When she returned to the room she found George flipping through his story book and ‘reading’ it once more. Colonel Fitzwilliam frowningly picked at the tea plate, and Georgiana stared at him with anxiety.
As soon as Elizabeth returned to the room, Colonel Fitzwilliam rose, inclined his head to her, and said, “I’ll go over to the coaching inn, and see if I can borrow some servants from them. We won’t be here for more than a month. Georgiana, how large was the establishment?”
Elizabeth wondered if the girl would mention Mr. Darcy’s plan to send the two of them out to find new servants this afternoon, but she did not. From her appearance Elizabeth thought Georgiana was decidedly happy tonotbe required to manage the task.
Not ideal, since Elizabeth thought she should be as much as possible made to do useful things. But Miss Darcy was nothercharge.
Shortly after Colonel Fitzwilliam went out, Emily fell asleep in Elizabeth’s lap. Georgiana sat next to Elizabeth and said, “I wish Richard was angrier at me.”
Elizabeth could not help but smile at such a beginning. “Did you depend upon him to despise you sufficiently that you could give over the task of being despised instead of needing to do it for yourself?”
It took Miss Darcy half a second to understand what Elizabeth had said, and then she giggled a little. “Do you always like to say such clever things?”
“Generally. A bad habit I acquired from my father.”
“Am I really so ignorant?”
“Yes.”
The immediate way that Elizabeth replied, and the smile which she showed Georgiana brought a smile in turn from the girl.
“That cannot be wholly my fault. Mrs. Castle—she was the headmistress of my school—and Mrs. Younge made me seem like I was an improper and almost immoral girl if I ever inquired about such matters. I could never dare to ask Fitzwilliam. But surely he would have also refused to say anything.”
“You did not have any friends? Much of whatIknew, or believed I knew, for much was of questionable accuracy, came from chattering with my friends.”
Georgiana just looked sad in response to this. She mumbled too quietly for Elizabeth to hear.
“Your school friends did not know any more,” Elizabeth cheerfully said. “Poor girl.”
“I did not have any friends. None of the other girls at school liked me.”
Elizabeth embraced Georgiana. “Poor thing.”
“I don’t think I knew…not until it was half done.”
“Did not know what?” Elizabeth asked softly.
The girl looked down. She had a flushed face. She wrung her hands together. Smoothed the leg of her dress. She shook back and forth a little.
Elizabeth softly asked, “You mean the liberties you permitted Mr. Wickham.”
“Yes. It was half done, and I…I only then started to realize how much it meant. But I would not have stopped him, even if I had fully understood. We were to be married, so I thought…I thought it was still…right.”
Elizabeth shifted Emily in her lap so she could reach out and take Georgiana’s hand.
Oddly, a flash of jealous rage suddenly went through Elizabeth. That damned man. He had promised that he belonged toher. And yet he rutted with this girl, and so many others. Damn, damn, damn him.
That feeling left nearly as fast as it came.
Poor Georgiana.
How had Wickham become such a man?—A girl whom he had grown up with. Wickham had been old enough when she was born that he could likely remember when Georgiana had been a baby.
With Elizabeth holding her hand, Georgiana said slowly, “I enjoyed it. It felt… like nothing ever had before. The pain was nothing to that sensation of…for a minute I was not primarily my thoughts. I was something else. And it was…”
“Like in some essential way this was the purpose of life,” Elizabeth murmured.
“Yes,” Georgiana said. She then stared at Elizabeth. “You know because you have done it. With him.”
