Page 19 of An Offer of Marriage (Engaged to Mr Darcy #7)

OVERTHROWING SUCH SCHEMES

E lizabeth found herself growing fonder of her soon-to-be sister with each successive meeting.

Though Georgiana was more shy than Elizabeth ever could have imagined, beneath it was a charming sweetness much like Jane’s.

It was not so very difficult to draw her out; it took only a little patience to wait through the stammers and blushes and hit upon just the right subjects.

They had just begun a reasonably easy conversation on her favourite spots at Pemberley when Darcy entered the room.

Having not heard him in the hall, both ladies jumped, Elizabeth’s teacup rattling dangerously in the saucer. She quickly set it on the table in front of her.

“Georgiana, leave,” he said, his expression controlled but plainly angry.

“Leave?” Elizabeth exclaimed even as Georgiana, her eyes wide, protested, “What—? But, Brother?—”

“Go. Now,” he ordered her, his eyes fixed on Elizabeth. Elizabeth gave her a quick glance and a small smile as Georgiana rose from the settee and very nearly ran from the room. Another look at Darcy’s countenance made her wish she might do likewise.

“What is it?” she asked, rising to go to him. He stood only a few steps into the drawing room and showed no sign of advancing farther. “You seem distressed.”

That made him bark out a short, bitter laugh, but he said nothing more, only thrust a letter towards her. She took it, seeing that oddly enough it appeared to be a letter from Charlotte, written to Jane. Elizabeth felt short of breath, if not faint, as she began to read it.

By now I suppose you will have learnt of the extraordinary events in my parlour last evening. Evidently Mr Darcy has proposed to Elizabeth and she means to accept him—evidently she thinks that no finer punishment could be conceived for him.

I am relying on you, her dear eldest sister, to talk some sense into her.

It is not sound, this notion she has that it would be a fine joke, and an excellent piece of revenge, to accept him and then make him miserable.

Surely she must realise that all the money in the world cannot make up for an unhappy marriage?

I have used every power of persuasion I have to try and talk sense into her, to make her think of her own respectability if nothing else, but it is a settled thing in her mind.

She is fully convinced that, lacking in feeling as he is, it can be no great cruelty to Mr Darcy, but I cannot agree with her.

The scheme is too heartless, and quite beneath her.

She swallowed hard as she looked up from the page; she had no idea what to say. “I-I…this is not?— ”

“Marriage to me is a joke?” he spat, advancing on her. “A scheme? A punishment?”

“No! No, of course not,” she said and tried to smile. “I-I j-just…”

“Then what? Did you say these things, or is Mrs Collins a liar?”

Elizabeth closed her eyes a moment. “It is not what it sounds like.”

“What it sounds like is that you have been playing some disgusting prank on me!”

“If you will let me explain,” she said desperately, and then made the mistake of trying to reach for his arm.

He very nearly leapt away from her, and the look on his face was sufficient to ensure she would not attempt such a thing again. “You are not the person I thought you were. Your mean-spiritedness rivals any woman I have ever had the misfortune of knowing.”

His words hurt, and she felt her face grow hot. “I am not cruel, nor am I vicious. I did not?—”

“Can you tell me, in all honesty,” he said in a low, perfectly crisp voice, “that you accepted my proposal of marriage in happy anticipation of being married to me?”

“I never even said yes!” It was exclaimed before she had examined the wisdom of saying it, but there was no backing away from it now.

His eyes narrowed, he said, flatly, “What.”

“We were interrupted, by Charlotte, before I could?—”

“Mrs Collins entered after you had accepted me.”

“No! The last thing I said was that…that…” She searched her mind for a moment. “I thanked you for the compliment of your affections but?—”

“But nothing!” he retorted. “So am I to understand that you meant to refuse me? That whatever you said was merely preamble to a rejection?”

“I was angry! And injured and humiliated and felt like I might burst into tears at any moment!”

“From a proposal?” He looked incredulous. “From a man standing in front of you and telling you how desperately in love with you he was?”

“From a man telling me I was a degradation and then insulting my family! And this, hard on the heels of learning that you had acted to separate Bingley and Jane! So yes, I was very much prepared to reject you, but I had not the opportunity to do so!”

He was breathing hard by now and so was she. “Very well, then. To the delight of us both, I ask you to release me.”

“Wait.” She closed her eyes a moment, and pressed her hand to her chest, trying to regain some semblance of control. “There is more?—”

“I want you to release me!” he said more loudly. “Now! I will not be made an object of ridicule.”

“Please can I just say one thing?”

“I have no wish to hear more lies!” he roared. “Release me, I beg you and pray to God I never have to so much as set eyes on you again!”

