Chapter Nineteen
Elizabeth stopped in the corridor outside her bedroom door.
She wiped the tears from her face and drew in a slow breath before exhaling sharply.
Her mind was awhirl. Mr. Darcy was Mr. Penny; she might be relieved if she could overcome the shock and mortification.
The sting of Charlotte’s possible betrayal still nettled.
Had her dearest friend known all along, and attempted to guide Elizabeth toward the truth by pretending to grow suspicious?
And was she a fool for not seeing it herself?
But no, Elizabeth thought better of Charlotte, even if she was resolved to think herself a great fool.
Should she, too, not have figured it out?
Would it have changed anything? Elizabeth gave a heavy exhale.
She could not allow herself to behave in such a way, and so she summoned the courage to wipe at her face and return to Mr. Darcy with the thousand questions that raced through her mind.
She stepped away from the wall that had braced her, creeping out of the corridor when she heard his sharp reproof.
“Elizabeth accepted payment to participate in this deception, as Anne made a fool of me? I must repeat the same question as she, Lady Parker—just how long have you known that Miss de Bourgh was involved in this scheme?”
Mr. Darcy’s words cut her to the core, and Elizabeth retreated to her bedroom, barely closing the door behind her before she resumed her tears. She was lost to her sobs, beyond any coherent thoughts, until there was a gentle knocking. “Enter,” she managed to whimper as she wept.
Charlotte and Georgiana stepped timidly into the room, their faces etched with pity as they sat beside her on the bed. “Mr. Darcy has gone,” Charlotte said softly.
Elizabeth ran her fingers over the bundle of letters she had not yet been able to part with. “Does he despise me?”
“No, dearest,” her old friend said. “I explained it all as best I could.”
“But what explanation can there be for this, for what I have done to him? He is right, I deceived him most cruelly!” Elizabeth turned a beseeching gaze on Georgiana.
“I did not know any of the particulars. I told myself that perhaps the lady who requested the letters had a perfectly acceptable reason for not wishing to write herself, that perhaps the gentleman did not deserve her devotion. And then, as I came to know him through those letters, as we shared our deepest private feelings and wishes for the future, I knew he was a worthy gentleman and I did not wish to give him up. I loved him. I love him still. And the worst of it is that I am glad that the two men I have loved are one and the same.”
Charlotte embraced Elizabeth. “I am glad, too, Lizzy. Now Miss de Bourgh has no hold over him.”
Elizabeth shuddered as the tears continued to stream down her face. “She may have no claim on his affections, after contriving the scheme that wounded him, but his aunt still has a hold over him.”
Charlotte looked questioningly at Elizabeth and then at Georgiana, who said it all with her silent, grim countenance, nodding sadly.
“I have only made matters worse,” Elizabeth groaned. “He has no choice but to marry her—but he might have at least believed himself to be loved. I have taken that from him.”
Georgiana scoffed, her voice dripping with disdain.
“You have spared him from a delusion that might not have been stripped away in time for him to be saved from a loveless marriage! He will find a way, Lizzy. Even before we came here today, when he believed Anne to have written those letters, his attachment to you was greater than his lingering affection for her. The woman we have come to know in Sanditon this fortnight is even worthier of my brother’s love than the woman he fell for in letters alone. ”
Elizabeth sniffled and smiled as she wiped at her tears. “But what is to be done? It seems an impossible dilemma. I cannot ask him to risk angering Lady Catherine.”
Charlotte raised her brows but prudently decided not to ask the question in her eyes. “He has gone to speak to Miss de Bourgh, and I cannot think there will remain any chance of a felicitous union; he has directed all his ire toward her.”
Georgiana bit her lip for a moment before speaking. “I am not sure if he would wish me to tell you, but I cannot do otherwise, when I might spare you this pain, Lizzy. He means to find a way to best our aunt, to trump her blackmail with some of his own.”
“That sounds like the colonel,” Elizabeth mused, laughing through her tears.
Again Charlotte looked between Elizabeth and Georgiana with an expression of bewilderment before averting her eyes and idly stroking Elizabeth’s shoulders.
Georgiana grinned and took Elizabeth’s hand in her own. “See? You know us all so well—it is like we are family already.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “I stand by what I said to you at the assembly….”
“Likewise,” Georgiana quipped. “Richard wrote to his mother, the dowager countess, who has despised Lady Catherine since before any of us were born. And if she cannot help, I have no qualms with calling the old harpy’s bluff.
