Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Darcy had considered day and night what he must do.
He would have to give up Elizabeth or give up his standing in society.
Elizabeth or his self-respect. No, not that, surely.
But how could he allow himself, the master of Pemberley, which had supported Darcys for five hundred years, to marry someone so far beneath him?
Nobody would accept it. He could not accept it.
He had not even begun to consider the other barriers on his list. If he could not accept Elizabeth’s birth, he would have no choice but to give her up.
With this grim outlook, he shook the snow from his greatcoat and boots before entering a side door.
This storm had come on so suddenly he had barely made it back.
“Sir! Thank goodness you have returned.”
“Yes, the darkness came on quickly, Mrs. Reynolds, and the snow is increasing rapidly.”
“Sir, Miss Darcy went out about half past two and has not returned.”
“Are you certain? The house and stables have been thoroughly searched?”
“Everywhere, sir. And the lieutenant-colonel is out searching. He took five footmen more than two hours ago, but as it is dark now and the snow is picking up, I suspect they will be forced to return.”
Darcy turned to go back outside.
“Mr. Darcy, it is too dark to search now.”
“But my sister is out in this weather! She will be frightened and cold.”
Richard and the footmen came in with a gust of wind through the same door Darcy had used.
“Darcy. Has Georgiana returned?”
“No. I am going back out now to look for her. Where have you searched?”
“Everywhere within two miles of the house. We will resume our search at first light, Darcy. Even with lanterns, visibility is too low. We were lucky to get back right as the storm was increasing.”
“You cannot mean to leave her out there!”
“She likely found shelter an hour ago. She knows the grounds almost as well as we do. She will have found a cave or tenant’s cottage. Knowing her, she was visiting a tenant and failed to notice the sudden darkening of the skies.”
Darcy nodded, knowing he had no choice but to accept his cousin’s assessment, which matched his own.
“All we can do tonight is pray,” he said.
Richard could sleep under any conditions, but Darcy had fallen asleep only a couple of hours before dawn, when his valet had orders to wake him. He was relieved to see the snow had stopped falling, although they would be forced to deal with several feet on the ground.
The cousins took all available footmen and widened their search.
Two hours later, a boy who looked to be about ten trudged toward him through snow nearly up to his waist.
“Mr. Darcy, sir! Be you looking for Miss Darcy, sir?”
“Yes! Have you seen her?” Darcy recognized this as one of the Turner boys, one of his tenant families.
“She be at our cottage, sir.”
“Is she well?”
“Yessir. She be caught in the storm, but Papa saw her and brought her home.”
Darcy sent up a quick prayer of thanksgiving.
“Thank you, young Mr. Turner. Would you like to hop up on my horse for the return to your cottage?”
The boy’s eyes lit up. “Thank ye, sir!”
Before helping the boy up, Darcy fired two shots into the air, the signal that his sister had been found.
When Darcy entered the Turner cottage, he found Georgiana and Mrs. Turner chattering away without a care in the world. They both stood in the small room, and he went to his sister to embrace her with relief.
“Are you well?”
“Very well, Brother. Mr. Turner found me attempting to make my way home yesterday, but I could not see where I was going. And Mrs. Turner has been so kind to me. She made the most delicious stew, and she gave me the warmest bed. She talked to me so I would not be afraid.” Shyly she added, “It felt like…what I imagine it would be like to have a mother.”
As Darcy shared another embrace with his sister, he looked to Mrs. Turner, who watched them fondly.
“Thank you, Mrs. Turner. Thank you for saving my sister’s life. Is Mr. Turner here?”
“He be out checkin’ on the animals, sir.”
“Well, I thank you both most heartily. Consider your next rent forgiven.”
“We need no such reward sir. We only did what was right.”
“Again, I thank you.” Darcy would speak with his steward about arranging some recompense. They deserved it all the more for not having expected it.
Once he had Georgiana settled on his horse in front of him, she told him all about her adventure with frequent praise for the Turners.
