Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife (56 page)

She found her way back to Boots, silently cursing herself for ever undertaking such an odyssey. Benightedness might have been a blessing just then, for she would have been happy all the days of her life to be blissfully nescient of Bingley’s philandering.

Her father could be, if not condoned, at least forgiven if he sought affection from a more agreeable woman than her mother. But, Bingley! Bingley’s devotion to her sister had always been unquestioned. There was no sweeter, more beautiful and good wife than Jane. Jane, who bore Bingley four children in five years. He could certainly not claim denial of affection.

From a stump, she attempted to draw herself upon Boots but fell back impotently. Still gripping the saddle, she leaned against the horse and rested her forehead against the sun-warmed leather. Had she not been so sickened, she might have found her abrupt alteration from a wife scorned to an indignant sister-in-law amusing. Truly, she wished she could have had the time to enjoy a little diversion at her own foolishness.

It took her the better part of an hour to find her way home. Upon her arrival, she espied Blackjack, lathered and steaming, being unsaddled. It told her that evidently Darcy had ridden in only moments before. The only groom about was the still parentally-unenlightened John Christie. When she handed Boots’ reins to him, he looked at her curiously.

Her face, as always, betrayed her. Hence, when she entered the house she took the precaution of surveying her countenance in a pier glass. Yes, she appeared quite out of sorts. Time to practise severely limited, she settled what she believed was a more inscrutable expression upon her countenance by furrowing her brow (this, however, did not affect placidity as she intentioned, but rather a possible intestinal disorder) and headed for the stairs.

Stopping in the passageway, she stood very still and listened to see if she could hear Darcy downstairs. She might hoodwink the servants by her charade, but not her -husband. The time it had taken her to return from her little espionage excursion could have been better utilised than only conjuring expletive epithets to hurl at Bingley. Instead, she should have taken time for sober reflection upon whether to tell Darcy what she had seen. For did she, it would be difficult to explain just how she came about her information.

Her hand found the banister. She took a step thither when she first heard the ominous sound of Darcy’s boots behind her.

“Lizzy.”

Cautiously, she turned. Only to be confronted with the seriously conflicted countenance of her husband. Indeed, his mien was so sombre, she knew its gravity could mean only one of two things. Either a servant had unknowingly exposed the true nature of Lady Catherine’s visit, or someone had died. It was with some self-reproach that she realised she was more willing to deal with someone’s demise.

As he escorted her to his library, she frantically began to formulate a speech. Her position for not telling him was to be thus: she was protecting her husband from knowledge of Lady Catherine’s diatribe so he would not be upset about his aunt’s cruelty to her. Thus, she would present herself as both unjustly persecuted and selfless. Certainly, he could not fault her for that.

They seated themselves in quite proper opposition. After several minutes of an uncomfortably silent stand-off, he spoke.

“I followed you today.”

She sat open-mouthed, speech having deserted her. He waited for a moment and when she said nothing, continued.

“It is an egregiously deceitful thing to do, but I have been quite anxious on your behalf. You have been quite out of sorts.”

Yes, she most definitely had. Her cheeks reddened in shame, for if he thought it designing to follow her, her own suspicions were exposed as undeniably duplicitous. When she did not speak nor look at him still, he walked over to her, knelt on one knee, and took her hands in his.

“My stealth did not serve me, Lizzy, for I have no idea what brought you to that croft or why you stayed and looked upon it so long. It was a pretty prospect, but not all that beguiling. I am confounded. Pray, will you tell me?”

She closed her eyes and lowered her face to his hands yet holding hers. When she could bear to gaze upon him, she tenderly brushed his cheek with the back of her fingers. He gathered those fingers in his and kissed them.

Unquestionably, she knew herself a mistrustful wretch. And a coward as well because all she could say was but one thing.

“I love you so very much.”

He cupped her face in his hands, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. In a moment, she began again, with no bravery and little resolve.