And then it could be contained no more. She burst into sobs, immediately pressing her hands to her face to hide her tears, including the hand that still held the wretched letter.

She heard the noise of disgust that he made and the sound of his footsteps leaving the room and fought to gain control of herself.

When she opened her eyes, she saw he had lain his handkerchief on the table near where she stood.

She took it, a new sob choking her as she pressed it to her face, inhaling the scent she would know no more and feeling the warmth from a man whose hatred now turned him cold to her.

“Miss Bennet?” Mrs Hobbs, Darcy’s housekeeper, had come to the drawing room door and stood with her face averted. “Mr Darcy asked me to have his carriage brought round for you.”

Elizabeth managed to utter some form of gratitude and allowed herself to be escorted from the room and to be given her pelisse and bonnet.

The entire house had grown eerily silent, and she vaguely wondered who had heard them arguing.

She found she did not much care; when one’s heart had shattered into a million pieces, servants’ gossip was not of much consequence.

Still clutching his handkerchief, she went outside where a footman was waiting to hand her into the carriage and carry her back to Gracechurch Street.

It seemed like hours, miserable hours, until she was on her bed in the Gardiners’ home with both her aunt and Jane next to her.

She had given them the letter to read, and told them about Darcy’s reaction to it, but had buried her face in her hands throughout, unable to see their censure or their pity.

“I do not understand,” Jane began. “Did you actually say these things, Lizzy?”

“Yes! But I was angry,” Elizabeth nearly wailed. “Very angry. I told you, Jane, he said some very dreadful things about our family!”

She had not confided in Mrs Gardiner about the precise insults Darcy had levelled at her and did so now, briefly and quickly. Mrs Gardiner gave a few winces and sympathetic clucks but no more than that.

“I did tell Charlotte I thought it would be…amusing to ac cept him. In my head, I was imagining Lydia and Kitty, run amok over Pemberley! I believe I said something about how it was the finest punishment I could conceive of, to bind him to people he so scorned. I had no notion that Charlotte thought me in earnest!”

Jane reached over and rubbed her back.

“The truth of the matter is, though, I never accepted him,” she added. “I did not, no matter what he believed.”

“But neither did you relieve him of the misconception that you had accepted him,” said Mrs Gardiner gently.

“That is true,” said Elizabeth with a sniffle.

“I meant to, but by the next morning, when I intended to do so, he and the colonel were busily removing me from Kent because Miss de Bourgh had threatened to injure me, and he had been beaten himself…at every juncture, the time stole the opportunity away from me.”

“Did you tell that to Charlotte?” Jane enquired. “That he had been beaten?”

Elizabeth nodded. “But by then she was packing my trunk. Her thoughts, no doubt, were primarily on the trouble she faced with Lady Catherine and with Mr Collins. I daresay that is why she never sent you the letter, though clearly it was meant for you. She understood by then that I was not in earnest. Would that she had burnt it!”

“Was it she who sent it to Mr Darcy?” Mrs Gardiner asked. “I do not know her well, but I could not imagine her being so cruel.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “When I called on Georgiana, she informed me that her brother was at the Matlock town house and was sure to return in an ill humour as Lady Catherine had summoned him there. I imagine that Lady Catherine somehow found the letter and brought it to him. ”

Jane reached over and smoothed a curl by her sister’s face. “Did you release him, then?”

“Not in so many words. I could not bear to actually say the words.”

“That sounds like you wish you were engaged to him,” Mrs Gardiner said.

“I do not know that it signifies by now what my heart wishes for, but I confess that this time we have had together, starting with the ride in the carriage… He had explained so many thoughts and feelings that lessened my prejudices against him… Every time we met, I came to understand him more, and to like him better.”

“And perhaps decided you did wish to marry him?” Mrs Gardiner asked.

Yes, she did want to marry him. She had been happy in these past days with him, being courted by him. She could see now that in disposition and talents, he was exactly suited to her and that given time, she might fall in love with him.

She nodded to answer Mrs Gardiner, then cried out, “Oh, what a tangle!” Tears overtook her again, and for a short while the other two were silent as she wept, Mrs Gardiner offering gentle caresses on her back while Jane took her hand and squeezed it gently.

“Perhaps he will call,” Mrs Gardiner suggested once the worst of it had passed. “And he will give you the opportunity to explain.”

“Oh yes,” said Jane. “I am sure he will. Once his anger has cooled.”

“I wish that I could believe it, but he told me once himself that his good opinion, once lost, was lost forever.” Elizabeth sighed heavily. “I can only hope that for me, it is not quite lost, but maybe just misplaced a little.”