Consequences (42 page)

Darcy looked serious as he finished his recitation, and his eyes met those of Mr. Bennet and his daughter unflinchingly as he continued, “As to the truth of what I have told you thus far, I can provide more than one witness, and I also have Wickham’s signature on our agreement. One witness you already know, Elizabeth. Since my cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam shares the guardianship of Georgiana with me, he is fully informed both on these events and those I have yet to reveal.”

Both Elizabeth and her father were taken aback by these statements. Not only did they contradict what Wickham had charged, there was Darcy’s avowal that a witness would attest to the truth of his narrative. Certainly, Wickham had never done anything similar. He simply relied on his amiable manner to inspire belief, and both Elizabeth and her father were feeling rather ashamed of having believed such unsupported testimony.

“After that, our acquaintance was seemingly at an end. Certainly, he was no longer welcome at Pemberley, and I would not notice him in town, where I believe he chiefly lived. Certainly, he did not engage in studying the law, or at least he did not attend to it for long. I heard little of him for about three years, though I did hear enough to know he lived a life of idleness and dissipation. At the end of those three years, the incumbent clergyman at Kympton passed on, and Wickham must have gotten news of it. He applied to me by letter, asking for the presentation of the living. He assured me his circumstances were exceedingly bad, which I found quite easy to believe. He said he had found the law a most unprofitable study and he was now absolutely resolved to take clerical orders if I would present him the Kympton living. He seemed to have little doubt but that I would accede to his wishes, for he said he was certain I had no other person to whom the living had been promised and I must surely remember the last wishes of my beloved father.”

Before continuing, Darcy paused to take a sip of the wine Mr. Bennet poured for him during his recitation. “You can hardly blame me, I trust, for refusing this most shameless request or of refusing to listen to his repeated applications. His resentment of my decision was doubtless in proportion to the distress of his circumstances, for the letter he sent me was quite violent in his abuse of my person. But this episode ended every appearance of acquaintance, and I know not how he lived. I thought, at least, I was well rid of him at last, but this proved my most disastrous underestimation of the perfidy of George Wickham.”

To this point, Darcy had related his story with every appearance of disinterest, as if he was reviewing some ancient history that had little connection with the affairs of everyday life. But now his expression grew exceedingly severe as he took another drink of his port.

“Thus far, what I have said may be used as you see fit, but, for what I am about to relate, I must ask for your complete secrecy. I would myself prefer to forget these events, but you must be informed since it discloses a side of George Wickham that provides justification for my fears for Miss Lydia.”

Despite the several candles in the room, the atmosphere seemed to darken as even Darcy grew more dour. “My sister, Georgiana, who is more than ten years my junior, was left to the guardianship of myself and my cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam by the terms of my father’s will. About a year ago, we decided to remove Georgiana from school and form an establishment for her in London, presided over by a Mrs. Younge, who came to us with the highest of recommendations. In the summer, Mrs. Younge suggested a holiday by the seashore at Ramsgate, and she and Georgiana journeyed there to enjoy the sea air. And there, Mr. Bennet, also went George Wickham, for it turned out there was a prior acquaintance between him and Mrs. Younge. Her recommendations were, we subsequently learned, fabrications and forgeries, and she conspired with and aided Wickham as he met Georgiana. You know my sister, Elizabeth. She has the most affectionate heart, and all she really knew of George was the many kindnesses he showed her when she was a child. With the aid and connivance of Mrs. Younge, he was able to meet with Georgiana and recommend himself to her in such a manner that he was able to persuade her she was in love and further convince her to agree to an elopement. She was then but fifteen years old, which must be her excuse. For George Wickham, there can, of course, be no excuse.”

Elizabeth’s quickly drawn breath accented her horror at Darcy’s tale. It fit—it did fit—with so many things she had observed in Georgiana—her shyness, her lack of confidence, and her expressed statement that she did not want to again disappoint her brother. Mr. Bennet was also affected by Darcy’s relation of what every parent of a daughter most fears, and his self-control sculpted his face into a stony visage.