As soon as everyone was returned and warmed after searching for Georgiana and she had gone to her sitting room to read, Darcy paced his study and thought more about her experience.
The Turners and the Halls were two excellent families.
Most of his tenants were people of good character.
Would high-society gentlemen and ladies leave their homes in a snowstorm if they saw a glimmer of what might have been a person walking by?
That was apparently what Mr. Turner had done.
He was not even sure anyone was in danger, but he had been good enough to investigate and had found a shivering Georgiana, lost.
Did it matter where people were born or who their parents were? Society said yes, but why? What difference did it make?
For the distribution of wealth? Aunt Catherine had wanted him to marry her daughter to consolidate a vast fortune. He had refused because money had not been important enough to him to accept an unhappy alliance.
Did birth matter for the distribution of power?
Viscounts and earls married the daughters of earls when they could.
Fathers could then exert influence on their sons-by-marriage.
Or sons could gain the support of their fathers-by-marriage.
What a flawed plan. Whatever happened to voting one’s conscience?
If he were to marry Elizabeth, he would retain his freedom. He would not gain any power or wealth, but he would not lose any, either.
Darcy stopped before the window and let his gaze travel toward the snowy woods in the distance.
Why else did his family care who he married?
He could understand it would be ill-advised for him to make an alliance with an uneducated dairymaid or peasant off the streets.
Those girls could possibly have decent morals but would have no education and no refinement to pass on to future generations of Darcys.
Elizabeth was not like that at all. She was a gentlewoman in every way, or at least she had been since she was an infant.
Her own mother had been a gentlewoman and surely gave her a good start, as well.
Perhaps birth was not so important. Richard had lost out on inheriting his father’s earldom only because he had been born second. Was he any less valuable than Blakely? Of course not. He had less wealth and power, but he had always been Darcy’s closest friend and staunchest supporter in everything.
Yes, the worth of an individual had to be independent of his or her birth.
He had long felt this in his interactions with friends and tenants, judging their character and actions as reasons to associate with them or not, but his logical mind had not even considered that birth was irrelevant for most of life.
Darcy turned from the frosty view and took a seat near the blazing fire instead.
While he watched the flames flicker, he reflected that his closest childhood friend, aside from Richard, had been the son of his father’s steward.
His father had encouraged the connection.
Was it possible he had misunderstood his father’s views on status?
Why had he been pridefully viewing himself as above others and so prejudiced against the majority of England?
His wealth did not make him better than other men.
God was no respecter of persons. Darcy did not think He loved one class of people above another.
In spite of knowing he had been greatly blessed, he also felt a heavy responsibility to serve others, to spread God’s bounty further.
In his tenants and servants, he had a large number of people relying on him to make choices that affected them.
But did not a factory owner or tradesman employing workers take on similar responsibilities?
Despite realizing he was only now accepting his own previously held unconscious views, Darcy still knew he would be taking a radical step in discounting birth.
Would marrying Elizabeth upset his friends so much that London society would be disrupted?
Hardly. Darcy snickered. He did not anticipate starting a revolution toward wealthy landowners seeking out poor girls for marriage.
Would tenant farmers’ daughters stage a rebellion to demand higher-class husbands?
The idea was ludicrous. Besides, women were more likely to marry above their station than men were, so he would be conforming to that practice by wedding Elizabeth.
Darcy had looked down on Elizabeth and her family, but he realized this morning that character and courage were far more important than who someone’s father was.
Although he had not been granted a real conversation with her since before he hurt her, he had observed her whenever he could.
Darcy sank back in his wingback chair as he remembered watching her.
He had listened to her conversations any time he was close enough.
He had watched her smile and laugh. Elizabeth would be an excellent mother to his children, guiding them toward all that was right and good in the world.
Her education and compassion would serve her well anywhere, including as Pemberley’s mistress.
Rising quickly and crossing the room, Darcy sat at his desk and pulled out his list. Birth had been the biggest hurdle, he thought, but he would go through everything again before deciding his future.