Chapter 4
FOUR
“I believe this is now strictly a family matter,” Mr Darcy mumbled, his eyes trained on the open doorway. From the hall, they could hear Elizabeth’s footsteps racing up the stairs. “I shall take my leave.”
“Oh, I see,” replied Mrs Gardiner, defeat in her slumped shoulders. “Do return to dine with us. Perhaps tomorrow?”
Mr Darcy busied himself with straightening his cuffs and did not look at any of them. “I should not like to impose.”
“It would be no imposition,” Mrs Gardiner hastily countered.
But Mr Darcy would not be convinced otherwise. “I also have some business to attend to. Perhaps some other time. I thank you for your gracious hospitality.” He then bowed and disappeared as hastily as Elizabeth, making his escape to the front door. It closed behind him with a resounding snap.
Mrs Gardiner released a deep sigh and lowered herself onto the sofa, taking up Elizabeth’s previous spot. “I do not suppose he means to come back.”
“Likely not,” Mr Gardiner agreed, shaking his head. “Mayhap if you send a fresh invitation in a few days, he might be persuaded.”
“Mm.”
The Gardiners maintained a pondering silence for several heartbeats before they both turned to Lydia, faces set in stern lines. Mrs Gardiner took command of the interrogation. “What was that all about with your sister?”
“I have no idea,” was Lydia’s honest response. She touched her cheek, which must be quite red, and confessed, “I have never seen Lizzy so angry before. She struck me.”
Mr Gardiner’s shock was palpable. “She struck you?”
“That is most unlike her,” agreed Mrs Gardiner, gently turning Lydia’s face so that she could see her smarting cheek. “What could you possibly have said to make her lash out like that?”
Indignant, Lydia shook off her aunt’s probing fingers. “Why do you assume it was my fault? I am the injured party here.”
“Because Elizabeth has better regulation than to go about hitting people for no reason,” Mr Gardiner said with a frown.
“And I must deserve it, I suppose?”
“Lydia…”
Throwing her hands up with exasperation, Lydia did her best to defend herself.
“She scolded me for ages about going off with Wickham, informed me that I could never go home again, and spouted some twaddle about me and my sisters never marrying. When I suggested that we take a holiday to Brighton to find husbands for us all, she would not even consider it. She called me stupid for being duped by Wickham and I called her heartless for not understanding how hard it was to be abandoned by your beau?—”
“Oh, Lydia! Tell me you did not.”
Lydia took in Mrs Gardiner’s aghast expression and Mr Gardiner’s forbidding scowl, and realised that she had somehow stumbled into the heart of the matter. “What? Is Elizabeth still pining for Wickham, then? I thought she was done with him in the spring and?—”
“No, you silly girl, this has nothing to do with that rake,” Mrs Gardiner interrupted. “She is mourning the loss of Mr Darcy.”
“Mr Darcy?” Of all men, Lydia could not have predicted that Elizabeth was harbouring a tendre for him. “I thought they despised each other. He does not find her handsome, and she is oft offended by his haughtiness.”
Mrs Gardiner pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “I had not thought even you to be so conceited that you could not see the longing between them, Lydia. Did you not witness the same fraught interaction between them that the rest of us did?”
“What was so special about that? Lizzy and Mr Darcy are often at odds.”
“Not from what we observed at Pemberley,” said Mr Gardiner, eyebrows raised meaningfully. “I was on the verge of writing to your father about Mr Darcy’s obvious intentions when we received word of your elopement.”
“Lizzy and Mr Darcy?” Lydia could not help a gasp.
As the notion settled into her brain, however, she thought she could see some of what her relations were telling her.
Elizabeth had seemed stricken by Mr Darcy’s appearance, both last night and today, and Mr Darcy had been caught staring at Elizabeth across a crowded room many, many times.
They were similarly dull and fastidious, so they had that in common.
Yes, upon reflection, it was not so shocking after all.
“I do not see what my elopement has to do with anything,” Lydia said aloud, mostly to herself as she worked out the tangle in her thoughts. “It is clear that Mr Darcy still cares for my sister, else why would he bother himself to remove me from Wickham? I fail to see how I have divided them.”
Mr Gardiner tucked his arms behind his back and explained.
“It is likely that Mr Darcy could never countenance marrying a young lady with so much scandal attached to her. I know that Elizabeth is blameless,” he held up a hand to stay Lydia’s interjection, “but that is not how society works. Should he marry your sister, his standing would almost certainly lower, to say nothing of affecting his sister’s prospects.
I daresay his heart and mind are in constant war with one another over the situation. ”
“That is stupid!”
“Perhaps so, but it is also the reality.”
Lydia huffed. “Is there nothing to be done about it, then?”
“As to that,” said Mrs Gardiner, exchanging a speaking look with her husband, “it would help if your own reputation were improved through marriage.”
“But Wickham ran off.” Bare-arsed. Lydia stifled a snicker, lest she receive another scolding.
“He would not be our first choice of husband for you in any case,” Mr Gardiner drily replied.
“Even if we could find him, he has caused enough disgrace already. No, we intend to find you a different husband, one who will overlook certain…er, complications for the right amount. Mr Darcy has generously donated ten thousand pounds to the cause for your dowry.”
“Ten thousand pounds!” Lydia breathed with the same sort of reverence her mother would have given the amount. “And you say he still does not intend to marry Lizzy?”
Mr Gardiner grimaced. “He claims to feel some sort of responsibility for what happened, given his previous dealings with Mr Wickham. I think he makes too much of it, but he is quite obstinate on the matter. He refuses to speak of Elizabeth at all.”
Lydia scoffed. “What twaddle. He cannot possibly feel an entire yearly income’s worth of guilt for what I and Wickham did. I say he only wants to improve my reputation so that he can marry Lizzy after all.”
At last, a thin smile appeared on her aunt’s face. “I daresay you are right, but nothing is easy right now. And with the way your sister greeted him today…”
“Ridiculous, the both of them,” declared Lydia with a huff. “If I were her, I would throw myself into his arms and beg him to take me away.”
This suggestion brought the tightness back to Mrs Gardiner’s expression. “After what you have done, I should hope not. Now, let us move on to other matters. You must tell me the moment your courses come…”