For her good, he would give her up, if that was what she really wanted. If they could only clear their names.
Darcy straightened his spine, resolving that it would be so. He would have to find a solution. There must be a way to protect Elizabeth — even if protecting her meant granting her freedom. For the woman he loved, he would defy even his own heart.
Chapter 15
Elizabeth knocked on the door of her mother’s bedchamber, her heart pounding with every moment that went by as she waited in the corridor. Mr Darcy had departed four days ago, and she knew he would soon be returning. If her mother was to confess to any involvement in the plot to force Mr Darcy into an engagement with her, there was no better time than the present to get her confession.
“Enter!” her mother finally called. Elizabeth took a deep breath and resolved to get to the point as quickly as possible. She had stalled long enough, but not knowing the truth had made sleep elusive and her appetite dwindle until everyone in the family, even her father, had noticed that something was not quite right with the usually cheerful Lizzy.
Elizabeth opened the door, peeking around the jamb as she went. Her mother sat before her vanity as the maid arranged her curls under a freshly starched white cap. “Ah, Lizzy. What is it, darling? Are you feeling any better?”
Elizabeth eyed the maid, suddenly frozen and wishing she had planned what she might say to get her mother alone. “I am well, thank you.” She paused for a moment. “Mama, I wonder if we might discuss — ” She froze again. How could she get her mother alone without resorting to false pretences?
Mrs Bennet swung around on the stool. Strangely, there was a look of understanding on her face. “Ah. I see. I know what you are here for, my dear girl. Out,” she said flatly, waving the maid toward the door and clicking her tongue as she got up and all but chased the young girl out. “We cannot discuss things of great import in front of the servants, you know. They all like to wag their tongues and spin the rumour mill.” Her mother closed the door with a loud bang and turned to face her. “You must be cautious of that when you are married.”
Elizabeth could not begin to understand what her mother was talking about. “Mama?”
Her mother waved her over to the vanity stool, just as she had shooed the maid away. “The servants, Lizzy! You will have to establish your role at Pemberley with care when you go there, coming to it as its new mistress. And your job will be even more delicate at Pemberley than what you might find in many houses. It is such a grand estate. There is a certain familial tenderness that we display with our servants here at Longbourn. However, Pemberley is not just a crumbling country house —”
“Mama,” Elizabeth interrupted, knowing that her mother might go off for hours on such a tangent. She might lose her opportunity altogether if she did not steer her toward the subject she had come to discuss.
“Ah, yes, but you are not here to discuss the servants, I think?” Her mother gave her a knowing look as she paced amongst the rather cluttered furnishings of the room. Elizabeth watched her mother step around an armchair and stop short in front of an inlaid table full of decorative figurines, her anxiety rising as she looked over the chaotic pell-mell strewn all about. She was unsure how her mother could think in such crowded circumstances. Not that the room was dirty, but her mother had an affinity for collecting little articles that might be of use down the road. It made for a very cluttered existence very different from any Elizabeth would wish to lead, especially when she was mistress of her own home.
“I know what you have come to ask me, and it is nothing to be ashamed of, my dear,” her mother said when Elizabeth did not answer straight away. No doubt, she mistook her silence for nervousness or embarrassment. “The intimacy between a man and a woman on their wedding night, or the marriage debt as some call it, is one that is sanctioned by the Church and the Lord — ”
For a moment, Elizabeth thought she might faint from horror at the misunderstanding. “Mama, please. I did not come to discuss that,” she said hurriedly, rising from the vanity stool as though it might help her escape the conversation.
Her mother frowned in confusion. “Then what is it, my dear? You have not been yourself of late. I thought at first that you were pining for Mr Darcy, knowing that he has gone away to London on business. However, you may comfort yourself that it is not meant to be a long journey. Really, my dear, how silly you are! Do not you know that he has gone to procure a special license for you? And I am sure he will return before another week has passed.”
Sooner than that, Elizabeth mused. And she would never say what she had come to say if her mother would not allow her to get a word in edge-wise. Perhaps the best way would be to simply blurt it out and deal with the fallout when it came. She took a steadying breath, hating to think of the damage she would inflict on her mother, but knowing that it had to be done.
