Elizabeth followed Darcy into the study, still baffled as to his anger. Her heart sank when he locked the door behind them.
“Well?” he demanded before the key had even left his fingers.
“Well… what?” she blinked.
He stepped closer, “Do not feign ignorance, madam!”
“Oh, I shall not! I shall be honesty incarnate once you actually tell me what’s wrong!” she cried, “Darcy, you could be angry about the supper menu or the price of candles for all I know! If you intend to scold me, sir, then you must begin by telling mewhy!”
He went a little red, knowing that she was right, but did not back down. Through gritted teeth he told her:
“My cousin, Fitzwilliam, arrived an hour ago. I had no idea he was coming. Mrs. Reynolds is settling him into his room as we speak.”
“Oh! He did not tell me he was coming.” Elizabeth defended herself at once, “Had I known, then of course the rooms would have been better prepared. But if he will turn up without warning…”
“You misunderstand me entirely, madam.”
Elizabeth fell silent against the icy formality in his voice. Darcy had started to pace. She had not seen him do that since their honeymoon, when she had arranged for the alcohol to be removed from their room. Then, his fury had come from his wounded pride. He looked just as injured now. He spoke in a low growl, like a tiger stalking its prey.
“You tell me that he did not send word of his arrival. I believe you. Fitzwilliam has always been impulsive. But you have been corresponding with him in secret for quite some time, have you not?”
Elizabeth’s blood ran cold. “You said I could.”
“I said you could write a letter, madam, not abook!”
“You placed no limits upon me, sir. You could not! I have the right to write to my friends, sir, without asking for your permission!”
“That is exactly the issue!” he snarled, “He isnotyour friend. He is a stranger! You have shared such intimacies with him that I had not thought you would share withJane!”
“Are you accusing me of… of…” Lizzie gasped, horrified. Darcy followed her thoughts and snorted derisively.
“No, madam. In that respect you have given me no cause to distrust you.”
“Inthatrespect?”
“In that alone! How dare you confide in him? You told him everything about me! You told him that I was… that when we met…”
Elizabeth forced her feet to stick to the floor. The urge to back away made her whole body shudder.
“I did it for your sake.” she rasped, “And his, and most of all for Georgiana.”
“Georgiana! I fail to see how humiliating me can possibly help my sister!”
“Yes! Youdofail to see it! You act as though you are a different man than the one who, a year ago, rejected all of his family because he preferred to be drunk than to accept their help! Are they all supposed to forget that, because you tell them that you have changed? You have made no apologies, sir, nor thanked the ones who were willing to give you a second chance. Your word, you assumed, was all that was required. In your reckoning you were justified in casting them off - and now you resent them for wanting tounderstand!”
“Understand!” he exploded, “Understand what, Elizabeth? That I am weak? That he should pity me? He knew enough, damn you.”
“Fitzwilliam loves you, Darcy, as much as I do and more. But even love cannot make a tender soul waste their compassion on a man who does not - will not - care!”
Darcy stepped back. Elizabeth realised that she was breathing heavily and that she had been shouting loudly enough thatanyone walking past the study would have heard her clearly. She despised herself in that moment, for her pitiless assault and the pain she had knowingly caused the man she loved. It was all true - every word - but once again she had deceived her trusting husband when she should have simplyspokento him.
She had imagined Fitzwilliam’s arrival as a pleasant surprise for Darcy: a heartfelt reconciliation between two stubborn men. Now she saw that it never would have worked. Darcy was too cynical to accept that forgiveness could come uninvited. Fitzwilliam was too honest to conceal the truth.
Here she was, caught in the middle once more. Just like with Georgiana, she had misjudged the whole stubborn family.
Last time it had happened…
Elizabeth was filled with sudden dread. Darcy had backed away from her tirade and was now sitting at his desk, head buried in his hands. He was perfectly still, but Lizzie knew that his thoughts must be pure chaos.
