CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO Georgiana and Lydia
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Georgiana and Lydia
No one would have predicted a friendship between Georgiana Darcy and Lydia Bennet.
Least of all their brothers and sisters.
Georgiana was quiet where Lydia was loud, hesitant where Lydia rushed, disciplined in music where Lydia preferred dancing to listening, and accustomed to rooms where conversation waited politely for its turn.
Lydia regarded turns as suggestions. Yet each possessed what the other lacked.
Lydia discovered this first.
"You are never frightened of playing in front of people," she said one afternoon at Netherfield.
Georgiana looked up from the pianoforte. "I am always frightened."
Lydia stared. "But you play anyway."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Georgiana considered. "Because I like playing more than I dislike being watched."
Lydia sat heavily beside her on the bench. "That is very sensible."
"I learned it from Miss Elizabeth."
"Do not tell Lizzy. She will become smug."
Georgiana smiled. Lydia picked out one note with a finger.
"I thought brave people did not feel frightened."
"So did I."
"Colonel Fitzwilliam said courage can come after foolishness."
Georgiana's hand stilled. They had not spoken directly about Wickham. Both knew they shared some knowledge of him. Neither knew how much the other understood. Lydia looked down at the keys.
"He wrote to me."
Georgiana went pale. Lydia noticed and immediately regretted the words.
"Not now! Before he was arrested. I am sorry. I should not have said his name."
Georgiana took a breath.
"It is all right."
"No, it is not. You look ill."
"I am not ill."
"That is what Mr. Darcy says when his leg hurts."
Despite herself, Georgiana laughed.
Lydia waited.
At last Georgiana said, "He wrote to me once too."
Lydia's head turned.
"Before Ramsgate," Georgiana added quietly.
The name meant nothing to Lydia, but the pain in Georgiana's face did.
"Did he lie to you?"
"Yes."
Lydia swallowed.
"Me too."
Silence fell between them.
Then Lydia said, "I nearly helped him."
Georgiana looked at her.
"Not because I knew about the money at first. He said he wanted to escape because everyone had treated him badly. He said he would send for me. I thought it romantic."
She twisted a ribbon at her wrist.
"Then he wanted me to make a distraction. I finally understood."
Georgiana said very softly, "I nearly ran away with him."
Lydia's mouth fell open. Georgiana's eyes filled with tears.
"I thought he loved me."
For once Lydia had no exclamation. She reached for Georgiana's hand.
"Then he is even worse than I knew."
Georgiana laughed shakily. "Yes."
"Did Mr. Darcy attempt to kill him?"
"Lydia!"
"I only mean, before the soldiers did. He looks as though he wanted to."
Georgiana's laugh became real.
"No."
"Good. Lizzy would dislike visiting him in prison."
Georgiana covered her mouth.
Lydia squeezed her hand.
"I am glad you told me."
"Why?"
"Because I thought I was the stupidest girl in England."
Georgiana's face changed.
"I thought I was."
They stared at each other. Then Lydia said, "Perhaps there were two of us." Georgiana laughed so hard she bent over the keyboard. A discordant cluster of notes sounded beneath her elbow. Darcy entered at that precise moment.
He stopped. Lydia and Georgiana looked up guiltily.
"What happened?"
"Nothing," Georgiana said.
"Absolutely nothing," Lydia added.
Darcy looked between them.
"That answer is rarely reassuring."
Elizabeth appeared behind him. "Leave them alone."
"I only asked—"
"Fitzwilliam."
He glanced at her, then back at the girls.
"Very well."
He left.
Lydia whispered, "He listens to you too much."
Elizabeth, still in the doorway, said, "I heard that."
"La! Everyone listens in this house."
Later, Georgiana told Darcy enough of the conversation that he understood. He became rigid at Wickham's name. Georgiana put a hand on his arm.
"Do not."
"Do not what?"
"Look as though you must fix it."
Darcy stared at her.
She smiled faintly. "Elizabeth told me you do that."
"Elizabeth tells everyone my faults."
"Only the useful ones."
Darcy sat beside his sister.
"Are you well?"
"Yes."
He waited.
Georgiana sighed. "I am sad. And relieved. And angry. And embarrassed. But I am well."
Darcy nodded. He did not tell her what she ought to feel.
She noticed that too.