Elizabeth looked at her. The sincerity of it all unsettled her more than she could account for.
For a long time, both ladies sat in silence.
Then Georgiana drew a breath.
"I am not asking you to forgive him. I only hoped..." She stopped and tried again. "I hoped you would hear everything before deciding."
Elizabeth shifted back in her chair. Her heart was doing something she had not given it permission to do.
The afternoon light had begun to fade beyond the windows.
She thought of everything. Of Wickham. Of Darcy's parents. Of a frightened girl convinced she would one day become unlovable. Of a brother who had spent a year trying to undo a wound someone else had inflicted.
And of Darcy, who had stood upon Oakham Mount and admitted he had been wrong.
Against her will, the anger she had been holding onto diminished considerably.
One question still lingered, however.
How did Miss Bingley know?
She thought it unfair to ask Georgiana. Not because she believed she would know, Elizabeth was not certain she did, but because she did not think it was her question to answer.
Georgiana had come against her brother's wishes to apologise on his behalf. To press her further would be stretching that kindness unnecessarily.
"Yes," Elizabeth said at last. "If he wishes to explain himself, I will listen."
The relief that crossed Georgiana's face was immediate. It was not triumph, but relief clear enough to read upon her countenance. As though she too had been carrying a burden these past days that had now eased.
They spoke briefly of other things after that. Elizabeth told her that she had met Wickham for the first time on the very day of the encounter Darcy had described. Georgiana even finished the tea she had forgotten she was holding.
After a while Mrs. Annesley came to check on the ladies and announced it was time to leave. Georgiana rose and hugged Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth?" she said as they drew apart.
"Yes?"
A faint smile touched her lips.
"I have missed you."
The simple honesty of it struck Elizabeth harder than anything else that afternoon.
She squeezed Georgiana's hand. "And I have missed you too."
Georgiana smiled properly then.
Elizabeth walked her guests to the carriage that conveyed them and stood watching until it disappeared beyond the Longbourn lane.
Only then did she turn back towards the house.
She had spent four days convincing herself that she understood exactly what Mr. Darcy had done and exactly how she ought to feel about it.
For the first time since Lucas Lodge, she was no longer certain of either.
EIGHTEEN
27thNovember 1811
