Mr. Darcy's Decision: A Sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Read online

  “What of Lydia, what of the effect if she knows he is come?”

  Georgiana shook her head.“I do not think she knows, we have been talking in her room, she tires now.”

  Elizabeth summoned Mrs. Reynolds and turned back to Georgiana. “Then we must ensure she sleeps. Take a draft to my sister, Mrs. Reynolds, make haste. Drink a glass of wine yourself, Georgiana, excuse me, I will return as soon as I can.”

  Elizabeth left the room but did not go far outside it; staying in the vestibule, she could clearly hear a confrontation. Darcy was enraged; his voice was not raised but was somehow deeper, graver, more determined.

  “How dare you seek further assistance from me, I am long since done with you,Wickham,” he said.

  Now Wickham’s voice was heard. “Indeed?” asked he with unfitting confidence.“Then you are foolish, do you think I should ask your help without first being confident that I had some way of guaranteeing it?”

  “The vilest conduct is not beneath you!” cried Darcy, “I, above everyone else, am wholly aware of that, but what is this insurance you claim? What possible power could you have that would force my hand to your deliverance? Do not base your expectations on the assumption that I would be so susceptible to bribery as you are.”

  Wickham smiled.“Come now, Darcy, my old friend, no man is invulnerable, not even you. Hear me out, I do not wish to reveal truths that would damage you anymore than you would wish me to.You get me entirely wrong if you think I seek to injure you. I do not. My motive is the opposite; my intention is to conceal those truths that would be unflattering to you.You see, I have no resentment, I speak honorably.”

  “There is no honor in the supposed protection of a man if his defense must be bought, you make the mistake of judging my character by your own. I have nothing to conceal and therefore no reason to buy your silence.”

  “I concede, Darcy, your own conduct is rarely cause for scandal. I confess when compared with my own it seems you have not lived. Do not think I claim misdemeanors on your part, only a fool would suppose you defective. But in all things that matter in society we are judged by association and thereby your own impeccable conduct may still be sullied by another’s less desirable behavior.You have sought perfection in all things and I daresay you have achieved it to some degree but if those connected to you are less scrupulous you may be subject to derision also.”

  Darcy’s anger was shown in his expression and his stance was everything defensive.“I can think of no connection of mine, other than that which I have with you, that would be the cause of shame to me! You do not trouble me with your threats, you merely anger me with your presence. I demand an end to this conversation and suggest you take your leave.”

  “You resolve not to hear me out?” said Wickham. “Yet I am quite persuaded that you will wonder to what it is that I allude when I say that a certain lady near to you is manipulative, I might even say she is corrupt, the term is harsh but deserved, I believe this person to be a good way more dishonorable than you think me capable of being.”

  Darcy’s eyes darkened and he stepped toward Wickham, his urge to strike and his instinct to refrain from doing so creating a fairly matched battle within him.

  “Oh!” exclaimed Wickham, “you wish to attack me, Darcy, is that it? Why? Do you think I insult your Elizabeth or perhaps you worry that I harbor some depraved detail of our dear little Georgiana?”

  Both men were pale, one with rage the other with fear.Wickham stepped back a pace but Darcy would allow no such escape and he strode toward the retreating coward so that the distance between them was once again uncomfortable. It was the first time Darcy’s voice became significantly raised and the impact of it was not ineffectual.“Damn you! That you dare to speak of my wife and sister gives me reason enough to strike you, that I refrain from doing so is in your favor.”

  “I have it on good regulation that you are afraid of nothing, is your control the result of strength or cowardice?”

  Darcy stared Wickham in the eye and caught the man’s collar in his fist. He examined him with contempt; the tone of his voice was raw, passionate, and angry. “I am not afraid of you,Wickham. I am more afraid of myself, be warned, if you further antagonize me to brutality I will kill you without question,” he said and, mindful of the ladies present in the drawing room, he lowered his tone again and demanded, “step outside, I do not want you or the continuation of this dispute in my house.”

  Wickham, visibly unsettled now by Darcy’s fury, headed for the door but he cast his gaze around the features and elegance of the hall. “Your house,” he said with emphasis, “is a distinguished property indeed, I fear a murder would scandalize both Pemberley and its master.”

  Once outside Darcy spoke again with disgust.“Your theorizing is pointless, but since you insist on the subject let me give you my view of it. The reward of such disgrace would be your removal from those I love, my own castigation would be a small price for such relief.”

  Wickham’s composure had only briefly returned but now waned again and he turned to sentiment for his attack. “Darcy, we are old friends, boys grown up together but now apart, I confess to mourning the loss of our camaraderie.”

  “If you had truly valued it as you suggest, we should still be as brothers. But you abused, in every sense, the relationship you now lament the loss of. Any scant remainder of goodwill I have toward you exists as a result of your father being as fine a man as you thought mine to be. But you are a very long way from being worthy of their mention.”

