She hesitated. If she met Georgiana again, perhaps she could convince her to leave Wickham. How happy would that make Darcy? Her husband was a good man who wanted to keep his sister healthy and safe, and how much happier would their new life together be if she could restore Georgiana to him?
“Very well. I have a small amount, but it is yours.”
Elizabeth heard the footman call her name from around the corner, and Georgiana walked away. “Meet me at Berkeley Square tomorrow at seven, before church services,” she said over her shoulder. “Please, any money from your own expenses would help us. Do not tell my brother you saw me.”
As she went home with the footman, Elizabeth wondered if she should tell Darcy that Georgiana had asked for money. She did not wish to keep a secret from him. But how was she to encourage Georgiana to reconcile with her brother if Darcy joined her and brother and sister argued, or he forbade them to meet?
It was best to go alone and persuade Georgiana. She only needed a little more time to convince her, and a little more time with Georgiana living alongside such a man and in such a situation. And then Darcy would be relieved of one burden he carried. There were few ways that the unwanted wife could make her reluctant husband truly happy, but bringing Georgiana home was one of them.
When she entered the house, she was told she had a guest awaiting her in the library and received another shock to see her father seated with a book.
“Papa!” she cried, dropping her boxes of purchases and entering the room. “What are you doing here?” she asked as she put her arms around him.
“Even for a man inclined to do as little as possible, I had to come to town when I received a letter that my newly married daughter was here.”
She had written two letters to her father in the past fortnight, but he had only replied with distant politeness to the one announcing her marriage. Although his being a dilatory correspondent was to be expected, his silence was disappointing. “Are you angry with me?” she asked in a small voice.
“I did not come to scold you, Lizzy. Married women can no longer be scolded by their fathers. But I had to see for myself if my suspicions were true.”
“That I fell in love at the seaside and ran off in spite of good sense?” she said, smiling.
Her father did not match her spirit. “That you tried to save that man’s sister, and when it failed, you had to marry him.”
Elizabeth slowly sat. This was too many surprises for one morning. “Did he tell you?”
“You underestimate my powers of perception,” he said, sitting across from her. “Not to worry. No one else knows about Lydia and your little scheme to preserve Mr Darcy’s sister. You can parade around town pretending to be a happy couple.”
Her father’s tone was more serious than she had ever seen. “It is not as though we are unhappy, Papa. And it is a good match for me, given his position and his character.”
“But did you not expect happiness in a married condition?”
“Of course I did.”
“Then you should have prepared for it more carefully, and taken much greater thought about it before you engaged in it. Your impulsivity will have severe consequences.”
Elizabeth was tempted to say that if Lydia was better governed and tended to, this train of events might not have happened. But if she had been able to help Darcy that morning in Ramsgate, had they knownGeorgiana left with Wickham, would she still have leapt at the chance to help him and protect Georgiana?
In her heart, she knew the answer. She was impulsive and always wanted to help, and she would have jumped in a carriage with Darcy even if he had not asked her. If he had been as bewildered and discouraged as he had been in London, nothing would have stopped her from helping him.
“Once we left London together on the mail coach, there was nothing else to be done. It would not have been safe to send me back alone, and we both expected Georgiana could be reasoned with. You cannot assume we will not be happy. He is a good man, Papa.”
He huffed. “I am surprised you are calm about this.”
“What am I to do?” she cried. “Choose to hate him, to fight him, to resent him? That is choosing misery for the rest of my life.” Why would she choose bitter hostility toward a man she esteemed?
“Choosing to be cheerful and sanguine will be harder.”
She suspected that was her father’s trial, and one he could not bear. “In some cases, that might be true. But I like him, and I am not without hope.”
“But do you want to live apart from him, Lizzy?” he asked. “At least as much as you are able, whilst keeping up proper appearances. He said he would put the choice to you.”
Her stomach clenched, and she gripped the chair arm. “Did you ask him if he would send me away?”
“You look pale. Does that distress you? Your husband seemed repulsed by the idea of parting with you too, but I could not say if it was because he has affection for you or if he is a proud man who does not want the world to know what a mistake he has made.”
It could be both. And if it was, how much of a role did affection play and how much of it was his familial pride? Still, her heart rate slowed at the hope that Darcy was not eager to be rid of her.
“I can have no home of my own, no children if I leave him. I always expected to marry, have a family, and there is no reason Darcy and I cannot be friends.”