“I am happy to state that, despite Georgiana’s imprudence, it was she who made these facts known to me. I joined them unexpectedly a day or two before the intended elopement, and Georgiana was unable to support the idea of grieving and offending me. In many ways, I have had to be more a father than a brother to her, and she lost no time in acquainting the whole to me when I appeared. You can imagine how I felt and acted, Mr. Bennet. I did not want to chance damage to my sister’s feelings and reputation by any public exposure, but I discharged Mrs. Younge at once and had her escorted from the establishment. I also wrote to Wickham, who left Ramsgate immediately since he did not know whether I would set the constable on him as I had intimated in my letter. As for his motive, certainly, his chief object was my sister’s fortune of thirty thousand pounds, but I am also convinced he was greatly attracted by the hope of revenging himself on me. Had they married, he imagined I would have no choice but to swallow my anger and acknowledge my sister’s husband.

“George does not know my cousin Richard Fitzwilliam very well,” he said savagely, “otherwise he never would have chanced a return from Scotland with Georgiana if his schemes had succeeded. He would not have survived the meeting with my cousin, who has learned his trade in a harsher environment than my own.”

Elizabeth had trouble imagining the amiable Colonel Fitzwilliam as being as dangerous as Darcy intimated, but she changed her mind when looking at Darcy’s fierce expression. He obviously believed that of his cousin, and his knowledge was certainly superior to her own.

“Colonel Fitzwilliam can, of course, attest to these events regarding George Wickham,” Darcy said after the cold anger finally left his face. “I can send an express to him in London should you wish to consult with him on the veracity of my story. I would much prefer it not be mentioned to Georgiana; she still persists in blaming herself for what almost transpired, unable to understand that she was not mature enough to be safe from a man who has made a habit of deceiving women for the last ten years. I do, however, have hopes that continued association with Elizabeth will hasten her recovery.”

Darcy glanced over at Elizabeth to gauge her reaction, but he could not see her face. Her head was lowered, but the way she wrapped her arms around herself testified that his story affected her deeply.

After several minutes of quiet contemplation, Mr. Bennet finally stirred. “I do thank you for your account, Mr. Darcy, and I assure you we have no need of the witnesses you mentioned. I saw Elizabeth’s reaction, and I can see she agrees with me entirely that you have been most grievously slandered by an unworthy scoundrel who shall be ejected from my household once I leave this room. But I fail to see how it affects my household or my youngest daughter.”

“My fear stems from the expression I saw on Wickham’s face when I first arrived, sir,” replied Darcy gravely. “I have seen that expression before, more times than I care to remember. Wickham had a certain way in which he seemed almost to stalk his chosen female conquests. Yes, conquests, Mr. Bennet, for he has ruined more than one girl. I know of at least two children he has fathered. And when Wickham was at the point in his pursuit where he was certain he had his chosen young lady ensnared in his web, he would look on her with a particular smile I have always attributed to a cat playing with his prey before he devours it. I saw that expression on Wickham’s face tonight, and it was bestowed on your youngest daughter.”

“But why, Mr. Darcy?” asked Mr. Bennet plaintively. “Lydia has no fortune, so she should not be the object of prey to anyone!”

“Remember what I said about Wickham’s object with my sister, Mr. Bennet? Your Lydia does not have thirty thousand pounds, but Wickham would have considerable revenge if he was able to besmirch the reputation of my wife’s family.”

“Especially since Lydia is too foolish to detect any lack of sincerity in such a man as Mr. Wickham,” said Elizabeth dully, still not raising her head. “As I said to you, Papa, when I argued against allowing Lydia to accompany Mrs. Forster to Brighton.”

“Brighton!” Darcy exclaimed, leaping to his feet. “That is the missing piece! I knew instinctively what Wickham intended, based on my experience over the years, but I did not know how he would have the opportunity with the militia departing on the morrow! He plans to have considerable opportunity to complete his conquest at Brighton!”

