“Did you warnanyonein Meryton about the danger that Mr Wickham represents?”
Darcy shook his head, his eyes on his feet in shame as he suspected what she was about to say.
“If someone who knew of Wickham’s propensities had been able to warn your sister or others in time, would it not have pleased you and saved our fellow man hardship and pain?”
He nodded, much chagrined though he was not yet able to say anything in his defence as she continued.
“Well then, sir, I would love to hear your justification at not warning anyone in Meryton. The honest people of Meryton cannot afford to have one such as Wickham leave them with unpaid debts; they have families to feed and take care of. You could have warned everyone from Colonel Forster on down without ever having to expose your sister’s name or actions. How hypocritical that you who agree that you would have gladly accepted that help from others would not give it yourself. Why are the good people of Meryton so far below you that they do not warrant the protection that others do?
“You freely refer to the bad behaviour of my younger sisters and mother, and even on occasion my father. I assume that Miss Darcy had a governess before Mrs Younge, and she had the benefit of masters.”
Darcy nodded, stiffening as he could not fault his sister for anything.
“I will assume that she was taught all of the rules of propriety.”
Again, he nodded, tension threading through every muscle as he could now see where she was headed.
“You accuse my family of abhorrent behaviour, but what of the behaviour of your sister who was taught better, lessons that my sisters are only now starting to receive. My father just retained a governess and will consider sending my two younger sisters to school. How can you excuse in your sister, who received a better education, what you find disgusting in others?”
Elizabeth saw how uncomfortable Mr Darcy was, and how the colours kept changing on his face as her words hit him with the same force as a fist, but she had started and was determined to have her say.
Having to consider culpability on his sister’s behalf was very hard for Darcy, but as much as he wanted to, he could not ignore the rectitude of what Miss Bennet had said.
“You highlight the bad behaviour you see in my family, but what of your own? Here at Rosings Park we have the prime example of your Aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, whose behaviour and pronouncements are beyond the pale. She thinks that she knows all when her advice proves that she knows little. She claims she and her daughter would have been proficient in many things if they had learnt. As ridiculous a pronouncement as I have ever heard! Is her routine Interference in the lives of her tenants and the parishioners of Hunsford acceptable? Writing Mr Collins’s sermons to deliver the opposite message of that in the Holy Bible is acceptable? She has less accomplishment that any one of my sisters, yet you accept her behaviour. Why is that, sir? Because a title and wealth excuse all? How hypocritical of you yet again.”
Darcy was set back on his heels; this little slip of a woman was making him look at things that he had long ignored. As much as he dreaded what she would say next, he listened almost against his own will.
“On the one hand you talk about the behaviour of Miss Bingley. Did you ever say anything to refute her mean, petty, shrewish, and spiteful attacks on me, my family and the whole neighbourhood while I was a guest in a homeleasedfrommy familyby hers?
“You needed to separate Bingley from my sister due to our family’s behaviour, but you accepted much worse from the sisters of your friend. From what they said, and you did nothing to refute, they are friends with your sister. Women like that you allow around your dear sister, but my sister, who is the sweetest and gentlest of souls, needed to be separated from your friend. You never once contradicted the ladies who thought themselves superior as they stated over and over that we are below them and not worth their notice, all the while knowing that daughters of tradesmen are far below us, regardless of their wrong perception of our wealth. Hypocrisy!” She glared at him.
Darcy felt as though he were back in the square ring at the Cambridge Pugilist Club, being pummelled without the ability to defend himself. He was reeling just waiting for the knockout blow, so much so that in his confusion and distress, he missed entirely Elizabeth’s mention of Netherfield Park and the property’s ownership. Darcy once again struggled to pull himself from his own thoughts as Elizabeth continued. He very much regretted his promise to her that he would remain silent until she was finished. She had not varnished the truth, what she was saying pained him much more than he was willing to admit to himself. Miss Bennet resumed her litany.
“Your apology for your insult to me is accepted. I now understand the cause for your mood, however your training as a gentleman should have enabled you to behave as one in a civil way that was neither haughty, disdainful nor arrogant. Miss Bingley, I am sure, might drive you to distraction, but that is no excuse to take your discomfort and annoyance out on everyonebuther.”
Elizabeth Bennet, who under normal circumstances, would not dare to take anyone to task as she was doing to Mr Darcy was incensed and that drove her to continue.
“That brings me to your presumption that you could divine my sister’s feelings. You claim to love me, yet you hid your feelings so well that I, the object of your affection, could not discern any tender regard. In fact, I saw just the opposite. What I believed was that you only looked upon me to find fault. If I could not see your regard, then how are you able to discern the same in others? You hide your true feelings behind a mask! Do you think that you are the only one who does that? Perchance do you think as your aunt does, that your position and wealth make you all knowing, that somehow you have the ability to see into my sister’s mind and read her thoughts? My sister Jane, is very reticent, acts within propriety, and hardly shows her true feelings to me. But you thought nothing of breaking her heart by talking nonsense to Mr Bingley. Again, a bevy of hypocritical actions!
“Are you aware of Caroline Bingley’s assertions that yourdear sisteris to marry her brother?”
Darcy looked shocked and angered, but kept to his promise to be quiet.
“Yes, she sent a letter to Jane intimating as much. It is evident from your letter that your sister is still of a tender age, far too young to be considering matrimony. I must believe that you are not so uncaring as to countenance Miss Bingley to use your sister’s name so ill.”
The look of extreme fury that Lizzy saw on Mr Darcy’s face answered that question for her.
“If she were a man, I would call the harridan out!” Darcy spat, and then remembered himself and took a breath.
Even Elizabeth could not fault his break of his word; and it was actually welcome to see he loved his sister so.
He took a breath and indicated that Miss Bennet should continue, if she had more to say. Though he was afraid of what she might say now that he had seen things so differently from her perspective.
Elizabeth took a steadying breath before she continued. “I must thank you, however,” She almost smiled at the look of confusion on Mr Darcy’s countenance, “for revealing the lack of constancy and weakness of character in your friend. It would have been a detriment for Jane to be married to such a man. Do not mistake her reticence and serenity for lack of will, however. Jane does see the best in all, but like you, her good opinion once lost is lost forever.”
“Now, sir, I must shock you, for I know disguise of every sort is your abhorrence, even if you employed such underhanded tactics yourself on behalf of your friend. You have spoken of Cheapside as if it is a place for lepers. While it is true that my uncle’s warehouses are there, and that he still owns a townhouse nearby, his primary residence is onPortman SquareinMayfair.” Elizabeth noted Darcy’s eyes widen in shock and she continued somewhat smugly.
“Jane chose to stay at the townhouse near Cheapside until she had ascertained Mr Bingley’s intentions, and that of his sisters. The Cheapside house is typically used for meetings with business clients, for my family has taken great care in hiding the extent of our fortune. Hence, you can see that your accusation that Jane would have accepted your friend purely for his wealth is entirely baseless. You disregard the fortune hunters that you so often admit to your presence, yet it is the Bennets of Longbourn who are seen as the undesirable connection.”
