Elizabeth glanced at him. “Was I too much so?”
He considered it. “You were… exact.”
A faint smile touched her lips. “That is not always taken as a compliment.”
“It is by me.”
She looked at him more steadily then.
“I could not speak otherwise,” she said. “She did not understand the consequence of what she had done – not fully. And if she is to be safe in the future, she must. If not for your arrival, she would have thrown her future away. She could have been left destitute…”
Darcy inclined his head. “Yes, I know. I see now that you are right.” There was no reluctance in it – only acknowledgement.
Elizabeth’s expression softened slightly. “You would have spared her the knowledge.”
“I would have spared her the pain.”
“And yet,” she said quietly, “it is the knowledge that will prevent its return.”
He did not immediately answer.
“I have always thought,” Elizabeth continued, “that indulgence may be mistaken for kindness – when it is only the wish to avoid discomfort.”
Darcy’s gaze rested on her. “You think me indulgent?”
“I think you are very attached to your sister.”
“That is true.”
“And that you would bear anything yourself rather than see her distressed.”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Elizabeth held his look. “But you cannot bear it for her.”
The simplicity of it settled between them.
Darcy drew a slow breath. “No,” he said.
Another silence followed – but not an empty one.
“Am I right in supposing that you felt so much guilt about this that you never truly considered admonishing her?”
Darcy looked at her with wide eyes. “I believe I did.”
“I shall discuss it with her more,” she added, “when it is appropriate.”
He glanced toward the door through which Georgiana had gone.
“She is so very young,” he said. “She is all I have.”
Elizabeth’s tone softened. “I understand. But she is not so very young anymore. That is why it is vital that she understands the rules of society and her interests. Just because Mr. Wickham’s words were flattering… Oh, my – that man is a master manipulator! Somehow, he saw my weakness and used it against me. He played on my sympathies and my inclination to believe ill of you…”
“Why?”
“Oh, do not make me say it. I-I think that, in that way, your insulting words lost something of their power. If you were a villain, your words need not have mattered. At least, so I persuaded myself.”
