“Why, yes…as well as may be,” he stammered. “But welcome and come in, please!” He motioned to his study. “May I offer you anything? Tea —”
“No, I thank you. Please do not trouble yourself or your staff.”
Mr. Gardiner bowed once more and sat down on a settee opposite him. “What may I do for you, Mr. Darcy?” he began. “I must confess my utter astonishment to find you in my hall, but,” he hurried on, his eyes bright with curiosity, “that does not mean I am not delighted to return your excellent hospitality during our visit to Derbyshire. How may I serve you, sir?”
Despite the delicacy of that on which he was about to embark, Darcy had thought himself well prepared for this interview; but the open countenance and geniality of the man before him gave him pause. He liked Elizabeth’s uncle, he realized suddenly, and did not wish to see his honest, welcoming face harden in displeasure and embarrassment. But it could not be helped. What Elizabeth had confided in despair, he had turned to good use for the man before him and his family, and Elizabeth’s relative must have the particulars to complete what he had secured thus far.
“Your niece Miss Elizabeth Bennet must have told you that I happened upon her only minutes after receiving disturbing news from her sister,” he began.
Mr. Gardiner’s eyes shaded, but he put on a good face. “Yes…yes, she did, and I thank you for your understanding…and Miss Darcy’s, also, I am sure. Lizzy was anxious to rejoin her family, and what can a man do in the face of such entreaty but comply?” He gave a little laugh.
Darcy took a deep breath. “Then, it would appear she did not tell you that, in her distress, she revealed to me the contents of those letters.”
“Ah…” Mr. Gardiner sat back as if flinching from a blow and closed his eyes. Darcy prepared to allow him his moment, but the man rallied with remarkable speed. “I am sorry that you should have been troubled with our concerns, sir,” he said in a firm voice. “Please, excuse my niece for so forgetting herself.”
Darcy waved a hand in dismissal. “There is nothing to excuse.”
Elizabeth’s uncle sighed. “Thank you, sir. You honor us.” He shifted forward and continued with some embarrassment. “I know our acquaintance is a tenuous one at best, Mr. Darcy, but I feel that I — that my family — may rely with confidence upon your discretion in this sad affair.” Although he’d phrased it as a statement, it was certain he desired assurance.
“My silence on it will be absolute, I assure you,” Darcy replied, to Mr. Gardiner’s grateful relief. “But for urgent, personal reasons, I could not ignore the situation in which your family finds itself. Frankly, sir, I believe myself to be in great part responsible for it.”
Mr. Gardiner’s bewilderment could not have been more complete. “You, responsible! I am at a loss, sir, how this could possibly be!”
“George Wickham has long been known to me. He is the son of my late father’s steward; therefore, our relationship is from childhood. Sadly, his character was a devious and calculating one from the beginning. Upon my father’s death, our connection was severed with the paying over of an amount bequeathed to Wickham by his will. After that, his whereabouts and activities were unknown to me until —”
“My dear sir,” Mr. Gardiner protested, “I can find no place for blame! How were you to prevent his arrival in Meryton or predict his seduction of my niece in Brighton? Pardon me, you are very kind; but you take too much upon yourself!”
“I wish it were true,” Darcy replied, “that I came here with only a delicate conscience to assuage. To my discredit, it is not so.” He breathed in deeply, dreading the confession that had to be made. “Wickham disappeared from my notice for several years until intruding upon it in a way that threatened my own family and name. Mr. Gardiner.” He looked him in the eye. “May I return your compliment on my discretion with reliance upon yours?”
“Certainly, sir!” his hearer replied firmly. “Completely!”
“I returned from visiting friends last year just in time to prevent Wickham from accomplishing his designs upon Miss Darcy.”
“Good Heavens!” Mr. Gardiner passed a hand through his thinning hair. “Oh, the despicable wretch! Then, no wonder Lydia…Why, he is a practiced seducer!”
“Exactly so. He can be very plausible, deceiving most until it is too late.”
“What did you do then, upon discovering him?”
“I did not know what to do, except to save my sister’s reputation and avert family disgrace. I chose to warn him away and to say nothing, hoping that that would be an end to it. A false hope, an absurd hope.” His voice was full of scorn at his folly. “As I should have known! I merely freed him to prey upon others.”
“But this is understandable, sir. What could you have done that would not have resulted in pain for Miss Darcy?”
“Perhaps, if I had not been too proud to ask for advice from wiser heads than mine, there might have been something. But I did not, abhorring the thought that my private affairs would become subject to common gossip.” Darcy looked away from his listener and sighed. “I fear that I am too long in justifying myself, which is not why I have come.” He rose and began to pace about the room. “So, you may imagine my shock when, arriving in Hertfordshire with my friend last autumn, I found Wickham among the favored in Meryton society. As I said, he can be charming and very plausible, especially to females. I, on the other hand, made little effort to make myself agreeable in a society unknown to me. It is a failing of which Miss Elizabeth Bennet has been so kind as to apprise me.”
“Oh, dear.” Mr. Gardiner shook his head. “Lizzy’s wit is not checked by as much discretion as I would wish, but she will be the first to admit her fault…once she is convinced of it.”
“No, she has done me a kindness; that and many more. To continue — and this is the telling point…” Darcy stopped his pacing and stood before his listener, humble. “Because of my reserve and misplaced pride, I did not disclose his character. If it had been known, Wickham could not have gained acceptance into Meryton society. Young women such as your niece would have shunned his company, and fathers would have shielded their daughters. Instead, I chose the course of my own convenience, and your niece and your family have suffered for it. I hold myself entirely to blame and entirely responsible to see that what can be done to make it right is accomplished.”
Mr. Gardiner had listened to him with great patience. Even now, he sat in contemplation of all Darcy said without uttering one word of richly deserved condemnation. Darcy waited.
Finally, the man raised his eyes to his face. “There may be some blame in your actions, or inaction, young man, but I cannot find it to the degree that you believe. Others, closer to the events, have more to answer for, I believe, than do you. If you have come to know yourself better, that is to be lauded; but do not, I beg you, take the entirety of this upon your conscience.”
Darcy bowed. “You are more kind than I deserve, but I cannot excuse myself. To that end, I left Derbyshire only a day later than yourselves and have been in London with the sole purpose of finding your niece and restoring her to her family.”
“As have I, Mr. Darcy. A frustrating business!” Mr. Gardiner sank back into the settee, shaking his head. “It is as if they have been swallowed up. It has so agitated my brother Bennet that I insisted upon his returning to Hertfordshire.”
“That is my principal reason for coming to you, sir. I have found them.”
“Found them! My dear sir!” Mr. Gardiner bounded from the settee and took him by the arm. “Where? How?”
“It is better you do not know where,” Darcy replied earnestly, “and the how is immaterial now. They are found, and I have talked to them both. Your niece is well.”