“I have gone to watch that house every day for a week, because I was told you had intimate association with the woman who lived there.” Staring at her knees, she finished, “And had a child with her. A son.”

It was likely that she visibly cringed. He sat back, literally upon his heels. She, however, kept her eyes shut tight, unable to bear witness to his expression. A pause allowed him to overcome his obvious astonishment.

Finally, he said, “You believed that of me?”

“No,” she said.

She knew that a lie, but at that moment she desperately wanted to think she had not.

“I told myself I only travelled there to prove you innocent, but…” honesty began to overcome denial.

“Have I given reason for you to doubt me? Have I done you some hurt unknowingly? Pray, tell me I have not,” said he.

She came perilously close to telling him his unreasonable anger at her over Wickham’s ignominious visit hurt her deeply. But she knew, though true, it was not relevant to their particular conversation. Hence, she desperately delved about her memory for some long buried misdeed of his that she could recount to justify herself. But she found none.

She acknowledged, “You have never given me reason to doubt you.”

It was with substantial relief upon her part that he reacted with an empathetic embrace. She allowed herself his consolation, for she had the unhappy notion that she might not have it after she told him just how her faith in him had become so fragile. He remained silent and she knew he was awaiting her explanation, thus she abandoned the possibility that they could sit as they were, eventually consigning the entire incident to oblivion. Gathering herself together, she sat back and began at the beginning.

“I did not tell you that Lydia was with us in Hunsford when we stayed with Charlotte. I know you do not wish to be reminded of Wickham.” (She would lay culpability at her husband’s feet anywhere she could at that moment.) “It was there that Lydia told us that she was full-witting of Wickham’s faithlessness.”

At the mere mention of Wickham’s name, she could see Darcy stiffen. That disquiet granted her a little credibility of position as an injured party.

“That he is a lecherous scoundrel is of no surprise. But Lydia also told us, in defence of her own husband’s infidelity, that all men were faithless and in proof of that announced that Papa…” here her voice faltered and she studied her knees again.

She swallowed, and then went on, “…harbours a mistress. Or mistresses, I know not which,” which was digressing, so she got back to the point. “The intelligence of this infidelity having come from our own mother’s lips!”

She looked up at Darcy and saw conflict in his eyes as clearly as had it been written upon a page. There, looking back at her, was a contest of sympathy and indignation. Sympathy upon behalf of her learning such an abhorrent thing about her father and the demand for an explanation of just how that condemned him. There might have been no condemnation, of course, without his aunt’s visit.

“Lady Catherine came here week last, not seeking you, but to speak to me.”

He waited.

Unable to repeat her other insults, Elizabeth said, “She was the one who told me she knew you fathered a child by this woman because I could not…”

“What!” he exclaimed, causing her to give a start. “You listened to an accusation by Lady Catherine! Lizzy, I thought you of all people could not be drawn into a plot she devised.”

Actually, Elizabeth still wanted to believe she could not have, either. However, her manipulation at Lady Catherine’s hands was undeniable.

Softly, she said, “It seemed reasonable at the time.”

His voice did not mimic hers. Indeed, he spoke angrily.

“Why did you not tell me of Lady Catherine’s lies unless you thought them possible? You did think it possible, for you spent—what, an entire week—seeking to find it true!”

“There is no excuse, of course, but I have endeavoured to explain…if you do not understand, I can say no more other than I was wrong. Wrong to listen to Lady Catherine. Wrong to mistrust you. Wrong to believe that if my own father does not honour his wife, it thereupon questions all men. I was wrong. W-R-O-N-G. Wrong.”

With each successive “wrong” her voice escalated from the bowels of penitence until it reached the summit of rather impressive martyrdom. She had folded her arms and her face mirrored a myriad of emotions. Fortunately, the most salient was regret.

“Lizzy, you must promise me now. No more secrets. Ever.”

