“Sir, Mrs. Younge sent me over with some things for your stay.”
Darcy stepped up to the door and as it swung wide open, he took a step forward, filling the frame. Darcy’s and Wickham’s eyes met at equal height but not equal stature as men. Wickham attempted to close the door, but Darcy’s body blocked it. Mr. Gardiner did not miss the venomous look in Darcy’s eyes and wondered what all had been the cause of such a strong hatred for this man. Knowing his character was one thing, but it seemed to be spurred on by something intensely personal.
“Turn over the girl, Wickham,” Darcy spoke through a taut jaw.
Wickham sneered at his longtime rival. “She will not come with you. She and I are to be married.”
Mr. Gardiner stepped into Wickham’s sight. “She may not go with Mr. Darcy, but she certainly is going to come with me!”
“Who is it?” a young girl’s voice could be heard from the other side of the room, followed by footsteps which brought her to the door. Her eyes widened and her head wrenched back in surprise. “Uncle Gardiner! Mr. Darcy! What are you doing here?”
Mr. Gardiner spoke. “I am here to remove you from this man, Lydia. Your family is most concerned and there is much we need to talk about. Did it not even cross your mind that what you were doing was wrong?”
Giving him a look of derision as she rolled her eyes, she clipped back, “I am old enough to know what I am doing! I love Mr. Wickham and he loves me and we are to be married!”
Wickham gave Darcy a smug look as he wrapped his arm around the girl. “You see, Darcy? She will tell you! We are to be married!”
Mr. Gardiner retorted, “You are not married yet and she should not be here with you! I demand that you unhand her immediately and release her to me!”
Lydia did not think she had ever seen her uncle look so stern and pulled in closer to Wickham. A brief look of apprehension crossed her face, but she quickly steeled herself and answered back, “You cannot make me go!”
Instead of arguing with his niece, Mr. Gardiner unexpectedly pushed past them, catching the two of them off guard. Without saying a word to either one, he determinedly walked toward the back room.
“Where is he going?” asked Wickham, taken by surprise. “You cannot walk in here without my permission! I demand that both of you leave immediately!”
Mr. Gardiner ignored him and when he walked in the room, he breathed a sigh of relief. The bed was perfectly made. They had arrived in time.
As he came back out he looked only at Darcy, saying with an air of relief, “We are not too late.”
“Wickham, release the girl to her uncle immediately.” Darcy spoke in a firm, controlled voice that Wickham had long come to recognize.
Wickham narrowed his eyes at Darcy. “It will not work this time, Darcy. Lydia knows exactly what she is doing!”
“Does she?”
“Of course I do!” exclaimed Lydia. “Uncle Gardiner, Mama cannot but be pleased that I am marrying an officer. She has the deepest respect for officers. And I love George!”
“Lydia, you will come with me now!” Her uncle’s voice was unyielding. “Once we have talked about this, I trust you will see it was a mistake!”
Lydia let out a frustrated groan, and Wickham held on more tightly.
Darcy pointedly addressed Wickham. “Wickham, holding on to Miss Bennet more tightly will not work once she knows the truth. Do you want me to tell her how you attempted the same thing with my sister? How you schemed to elope with her only because you wanted her fortune?”
Lydia’s eyes, as well as Mr. Gardiner’s, widened at this revelation.
“I was foolish back then, I admit it! But Lydia does not have any fortune so you cannot say my motive is the same!”
“Yes, but you know differently, Wickham. Do you not?”
Mr. Gardiner looked down at Lydia. “Lydia, Wickham knows that by marrying you he will have a connection to a rather large fortune.”
“What?” asked Lydia. “Me? Have a fortune? Surely you are joking!”
Darcy turned and looked at her. “No, not you directly. But your sister, Elizabeth, has one and Wickham hopes some of that fortune will come to him by marrying you.”
“Oh, Lord! Elizabeth has a fortune?” Lydia tilted her head. “How?”
Darcy looked directly at the young girl. “Because I married her.”
Lydia gasped. “You married Elizabeth?”
“This is absurd!” Wickham stated coolly. “How would I know something like that when even her sister was not aware of it? Come, Mr. Darcy, this is all a futile attempt on your part to try to interfere with my life; to prevent me from finding happiness! All because you resented your father’s love for me!”
Darcy’s eyes darkened. “Do not bring my father into this, Wickham!”
Lydia cried out again, “You married Elizabeth?”
“You have always interfered with me getting what I want!” Wickham accused, pointing his finger at Darcy.
“The only thing you seek is an easy fortune! Well I can guarantee, Wickham, that marrying Miss Bennet will not procure one ounce of anything from me! Your plans for her would be just cause for the Bennets to cast her off, cutting you off completely from them and, consequently, myself.” Darcy leaned in to Wickham, clearly making his point. “Mr. Bennet would never give his permission for you to marry and you would not even be able to collect the 50 pounds a year that the Bennet daughters are to inherit.”
Wickham’s face was enflamed with anger. “You are still as tight-fisted as you always have been! You have fooled the people around Pemberley into thinking you are generous. Well I know otherwise!”
“Wickham, I have been generous toward you to a fault! It is because you chose to mishandle all that was given to you that you are in the dire straits you are today. Does Miss Lydia know of the gambling debts you left behind in Meryton, let alone all the other places you have fled? Does she know how you have gone from one line of work to another to flee your creditors?”
“That is all a lie!”
“Come, Lydia,” urged Mr. Gardiner, as the two men stood quietly now, staring at one another. “Certainly you can see for yourself that this man before you is not the gentleman he led you to believe he was. His intentions have been strictly dishonourable.”
Lydia turned to Wickham. “Is this all true? Did you know that my sister was married to Mr. Darcy? Is this the only reason you wanted to marry me?”
Wickham pushed her away toward her uncle. “Oh, go with him! I would be weary of your incessant chattering in but a few days. No amount of money would make it worth marrying you!”
Lydia’s eyes widened as she turned back to him. “You lied to me! All those things you said to me were lies!”
“I only said what you wanted to hear!”
“Lydia,” Mr. Gardiner gently urged her away, “the carriage is waiting.”
He took Lydia’s arm to take her to the carriage, glancing at Darcy and urging him to follow suit.
Wickham eyed him with contempt. “Take your tedious sister and return her to her pathetic family. You have done well for yourself, old friend, marrying into the Bennet family. Your pretty little wife must make up for her decidedly inferior station and questionable connections in other ways for you, eh, Darcy?”
Darcy’s fist tightened as Wickham made his malicious declaration against his wife and her family.
Wickham looked at him spitefully. “I found her quite dull, myself. Although her figure was certainly something I would not mind getting my hands on.”
Wickham gave a low laugh and then abruptly decided he was finished.
“What are you remaining here for? You have Lydia. Now go!”
“There is one more thing I wish to take care of here, Wickham,” Darcy said softly, masking his anger.
“And that is?”
Before Wickham could brace himself, Darcy pulled back his fist and promptly gave him a blow to the stomach. Wickham doubled up, making a futile attempt to catch his breath.