  Wickham bowed his head, his stance indicative of remorse, but his appearance was so often the reverse of his feelings that Darcy was determined not to be deluded by it, though he felt his wrath to be significantly tempered by his adversary’s look of helplessness.To the appearance of any passing observer, should there have been one, the two men who walked the park at Pemberley that afternoon could just as well be friends as enemies. Both men cut elegant figures as they strode through the woods and despite the tone of their discourse being less violent now, its content was disturbing.

  Elizabeth, in Darcy’s absence, could do little more than offer comfort to Georgiana who, more than half an hour after its occurrence, was still shaken by Wickham’s arrival. Oh to be so helpless! If any consolation could be found in the whole affair, it was that Lydia slept.Though it may be supposed she saw her husband in her dreams it was certain she was not aware of his presence in reality, nor did he, in his conversation with Darcy, indicate that he had any knowledge of Lydia’s being at Pemberley at all.

  The possibility of vicious confrontation hung ominous over Wickham and Darcy, but the latter condescended, with the full intention of dismissing it, to hear the former’s story. It was thus that Darcy learned his enemy’s intentions, resolved to hear the allegations with disbelief and he listened with incredulity and no small degree of disgust as Wickham revealed his collaborator to be none other than Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

  “Before coming into Derbyshire today I ventured first to Rosings Park,” said Wickham. “My initial intention was that of having out my grievance with Lady Catherine, but on arrival I was informed by Mrs. Jenkinson that her ladyship was detained here at Pemberley. I made haste but was not, as was my hope, afforded the opportunity of addressing her here.”

  “I am glad of the fact that she had gone before you arrived,” said Darcy.

  “Do not take too strong a relief from it, Darcy. I met, through fortune or mischance, depending on your view of the matter, with Lady Catherine on the road near Lambton, our exchange was brief I confess, but it had length and content enough to allow me the satisfaction of reminding her of her debt to me, which remains, as yet, unpaid.”

  Darcy stiffened. “Despite all you say and despite all I know of my aunt, I cannot readily accept the existence of this deficit. Do you expect me to believe that she designed to award you with favors and fortune for marrying Lydia Bennet? I suggest that in inventing this tale you have overlooked the fact that she would never have desir
ed such a union, your connection with the Darcy family is a tenuous one I admit but it is link enough for Lady Catherine to accept some small association with your name. I know well enough that her disapproval of my wife’s family would prevent her encouraging the alliance.”

  “Your perspective of the matter is awry, Darcy. I concede she made no mention of marriage, her instruction went only as far as elopement, nay, seduction. Surely you cannot be in any doubt about her motives, had Lydia’s demise proved to be as scandalous as Lady Catherine intended the Bennet association would certainly have been one you would not have wished to further.”

  Darcy’s expression and tone were serious as he considered the implications of Wickham’s claims. His reluctance to credit him was firm but at the same time he felt compelled to learn more. He went on, subdued by the ramifications.“If all you say is true, why did you not halt the association at the elopement? If there was this further fortune awaiting you with Lady Catherine, why then did you concede to accept my offer to settle the matter of the marriage and the clearing of your debts? Was not the fortune offered you by her an easier one to accept than my own?”

  “Easier yes,” said Wickham, “but of less significance, the sum you proffered exceeded the remainder I would have procured from the de Bourgh purse.” He had a smug look about him. “Come, Darcy, you must surely admire my acumen, besides, here is something of a confession, Lydia is comely, is she not? And was always… ”—how should such a delicate matter be approached?—“ …very obliging from the first.”

  Darcy heard this with disgust. “You are no better than a beast, Wickham, if you sought to repulse me you have succeeded.”

  “I protest! Is it unnatural that I felt it preferable to marry Lydia than to not? I had lived the previous year in uncertainty and I knew loneliness. Oh, I flatter myself that I was rarely without the attention of some agreeable young lady or another,” with this comment he observed Darcy closely, daring to speak again,“and of all my encounters, my memories of certain Hertfordshire ladies are particularly fond.”

  Darcy suspected an allusion to his own wife and was quick to retaliate. “Do not seek to anger me further,Wickham, I can assure your regret.”

  “Then as gentlemen we shall proceed, for you are as deeply entrenched in this collusion as your aunt, her investment bought Lydia’s engagement and yours paid for our marriage. It is truly a family affair!”

  Darcy did not hesitate to defend himself.“I have nothing to be ashamed of, I assisted in the guarantee of the girl’s respectability, that is all, I can see no dishonor in that. If, as you suggest, my aunt’s plan was to procure Lydia’s disgrace then I am proud to have prevented it and I cannot see how you mean to coerce me into providing anything further. If what you say is true, let Lady Catherine suffer her own shame and buy your silence if she wishes, her evils, if they exist, are no reflection on my own character.”

  Wickham gave a wry smile,“But by association?” he asked.

  “You have been away too long, Wickham, you do not know me,” said Darcy.“Defamation by connection is not the most vital of my concerns. If you set out to ruin me, you will gain nothing more than your own destruction. These weak threats are of no consequence to me.”With nothing further to say he turned his back and strode with purpose in the direction of the house. His heart was heavy with all he had heard, though his predisposition to distrust Wickham’s words had been strong, there was about the tale a very strong tone of validity that his instincts would not allow him to discount. As swiftly as Wickham had arrived he now departed but in his absence his ill effects were still to be felt.

