“You would never risk your good name.”
“You can test that assumption at your convenience,” he said warningly. Wickham searched his eyes, wondering if he was lying. “I am here for my wife’s items, and then I hope to never see either of you again. If you go forward with your threat, you will suffer the consequences.”
Georgiana’s lip quivered, but Wickham laughed. “Me? If I have a criminal conversation with your wife, there are no consequences for me. The public punishment of disgrace is not equal between the sexes.I am merely a rogue, but she is shamed forever, and you are a laughingstock.”
Desperation had driven an emptiness into Wickham’s eyes. “What has happened to your humanity?” Darcy asked with genuine curiosity. “Did you truly lose all the good principles your father instilled in you?”
Wickham ignored him. “When Mrs Darcy was paying me, I lowered my fee in deference to her small income. But now thatyouare paying, I want thirty thousand.”
“I told you, I am not paying for your silence. Either give me my wife’s belongings, or go public and end all our marriages.”
“All our marriages?” he repeated. “No, Darcy, just yours, and your good name along with it.”
“If you show your alleged proof that my wife committed adultery with you, that is proof Georgiana can use to divorce you for being unfaithful to her.”
“Divorce me?” He laughed. “She is a woman. It is impossible.”
“Not in Scotland.” They both blinked at him. “You stole my sister away to marry her in Scotland, where, in matrimonial causes, the sexes are in a position of equality. A woman can sue for divorce in cases of adultery and desertion.”
They gaped at him. Wickham’s stunned expression was so amusing Darcy had to hold back a laugh, but Georgiana looked pensive. “She can sue you for divorce, and with the supposed proof of your own infidelity, she will win.”
In truth, it would be easier if they lived in Scotland and if the adultery happened there, but Wickham was too distracted by anger, and stupid, to think of that.
“Georgiana would never divorce me,” he stammered.
“Are you very sure of that? You keep her in a brothel and gave her the pox. If you spread your lies, all the world will think Mrs Darcy committed adultery with you, and Georgiana’s attorneys, that I will hire, will use that in the commissary courts in Scotland to end your union.”
“Maybe that is preferable,” he spat, and Georgiana gasped. “Shehas no fortune now, after all. We can all end these disastrous unions begun in Ramsgate.”
Darcy would never do that, but Wickham did not need to know. “You will be an even poorer man if you do. With adultery, it is lawful for the innocent party to sue out a divorce, and, after the divorce, to marry another—as if the offending party were dead.”
“Then we can both seek our fortunes elsewhere!”
“Are you certain that is true in Scotland?” he said calmly. As Wickham grew more enraged, the calmer he had to remain. “Georgiana would be free to remarry, whilst you would remain bound to the failed marriage until freed by the death of your innocent spouse.”
Wickham’s mouth fell open, and Darcy finished with, “It will also be as if you died, and therefore your widow is entitled to part of your moveable property, and your income and land, if you had any. Even so, that one thousand pounds my father left you will get much smaller if Georgiana gets a third of it.”
Wickham strode toward him, and Darcy raised his walking stick, but Georgiana rushed in front of her husband and put a hand on his chest. “Stop, both of you. I do not want Lizzy and Fitzwilliam shamed and disappointed, but I do not want a divorce, either.”
“See, she would never speak against me,” Wickham taunted, “let alone divorce me.”
“Let her speak for herself. He is unfaithful,” he reminded her. “He is a spendthrift. He has given you the pox. And Elizabeth and her sisters would be disgraced forever.”
“I…” Darcy’s throat caught as he waited to hear what she said. “I do not want to destroy Lizzy’s respectability. Or make Fitzwilliam unhappy. I love them both.” She settled her shoulders and said to Wickham, “And as much as I love you, if you expose Lizzy, I will use the proof to petition for a divorce. You promised you would never actually go through with it. And you said you loved me above all others, that you would take me with no money at all, remember?” she pleaded with watery eyes. “Then prove it and end this. Fitzwilliam will never give us the thirty thousand, but I chose you instead of the money.”
Her romantic feelings blinded Georgiana, but Wickham plainly did not care that she chose him over money because he would have thrown her over for a handful of coins.
He watched as Wickham weighed his options, then he turned to Darcy with hate in his eyes and said, “If I end with nothing either way, I may as well ruin you.”
Georgiana cried in earnest, but Darcy had suspected this might happen. Wickham always acted with short-sighted selfishness. He said evenly, “Go ahead. I will support your abandoned bride whilst the courts settle matters.”
An alertness came into Wickham’s eyes, and Darcy hated him even more. “It is not money to stay quiet,” he reminded him. “Go ahead with your threat. Georgiana, as you await your divorce proceedings, would you prefer to be kept in a better situation?”
He spoke to his sister, but stared hard into Wickham’s eyes so that he understood. She nodded, drying her eyes with her sleeve and showing another view of her rash-covered palm. His heart broke for her sufferings, and he better understood Elizabeth’s desire to keep trying to persuade Georgiana to leave him.
“How much?” Wickham asked through clenched teeth. “How much will you give her?”
“Five thousand pounds would be a reasonable amount for a disgraced but newly single woman looking to remarry. I suppose she can have the same if she stays married to you.IfI leave here with the journal and the jewellery.”