At last, Mr. Bennet fully understood and believed what Mr. Darcy had been trying to convince him of, and a look of unmitigated horror swept over his face. “What a fool I have been!” he groaned, his head falling into his hands. “In my pride and arrogance, I believed myself capable of discerning all the motivations of others, and here I could not even see the danger to my own family! Danger I was more than willing to allow Lydia to walk into because I wanted to have peace at Longbourn!”

He slowly got to his feet, his head coming up to look Darcy in the face. “Thank you, sir,” he said hoarsely, putting out his hand. “Please accept my thanks for having the fortitude and determination to convince a foolish old man of his folly, even when to do so required you to speak of family matters you would have much preferred to keep private.”

Darcy clasped the proffered hand, but he would not accept the full of Mr. Bennet’s apology. “You cannot claim all of the blame, sir. Part of it is mine since I should have made Wickham’s worthlessness known to the world, so no young lady would have been deceived by him. But I was unwilling to lay my private actions open to the world. I told myself that my character would speak for itself, but I see that was an argument to deceive myself. No, we have both been remiss in this matter.”

“I am not so sure, Mr. Darcy, but rather than stay here debating who should have the greater share of the blame, I believe I will now take some long overdue actions to seize control of certain elements of my family I have allowed to go unsupervised for too long. I hope it is not yet too late, but at least I shall have the pleasure of having a certain red-coated scoundrel thrown out of my house!”

Both Darcy and Mr. Bennet exchanged humourless smiles. In this matter, at least, they had reached a perfect understanding of the other.

When Darcy turned back to Elizabeth after her father left, she was still as he had last seen, with her head down and her arms clasped around herself.

“Elizabeth,” he said with no little concern, “are you in distress?”

Though she tried desperately, Elizabeth could not hold back the choked sob, and Darcy was instantly at her side with one knee on the floor. He put his hand under her chin and raised it. Elizabeth made a brief effort to resist, but it was half-hearted at best. When Darcy tilted her head up, he could see the tracks of the tears that had run freely down her face. He realized she had been hugging herself in an attempt to suppress her sobs while he was completing his conversation with her father.

“Dearest Elizabeth, do not be concerned over what I have had to speak of tonight. That blackguard does not deserve a single tear from such an admirable young lady as yourself.”

“But I . . . believed Mr. Wickham!” Elizabeth wailed suddenly, her face crumpling as her weeping overwhelmed her. “I believed . . . believed him and . . . and I thought that . . . that you were horrible for treating him so badly!”

Darcy gathered her tenderly into his embrace, and Elizabeth gripped his coat with her small fists, shoving her face into his chest as sobs wracked her body.

“Hush, dearest, hush,” Darcy murmured, holding her to him. “I knew in general the kind of lies Wickham must have told you, but I should have defended myself to you. Nay, I should have courted you openly, as you deserved, rather than making a hash of my proposal at the Parsonage. Then we could have discovered all this months ago. You should not be crying over being deceived by Wickham, for you were ignorant of much of what you heard tonight. From what you knew, detection of his deceit could not be in your power, and suspicion is certainly not in your nature.”

Finally, Elizabeth’s crying subsided, and she accepted Darcy’s offer of his handkerchief to at least wipe her cheeks of tears, even though she knew her eyes would be red. Suddenly, she was overwhelmed by her affection for the tall man who was so tender as he comforted her and so understanding of her nature and character, and she wanted nothing in the world as much as she wanted to be married to him. She had thought her deceptions were coming easier as she played her part as Darcy’s prospective bride, but she had obviously been changing her mind about him as the days and weeks had gone by, even though her vanity had not allowed her to realize it.

“William,” she said softly, leaning her head back to stare at him, “I have something I want to say to you.” When she had his full attention, she continued, “William, I have come to the realization I am very happy I am going to be married to you.” She saw his eyes flare at her declaration, and his approval gave her courage to continue. “I do not deserve you because I have not been honest with you in the same way you have been honest with me. I accepted your offer of marriage because it was the prudent thing to do.”