She nodded her head emphatically, happy that he was going to let the matter drop. In all the relieved magnanimity of one who has survived calamity, she told him, “Undoubtedly, had our positions been reversed, had you listened to such a ridiculous accusation of me at the hands of your aunt…well, I can only admit that it is unlikely that you would have ever heard the end of it from me. I hope you are more generous.” A tentative smile from Elizabeth coaxed his.

“I am always more generous than you,” he said.

And with his tease came a liberal sigh of relief from Elizabeth. In the embrace that followed, she truly wanted no secrets betwixt them, agonising whether to tell him what she had seen of Bingley. But she had no such doubts about his cousin.

There could be no good come of telling Darcy that Fitzwilliam had professed his love.

* * *

In light of their newly declared candidness, Darcy managed to persuade Elizabeth to give him a compleat relating of all that was said to her by both Lydia and Wickham.

She told him, “Wickham said he knew that you were ‘priggish’ in matters pertaining to love. In your defence, I considered disabusing him of such a notion, I but could not think of a way to say it that would not have been scandalous.”

It was with a bit of a laugh that Darcy heard himself described as a prude by Wickham. The subject was not furthered conversationally.

Having a little time to think about it, though, Darcy came to the conclusion he must attempt to explain himself to Elizabeth. He had vigorously avoided ever revealing such specifics because it demanded he speak to her of his life previous to their love. So abhorrent was that recollection to them both that he did not want to think of it, much less speak of it to her.

Undoubtedly Wickham believed him a stiff-rumped prig. And, if compared to the standard set by Wickham’s morals, he admitted he most likely was. Feminine conquests, however, were not something he needed for a better conceit of himself. Brash although it might sound, he knew himself quite unsusceptible to the allurements of other women.

Once he had fallen in love with Elizabeth, passion and settled affection were united. He needed nothing else. His exceedingly warm constitution was the only reason he had ever had other dalliances at all. He renounced the notion of a mistress because he sought neither company nor affection. It was his body that made demands of him, not his heart. And because he had accepted the favours of women for whom he cared nothing, his privacy had been forever breached. He had abhorred such carnal need, and despised himself yet for surrendering to it.

The first true contentment in his life had been with the exchange of his and Elizabeth’s love. His trust was charged only to her. To assure her that he was not disposed to indulge in trysts simply because he was content with her was a prodigious understatement. Contentment was too passive a noun, for his love for her was not complaisant. She needed to know he had no interest in other women. He would not do as other men. He had no need. He had her. But he did not have the words.

Hence, he abandoned all hope of telling her what he wanted. Instead, he whispered but one thing in her ear that night.

“I want nothing more from this life than to lie here next to you, Lizzy.”

It was not the clarification of the shadings of his soul he might have liked to offer, but it was the essence.

Even without that endearment, Elizabeth would have happily repaid her husband every debt of doubt. And Darcy decided that if he were to expect her to be totally forthcoming to him, he must be thus to her. One day he would find the words he must to tell her the entire story of Abigail, John, and Wickham.

There had been little time to wrestle with the decision to tell Darcy about seeing Bingley and little more to fret for Jane.

The thirty miles betwixt Pemberley and Kirkland were usually traversed twice a week, once by Jane, once by Elizabeth. The seven days preceding Elizabeth’s last visit to her croft were spent upon horseback, hence she was long overdue for a visit with her sister. Wanting more time to weigh the matter and gather a perspective, still Elizabeth did not go.

Two days later, Jane came to Pemberley alone. Seeing her arrive without her children gave Elizabeth a sense of foreboding that was not to be unsatisfied.

The pleasant weather brought them outside to take tea and sweet biscuits; both remarked it a fine day. Admiration of the cloudless sky and slight breeze was cursory. In want of not thinking, and particularly not speaking about Bingley, Elizabeth at last shared with Jane the tale of Wickham’s infamous visit and unceremonious retreat (any port in the conversational storm). After Elizabeth told Jane about Wickham’s advances, Jane was properly aghast. Thereupon, Jane did the unlikely. She suggested the use of violence upon him.