“Mama, I have come to ask you about the incident in the library at the Netherfield Ball. Mr Darcy and I feel that something is not adding up, and that someone actually contrived to have us meet there, and staged the fall which brought us to the point of engagement.” She licked her lips as her mother settled on the chest at the foot of her bed, shocked, if the look on her face was any indication. Elizabeth took a deep breath, knowing she could no longer postpone the inevitable. “What I have come to ask is if you had anything to do with that incident, Mama.”
“What are you saying, Lizzy?” Mrs Bennet asked, her voice trembling. “I cannot think what you mean.”
“Mama, please forgive me for being so blunt, but I must know. All my life and future happiness may depend on the answer. What I am asking is, did you bear some responsibility for what happened that night? Did you plan to have Mr Darcy and I caught in a compromising position?” Elizabeth asked again in the plainest terms. She cringed at the sound of her own voice, at how harsh and cold it must have sounded to her mother.
Mrs Bennet stood, her eyes wide with confusion. Elizabeth bit her lip. Was there not some guilt in her expression, too? The idea was too horrible to believe.
At last, her mother spoke. “I must confess that once you and Mr Darcy had been engaged, I thought how very fortunate we were to have such a rich gentleman as a part of our family. But I am surprised at you, Lizzy! To think that I could arrange for a scandal of that magnitude to befall my own daughter — ” She looked away and started picking at the ribbons on her stays. “It would have been much too risky. Too risky, indeed, for me to have had any involvement in.”
Elizabeth looked away. She did not wish her mother to see the expression in her eyes at hearing so ugly a compromise described not in terms of honour and dishonour, right and wrong, but of risk. She had already hurt her mother too much, and had no wish to do more. Elizabeth only wished she could have been more shocked at hearing her mother say such things. As it was, she was in very great danger of feeling more relief at Mrs Bennet’s innocence than dismay at her reasoning.
Mrs Bennet stood, pacing nervously. After a long moment, she stopped and turned back to her daughter. “Oh, Lizzy. I will not lie to you and say that I am not pleased with the outcome. I think Mr Darcy has acted in a very gentleman-like manner by asking for your hand and standing by you.”
“I cannot disagree,” Elizabeth replied. “Let us be very clear, Mama. Once and for all, tell me. You truly had nothing to do with what happened in the library at Netherfield that night?” She watched her mother’s face closely. Mrs Bennet was not a liar, nor as ashamed of what had happened as Elizabeth would wish her to be. Surely she would not withhold the truth.
“Of course not,” Mrs Bennet said with a flip of her wrist. “As I said, I am not sorry that the incident occurred. But it does not mean that I planned it.” She turned and pinned Elizabeth with a serious stare. “Since we are being so candid, I suppose I shall ask you whether you willingly met Mr Darcy in the library. He is a very handsome man, after all. Quite handsome enough to turn a girl’s head.”
“No, Mama. How could you even think it?” Elizabeth asked in shock. “I was as surprised as Mr Darcy when he suddenly fell on top of me.” Elizabeth was certain that her cheeks were violently red.
Her mother softened and took her hands. “My dear, what is done is done. Whether the situation was planned or an accident, there is nothing that can release you from this engagement that would not result in your reputation being forever ruined. And not only that — your sisters would also pay the price.”
Elizabeth nodded. Her mother’s sincerity was altogether convincing. She had never been a good liar, nor one who could conceal her true feelings. If she had had anything to do with planning the incident, Elizabeth would have seen right through her. Indeed, her mother was so pleased with the match that she probably would not have even tried to hide her involvement if she had been a party to the events that had led to Elizabeth’s compromise and subsequent engagement to Mr Darcy.
“Now, if you are satisfied, I will tell you of the things that a married woman needs to know.” Her mother drew her over to the bed and had her sit on the edge, so that she might stand and face Elizabeth. She took both of Elizabeth’s hands and squeezed them. Elizabeth steeled herself. She was not sure she was ready to hear all that went into being a wife, but she suspected her mother could not be put off.
Still, she would at least try. “Mama, please — ”
