“All that remains is to present it to Mr Darcy for his approval or rejection.” With a conspiratorial smile, she added, “Let us hope my little renovations and modernises do not offend him. I would hate for him to lash out if I change the wallpaper he likes.”
“Oh, he would never,” Reynolds cried. “Not even as a child would he fly into a temper. He has a good heart, a good mind, good sense, and there was as little to correcting him as ever I saw in one of his age. But you know that, of course, ma’am.”
Elizabeth kept her smile in place. She knew little about her husband, but she agreed he did not have mercurial moods. Reynolds left her, and Elizabeth took out her journal to finally record her thoughts and actions for the last few days. This room was a lovely place to do it. She had taken a liking to it, with its broad views of the lawn and the stream.
She typically recorded what she did and where she went, who she saw, and what she wore. But the diary was also a way to reflect on her experiences. There was no one at Longbourn she could always confide in, no matter the subject, and Pemberley would be the same. Writing her thoughts always made it easier to accept whatever had happened as she sorted through her feelings.
Half an hour later, she took a break and walked around the room to decide what, if anything, needed to be changed. Elizabeth looked to the mantelpiece and recognised a miniature of Georgiana as a little girl and one of Darcy that looked to be when he was around twenty. She was startled to see the likeness of Wickham amongst several other miniatures.
She stared into the face of the worst man in the United Kingdom, the man whose selfishness and greed had most contributed to her situation. Her impetuosity and Georgiana’s stubbornness and imprudence played a part, of course, but here was the man who had overturned everyone’s lives.
Elizabeth clenched it in her fist and threw it across her body toward the wall as hard as she could. It hit the panelling with a satisfying crack and when it fell to the floor, its frame split.
“I hope that was not mine.”
She hung her head at being caught in a weak moment. The firsttime they had spoken aside from polite nothings across a dining table, and her reluctant husband caught her in a tantrum. Elizabeth turned round to see Darcy cross the room and pick up the miniature. He frowned when he recognised who it was.
“I understand why you threw it, but perhaps we can simply burn it.”
“Or send it to your sister.”
He scoffed as he set the miniature face down on the mantel. “It is unwise to encourage her affection for that man. When he is unfaithful, and if she has proof of it, she can sue him for divorce and be rid of him.”
“Shesue him?” she repeated.
“Because they married in Scotland.” When she still did not understand, he added, “In Scotland, both sexes are in a position of equality in claiming adultery and the consistory court can settle the matter.”
A girl desperate to cling to the idea that she was grown and could marry would not petition her husband for divorce no matter what he did. Elizabeth began to fear that if her new husband was so unyielding toward his own sister, what hope did his unwanted wife then have of earning his respect?
“Will you begrudge her forever?” she asked, hating how nervous she sounded.
Darcy had been looking at the pictures on the mantel and turned back in surprise. “Begrudge? Because I will not welcome her or admit to her husband’s society? I do not resent her, although she has been married less than a week and has already written to ask me for money. If she asks you for any, you must refuse.”
“Should you not give her enough to get back to England, at least?”
He threw her a dark look. “While I do not resent her, I have to protect the rest of my family from Wickham.”
She supposed that now included her, and she was not sure how she felt about that. Pleased, maybe, but annoyed by it being necessary. “I cannot tell if you are angry because her choice is a humiliation to your family, or just overly cautious. Wickham may cause you no problem at all.”
He sighed, looking at his sister’s miniature. “I am not angry, Iam…” She wondered if he might have said “sad,” and that broke her heart a little. “Wickham will always ask for more if I show her any kindness,” he countered. “If I give a penny, he will demand a pound.”
“Perhaps he will await the court ruling regarding your mother’s settlement.”
“You do not have a suspicious bone in your body, do you?” he said without malice.
“No, but I am beginning to see I have been naïve about what happens in the world.”
“Wickham will lodge her in a dismal place, neglect her, and ask me for more money. If I send it, he will still keep her in such surroundings and spend it on drink, cards, and women. I promise you, anything I send will never benefit Georgiana.”
She doubted that, but chose not to argue with him. Getting along was more important than being right, at least for now. She returned to her seat and her journal when Darcy came to stand by the table.
Why was he still here? Between her meeting the servants, learning the house, and writing letters to friends and family and him being likewise engaged with his steward and his own letters, this was now the longest conversation she had with Darcy since they married.
“I came to tell you my cousin, Georgiana’s other guardian and executor of my father’s will, sent an express. I wrote to him from London to apprise him of our plan, and apparently my messenger from Carlisle alarmed him,” he said drily. “He asked to come and said I can expect him on Thursday. He is on his way to his parents’ home. Reynolds says she will have it all arranged.”
Elizabeth stared at him for a long moment and gathered her patience. “He” could expect his cousin. “He” had arranged it with Reynolds. Had he forgotten he had a wife now to manage his household and guests, or was this a deliberate slight? Did he consider her anxious, gossipy mother and suppose Elizabeth could not keep a good table?
The gold wedding band Darcy bought her in Carlisle caught the sunlight. What sort of wife would she be? Her mother would complain of her misuse and attribute malice toward her at every turn. Her father provoked his wife, but Darcy did not seem the sort to be amused byinjuring anyone. She could look at her new husband in one of two ways: she could assume he insulted her or assume he did not know how to be a husband.