“Lizzy, did you not smite him? I should have thought you would have.”

Elizabeth thought she should have throttled him too, and full curious as to how Jane might exact this comeuppance, inquired just that.

“With what should I have smote him, Jane?”

Without hesitation, Jane answered, “A fireplace poker.”

Not telling her that had, indeed, been under serious consideration and might have been employed had it not been out of reach, she said, “I shan’t have opportunity to smite Wickham with anything, for Darcy influenced Wickham of his disaffection for me.”

Having winnowed from Elizabeth a truer accounting of the long past bandit incident, Jane had since worried incessantly about safety, suggesting to her upon this occasion, “If not to use upon Wickham, Lizzy, perhaps you should carry a poker in the coach with you as I now do.”

Elizabeth thought about it for a moment, thereupon opined, “I fancy a poker is easier to wield than a gun.”

Sitting in the sun, it seemed a contradiction for two refined ladies to be discussing the merits of weaponry and upon whom to use them. When Elizabeth pointed that out, they both had a hearty laugh. Had Elizabeth been so inclined, from thence she might have embarked upon the telling of Lady Catherine’s visit.

She knew, however, the examination of that topic would cause more evasion than conversation, and in silence, searched her mind for another. Jane, however, had one quite all her own.

“Pray, Lizzy,” she said in her hesitant, soft voice, “there is something of which I must speak to you.”

Jane stood and paced about before she spoke. That foreshadowing bade Elizabeth’s attention. Jane sat before she continued, resting folded hands upon her knees, almost in supplication. At this, the premonition of ill-tidings Elizabeth had attempted to quash since her sister’s arrival reared its ugly head.

“Lizzy,” Jane started again, “I must tell you something in the severest of confidence.”

Jane looked up at her sister then, and not at all certain she wanted to hear what Jane was going to say, Elizabeth nodded her head once in irresolute encouragement. Without additional exposition, Jane made a rather firm announcement.

“Charles has begotten a child of another woman.”

This divulgement originating from Jane rather than herself, begat of Elizabeth a conflict of emotions. The utmost was undoubtedly the relief that she would not have to keep that secret, but it was closely seconded by astonishment that her sister rendered it not a secret at all. She feared for her countenance only a moment, for she was certain astonishment quite overwhelmed the subtlety of relief upon her face. Jane did not suspect she already knew.

“You are astonished to learn this I know, for your strong protest at Lydia’s tales when we were gone to Charlotte’s told me you find such indiscretions difficult to accept as true.”

Elizabeth knew her mouth was slightly agape, closed it, looked away, and then returned her gaze to Jane. Jane reached out and placed her hand upon Elizabeth’s, and gave it a comforting pat.

Elizabeth thought, “Jane is reassuring me? ’Tis I who should be offering her comfort.”

“The baby is but a half-year old,” Jane continued. “The…mother is consumptive and is not expected to live out the year.”

Even more earnestly, she explained why she was confiding then, “Lizzy, I cannot bear to think of a child of Charles’s to be handed to strangers. I want to have the baby with us, but Charles does not know I know of it. It might grieve him to know that I do. I could not bear that.”

Elizabeth stifled a highly inappropriate snort of a laugh. Not that she thought anything at all humorous. But the incongruity of Jane’s concern for Bingley’s feelings, and that she weathered his betrayal with such restraint, assaulted Elizabeth’s every notion of the verity of love. Elizabeth swept rationale and solicitude of Bingley aside.

She wanted to take the flat side of a shovel across Charles Bingley’s head, but prudently kept that inclination to herself. For the manner of Jane’s remarks told her that she had reason more for speaking of it than just sharing a confidence.

The vexed expression that overspread Elizabeth’s countenance did not take Jane unawares. She knew well that would be her sister’s initial reaction.

