Chapter 6
SIX
ELIZABETH BENNET
It was precisely as she had thought, on this one point, at least. It was strangely comforting to know that she had not been utterly wrong about him.
“I would not have accepted such strictures easily, and I should have resented it forever had I been made to do so,” she said.
Perhaps knowing that would help ease his disappointment in her refusal, for she found that she could not rejoice in his pain.
“Yes, and I would have known that had I considered the matter rationally for even a moment,” he admitted. “I... I believe I have got far too used to having my own way. It no longer occurs to me that there might be any opposition to my plans or my preferences.”
She regarded him with interest. She believed he might be correct; for all that he had shown little ability to engage in self-perception when they had discussed his temperament at Netherfield—his assertion then that his pride was under good regulation provoked amusement even now—his conjecture made a great deal of sense.
“You became master of your estate, and guardian to your sister, at a young age. There must be very few people willing to gainsay you,” she speculated aloud.
“I think most of us, if constantly told we are in the right, would begin to believe it. I certainly learnt to think my own judgment of character nigh-on infallible,” she added with a sigh.
“I am very sorry I ever gave credence to a word Mr Wickham spoke. Tell me, is your sister recovered from his scheme?”
He frowned. “I fear not. I believe her affection for him is entirely vanished, but Georgiana has always been of a rather timid nature, and understanding how close she came to throwing her life, and the family’s good name, away on a scoundrel frightened her deeply.
She now suffers from the precise opposite of my great failing: she has no longer any confidence whatsoever in her own judgment.
Her new companion is making some progress with her, but I will confess that I fear for her future if she is not able to discover some modicum of faith in herself. ”
“Have you no female relations who might guide her? I think perhaps Lady Catherine might be a little too forceful for such a girl as you describe, but perhaps you have some other aunts or cousins superior to her in age?”
“I have another aunt, the colonel’s mother, and a cousin in his sister, but neither is able to be of assistance.
Lady Patricia, my cousin, would likely be very good for my sister just now, if only she did not live in Gibraltar with her husband, who is an envoy of the government there.
My aunt...” He rubbed a hand over his mouth and sighed.
“Lady Matlock is extremely zealous in her defence of the family name. If she were to learn of my sister’s misstep, she would not help, she would lecture.
At length, and with much greater vigour than many a person of stronger constitution than Georgiana’s could withstand. ”
“That is a pity. A girl your sister’s age needs guidance from other ladies.” She was suddenly conscious that he had sought to give Miss Darcy a sister, and blushed. “About Mr Wickham,” she ventured. “Might I ask you one more question?”
He inclined his head graciously. “Pray do.”
“Is it likely that he has run up debts and trifled with ladies in Hertfordshire?”
His lips compressed, and he nodded. “On the first point, almost certainly. On the second, I expect he will have made the attempt more than once. He is...” Mr Darcy frowned with clear distaste and concluded delicately, “...a man of significant appetites. Whether or not he has succeeded, I cannot predict.”
“I believe I must attempt to safeguard my neighbours,” she said, quite worried now.
“With your permission, I shall write to my—no, I shall tell Charlotte what you have said about his habits and ‘appetites’, with no reference to attempted elopements or any other member of your family, and ask her to write to her father.”
“I have no objection to you sharing anything I have told you about him that is not connected to my sister,” he replied with a sceptical air. “But is Sir William truly the best person to whom to entrust the handling of such a matter?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to say that no, in fact it should have been much better had he himself said something months before, but she swallowed it down.
She felt there had been quite enough recrimination between them, and it was likely that he had feared what the man might say of his sister should Darcy do anything to anger him.
“He is. He was a successful merchant before he was knighted and purchased the Lodge. He had his own troubles with debtors over the years, and will be awake to the danger to the shopkeepers of the town. He is also a most attentive father. Do not allow his indulgence of his daughters to fool you into thinking he would allow a known scoundrel within arm’s length of either of them, and he will hasten to warn every other father in the county. ”
“That is well, then,” Mr Darcy said, seeming to accept her information without question.
“I can provide proofs of my assertions. I have receipts from debts of his that I purchased, the agreement he signed to relinquish the living, and letters from two fathers of girls he ruined, seeking my assistance in making him do the honourable thing. Sir William might write to me at Darcy House, Park Lane, and arrangements could be made.”
“I shall relay that, I thank you. I expect that my neighbours will believe him, and I do not expect him to doubt your word, but the knowledge that proof is available must be a comfort when he is required to speak ill of the man.”
“I hope,” he said, “that Mr Wickham will not choose to besmirch my sister’s name when Sir William undertakes his task.
When I sent him away from my sister, he warned me that if I interfered in his life again, he would have a tale to tell that would wound me far more.
Whether he possesses the courage to do as he threatened, I do not know. ”
“Is that why you said nothing of him while you were in Hertfordshire?”
He nodded gravely. “I expect he will have run up enough debt by now that if he should say anything untoward, it will be taken as the lies of a desperate man, though naturally I would much prefer it if he remained silent. He had been there hardly a fortnight when I departed, however, and had not much time to prove himself a reprobate.”
Elizabeth frowned and rose, looking out into the driving rain as she considered the problem.
“I will tell Charlotte that Mr Wickham has threatened to spread vile rumours of your young sister in the past, and suggest that his debts be found out before a word of his habits is spoken to anyone else. Charlotte will relay this most faithfully, I assure you, and Sir William’s kindness will make of him as able a champion as you could wish for Miss Darcy. ”