Again she was wrong, he was not against her being present. She decided the look was because she had not run from him as soon as she saw him, as had been her wont. Not trusting herself to speak yet, she nodded her head. As they walked out followed by Mrs Annesley, Elizabeth did not miss the way his sister and cousins’ eyes followed the two of them.
Mrs Annesley closed the door and then went to sit in an armchair furthest from the two. “Am I to assume Miss Bennet passed on my message?” Darcy enquired. Not trusting herself to speak yet, Elizabeth nodded, her eyes downcast. “That is no substitute for my begging your pardon in person. I should never have said those patently untrue words, regardless of who I aimed them at, and it was not at you.”
“Mr Darcy, I have so little for which to forgive you, which I do without any hesitation. I have committed so many more offences against you than you ever did towards me,” Elizabeth responded, finally lifting her eyes to look at him. “I behaved like a child who had been denied her sweets. It is my Christian duty to forgive, but I thought myself so clever that if I denied you the chance to speak to me, I could justify not pardoning your error by telling myself you had not apologised to me.
“Then, even more grievous was when I was open to the lies Mr Wickham spewed. I wanted to find confirmation of my opinion so I suspended propriety and my critical thinking when he spun his tale. I lapped up every contradiction about yourself and even accepted as fact what he said about your sister…” Elizabeth saw the way Mr Darcy’s visage darkened as soon as she mentioned his sister.
His instinct had been to angrily demand to know what the bastard had said about Gigi, when he heard her words. She was speaking in thepast tense! Something had changed to cause her to disbelieve the lying wastrel.
“Did he speak about my sister and himself in a public place?” Darcy enquired calmly.
“He never mentioned Ramsgate when I spoke to him, he only stated Miss Darcy was disagreeable and had improper pride,” Elizabeth explained.
“What do you know of Ramsgate? How do you know anything about it?” Darcy questioned warily.
“Jane, Miss Lucas, and I overheard him bragging abouthis various conquests, past and future, and his unsavoury habits to Mr Denny. It wasnotin a public place, and we were the only ones to hear. What I can tell you is the disgusting man is completely unaware we were in a position to hear him.” Elizabeth paused as she remembered something the man had said. “Colonel Fitzwilliam is one of your sister’s guardians, is he not?” Darcy nodded. “So, he is the one who that man is petrified of angering. He made Mr Denny promise to never repeat a word of his attempted elopement with Miss Darcy due to his fear of your cousin.”
“Miss Bennet, as I am the one who soured your opinion of me before we were ever introduced, I forgive any offence you believe you have committed against me,” Darcy granted unequivocally. “Now I have a request, would you object if Gigi, that is what we call my sister, my cousins, Bingley, your sister, and Miss Lucas join us in here? It seems we have much to discuss. Bingley too is aware of what occurred in Ramsgate. If anyone else is to be told about it, it will be my sister’s decision as she was the one who was manipulated by that bas…man.”
“I have no objection,” Elizabeth averred.
It took no time at all until those who Darcy named were seated in the parlour. As she was not needed to chaperone, Mrs Annesley exited the room. Once the door was closed—thanks to a certain lady not being resident any longer there was no need to post a footman in the hallway at the door—Darcy addressed his sister. “Gigi, the two Miss Bennets and Miss Lucas know what occurred in Ramsgate.”
At first Gigi looked distressed, but then she remembered two of the ladies who were aware of her folly had been speaking to her in the drawing room and there was no trace of censure, and with the warm look directed at her from Miss Elizabeth she saw no disdain there either.
“How do you know?” Georgiana asked.
“It is a long story, but like all stories, we need to start atthe beginning,” Elizabeth began. “You may not know it, but I was slighted at…”
“We know,” three Fitzwilliams and one young Darcy chorused.
“Well due to that, even though a most beloved sister and my best friend counselled I was wrong, I…” Elizabeth told the story up to the poison Wickham had poured in her ear at the card party. “Had my dear sister Jane not pointed out how wrong such an action would have been, I would have done his bidding and spread his lies.
“A few days ago, the day after Jane’s fiancé and Mr Darcy left for London, Jane, Charlotte and I decided to go for a walk. We walked up to the summit of Oakham Mount where we were seated when…” Now with the aid of the two who had been with her, the story of what they heard on the mount was told.
“Wicky has the right of it. Had he mentioned this in public I would have ended him,” the Colonel growled.
Gigi gripped Becca’s hands. She could empathise with Miss Lydia, who, like herself, had almost been ruined at the dastard’s hands. “How is your sister? I assume you were able to save her,” Georgiana enquired through her tears. She, and the rest listening to the story were confused as to why the three ladies telling it smiled.
“Not only are both Kitty and Lydia chastened—especially Lydia—but they are both safe. The best part is those two disgusting men are sitting in the town gaol,” Jane revealed proudly.
Bingley and Darcy looked at one another and began to guffaw. “Had we known,” Bingley explained as he wiped some tears of mirth from his eyes, “we could have used the shorter and better road to this estate. It is why we arrived using the old road.”
“Wickham’s being in Meryton is the reason I have my friends, the Major and Captain, as well as those twosmallsergeants with me. We intended to apprehend Wicky and have him consigned to debtor’s prison for life. All the cleaning up after him you heard him boast about, Darcy here,” the Colonel cocked his head, “kept all of his markers in case he needed to act against him.”
“What a fool I was again,” Elizabeth bemoaned. “When I saw the meeting between Mr Darcy and the miscreant in Meryton my prejudices automatically told me the latter was the wronged party. To say I was mortified when I heard him go on about how he had attempted to use me to blacken your name…” Elizabeth gave Mr Darcy a contrite look, he inclined his head in understanding. “And the worst part is we had to come up with a way to contain him without our father’s assistance.”
“You meanyouformed the plan to take action without Papa’s help,” Jane corrected. She looked to the two Darcys. “None of us have repeated the part regarding Miss Darcy and Ramsgate to anyone, as we needed to retell the story to make sure Mr Wickham was not allowed to hurt anyone in Meryton.”
“Please call me Georgiana or Gigi,” she looked to Becca who nodded, “and this is Rebecca or Becca.” The Bennet sisters and Miss Lucas reciprocated asking to be addressed by their informal names.
“Darcy had to fight not to beat the blackguard to a pulp when he first saw him. We would have removed Wicky from society sooner, but my friends and I were not able to get away immediately due to duties we needed to perform,” the Colonel related. “I suggest we allow the…manto serve his sentence which will be imposed on him in Hertford. We will buy his debts from Westingham and Meryton. The day he is supposed to be released, to debtor’s prison he will go.”
“Gigi, are you happy with this resolution?” Lord Hilldale verified.
“I am,” Georgiana responded emphatically. “As long as hewill never be free to harm any others, I am sanguine with that.”
“How did Miss Elizabeth get Wicky arrested?” the Colonel enquired.