Hastily, she went on, “I must ask something of you that will take great generosity. The bother is not lost to me, thus you know how important it is.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath, for until that moment, Jane had not once asked anything weighty of her. Without hesitation (but with no little trepidation), Elizabeth assured Jane that there was nothing she would not do for her.

“I want you to bring the baby to Pemberley.”

Dumbstruck, Elizabeth said only, “But why?”

“If I could I would take the baby myself, but Charles must not know I know. Yet I cannot bear a son of my husband not knowing love, nor, in time, his father. I know that a more loving home than yours cannot be found. Charles should see him here frequently. The woman is tenant to Pemberley, he would not question you taking the baby in light of you having none of your own thus far.”

Pemberley was great, servants abounded. The baby would be of little physical trouble, but one did not take on a human life without serious consideration. Yet Elizabeth made no hesitation.

“Of course, Jane. I shall apply to Darcy. The decision shall be his as much as mine.”

Jane nodded, thereupon embraced her sister, “I thank you, Lizzy. There is no other of whom I could ask such a undertaking.”

Elizabeth could not help but worry the issue, “But Jane, how can you forgive Bingley for such a betrayal? I thought no man more in love than Mr. Bingley with you. How could he do this to you? How can you simply submit to it?”

“Lizzy, it is a knotty thing for you to comprehend, this I know. Charles’s love for me has not altered, this I know as well. But as I have been confined much of our marriage and Charles is…he needs…attention. If he called upon another woman, it was for other than affection.”

Clearly, Jane could pardon a weakness of the flesh in her husband, however, she could not share his love. Her sister’s generosity in this matter was only astonishing to Elizabeth because it came from Jane. Many a gentlewoman accepted her husband’s transgressions so long as they were exercised with lessers. There was no perceived threat to position or marriage there. As Jane had no interest in position, she -apparently found no undue injury so long as her marriage was sound. Elizabeth recognised that she, quite profoundly, was not of the same mind.

Elizabeth squeezed her sister’s arm in reassurance, nonetheless, and said nothing. Her resentment was so ample, however, she found quite enough to compleatly drown Bingley and lap at the hem of her mother’s skirt as well. Because of Mrs. Bennet’s ill-advice, Jane had denied her husband consolation for much of her marriage. (That was no excuse for Bingley, of course, but the poor man’s ballocks were probably a bright shade of blue more often than not.) Her ire fully piqued, she reckoned she should be angry at herself as well, for had she pursued the subject of Jane pleasing her husband and herself more relentlessly, perchance things might have been different…But Elizabeth made herself not think of it.

The afternoon waned and Elizabeth accompanied Jane to her coach, not daring to query her more. In time, she might address those questions to Jane, but for then, she bid her good-bye. Jane waved a little wearily out the window of her coach, unquestionably as relieved as Elizabeth that they did not have to keep any more skeletons in the cupboard. And as she stood and watched her sister take leave, Elizabeth silently pondered just how she and Georgiana had actually overlooked a consumptive person to nurse upon Pemberley lands.

Solitude was necessary for Elizabeth fully to appreciate what had just come to pass. With her chin resting in her palm, she deliberated upon her sister’s nature from a window seat in the music room.

Each of the five Bennet sisters had their attributes assigned almost from babyhood. Mary was prim, Kitty flighty. Lydia was outlandish, and Elizabeth, bold. Jane was, and always had been, gentle, kind, and naïve. Was Elizabeth to admit it, however kind, she also thought Jane to be fragile. Strength had been her own trait, not Jane’s. She was the Bennet sister who was forthright and strong. However, had their positions in this sordid mess been reversed, Elizabeth could not ascribe to herself the benevolent fortitude to see to the well-being of all those involved as had Jane.

Soon her thoughts drifted to the dreaded mission of telling her husband of Bingley’s sin against his wife. And she dreaded what lay before her as much as any anticipated event she could recall. She methodically went over several times in her mind what she must tell him, giving each version contemplation, deciding the exact approach she wanted to employ to cite the facts.