  Darcy, Elizabeth, and Georgiana, relieved at Wickham’s departure, dared not allow themselves the luxury of believing they had seen the last of him. Darcy’s feelings on the matter were mixed; he dwelt on the fact that he ought not to find the man’s revelations so easy to believe, but he knew his aunt’s resentful character, her artfulness, and her convictions that her own ideals were beyond reproach and therefore worth pursuing no matter what price might be paid. Elizabeth knew, perhaps better than any other, Lady Catherine’s vehement opposition to their marriage and had only a slight difficulty in crediting Wickham’s claims although it pained her to think of them.

  “My fear is of its being true, Fitzwilliam,” said she when they next occasioned to speak on the subject. “Lady Catherine’s determination where Anne’s well-being is concerned is unconstrained, likewise her disdain for me. But still I am puzzled, if Wickham claims that in consenting to marry Lydia he fell short of Lady Catherine’s expectations, how then does he justify his demands for the remaining payment?”

  “He cannot,” said Darcy firmly,“that is the point in hand, Elizabeth, he sought to threaten Lady Catherine with exposure and by that means procure further fiscal security. I have a suspicion that their brief discourse on the road at Lambton left him doubting that she would agree to buy his silence.”

  “So he sought to offer you the opportunity of purchasing it on her behalf?”

  “He misjudged me, I am not of a mind to save Wickham from financial ruin or my aunt from retribution. It is my experience that repeated salvation of wickedness only serves to regenerate it. I am neither my aunt’s nor George Wickham’s redeemer. The bad will end bad if they decide upon it, no matter what attempts are made to save them.”

  “Then you do not concern yourself unduly? I am sure you have frustrated Wickham by being so impenetrable.”

  “He came here with the intention of alarming me, he has left in the full knowledge that he cannot.What he chooses to do now is his concern, I shall not seek to confront him. He will not reveal all as he threatens; he knows full well he would have no power if he does so. No, he is too covetous of wealth to discard his supposed key to it.”

  Elizabeth put her hand in her husband’s.“I admire your strength and composure, I believe I am a good way to being twice as furious as you, even your tone is calm.” She looked at him questioningly. “Does your coolness of temper derive from an affection for the boy Wickham once was?”

  Darcy thought for a moment. “Those memories are fond indeed, but too much has passed between then and now to allow me the pleasure of happy reminiscence.”

  “But you berate him far less than I, you surely do not think there could be humanity in him?” she asked, incredulous.

  “There is humanity in everyone, Elizabeth, the chance of repentance in every soul, I can pray for it without self-reproach, without hope we have nothing.”

  At once humbled and alarmed by Darcy’s humility Elizabeth could not help but recall the severity of Wickham’s conduct. “But Wickham is such a man!” cried she with urgency. “We two have young sisters who have suffered at his hand, his deviance I judge to be beyond reform, all feelings of hope in my heart are extinguished. You are naturally of a more severe nature than I; I cannot comprehend how you can keep faith where resentment would be entirely just.”

  It was thus their discourse ceased and though they spoke no more of Wickham, he was never far from either’s thoughts.

  CHAPTER 20

  “He is just what a young man ought to be,” said she,“sensible, good humored, lively; and I never saw such happy manners! So much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”

  Necessity settled the state of things at Pemberley and thankfully Lydia remained uninformed of her husband’s visit. How grateful Elizabeth was that this, at least, had been concealed from her and how fervently she abhorred the deceit. But it had to be so, there was no undoing it, he had come and gone and was to be forgotten. Georgiana was determined to put him from her mind, which showed great fortitude on her part, but her ability to remove Wickham so swiftly from her thoughts was in part due to the arrival of an excellent gentleman by the name of Mr. Edwin Hanworth. For even timid girls have an inclination to be distracted by handsome young men and Georgiana Darcy was no exception.

  Hanworth, who by matters of business was brought to Pemberley a few days after Wickham’s departure, was indeed handsom
e. He was no more than three and twenty and no less than six feet in height, a combination which gave him an air of youthful distinction. His manners were pleasing and the fact that he had recently inherited Great Fordham Hall, a large estate in Yorkshire, meant he was in a state of perpetual ease.

  Those who had the wrong impression of Darcy may very well have viewed him as a man quite capable of feeling and showing instant dislike of strangers. His reticence to promote himself having generally been considered a mark of contempt, he might perhaps have astounded his critics by the immediacy with which his liking of Edwin Hanworth was formed and demonstrated.When formal introductions had been made, Mr. Hanworth revealed the purpose of his visit to Darcy after the latter had shown him into his study.

  “You know of Fordham Hall, sir?” said he amiably.

  Darcy nodded. “Yes, I spent some time in Yorkshire as a younger man, I know it in passing. Fine architecture, very fine.The sight of an elegant building is second only, for the pleasure it affords, to that of an elegant woman.”