Page 54

“Oh! She does not return your affection,” Georgiana said, her voice almost a whisper.

“It is not so simple as that, dearest. If it were, perhaps I would know how to proceed. No, it is much more complicated.” Darcy stared at the wood grain of the pianoforte as he spoke, tracing its pattern with his fingers.

“Does she love someone else? Or perhaps she is meant to marry someone else?” his sister offered.

Darcy smiled slightly. His sister had been reading a great many novels of late, and her assumptions bore that out. “No, sister,” he said.

“Then what can it be?”

He considered what he ought to say. Should he tell her all? If he did, he should have to speak that vile man’s name in her presence. Yet, perhaps it would be good for Georgiana to know that Wickham was not going to return ever again.

“She believes me a coward,” Darcy finally said, his voice full of self-reproach.

Georgiana’s eyes went wide. “A coward? Who believes you are a coward?”

“Miss Elizabeth Bennet. And she has every right to believe it, for I have acted as such.”

“How? You are not a coward, Brother. You never could be.” Georgiana could barely get her mouth to form the words she was saying, so surprised was she by the admission. “What has happened?”

Darcy wished he could believe his sister’s words, that her confidence was not so ill-placed. He let out a heavy sigh, running a hand over his face.

“It is about Wickham. Do not fear, Georgie,” he added quickly, seeing her flinch at the mention of the name. “He can never hurt you again. He has been stopped. Truly stopped. The gentlemen of Meryton discovered his debts and cast him into debtor’s prison. He is locked away, and he will trouble us no more.”

“Is that not a good thing? If he is gone and we are free of him, why are you cast down?”

“Because it should have been me,” Darcy confessed, his voice tight. “For months, I hid behind reason and duty. I told myself that silence and inaction were the only ways to protect our family name, to keep your near-ruin a secret from the world. I thought I was being reasonable and prudent. But it was cowardice, pure and simple. I allowed that snake to go about in Hertfordshire, preying on Miss Elizabeth’s friends—my friends, some of them—and for what? To assuage my guilt for the death of his father? To honour mine? To keep your name free from even the smallest hint of shame? But it was not needed. Miss Elizabeth saw as much. In debtor’s prison, who shall Wickham tell? His fellow prisoners? I ought to have acted even before Ramsgate. I knew what he was. There is not a maid in Lambton that he has left entirely alone.” He paused, the weight of his confession hanging between them. “To have let him go free, simply to avoid the least awkwardness—to avoid facing what must be faced—it was weakness, and I am ashamed.”

Georgiana, her hands wringing her skirt, stared at her brother in astonishment. “But surely, you could not have foreseen—”

“I foresaw enough. Do not try to shield me, Georgie. I have done that enough on my own account,” Darcy said, his voice heavy with sorrow. “I knew what he was. I had known since before our father died. And yet I told myself that to expose him would be to dishonour the memory of the man who had loved him as a son. I convinced myself that, deep down, Wickham was still the boy who had climbed trees with me at Pemberley and who had wept beside our father’s deathbed, promising to honour his memory.”

Though Darcy paused in his speech, Georgiana did not speak. When Darcy spoke again, his voice was gravelly. “And so I let my heart—my foolish, sentimental heart—overrule what my reason knew to be just. I thought that if I gave him enough chances, he could become the man my father thought him to be. Then, even after Ramsgate, when I saw him in Hertfordshire, I did nothing. I saw him flirt with Miss Elizabeth’s sisters—even the youngest, who is your age—and yet I did nothing. Miss Elizabeth wished to act when she learned of his ways, and I refused to assist her. That is why she thinks me a coward.”

Georgiana hesitated, then spoke with a gentleness that cut through his self-recrimination. “But did she say so? From what you described of her in your letters, I cannot believe it of her.”

Darcy looked at his sister in confusion.

“You have told me what happened in Hertfordshire, that she wished to take action, and that you did not. You have told me how the people of Hertfordshire managed to collect all of Wickham’s debts and send him to debtor’s prison,” Georgiana said, her voice shaking as she contradicted her brother. “Yet, unless she called you a coward herself, you do not know what she thinks of you. Even if she did, she may be chastising herself for doing so, as angry people do not always speak as they ought. If Miss Elizabeth is as you described in your letters, I cannot believe she would recriminate you half as harshly as you have yourself.”

Darcy could not believe the words he was hearing coming from his sister’s mouth. They were true, he knew, but it sounded like advice he might receive from one of his older cousins rather than his younger sister. “When did you become so wise?” he asked after several moments more of silence.

Georgiana gave a sad smile. “This summer.”

The words hurt Darcy’s heart, but he could not refute them.

“I think we should go to Hertfordshire, Will,” she added. “I think we should go and you should speak to Miss Elizabeth.”

Darcy tried to object, but his sister corrected his misunderstanding. “Not speak your feelings towards her. Apologise to her. See how she thinks of you, for I do believe you must be wrong in this.”

Darcy considered her words, then slowly nodded. “Very well. I will return to Hertfordshire and speak to Miss Elizabeth. I will make arrangements and we shall leave overmorrow.”

Chapter 28

“Darcy!” Bingley exclaimed, upon seeing his friend step down from the carriage. “I am so glad that you were able to come to Netherfield.”

Darcy returned his friend’s kind greeting, then immediately turned his attention to the carriage, where his sister and Mrs. Annesley awaited his assistance in alighting.

When Bingley caught sight of them, he stepped forward, his countenance brightening still further. “Mrs. Annesley, Miss Darcy, welcome to Netherfield! I have been quite dull here on my own, and now we shall have quite the merry little party.”