* * *

However pleasant the possibility of reprieve, Elizabeth knew telling Darcy about Jane’s entreaty and Bingley’s extramarital “bonus” could not be put off for long, thus she stood and aimed herself for Darcy’s library. He was seated at his desk in all good humour of unprecluded ignorance. Blissfully, he studied his books, unaware that his wife peeked at him with trepidation from behind the door. Elizabeth pushed open the door and took a deep breath. Looking up, he smiled when he saw her, thereupon leaned back in his chair and turned to her in welcome.

She knew he expected her to come to him as she always had, but after taking only a few steps in his direction, she altered her course. Once at the window, she stood silently looking out. He watched her mute contemplation with a hesitant concern that was betrayed only by a worrying of his ring. She realised he must be in some disorder, wondering what surprise next lay in store. Wickham. Another woman. Now this.

“My poor husband,” she thought, “how I do try your patience.”

She walked to him, knelt beside his chair and, sighing, rested her head upon the arm. She thought this sigh a little too melodramatic, however she could not help but do it once more in preparation for her plea. He reached out to draw her onto his lap, and whatever temptation it was to whisper her shocking disclosure in his ear, she decided to take a chair facing and moved it close to his. Knee to knee, eye to eye, she would say what had to be said.

“We promised to keep nothing from each other ever again. I have been waiting for the right moment to tell you this, but now the moment has chosen me.”

Elizabeth sighed once more before continuing, “Jane visited me today…no, I must begin before then.”

Taking both his hands in hers, she looked away for a moment, for her practised speech had vanished. Desperately, she endeavoured to find a kind way to tell him his dearest friend was a…detestable scourge and blight upon humanity. An execrable, letching infidel. A scurrilous, walking dung heap. A…

Taking a gulp of air, she started again, “What I withheld from you of my observations of the woman your aunt bade me visit, was that, I, of course, did not see you there, but I did see a man visit that cottage that last day.”

Darcy gave her his full attention.

“I espied a man ride thither, kiss the woman, and hold the baby.” She did not prolong the drama, “It was Charles Bingley.”

His astonishment at the revelation was obvious.

Elizabeth had once dared to ask him if Bingley ever went with him to the infamous house of accommodation he visited in London. Darcy had responded with the emphatic announcement that it was exceedingly dishonourable to speak in violation of a friend’s privacy.

That pronouncement made, he nonetheless said, “No, he did not,” apparently believing defence of repute not a transgression of privacy.

It was obvious he had not thought this of Bingley, or at least did not know of it. Not until seeing surprise upon her husband’s face did Elizabeth consider Bingley might have told Darcy. Surely men talk of such things, and Bingley was his closest friend. Elizabeth saw this a positive for her own husband’s devotion, for if Bingley did not tell him, he must have expected disapproval. This train of thought was abandoned, for Elizabeth did not want to obtain any sort of self-satisfaction from her sister’s circumstance.

In a moment he bid, “Are you certain, Lizzy? Bingley has never given me reason to question his character in word or deed for as long as I have known him. Perchance you mistook him.”

Elizabeth told him, regrettably, there was no mistake, “When I espied Mr. Bingley that day, I was so astonished and appalled I had no notion as how to tell you, or if it was in my province to speak of it. My concern I lent to Jane. I was certain was she to learn of such business as this, it would wound her gravely.”

For assurance, she added, “Did I doubt my own eyes, Jane came today bearing the story.”

Thereupon she told him of Jane’s knowledge of the baby and upon the heels of that, her own promise to seek his approval of bringing the child to live with them. Thinking it merely a formality in asking, she began to assure him how little inconvenience would be brought about, where the baby might sleep, who might attend it. Overtaken as she was by the necessity of preparation, she mused upon these matters almost to herself. Therefore, she did not see his eyes darken nor his mood alter.