Elizabeth felt the shift at once. This was no longer merely a report, but a confession of sorts.
“Wickham’s resentment toward me did not begin with this scheme, as you have surmised,” Mr Darcy continued. “Nor even with his failure to secure the living my father once intended for him. For he was my father’s godson, and my father supported him in school, at Cambridge, and wished for him to enter a profession within the church. When my father died five years ago, Wickham was included in his will. Though Wickham quickly found that he desired a change of profession, claiming a wish to study law, and made a request for money. I, who had seen his character in unguarded moments, did not trust him to use these funds for his stated purpose.”
Jane leaned forward slightly, her expression attentive. Mrs Gardiner’s eyes sharpened. Elizabeth found herself almost holding her breath, so keen was she to understand the disagreement between Mr Darcy and Wickham. Prior to Denny’s revelations, her opinion of the man had been most positive.
“My father,” Mr Darcy continued, “was excessively generous. Wickham mistook that generosity for indulgence, and when my father died, he believed that indulgence should continue without condition.”
Elizabeth’s thoughts flickered back to Wickham’s easy charm, his air of injured merit. She saw now how naturally it might cloak entitlement.
“When I refused him further funds,” Darcy went on, “and insisted instead upon responsibility and restraint, he chose to view it not as correction, but as betrayal. From that moment, he has sought not merely compensation but vindication.”
“And revenge,” Elizabeth said.
“Yes,” Darcy replied. “But not of the obvious sort. Wickham does not wish to defeat me openly. He wishes to unmake me and prove that my principles are hypocrisy. That my pride is unjustified. To Wickham, I represent everything he believes was denied him. He cannot bear that I should prosper under the conditions of respect, consequence, and the benefits of restraint.”
Mrs Gardiner nodded. “So, the rumours were not simply extortion.”
“No,” Darcy said. “They were an argument.”
Elizabeth frowned. “An argument?”
“That my reputation rests upon nothing sturdier than circumstance,” Mr Darcy explained. “And that with sufficient pressure, I would abandon honour for convenience. That I would sacrifice the vulnerable to protect myself.”
His gaze drifted meaningfully toward Elizabeth. “He believed that my sister would be the lever that broke me. Georgiana’s youth, her sensitivity, and her previous near-ruin…Well, he expected me to pay any sum to spare her further exposure.”
Jane shuddered faintly.
“Her previous near-ruin?” Elizabeth asked. What more harm could have befallen sweet Georgiana?
The remnants of long-borne anger stiffened Darcy’s jaw. “I shall not insult you by making you swear not to repeat this. You will understand the need for confidentiality only too well; he once attempted to persuade my sister to elope with him. Georgiana was scarcely fifteen at the time. He appealed to her affection and her inexperience. I doubt not that he would have told any lie imaginable for the fortune that would have been placed entirely in his hands.”
Jane uttered a soft exclamation of distress, and Mrs Gardiner pressed her hand to her lips. Elizabeth could scarcely believe it. And yet, she found she believed Darcy without question. He had proven himself more than trustworthy.
“It was discovered in time,” Darcy continued, “and prevented without public consequence. But he has only resented me more bitterly since that failure.”
Elizabeth clenched her hands. “He has behaved despicably.”
Darcy nodded gravely. “Both in acting against Georgiana, and against you, Miss Elizabeth. But in the latter, he acted on a misapprehension for which I hold myself much to blame.”
Elizabeth looked at him in astonishment. “You cannot be held responsible for any of this, Mr Darcy. Surely you cannot think it.”
“In part, I can,” Darcy said heavily. “Wickham thought to use my pride against me. His suppositions were wrong, but I cannot claim they were unfounded. He targeted Miss Bennet,intending to strike at me by causing embarrassment to my closest friend. And he targeted you, Miss Elizabeth, because Wickham was certain that you would wound my pride most deeply.”
Elizabeth let out a short, incredulous laugh. “Because I am so unsuitable?”
“No, because you are formidable,” Darcy corrected immediately. “Because you are discerning, and because you see me without flattery. Wickham believed that if he could reduce our association to ridicule and make it appear desperate and humiliating, he would expose me as a man governed by appearances rather than conviction.”
Mr Darcy’s voice softened. “He misjudged me. But worse, he misjudged you.”
Tears rose behind her eyes, sharp and unexpected.
“He assumed,” Darcy went on, “that I would recoil at being linked to a family he deemed socially inconvenient. That I would pay to be spared embarrassment. That I would choose distance over integrity.”
“And instead,” Elizabeth said slowly, “you chose to embrace it. Beyond what anyone could have expected.”
Darcy inclined his head. “Because I had already learned, at some cost, the danger of trusting Wickham’s narrative over my own judgment.”
Mrs Gardiner exhaled quietly. “And Denny?”
