. No wonder your lives are hollow and meaningless when all you do is lord over those unhappy enough to have to earn their living in your employment and you see marriage as purely a business and political transaction between two great names. But when I consider your presumptuousness in keeping two loving hearts apart only because of your misplaced pride and inability to allow for sentiment before wealth and station, I am filled with chagrin…” she threw her hands up with a frustrated groan and increased her pace, trying to get away from the infuriating man.
“Of whom may you be talking Madam?” Darcy asked coldly, catching up with her, his inscrutable mask that he was used to done in all social settings now firmly in place.
“Of your sister and Lt. Wickham of course!” she said exasperatedly. “Or are there many other couples you take pleasure in interfering with?”
“Georgiana did not see Lt. Wickham since she was nine years old, so I hardly think there can be a reasonable suspicion of a romantic involvement on her side, or even on his for that matter” he said in an icy, measured tone. Elizabeth blinked in utter surprise at this statement. “That he might have some schemes in mind concerning her now that Georgiana is fifteen, would not surprise me in the least as she has a thirty thousand pounds dowry, which to Wickham is extremely appealing since money is all he is ever after and always in need of. But of course, I shall never allow that to happen, no matter how romantic you would find the notion of a notorious fortune hunter seducing an innocent heiress” Darcy spat.
“Because he is only the son of a steward, he must be a fortune hunter” Elizabeth said accusingly when she found her voice again. “You have already expressed your disdain of those who are not your equals only a few minutes back when you expounded on my humble origins and relations in trade and how inadequate it would be for the great Mr. Darcy to bestow his attentions upon such an inferior lady like me . For your information sir, not all who are wealthy are good and righteous, just as not all those who are not, are by default undeserving and to be despised.”
“I like to think that I am a discerning man and I do try to judge people on their own merits” Darcy said haughtily. “I do not despise Wickham because he is the son of a steward, who by the way, was one of the most honourable men I have ever known. However, his son is cut out from a completely different cloth than his father was and I despise him because he is a wastrel, a gambler, a cheat, a liar and mercenary to the extreme.”
“I wonder then what faults could you possibly discern in my Uncle Gardiner, the tradesman, given that you never met him? Maybe you are not as discerning as you think you are, after all sir. Maybe you are presuming that being a tradesman, my uncle cannot have one redeeming quality that might make him just as worthy as you peers” Elizabeth said softly. “But it is of no import whatsoever what your opinion of my uncle is, is it now? As you said sir, you live in your world, I live in mine. There is no overlapping between them.” She dropped him a shallow curtsy and turning away she hurried towards her tent.
---$---
The confrontation left both Darcy and Elizabeth highly incensed, yet both had many things to ponder. They carefully avoided each other’s company for the next few days.
Elizabeth was fuming at the arrogance and conceit of the man. How dare he tell her that he admires her, yet she was his inferior. Inferior because she did not have Dukes and Earls in her ancestry. Inferior because her uncle was working hard to earn his living and provide for his family. Inferior because she was a ‘country bumpkin’. Inferior because she dared consider love more important than wealth and status. She spent many nights tossing about in her cot in silent indignation, revisiting all the insults he had hurled at her.
Despite the fact that she now had solid proof that Mr. Darcy was a snobbish, haughty and arrogant man, after a few days, when her ire cooled down somewhat, Elizabeth was struck by the obvious discrepancy in Lt. Wickham and Mr. Darcy’s statements about Miss Darcy’s relationship with Lt. Wickham.
Of course, Mr. Darcy would have all the interest in keeping Miss Darcy’s relationship with the son of their father’s steward as little known as possible. However, despite all his faults he did strike her as a man who would never downright lie. He could have prevaricated or say something vague to deflect Lt. Wickham’s claim, but he stated decidedly that they did not meet since Miss Darcy was still a child. She recalled that Dr. Murphy said that Col. Fitzwilliam shares guardianship over Miss Darcy with Mr. Darcy. She might try to subtly find out from him where the truth lies.
Thinking back on Lt. Wickham’s story, whom she also rather avoided since her confrontation with Mr. Darcy, she could not recall that he mentioned when exactly he last saw Miss Darcy, but she was pretty sure that he had said that they fell in love with each other when she was older. Suddenly she saw a few more inconsistencies in Lt. Wickham’s story.
By his own admission, Lt. Wickham had been given the education of a gentleman. Even if the living that old Mr. Darcy had intended for him to have had been denied to him, he would still had been able to obtain a living, even if maybe only as a curate at first. After all, many younger sons started out in the clerical career without having a guaranteed living set aside for them from the beginning. Or he could have pursued other professions, like the law for instance if he did not like the military.
The other thing she had not picked up upon when Lt. Wickham told her his sad story was him professing that out of respect for his godfather he would never disgrace Darcy. Yet, he was doing just that. She definitely will have to try and find out more about Lt. Wickham’s character.
---$---
Darcy lay sleeplessly on his cot for the third night in a row, as he replayed in his head his conversation with Miss Elizabeth for what felt like the hundredth’ time. He was still extremely angry that she accused him of cruelty towards that lying wastrel and called in question his worth, calling it a matter of chance that he was who he was. She knew nothing about what social differences really implied. What did she know of the demands of the society? His society.
