Page 88 of Bitterness of Spirit

“Be reasonable and watch your words. You are in no position to demand anything. If you had not left so quickly last night, I would have provided you with all the answers and explanations you need. But I presume you did not want to conduct such a conversation in the presence of your wife and sons, not to mention the other peers.”

“Surely, you did not expect to continue that ridiculous charade last night! Who are you?”

“Come now, you cannot ask in earnest! I even removed my beard so you could see the scar your men cut into my face twenty-five years ago! Do not dare ask who I am! Shall I remind you about the four men you hired to beat me up and throw me off of a property that was not even yours? And what about your threats to me and my family that forced me to leave? All without the Darcys’ knowledge!? One of the biggest regrets I have in life is that I did not have time to write to Darcy, to confess all that happened, and to disclose your true character before they passed away! Time was against me, and God took them too early! You are the worst cheat and wretch! Both Darcys died without knowing your true nature!”

“The Darcys were weak, and you were the one who deceived them! They could not see beyond their strange sense of gratitude for an unconscious gesture you performed as a young boy!”

“The Darcys were the most honourable people I have ever met! My loyalty to them went beyond life itself. You take their fairness and kindness as weakness? That is so typical of you, arrogant fool!”

“I would wipe those words from your mouth, Wilson—son of a nobody!”

“You cannot offend me; you who have no other merit than a fortunate birth! What will you do? Will you call me out? I shall gladly meet you with any weapon you choose! And with only one hand! Or perhaps you would rather hire someone to attack me behind my back as I walk alone in the park? You have done it before—likely more than once!”

“I just did what I had to do to protect my sister from your maddening obsession! I did what you deserved! You, the son of nobody, without money or connections, had the audacity to fall in love with the daughter of an earl! How could I have tolerated you troubling my sister and imposing yourself on her?”

“Protect her? Impose on her? You must be a madman! I tried to speak to you reasonably twenty-five years ago, and I know George did as well! But you had neither the patience nor the wisdom to accept any opinions but your own!”

“What was there to talk about, Wilson? You should not have spoken to either of my sisters! You should not have been allowed in the house while we were there! All the weeks we stayed at Pemberley, I asked her to no longer speak to you, and I asked you to cease your ridiculous delusion! You misunderstood her kindness and the few words she flung at you, a mere servant boy, as a partiality that existed only in your disturbed head!”

“A few words, you say? I should not have been allowed in the house? Who were you to demand of the Darcys whom they should allow to cross their threshold?”

“I was the only one with a clear, reasonable mind! I asked Darcy to bring you to your senses! And instead of censuring your behaviour, he spoke to me of your worthiness and the good future that was ahead of you. What future? As a tradesman or a lawyer? My sister was as appalled by you as I was!”

“Was she? Appalled, you say?”

“Yes, as anyone in her position would be! I asked you several times to cease any attempt to address her! But you would not listen! And that last night—instead of leaving, you came to Matlock Park!”

“Because I was leaving! I wished to take my farewell! I had made the decision to move abroad! Darcy knew of it! But you never allowed me to speak—to explain! You wished me dead!”

“Take your farewell? At Matlock Manor? From whom? There was nobody there who cared about your departure! My parents did not even know of your existence in our lives. For them, you were nobody and meant nothing! And my sister was only too happy to be safely away from you! Who would need your farewell other than you and your sick imagination?”

“Who? The woman who asked, encouraged, and demanded my company for the entire time she stayed at Pemberley! Who let me believe she held a genuine affection for me and, indeed, made me lose my mind? The lady who engaged me in interludes that only a woman truly in love would accept from a man! The woman who made me believe I was worth more than I would have dared imagine until the moment she told me I was nothing but an amusement of no consequence.”

“What are you talking about, Wilson? You have surely lost your mind. You do not deserve to be called out, but rather, you should be put in jail or a madhouse!”

“Surely, you knew all this since you pretended your sister was appalled by Darcy’s praises of me!”

“Knew what? There was nothing to know!”

“Your lordship, this discussion is over!” he said with mocking solemnity. “Leave my house at once, for I am done with you! Oh, and I forgot to say what I intend to accomplish by this scheme. Revenge! Complete and agonizing revenge! Did I mention that I have proof of a conspiracy against the duke in which you are involved? And that I know about the two women you keep in Town for your amusement? And that I am aware of your latest failure in business? If I did not, keep in mind that you will soon hear more from me on these matters!”

Lord Matlock’s anger coloured his face before his panic made him pale.

In the secret room, only inches apart, Elizabeth and Darcy were overwhelmed but in torment. Her palm supported her against the wall, and her fingers trembled. Darcy gently took her hand in his, covering it with comforting tenderness. Shame and disbelief in the face of such discoveries froze him.

“How…what…this is…what do you want? What is all this?” Lord Matlock shouted.

“You will see for yourself—when I want you to!”

“I shall not leave until I have answers!” the earl cried.

“You may well stay until the servants throw you out. I cannot stand to look at your face a moment longer.”

“We should talk through this, Wilson. You are older, and you should be reasonable. I am not proud of what I have done, but I was young and not very wise either. I did what I thought to be the best. You cannot ruin my name and my family for something that happened a lifetime ago. You have a sister of your own, do you not?”

Wilson stopped and glared at him. “What does my sister have to do with this miserable story?”

“What would you have done if a man stalked your sister and tried to insinuate himself on her? You lost your mind over my sister; I can understand that since you were only a young boy. You easily took the kindness of such a woman as partiality. It was no one’s fault. You imagined yourself in love with her, and in your madness, you imagined she might return your lunatic affection. You put her in danger, and she came to me, begging for help! What else could I have done?”