“I see I will have to tell you the truth,” said Georgiana. “I made her promise not to reveal it, but it looks like I will have to do so myself. You will – hate me for this, but Miss Bennet is guiltless. Once you know the truth you will realize that you in fact owe her a debt of gratitude.”
Darcy doubted very much that was the case, but her statement alarmed him. He tried to guess what Georgiana was going to tell him. The only possible thing he could think of involved Wickham. If Wickham had stepped foot on the grounds of Pemberley, Darcy swore that he would challenge him to a duel.
“I am listening.”
He tried to sound calm, but anger was gnawing at him from within. Anger at the man who had broken Georgiana’s heart. Anger at his father for taking in someone like Wickham. Anger at the laws that made over the property of a young lady to the husband she married. Georgiana was a young lady in possession of a fortune, which made her the potential target of every fortune hunter in England. She was only fifteen years old. How was she supposed to withstand the arts they used to seduce her? She was only a child.
“Fitz,” she began, and his heart went out to the little girl who had followed him around, lisping that name as she ran after him, asking to play. She called him William now. That one word she used gave him a sense of the depth of her distress.
“Go on,” he prompted gently. He wished he could make her tears go away as he used to when she was younger. He felt helpless. He could mend a broken toy, or at least replace it, but he could not mend a broken heart.
“I cannot say it out loud,” she said. “I am too ashamed.”
His heart sank as he guessed at the cause of her pain. It was what he had feared. She had met with Wickham, who had crept back like a rat to achieve what he had failed to do before.
“I will say it on your behalf, then. You met with George Wickham.”
Her head jerked up quickly. She looked astonished.
“No, that is not it at all! That is not what happened. Is that why you think Miss Bennet—” Her voice trailed. “No. He was not here. I have not seen him since Ramsgate. Why would I agree to meet him, when he is a liar and a thief?”
She looked at her brother defiantly. Her face had turned plum red, and he was stunned to see her eyes were bright with anger.
“Why did you not send Wickham to jail for plotting to steal my fortune, a fortune that is much more than a silly Ming vase, yet you were prepared to do so for Miss Bennet? What justice isthere in that? He would have stolen the whole of my fortune and by eloping, I would not even be allowed pin money because there was no marriage agreement. Every penny, every guinea of mine would have been his, and I would have been powerless to stop him. Yet you do not threaten him with hanging.”
He understood the injustice of it, but there was no point in railing against the world. He was glad at least that she was now aware that she needed to be careful. But at what price? “It is most unjust, I agree, but you and I cannot change the laws of the land. Once you consent to marry him, your fortune passes to him. He has every right to it.”
The anger in her eyes died, and the fight went out of her.
“I will never forgive him, you know,” she said, in a flat tone of voice. “I thought of him as a kind of brother, yet he used my affection for him against me. He turned my affection into something else. I am so ashamed.” She looked at the ground, her voice little more than whisper. Darcy had to strain to hear what she was saying.
Anger bit into him again. “It is Wickham who should be ashamed.”
“If I had followed the rules, this would not have happened.”
“Had he been a stranger, it would not have happened, either. I strongly believe that. But you were raised with him. He held you in his arms when you were a babe. He fussed and cooed over you. Part of me hoped he might have been genuine. Unfortunately, it was not the case. I have been thinking about it, and I now remember. He only did it when Papa was in the room with us. He was simply ingratiating himself with Papa.”
Wickham tainted everything he touched. If only Darcy had revealed the truth about Wickham’s character to Papa when he was younger! The way Wickham made the servants go back and forth, fetching things for him, simply to demonstrate his power over them. The way he stole Darcy’s pin money and laughedwhen Darcy confronted him. The way he teased the puppy by dangling meat in front of it, then taking it away. Darcy was the only one who knew the truth, and he had never told his father. It was his own shame that he had known but done nothing about it.
His silence then, and his silence now, could have easily led to ruin. Providence had prevented it. Providence and Georgiana’s good sense. Thank heavens she had had the courage to seek his approval.
“Georgiana, telling me about the planned—” He lowered his voice. It would not do for a passing servant to hear of the proposed elopement. “Telling me about the plan showed not only your goodness, but your courage as well. And it showed that you trusted me and wanted me to trust you. These are all excellent qualities, and nothing to be ashamed of.”
She looked at him now, wonder in her eyes. “You do not despise me?”
“How could I despise you?” he said, coming to her and kneeling in front of her. “My little sister! You have been brave and strong, and I admire you for your fortitude in this misfortune. I know your heart is breaking, but you did what is right, and for that I can only congratulate you.”
The alternative would have been too terrible to contemplate. Georgiana, trapped forever with that vile man, her future destroyed. And Darcy, with Wickham forever as a brother, bound to him, never able to escape from his demands. Darcy was certain Wickham would run through every penny of Georgiana’s fortune and then come to him for more.
By confessing, she had saved them both. “You did well, Georgie.” He took her hands in his. “You did very well, indeed.”
Georgiana gave a lopsided smile. “I am so glad.”
She withdrew her hands. “But now that I know how important it is to tell you the truth, I will not hesitate to tell you the truth about Miss Bennet.
He had forgotten about the dratted Miss Bennet. He rose and put some distance between them. He did not want to upset Georgiana, but his sister could not say anything that would change his mind. Miss Bennet was a thief. That was all he needed to know. If she had convinced Georgiana otherwise, he could only dislike her even more.
“When I said that Miss Bennet could not have known where I would be, it was because I have never been there. The reason Miss Bennet encountered me at the brim of the river was because—it was because—” She gave a strangled cry. “It was because I was thinking about throwing myself into the water.”
