Darcy smirked a bit. “So, he is the man, then, the one who fathered Maltilda’s child?”
“That is what she said,” said Larilane. “I obviously can’t be certain. I did not observe the two of them together, did I? I have to assume that she was telling the truth.”
“You said that the man who fathered the child treated Matilda badly, that she was frightened of him.”
“That is also what she said.”
“And you think she was lying?”
“No, no. I think that is exactly the sort of man the late duke was.”
“So, then, why would you tell him about Matilda’s babe?”
“I did not!”
“The letters, then, you’re saying—”
“She knew it was never thatItold him.”
Darcy waited.
“You have misunderstood those letter fragments, I think. Might I see them?
“I don’t actually have them,” said Mr. Darcy. “Can you simply tell me what happened?”
Larilane spread his hands. “I have already told you everything. If there’s nothing else?” He started to get to his feet.
“Please,” said Mr. Darcy. “I know there is more to the tale.”
Larilane shook his head. “I’m afraid there is not. I have told you it all, and I have to say that I don’t think that your appearing here without an invitation—”
“You loved Matilda,” interrupted Mr. Darcy, hoping this might move the man.
Larilane sighed heavily.
“Loved her very much. It’s not every man who will leave all of his money and buy a property for some woman who is carrying a babe that is not even his. You loved her.”
Larilane leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I love her still. I shall always love her. I have done all of this for her, and for her child. I wish to protect that child.”
“Protect that child from whom?” said Mr. Darcy. “From her father? One of the letters calls him a monster. Did you think he was a monster?”
“I heard the things he did to Matilda,” said Larilane. “You would scarce believe the villainy of him. He was wretched, absolutely the worst sort of man. When he wanted Matilda, he took her by force, and when she said that she would tell her father, that she would ruin herself and cry rape and that he would be strung up, he kidnapped her, took her to Scotland, and forced her to agree to the marriage vows through the threat of violence. He told her that once she was married to him, she belonged to him, and he wasn’t exactly wrong. He had horrid and violent tastes. He was gratified by the sight of her blood, bythe sight of her tears, by making her beg him to stop. This drove him. Hewasa monster.”
Darcy swallowed hard. “I see,” he said quietly.
“So, yes, I would have done anything to keep a man like that from a small babe. But most notably, I wished to keep him from Matilda, you see. He didn’t so much care about the babe as he was obsessed with Matilda. But not as if he loved her, more as if he… I don’t know, that she was a prized filly or something, a possession, do you know what I mean?”
Darcy did. He knew the type. There were men like this, more of them than there likely ought to be, sadly. “I suppose I do.”
“All right, then. I would have done anything to keep him away from her.”
“Yes, which was why she was in hiding, living at Weythorn, I suppose,” said Mr. Darcy. “Except that deed was under her own name—her maiden name, however, as if she had never been married, though you say she was.”
“She wished to conceal the idea she’d been married.”
“If he was that obsessed with her, he could have found her is what I am saying. She was living as a governess and then with her family. Why didn’t he come after her, then?”
Larilane’s nostrils flared. He would not meet Mr. Darcy’s gaze. “I don’t know. I suppose he simply got bored with her eventually. As long as she didn’t claim to be his duchess, he let her be.”
