“The one who helped cover up Lydia’s elopement?” Elizabeth’s disbelief went beyond words.
“Of course, but you were so sly! I never guessed, in all the times I saw you together, that you were partial to him. Oh, wait till Lydia hears!”
“If you will excuse me,” Elizabeth said abruptly, and started back to the house in a fury. To think her father could even consider for a moment that she was accepting advances from Denny! Well, she would set him to rights, and have words to say about his faith in her judgment as well! At least she need not worry about how he would react to the truth; compared to the amoral and impoverished Denny, Darcy would seem positively heaven-sent.
The thought brought her to a sudden stop. Recalling all her parents’ harsh words and ingrained prejudices about Darcy, the idea came to her that it might not be such a poor idea to let them continue to worry about the prospect of Denny as a son-in-law for a few days. By that point, her father might well be ready to welcome Darcy with open arms. A mischievous smile began to cross her face.
Chapter 6
It was something of a revelation to Elizabeth to discover the extent to which she could enjoy deceiving her family. During the next two days, she sat through several harangues from Mrs. Bennet on the state of her nerves, moralistic lectures from Mary on the evils of loss of reputation, Kitty’s constant pleas for details, and Mr. Bennet’s concerned looks, to all of which she replied with a refusal to provide any further information and a smiling assurance that they had no cause for concern. When Mrs. Bennet began to threaten she would write to Mr. Gardiner and ask him to settle matters with Denny as he had with Wickham, Elizabeth could not restrain her laughter as she told her mother she was certain Mr. Gardiner would see no cause for concern in her involvement with FD. The frequent use of the word “shameless” as applied to her was further cause for her amusement.
Nonetheless, she had good intentions of confessing the truth once Miss Darcy arrived, feeling it would be quite unfair to her to expect her participation in the charade. While they were awaiting their guest, however, Mrs. Bennet announced that there would be absolutely no mention of Lizzy’s shamelessness in front of Miss Darcy, thus relieving Elizabeth of the necessity of immediate confession—and the attendant scene Miss Darcy would witness—before her guest even had the opportunity to settle in.
Miss Darcy’s arrival went smoothly; she was clearly pleased to see Elizabeth, and Mrs. Bennet’s degree of overcivility did not seem to trouble her in the least. She was amiable with Kitty and Mary, though Elizabeth, with a slightly more experienced eye, could see she was, in fact, anxious about the interchange, but attempting to battle her shyness. Mary, who had heard so much about Miss Darcy’s vaunted skill at the pianoforte that she was determined not to be outdone in civility as she was likely to be in music, insisted on taking Georgiana on the full tour of Longbourn and its grounds. Kitty, who was closest to her age, was delighted to keep her company as her trunks were unpacked, for the pleasure of remarking over each dress and bonnet as it emerged. By dinnertime they were all referring to each other by their first names. Between one sister and the other, it was near evening before Elizabeth had a chance to spend some time alone with Miss Darcy.
After they reassured one another of their delight in seeing the other, it was apparent to Elizabeth that Georgiana was still somewhat in awe of her, and very anxious to please. She attempted to put those anxieties to rest with warm inquiries about her time at Pemberley, their common acquaintances, and of course, Darcy. This led naturally to a rather timid question regarding Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s ignorance of Darcy’s admiration of Elizabeth.
Elizabeth laughed. “Given the timing of your visit, you will very likely have the pleasure of witnessing exactly why I have allowed this state of affairs to persist. My parents, I am sorry to say, harbor some strong prejudices against your brother, and, though I have attempted to moderate their views, my success has been quite limited.”
“When I said something to your sisters about what a good brother he is, they looked quite disbelieving! I did not know what to say.”
“I am hardly surprised,” Elizabeth said with a smile.
“But what reason could they possibly have to dislike him?”
“It is in fact quite an ironic story, in hindsight. It all began when he made a slighting comment about me at a public assembly, and refused to dance with me since I did not meet his standards.”
“Oh,” cried Georgiana. “So that is why he said that you…” she trailed off in embarrassment.
“Pray, now you have aroused my curiosity, what did he say?”
Georgiana blushed. “I shouldn’t have said anything… it was a long time ago. He said that he had given you every reason to dislike him, and I couldn’t understand what he could be talking about. I couldn’t ask him about it, because that was when he was barely talking to anyone at all, and I knew I was lucky he had said as much as he did, but I always wondered what he meant.”
“When was this?”
“Oh, after he returned from visiting Aunt Catherine last spring.” The words began tumbling out of her, as if she had been barely holding them back for months. “It was so awful, Elizabeth! He was so quiet all the time, and if anyone asked him why, he would just stalk off, and he wouldn’t even see his friends most of the time. If I tried to be sympathetic, he would tell me to save my pity for someone who deserved it, and then he’d try to put a good face on it, and that was even worse. And then, after a while, he seemed to just give up, and he didn’t even get angry anymore; it was just as if he didn’t care about anything anymore.”
The pain Elizabeth felt on hearing this was as great as could be imagined. “I had no idea,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I knew he must be angry and disappointed, but I assumed he would move on quickly—after all, there seemed to be no shortage of women who would be overjoyed to receive his addresses.”
“Move on? How could you think that?” Georgiana asked. “Fitzwilliam never lets go of anyone, and he never stops caring.”
“I am not certain I understand your meaning,” Elizabeth responded cautiously.
“Haven’t you noticed? He almost never lets himself care about anyone, but once he does, he is more loyal than anyone in the world. You have seen him with Bingley—since Bingley is his dear friend, he is willing to tolerate those horrible sisters of his—I know, I shouldn’t say such things, but it’s true—when any other man would have nothing to do with them. He puts up with Aunt Catherine, when I cannot even stand to be in the same room as her. He forgives everything in those he cares about—I should know—and never blames. If he had never seen you again, he would still have been hurt ten years from now, just like with…” Georgiana stopped short, her face frozen.
“Just like what?” Elizabeth asked gently, astonished by the insights she was receiving.
“Just like with George Wickham,” Georgiana whispered, and burst into tears.
Elizabeth, feeling the greatest sympathy, moved rapidly to embrace the sobbing girl, murmuring words of comfort.
It took Georgiana several minutes to regain her composure. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I feel so awful when I think of how I hurt Fitzwilliam. I didn’t know at the time, of course, but that makes no difference.”
“My dear, please remember you are far from the only one taken in by Mr. Wickham. I myself believed his stories, and was charmed by him. All my family, indeed all of Meryton, delighted in him. You could not be expected to do more.”
“But it wasn’t so much what I did as what he did to my brother. How could anyone be so cruel?”