“I will stay with Georgiana,” he said gently. “You ought to rest, too. You may relieve me after.”
“I want to be here to care for her whenever she needs me, and, quite frankly, it is my explicit purpose for being in this house.”
“Even if you were not predisposed to drop dead from a paroxysm in your heart, you have sat with an invalid for two days without rest, despite the servants in this house to aid you. Go to bed, Mrs Darcy, and let me tend to my sister. I will go half distracted without being able to do something for her.”
The followingtwo days progressed the same as did the days that Mr Darcy had been gone, except that he had his share of tending to Georgiana. Her gums receded farther, along with swelling in her feet and legs and sinking of her eyes. The difficulty in swallowing contributed to her rapid emaciation.
She had wanted to hear some music, and Mr Darcy carried her to the parlour where Elizabeth played every song she asked for. Her fingers cramped, but she would never complain, not when it would be the last time Georgiana heard her favourite pieces.
“You know that this is the only reason that your brother married me?” Elizabeth strove to be lively. “He wished to hear music in the house and decided that securing a wife would be less expensive than hiring musicians.”
Georgiana struggled to speak. “Not true. Married... because you... are engaging and cheerful.”
“No, she is right,” Mr Darcy answered with a smile. “I married Mrs Darcy to hear music whenever I wanted.”
“And I only agreed to marry him to secure your friendship and presence in my life.”
Georgiana’s eyes brightened in amusement. “No, married him ... because he is attractive and clever.”
Mr Darcy did have a quick eye, and strong handsome features. She looked over her shoulder at her sister, intending to refute this, and caught Mr Darcy’s attention instead. When she felt her cheeks warm, she quickly turned back to the instrument. “If truth be told, he married me because I have a tolerable enough face and figure. He is the least fastidious man I have ever known. If Lydia had sought out your company rather than me, he would have marriedher.”
“Yes, I can hardly tell you apart,” he said drily. “You might have done as well as your sister. Is it too late to exchange one Bennet girl for the other? Georgiana, would you prefer Lydia? It is all the same to me.”
She and Georgiana laughed, and Elizabeth began another song. Georgiana did so enjoy attending to their playful conversations.
“Fitzwilliam! Know you are joking.” She coughed again. “Bondthat unites husband and wife much ... closer than dear bonds of brother and sister.”
Her fingers faltered, but Elizabeth doubted Mr Darcy noticed since he was too busy arguing Georgiana out of that opinion.
She felt for him in that trial to the feelings that must be experienced in watching the fatal progress of disease in a near relative. While she played, Mr Darcy sat by Georgiana and amused her with stories of his childhood and memories about hers, he reminded her of what their mother looked like and what their father always said.
When the ties that bind that sweet spirit to earth are severed, Mr Darcy will not be willing to let her go.
That evening it became apparent that after Mr Darcy returned his sister to her chamber, she would not quit it again. Georgiana could no longer swallow, and she was burning from a fever hotter than Elizabeth had ever felt. She tended to her, talked to her, and prayed over her that night and through the next day, and all the while an anguished emptiness filled Mr Darcy’s dark eyes.
There was one time when the death watch was too powerful for him, and Mr Darcy was obliged to walk in the garden to take breath. Elizabeth was sitting on the bed next to Georgiana, who was propped upright against her and whose head rested on her shoulder, when he returned quarter of an hour later. It had been hours since Georgiana last spoke—and four since Elizabeth first took this post—but her sister’s eyes often showed a fleeting alertness. She was in such pain, and yet she lingered to life.
Mr Darcy came into the room with grave deliberation to sit on the edge of the bed, and held his sister’s hand as he looked directly into her face. “Georgiana, poor soul, my heart is sad to lose you, but you will be an inhabitant of heaven, and I may one day be reunited with you there.”
Elizabeth looked at him, surprised. She thought Mr Darcy would cling to her to the last, unable to bear parting with a relation more like a daughter; but he truly took care of his sister to the end, telling her that she could go if she was ready. Her heart was fit to burst. Elizabeth and her husband shared a significant glance, and they both nodded.
“Yes, my dearest friend.” Elizabeth kissed her forehead. “I knowhow you long to see your child, and there your sufferings will be over.”
Georgiana gave a slight motion, and her eyes came into focus. She flexed and tightened the fingers her brother held, and then pressed her head heavier into Elizabeth’s shoulder. “You have all in each other.”
An hour later Georgiana Darcy breathed her last. Elizabeth did her one final service and closed her eyes, and then wept her heart out.
The sad ceremonywas to take place on Tuesday morning. Elizabeth was picking an old silk pelisse to pieces and meant to have it dyed black for a gown since she could not afford to have a new mourning gown made. Charlotte sat with her, helping to cover her bonnet with black crepe. Whenever Charlotte was not here, Elizabeth kept vigil upstairs, as she had since Georgiana died.
“You have not said how Mr Darcy has been,” Charlotte said.
“You have been here helping me enough to know his nature for yourself. He swears, drinks, is cross, jealous, selfish, and brutal.”
“Eliza!” Charlotte set down the bonnet and threw her a disbelieving look.
Elizabeth sat back and rubbed her eyes. The man was in restless misery, silently going from one room to the other, often upstairs to sit with the remains of his sister.But Mr Darcy will not grieve with me.“He does not speak to me if he can help it. He is civil and answers when spoken to, but he is not at ease with me.”
“He is grieving, and rightfully so.”
