Chapter Twenty Seven #2
“I should only do that if I secretly intended one final act of mystifying mercy.” Elizabeth held his gaze, her lips twisting upward with so irresistible a look of mirth that Darcy wished he could hurl himself across the table and into her arms.
***
“Brother, you are in love with Miss Elizabeth, are you not?” Georgiana peered up at him as they strolled arm-in-arm through the garden after a loud and lengthy luncheon. “Richard said you were, when you returned from Rosings – when I thought it might be Rebecca….”
Darcy saw little point in denying it; she would see it for herself ere long, if she had not already. She was young and shy, but she was still a Fitzwilliam. “I am.”
Georgiana bounced up on her toes. “I knew it! Of course, at first I did not believe it, for Richard will say anything. But when he mentioned her again in his letter to our aunt, I wondered if it was more than coincidence that you should be seeing her again so soon. Oh! I saw how you looked at her! It was very romantic, but then I daresay I nearly looked at her the same, for she is a marvel! Aunt has been teaching me to notice things and make little japes, but Miss Elizabeth has such a natural ease about it. I think our aunt likes her very much already.”
Darcy felt his chest swell with joy to see his sister so happy.
He had warned her in his own letter that Wickham would be in the area, but it clearly had not daunted her.
“The countess has made you more lively than you were when I went away. I think you will like Elizabeth very much, when our aunt finally relinquishes her company.”
“I hoped she would carry on as she does,” Georgiana said, tipping her head pensively as she gazed ahead to where Elizabeth sat by the fountain with Lady Matlock, Rebecca, and Lady Blanche.
“I admire how our aunt can speak to anybody. She teases me sometimes that she would not get away with being so brash if she had not such wealth and station, but I do think she has a certain charm, for the right sort of person. Miss Elizabeth is doing well; I am glad to see it.”
Darcy nodded. By all appearances, she was getting along famously with Lady Matlock, making her guffaw with scandalized laughter.
He wondered if she had given the countess any hint to the question that was left unanswered before, that he was the lucky man Rebecca was determined to see win Elizabeth.
He desperately wished to know if she had truly meant the bold hints she had given him.
“Will you tell me about her, brother?” Georgiana offered him the wide, innocent smile she always wore when perfectly at ease with him.
“She despised me, when first we met.”
“Impossible! I am sure she must adore you equally.”
“Perhaps she likes me better now; I have given her enough ammunition, which she delights in wielding against me very cleverly. I was not on my best behavior, I am sorry to say, when I stayed with Bingley at Netherfield; I gave Miss Elizabeth ample cause to abuse me, which I understand she did at length… to anybody who would listen.” Darcy chuckled, feeling a strange sense of pride at having riled such a spirited creature.
He was especially proud of her, for refusing to tolerate his boorishness.
Georgiana sputtered with laughter. “And you… liked this?”
“In retrospect, I have come to find it amusing. She is the sort of person who makes everything amusing, I suppose. But I meant to say – I ought to tell you…” Darcy let out a heavy sigh, sorry to darken their levity.
“She made the acquaintance of George Wickham in Meryton. He joined the local militia that was quartered there – the militia that is coming to Brighton. When he discovered her dislike of me, he made some complaints of his own against me.”
Georgiana looked stricken. “What did he say?”
“Nothing accurate. I have told her the truth of things, including how Wickham hurt you. Her youngest sister is your age, and she will be traveling to Brighton, too, as a guest of the colonel’s wife.”
Georgiana hung her head. “I hope she is not as foolish as I was.”
“Where you have been kept in ignorance – for which I take the full blame – Miss Lydia is too indulged, and it has given her unearned confidence. Not in the same way as Miss Bingley – you and Miss Lydia might get on well, though you may have to set a better example of manners. I have promised Miss Elizabeth that I would endeavor to prevent any mischief befalling the girl.”
Darcy bowed his head, too, hating how he had failed his own sister. She squeezed his hand. “I should be glad if she, too, made a happy escape from such a villain. You do not think so, but you did save me. I know it might have been worse. Aunt agrees that coming here in defiance is just the thing.”
“I thought it selfish to ask you – it was Rebecca’s idea.”
“So that I might help you win over Miss Elizabeth?” Georgiana gave him a knowing laugh as Darcy shrugged his shoulders.
“Worry not, brother! If I were like our aunt and cousin, I should flatly refuse, or perhaps I would help you, but only in a very wicked way. But I should much rather do you a good turn, and gain a sister in the process. If so many of my relations like her, I am sure I shall.”