And why did she take up Wickham’s cause with such passion? Was she in love with him? Not that he should care, anyways. Her romantic life was none of his business after all. But only the thought of it made his stomach tense in a way it never did before.
He hoped Fitzwilliam will be soon well enough for them to return to England. He felt that there was danger in being in Miss Elizabeth’s close company for too long, especially now that he knew her real opinion of him. He should stop thinking of her. She was not as clever as he thought her to be if she was so easily taken in by Wickham’s lies and she was obviously prejudiced towards her betters.
---$---
“May I bother you for a moment Doctor?” Elizabeth quietly approached Dr. Murphy.
“Of course Elizabeth. What can I help you with?”
“I meant to ask you about Lt. Wickham’s wound. He says it was a gun cleaning accident but I know you suspect him of a self inflicted wound…”
“It is not only a suspicion Elizabeth” the doctor grimaced in disgust. “I have no doubt about it whatsoever. I know as much as any about gun wounds. There is no way that wound was accidental. The angle and the proximity of the shot are not consistent with how a gun is being held while it is being cleaned, which proves that it was well aimed shot, not an accident.”
“Are you sure sir?”
“Absolutely. Why do you ask?”
“I just could not believe that someone would injure himself on purpose” Elizabeth looked down on her hands.
“Oh, believe me, there are many cowards out there who would do just that to avoid battle.” Dr. Murphy chuckled mirthlessly. “The way they see it, it is better to suffer a wound which will not threaten their lives instead of risking graver ones.”
“Thank you Dr. Murphy. I shall see to it that he does not get any preferential treatment” she smirked, regaining her usual sense of humour. The doctor chuckled as she left him.
After Dr. Murphy confirmed her suspicions, Elizabeth headed towards the hospital tent, bitterly thinking of just how gullible she had proved to be, to believe all this scoundrel’s lies. Not that she regretted taking Mr. Darcy to the task over his snobbism, but she was mortified that she made a fool of herself by confronting him with unfounded accusations of cruelty towards Lt. Wickham.
“Senhorita Bella” Carlos stepped in her way and bowed his head, smiling at her.
“Carlos” she smiled back at him. “I hope your leg is not bothering you.”
“Not at all” he shook his head and lightly slapped his thigh to show her that there was no discomfort there. “It is a man I wish to warn you about” he said sheepishly but his face became uncharacteristically stern.
Elizabeth looked at him with a questioning eyebrow. Never before did Carlos, or Agostinho and Ramon for that matter, talked to her about men.
“I saw you talking with that Tenente Ingles 12 , Wickham a few times” Carlos almost spat the name. “I just wanted you to know that he is not considered to be an honourable man in the camp. He owes gaming debts to many of the men. And when he is drunk he tells tales… tales I wish not to repeat to a lady” the man blushed.
“I understand” Elizabeth paled at the further proof of how wrong she had been about Lt. Wickham. He seemed to be as bad, or maybe even worse than what Mr. Darcy claimed him to be. “I assure you, I have no interest in the lieutenant as a man, and I promise you I shall keep my distance from him.”
---$---
After a couple of more days of self imposed isolation, Darcy begun to seriously miss the lively conversation and Miss Elizabeth’s pert opinions. During those times of reflection his anger had significantly abated and he had to admit that he had not been as liberal and openminded as he believed himself to be. Whenever someone accused him of snobbism, who was mostly Fitzwilliam as not many others did dare call him that to his face, he usually refuted it by mentioning his friendship with Bingley who was the son of a tradesman. However, Miss Elizabeth’s parting words stayed with him. He did indeed judge and dismissed her uncle for the simple fact that he was in trade. In his defence, most tradesmen he had to deal with were rather coarse and uncouth. But of course, that did not mean that they all were the same. Unfortunately he had to admit that he did know some gentlemen of the ton who were rather coarse and uncouth themselves. And he did the same of her father. He dismissed her family as insignificant because they were not part of the ton, they were not titled and they had no great wealth and stellar connections. Was he indeed a snob? He had dismissed Miss Elizabeth, whom he did admire for her personal qualities, only because she was not of his sphere. He did feel a bit hypocritical as he had no high opinion of the people of the ton, yet this is what he threw in her face. But this was what he had been taught for all his life. Or was it? His mother had been a loving, gentle creature who tried to teach him that the most important thing in life was love. She never mentioned fortune or titles. Nor did his father, now that he thought of it. His father had indeed been the discerning man the kind he thought himself to be until just a few days past. His father treated all who deserved it with the utmost respect and valued them for their qualities, with the notable exception of Wickham. In fact, the only member of his family who kept rattling on about the importance of wealth and status was his Aunt Catherine. Even his Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Henry, whose consequence in society was much higher than that of his Aunt Catherine, were much less impressed by their own importance than his Aunt Catherine was. The thought that he might have become the same as her filled him with horror. Elizabeth was right, he was the worst kind of snob. One who fancied himself actually liberal minded and devoid of all snobbishness. The irony of it was that he really valued most of his acquaintances based on their own worth but until now, he did not realize how meanly he had thought of people in general.
He was now ashamed of the things he said to Miss Elizabeth and could easily understand if she loathed him for the conceit he had shown. He wished he could go back in time and make all those things unsaid, but of course, that was impossible. He would just have to try to change his ways and make her see that he did.
12 English Lieute nant