Had he put her up to it?
No, how could it be, all of it, the house, the being trapped together, everything, he couldn’t have engineered all of that, could he?
Well, she had been very insistent to go in that house, after all, and she would not listen to reason and let me escort her elsewhere.
But no, that wasmad.
Not everything was a scheme put in place by George Wickham.
“Fitzwilliam,” said Elizabeth, “you did deny him his living, and he should not have attempted to get your sister’s dowry, but he is, even now, only surviving because he is able to stand in for someone else’s commission, and do you not think you owe him something? Your father did promise.”
I turned on her. “What are you talking about?”
“He was meant to be the rector in Derbyshire,” she said. “And you prevented it. That is what I am talking about.”
“No, Elizabeth,” I said softly. “No, if that’s what he told you, it’s a lie. When did he spin it for you? Was it before or after we were trapped together in that house?”
“What?” she said. “You know when I met him, Fitzwilliam. I told you that it was after, because it was my Aunt Philip’s house and it was sparsely attended due to the whispers at the time.”
“Yes, but were you lying about that?” I said. I looked at Wickham. “You have some ridiculous power to convince women to do all manner of awful things for you, do you not? When did you begin poisoning my wife?”
Wickham let out something like a giggle. “Oh, well, simplyagesago.”
“What?” said Elizabeth, horrified.
“I mean, you didn’t think she came to your bed amaiden, did you?” said Wickham, leering at me.
“What?” said Elizabeth, her voice fainter.
I looked at her, swallowing hard. She’d been so… eager for me. I had tried to wait, but she had insisted. I felt stunned, off balance.
Elizabeth’s lower lip started to tremble. “Don’t look at me like that, Fitzwilliam, please.”
“The things I have done with your wife, Darcy,” said Wickham, stretching his neck on his shoulders. “Why, between your sister and your wife, I shall have soon planted my seed in every single one of the women close to you. Perhaps soon, you’ll just be raisingallmy bastards.”
Richard spoke up. “That’s enough, Wickham.”
Wickham got up. “Oh, don’t be daft, Darcy.” He sauntered across the room. “Here it is, with you, you keep thinking it’s got anything to do with you, and it doesn’t. I just need a bit of coin. Pay me and I shall leave you be.”
“I shallpayyou,” said Richard, seizing Wickham by the arm and yanking him out of the room. “I shall pay you exactly what you deserve.”
Wickham shook him off, but he didn’t reenter the room. He stalked off and Richard went after him.
I turned back to Elizabeth, who was stunned and silent, arms wrapped around her own waist. Her features were entirely white. Her lips were bloodless.
My face twitched when I looked at her.
She bit down on her lower lip, and it was entirely colorless.
“Don’t do that,” I said in a rough voice.
She licked her lips. “P-please.”
“Stop looking at me as if I am going to strike you,” I said.
She started, lifting her gaze to me in fear, as if that had never occurred to her. But now she was frightened of me.
I felt… I knew not how I felt. It hurt. Yes, it hurt, and my hands were entirely numb and my heart was pounding away in my chest but I somehow felt this strange, awful sort of calm, andI knew that Icouldstrike her now, that I had always thought I was the sort of man who would never hit a woman, but that I was quite capable of it, that I even wanted it, that it would be some sort of release, and she… she…