Let her do her worst—you and William will be happy, and I will live with you forever. ”
There were footsteps in the corridor, and for a moment Elizabeth both hoped and feared Mr. Darcy had returned. Instead, Marianne, Jane, Emma, and Mrs. Bevan appeared in the doorway, hesitating before they rushed toward her.
“The colonel told us to come to you,” Jane said. “He has taken our husbands to go sea-bathing, and Mr. Darcy stormed away looking terribly fierce.”
Marianne hovered near Elizabeth, wringing her hands. “Have you quarreled?”
Emma lingered in the corridor with Mrs. Bevan, looking helpless but determined. “If you are really in love with him, Miss Bennet, you must let us help. We have all seen how he looks at you, and Miss de Bourgh cannot hold a candle to your charms!”
As Elizabeth shrank back, overwhelmed and ashamed, Charlotte stood up briskly. “We are too crowded in here, I think. I am going to ring for tea in the parlor and then dismiss all of the servants, and we shall all eat tasty little cakes and talk about it until Lizzy’s spirits are recovered.”
And that is just what the seven ladies who had grown so fond of one another did.
It was impossible for Elizabeth not to feel cheered in the sunlit parlor, sipping tea made just the way she liked, with a beloved sister on each side of her and four devoted friends perched nearby, determined to coax a smile from her tear-streaked face.
Elizabeth numbly nibbled at a lemon tart, recalling that she and Mr. Darcy both favored them, and she nodded her permission for Charlotte to fill her friends in on the pertinent details of her crisis.
“Nearly two years ago, I answered an advert in the papers to cheer Lizzy after the loss of her mother. She was commissioned to write love letters on behalf of a lady, and though many details were omitted by an intermediary, she came to know the gentleman well enough to form an attachment—her own words of affection fostered his devotion to the lady he believed he corresponded with, his intended.”
“And it was Mr. Darcy and Miss de Bourgh?” Mrs. Bevan’s eyes shone with mirth as she smiled wryly at them.
“We have only just discovered this,” Charlotte said with a quelling look as Emma let out a cry of shock and delight.
She turned to Georgiana for conformation as she added, “The problem we now face is that it seems Lady Catherine de Bourgh has the power to command Mr. Darcy to her will, for reasons nobody beyond the family need know, I expect.”
Georgiana nodded. “My brother despises deceit and disguise—William only agreed to feign his courtship with Lizzy because Richard and I forced his hand. We knew they would be perfect for one another—and we were unaware of the coercion that still presents an obstacle. This may yet be overcome, but only by further intrigue.”
Jane threw her arms around Elizabeth. “Oh, Lizzy! Your poor thing! But perhaps Charles might be of some assistance to Mr. Darcy? He is devoted to his friend, and of course he loves you like his own sister.”
Emma nodded her agreement. “My husband, too, is an old friend of Mr. Darcy’s. We are at your disposal.”
“That is very kind, but I hardly know what is to be done,” Elizabeth said with a sigh.
Her happiness seemed entirely in the hands of a cruel old woman who had been unpleasant to her from their first interaction at the hotel, and had glared at her with resentful eyes since Mr. Darcy had come to Sanditon.
“I think Richard is the only one who can help us now,” Georgiana said, the beginning of an idea flashing in her eyes. “I think he must go to Rosings—it is not fifty miles—he ought to see what he can find about Lady Catherine that may bend her to Williams’ will, rather than the reverse.”
Elizabeth looked up at her friend with hopeful curiosity. “What do you mean? I thought—the dowager countess….”
“She may help us, but my brother does not wish to consider her aid a certainty until she arrives, which may be a few days. But there must be something that can be discovered. Anybody who travels with ten thousand pounds in bank notes must have a secret or two.”
Everyone gaped at Georgiana, awaiting her explanation. She shrugged. “Sir Sidney did not run off with Miss Denham for nothing.”
Amidst the collective murmurs of comprehension, Marianne turned to address Mrs. Bevan. “You have a talent for imagining all manner of intrigue—what is our Lizzy to do?”
Mrs. Bevan laughed gently. “Miss Darcy and the colonel seem to have the matter well in hand. Take heart, Miss Bennet—I believe your beau loves you well enough to move Heaven and Earth to be with you.”